I once wrote a literary fiction short story which won third prize in the Willesden Herald competition and got read out loud by a proper actor on the night. I’ve just remembered it got put online.
I am very proud but also might die of embarrassment if you watch it
youtu.be/xHJVBJmlAzk?...
I am very proud but also might die of embarrassment if you watch it
youtu.be/xHJVBJmlAzk?...
"Cuckquean" by Jackie Morris read by Claire Lacey
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
November 4, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I once wrote a literary fiction short story which won third prize in the Willesden Herald competition and got read out loud by a proper actor on the night. I’ve just remembered it got put online.
I am very proud but also might die of embarrassment if you watch it
youtu.be/xHJVBJmlAzk?...
I am very proud but also might die of embarrassment if you watch it
youtu.be/xHJVBJmlAzk?...
The scene this evening willesdenherald.wordpress.com/2026/08/28/t... #Harrow #WillesdenHerald #Photo
The scene this evening
Wood End Road, Harrow, 27 August 2026
willesdenherald.wordpress.com
August 27, 2026 at 11:08 PM
The scene this evening willesdenherald.wordpress.com/2026/08/28/t... #Harrow #WillesdenHerald #Photo
I (re-)created a Facebook page for Willesden Herald. I don't know why - I must be mad. facebook.com/willesdenherald. Just for the record, I suppose.
Facebook
facebook.com
May 10, 2026 at 4:08 PM
I (re-)created a Facebook page for Willesden Herald. I don't know why - I must be mad. facebook.com/willesdenherald. Just for the record, I suppose.
"There's no wild goose like a bashful muse / Dark-haired Miriam ran away" youtu.be/pO2sPCSXN8k?... #NowPlaying #YouTube
Star of the Raglan Road (lyric video)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
July 19, 2026 at 2:52 PM
"There's no wild goose like a bashful muse / Dark-haired Miriam ran away" youtu.be/pO2sPCSXN8k?... #NowPlaying #YouTube
Another outing for this. "The Leaving of Ballymun" (Words: Me. Air: Skibbereen, trad.) "He thinks he's funny but he's not" as Yeats might have titled it. The slideshow photos are my own, including the mock-up with Jim Larkin and bills on "The Spire". youtu.be/xEiOS33sKPk?... #LyricVideo #Ballymun
The Leaving of Ballymun (lyric video with chords)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
February 5, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Another outing for this. "The Leaving of Ballymun" (Words: Me. Air: Skibbereen, trad.) "He thinks he's funny but he's not" as Yeats might have titled it. The slideshow photos are my own, including the mock-up with Jim Larkin and bills on "The Spire". youtu.be/xEiOS33sKPk?... #LyricVideo #Ballymun
I would like this taken into account when sentencing, a hybrid of On Raglan Road and Star of the County Down. The crime, I added a new chorus and bridge words. I see humour in Kavanagh's words, not a dirge. £20 conscience money to St Jude. youtu.be/pO2sPCSXN8k?... #NowPlaying #Travesty #Performance
Star of the Raglan Road (lyric video)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
November 14, 2024 at 4:14 PM
I would like this taken into account when sentencing, a hybrid of On Raglan Road and Star of the County Down. The crime, I added a new chorus and bridge words. I see humour in Kavanagh's words, not a dirge. £20 conscience money to St Jude. youtu.be/pO2sPCSXN8k?... #NowPlaying #Travesty #Performance
"Thread of my Songs, Get it Over" by John MacCushla.
(1) Poor Paddy Works on the Software. youtu.be/ctoHhyNOLKo?... #Irish #Ballad #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
(1) Poor Paddy Works on the Software. youtu.be/ctoHhyNOLKo?... #Irish #Ballad #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
Poor Paddy Works on the Software (lyric video with chords)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
January 7, 2025 at 11:30 AM
"Thread of my Songs, Get it Over" by John MacCushla.
(1) Poor Paddy Works on the Software. youtu.be/ctoHhyNOLKo?... #Irish #Ballad #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
(1) Poor Paddy Works on the Software. youtu.be/ctoHhyNOLKo?... #Irish #Ballad #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
Chiltern Line Fast Train willesdenherald.wordpress.com/2025/09/12/c... Oncoming Chiltern Line fast train speeds past Sudbury Hill Harrow station, 11 Sept 2025 #railway #photo #train #ChilternLine #WillesdenHerald
Chiltern Line Fast Train
Oncoming Chiltern Line fast train speeds past Sudbury Hill Harrow station, 11 Sept 2025
willesdenherald.wordpress.com
September 12, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Chiltern Line Fast Train willesdenherald.wordpress.com/2025/09/12/c... Oncoming Chiltern Line fast train speeds past Sudbury Hill Harrow station, 11 Sept 2025 #railway #photo #train #ChilternLine #WillesdenHerald
And (spoiler alert!) here is Mary O'Shea in 2011, all the way from Cork University to the Library at Willesden Green, accepting the prize for "Out of Season". Mary was also shortlisted another year for another terrific short story, "Relativity". youtu.be/aByDsmfZu_A?... #acceptanceSpeech
April 2011: And the winner is...
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
January 26, 2026 at 5:47 PM
And (spoiler alert!) here is Mary O'Shea in 2011, all the way from Cork University to the Library at Willesden Green, accepting the prize for "Out of Season". Mary was also shortlisted another year for another terrific short story, "Relativity". youtu.be/aByDsmfZu_A?... #acceptanceSpeech
I forgot about this old video because the book cover was subsequently changed and some of the content to for the final version. But now I'm past caring about such things, I don't mind this at all. youtu.be/DIlrce3ty7k #FirstLook #Poetry #YouTube
First Look: Day of the Flying Leaves
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
April 13, 2025 at 2:59 PM
I forgot about this old video because the book cover was subsequently changed and some of the content to for the final version. But now I'm past caring about such things, I don't mind this at all. youtu.be/DIlrce3ty7k #FirstLook #Poetry #YouTube
Poor Paddy Works on the Software
...I was wearing stripy braces
Setting traces, shifting places
Switching cases, I
Was working on the software
In the year of two thousand and one
Poor Paddy's millennium bug was gone
The sod had to give up his coke and rum
And work upon the software, the software...
...I was wearing stripy braces
Setting traces, shifting places
Switching cases, I
Was working on the software
In the year of two thousand and one
Poor Paddy's millennium bug was gone
The sod had to give up his coke and rum
And work upon the software, the software...
Poor Paddy Works on the Software (lyric video with chords)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
June 13, 2026 at 10:29 PM
Poor Paddy Works on the Software
...I was wearing stripy braces
Setting traces, shifting places
Switching cases, I
Was working on the software
In the year of two thousand and one
Poor Paddy's millennium bug was gone
The sod had to give up his coke and rum
And work upon the software, the software...
...I was wearing stripy braces
Setting traces, shifting places
Switching cases, I
Was working on the software
In the year of two thousand and one
Poor Paddy's millennium bug was gone
The sod had to give up his coke and rum
And work upon the software, the software...
I may have posted this before as it's had more than 2 views. Don't know. Anyway for my new followers and since Bob Dylan has started paying Elon Musk, I feel --- Ah forget it, I'm going to post this, there's no good excuse. Channelling Cecil Sheridan. "The Leaving of Ballymun". #Ballymun #Skibbereen
The Leaving of Ballymun (lyric video with chords)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
December 6, 2024 at 7:08 PM
I may have posted this before as it's had more than 2 views. Don't know. Anyway for my new followers and since Bob Dylan has started paying Elon Musk, I feel --- Ah forget it, I'm going to post this, there's no good excuse. Channelling Cecil Sheridan. "The Leaving of Ballymun". #Ballymun #Skibbereen
More people came to Gladstone Park in 2003 to see the Blue Bishops than to see Donald Scum's half-assed "Great American State Fair" youtu.be/snTie29JL_Q?... #NowPlaying "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." George Orwell, 1984
July 2, 2026 at 10:56 AM
More people came to Gladstone Park in 2003 to see the Blue Bishops than to see Donald Scum's half-assed "Great American State Fair" youtu.be/snTie29JL_Q?... #NowPlaying "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." George Orwell, 1984
I flew so high in the painted sky
Like an angel on wires in a play
But she left the show with one act to go
And I don't know what else to say
From the old Long Hall to the Grand Canal
From The Bailey to Eden Quay
There's no wild goose like a bashful muse
It was Miriam all the way
#HappyValentines
Like an angel on wires in a play
But she left the show with one act to go
And I don't know what else to say
From the old Long Hall to the Grand Canal
From The Bailey to Eden Quay
There's no wild goose like a bashful muse
It was Miriam all the way
#HappyValentines
Star of the Raglan Road (lyric video)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
February 14, 2026 at 12:34 AM
I flew so high in the painted sky
Like an angel on wires in a play
But she left the show with one act to go
And I don't know what else to say
From the old Long Hall to the Grand Canal
From The Bailey to Eden Quay
There's no wild goose like a bashful muse
It was Miriam all the way
#HappyValentines
Like an angel on wires in a play
But she left the show with one act to go
And I don't know what else to say
From the old Long Hall to the Grand Canal
From The Bailey to Eden Quay
There's no wild goose like a bashful muse
It was Miriam all the way
#HappyValentines
I put a tune to Yeats' poem "The O'Rahilly". Did I mention this before? There's a post about it with guitar chords etc on my blog. But here is my YouTube video direct of the demo. I since found another tune put to the poem, sung by Niamh Dunne on Spotify but it excludes "How goes the weather?" #demo
A Tune for The O'Rahilly + guitar chords
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 12:21 PM
I put a tune to Yeats' poem "The O'Rahilly". Did I mention this before? There's a post about it with guitar chords etc on my blog. But here is my YouTube video direct of the demo. I since found another tune put to the poem, sung by Niamh Dunne on Spotify but it excludes "How goes the weather?" #demo
"It's being so cheerful that keeps him going." With some of my photos from the great anti-war demo in London prior to the invasion of Iraq. Two million counted but did not count. youtu.be/s744CD0MWpY?... #LyricVideo and #GuitarChords on #YouTube "Johnny We Hardly Knew You" #IraqWar #Demo #NewLabour!
Johnny We Hardly Knew You (lyric video with guitar chords)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
April 4, 2025 at 3:14 PM
"It's being so cheerful that keeps him going." With some of my photos from the great anti-war demo in London prior to the invasion of Iraq. Two million counted but did not count. youtu.be/s744CD0MWpY?... #LyricVideo and #GuitarChords on #YouTube "Johnny We Hardly Knew You" #IraqWar #Demo #NewLabour!
...Oh father dear, let us stay here, I’m sorry if I weep.
I’ve made new friends here in Hatch End, and cider is so cheap.
I’ll tell you jokes and quit the smokes. Me ma says you’re the one.
And anyway, we have to stay - there’s no more Ballymun...
#LyricVideo #Skibbereen #GuitarChords on #YouTube
I’ve made new friends here in Hatch End, and cider is so cheap.
I’ll tell you jokes and quit the smokes. Me ma says you’re the one.
And anyway, we have to stay - there’s no more Ballymun...
#LyricVideo #Skibbereen #GuitarChords on #YouTube
The Leaving of Ballymun (lyric video with chords)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
April 4, 2025 at 3:01 PM
...Oh father dear, let us stay here, I’m sorry if I weep.
I’ve made new friends here in Hatch End, and cider is so cheap.
I’ll tell you jokes and quit the smokes. Me ma says you’re the one.
And anyway, we have to stay - there’s no more Ballymun...
#LyricVideo #Skibbereen #GuitarChords on #YouTube
I’ve made new friends here in Hatch End, and cider is so cheap.
I’ll tell you jokes and quit the smokes. Me ma says you’re the one.
And anyway, we have to stay - there’s no more Ballymun...
#LyricVideo #Skibbereen #GuitarChords on #YouTube
Harrow Cricket Club and Apple Tree Montessori Nursery willesdenherald.wordpress.com/2025/02/28/h... #photo #Harrow #WillesdenHerald
Harrow Cricket Club and Apple Tree Montessori Nursery
View of Harrow Cricket Club and Apple Tree Montessori nursery buildings, 28 Feb. 2025
willesdenherald.wordpress.com
February 28, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Harrow Cricket Club and Apple Tree Montessori Nursery willesdenherald.wordpress.com/2025/02/28/h... #photo #Harrow #WillesdenHerald
6. "Chianti in the Carafe". As I was posting bon mots & doing a bit of blagging/I met a brazen troll oh & my buddies he was slagging./I first adduced indiff'rence, elliptically deplored him,/I shared a Blondie classic and I studiously ignored him. youtu.be/KaKs7r1zkMo?... #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
Chianti in the Carafe (lyric video with chords)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
January 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
6. "Chianti in the Carafe". As I was posting bon mots & doing a bit of blagging/I met a brazen troll oh & my buddies he was slagging./I first adduced indiff'rence, elliptically deplored him,/I shared a Blondie classic and I studiously ignored him. youtu.be/KaKs7r1zkMo?... #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
4. Star of the Raglan Road. A hybrid of Raglan Road and Star of the County Down. Words by Patrick Kavanagh and Stephen Me, arrangement by Phil Rhynhart. youtu.be/pO2sPCSXN8k?... #travesty #Miriam #Dublin
Star of the Raglan Road (lyric video)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
January 7, 2025 at 11:30 AM
4. Star of the Raglan Road. A hybrid of Raglan Road and Star of the County Down. Words by Patrick Kavanagh and Stephen Me, arrangement by Phil Rhynhart. youtu.be/pO2sPCSXN8k?... #travesty #Miriam #Dublin
3. Johnny We Hardly Knew You. "I heard them talking on TV, the fools, the fools/The pundits and celebrities, the fools, the fools/With their maps and charts and masters of art/To give your opinion to you" youtu.be/s744CD0MWpY?... #Ballad #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
Johnny We Hardly Knew You (lyric video with guitar chords)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
January 7, 2025 at 11:30 AM
3. Johnny We Hardly Knew You. "I heard them talking on TV, the fools, the fools/The pundits and celebrities, the fools, the fools/With their maps and charts and masters of art/To give your opinion to you" youtu.be/s744CD0MWpY?... #Ballad #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
2. The Leaving of Ballymun (air Skibbereen). Starring the word "hobbledyhoy." youtu.be/xEiOS33sKPk?... #Irish #Ballad #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
The Leaving of Ballymun (lyric video with chords)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
January 7, 2025 at 11:30 AM
2. The Leaving of Ballymun (air Skibbereen). Starring the word "hobbledyhoy." youtu.be/xEiOS33sKPk?... #Irish #Ballad #LyricVideo #GuitarChords
I added this video with music "18 ghosts ii" by Nine-Inch Nails. It's me on night patrol with Zoltan the hound of hell, guard dog of Willesden Herald House (many years ago). youtu.be/UO5WTatn8sw #Fog #Night #Walk
18 ghosts ii (nine inch nails -v- fogwalker)
YouTube video by WillesdenHerald
youtu.be
December 9, 2024 at 5:50 PM
I added this video with music "18 ghosts ii" by Nine-Inch Nails. It's me on night patrol with Zoltan the hound of hell, guard dog of Willesden Herald House (many years ago). youtu.be/UO5WTatn8sw #Fog #Night #Walk