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Status
Received: on time
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Income
£11.3K
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Spending
£12.9K
Public benefits
The trustees believe that our purposes satisfy both elements of the public benefit requirement. The direct benefits that flow from these purposes include advancing public knowledge and understanding of Percy French by performing Percy French songs in public, to church groups, to members of the University of the Third Age, to residents in care
homes and other organisations caring for people suffering from disability and ailments. The Society also advances public knowledge and understanding of Percy French the artist through public exhibitions of his paintings. The Society publishes information about Percy French through its quarterly newsletter The Jarvey, and the public lectures and a recently written biography of Percy French. These benefits are demonstrated through feedback from museums, libraries, theatres, churches, and other venues where Percy French's works are exhibited or performed. These purposes do not give rise to any harm. The beneficiaries of these purposes are the general public throughout the world although the island of Ireland contains the clear majority of the beneficiaries. No private benefit accrues to any of the trustees of the Society. Percy French was one of the greatest songwriters and entertainers of the late Victorian and Edwardian era. Among his most celebrated songs are 'The Mountains of Mourne', 'Phil the Fluter's Ball', 'Are Ye Right There, Michael?', 'Come Back Paddy Reilly', 'Slattery's Mounted Fut', 'Abdul Abulbul Ameer', 'Eileen Og', 'McBreen's Heifer', and 'The Emigrant's Letter'. In addition he was a very celebrated water colour painter. Among his most famous paintings are 'The Mournes from Royal County Down Golf Club', 'Queen Victoria's Arrival in Dublin in 1901' (hanging in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin), and 'The Ghost of Ypres' (painted while French was entertaining the troops in Belgium and France during the Great War).
... [more] [less]What your organisation does
In 1998 with the support of a National Lottery Fund grant the society restored the paintings and memorabilia of the late Percy French, currently preserves this major item of cultural heritage in the North Down Museum, and exhibits some of this material in public libraries throughout Ireland. From 2004 to 2009, with the support of a further National
Lottery Fund grant the society restored all 104 issues of the newspaper The Jarvey which Percy French edited when he lived in Dublin from 1888 to 1890. It performs Percy French's musical compositions and poems through concerts given by the Percy French Quartet and the Percy French Players. From 1993-2009 French's musical works and poems were frequently performed publicly by the Percy French Concert Party. It publishes information relating to Percy French on its web site and through its quarterly magazine The Jarvey. Close relations are maintained with the Percy French Societies in Roscommon and Galway and also with St Luke's Church in Formby, Lancashire, where Percy French is buried. The Society keeps and maintains a voluminous collection of Percy French memorabilia and some 100 Percy French water colours in the North Down Museum. This is one of the biggest collections relating to any literary, musical or artistic figure in Ireland and UK. Some of the paintings are periodically selected for public viewing all over the island of Ireland, e.g. recent exhibitions at the Cavan County Museum in Ballyjamesduff, Killarney in County Kerry and in the North Down Museum itself. As in any Museum, it is available for research and at the moment it is understood that two books are being researched. The Collection is also a mine of Social History of a century or more ago.
... [more] [less]The charity’s classifications
- The advancement of education
- The advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
Who the charity helps
- General public
How the charity works
- Arts
- Cultural
- Heritage/historical
