AN IRISH graduate who moved to England to take up her first teaching job has set up a Facebook page to help find and bring her fellow countrymen and women together in her area.
Carmel Clarke left her home in Co. Meath to take up a teaching position at a school in Darlington, Co. Durham in August 2013.
But as she settled into her job as a secondary school teacher at Carmel College she found herself missing home and the Irish traditions that she took for granted.
“As a relatively new person working and living in the North East, I have found it hard being away from home,” the 24-year-old told The Irish Post this week.
“I missed the usual, like the Sunday breakfast, the trad music sessions down the local pub and I also missed the warm community and identity that it means to be Irish.”
She added: “As a professional, I have also found it difficult to actually meet fellow Irish people in my area as it seemed the many younger Irish people here are still studying, so I miss out on that scene, while the local Irish centre’s members are already well established here.”
So the teacher, whose parents hail from counties Mayo and Galway, decided to do something about it.
“I took it upon myself to set up a Facebook page in order to gather together both old and new natives to the North East, from Newcastle to Middlesbrough,” she explained.
“While it’s still in its infancy its growing in popularity by the day,” she added, “and it has received a warm reception with new ‘likes’ being gained weekly.”
Ms Clarke, who was Newcastle’s Rose of Tralee hopeful in the 2014 competition, continues to promote and bring together the Irish community in and around Newcastle.
Recently she brought together members of the Irish in the North East UK Facebook group together with members of the Newcastle Rose of Tralee centre to watch the All Ireland Hurling final in O’Neill’s in Newcastle.
See More: Irish In Britain, Newcastle Irish, Newcastle Rose
