When I was a little girl my father always seemed proud to tell me that he was second generation Irish and all his ancestors were from the Emerald Isle. He would sing "Danny Boy" and "I'll take you home again Kathleen" and other haunting songs that I never knew the titles of: he would show me how to dance the Ceilidh and tell me stories of the ancestors we were descended from. My favourite story was of how a Great Aunt had rowed up the River Dee estuary with a handful of gold sovereigns sewn into the hem of her dress. I could imagine this doughty woman seeking a new life for herself, when thing more...
