Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Ireland’s Own. This week’s cover story is on RTE’s Sunday Miscellany – Fifty Years and Growing Strong. For 50 years Sunday Miscellany has provided the nation with its musings, music and, most importantly, memories, writes Eileen Casey.

In his piece, An Old Irish Love Story, Verdun Ball recalls the occasion when Maria Edgeworth put family before her own romantic interests, while ‘The Cork Tragedy’, a relatively unknown Cork city ballad which recalls a murder in the city in the early 1900s, is remembered by Pauline Murphy.

In our Great Obelisks of the World series, Jim Rees take a look at The Wellington Testimonial in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, the highest obelisk in Europe. and in Con McGrath’s Role of the Irish in WW2 series, this week’s subject is The Fighting Fentons. Con tells the story of a father and son sent to fight on the Pacific island of Okinawa.

John Corbett returns with a selection of memories of life in the Irish countryside during March, while Francis Kaye pays tribute to the late Jim Conlon of The Royal Showband, who was acknowledged among his peers as one of the great guitar players of his generation.

Sheila O’Kelly recalls the life and legacy of the famed Irish novelist and short story writer, Elizabeth Bowen, who was born 120 years ago. This week’s original short story is Help Yourself Harry by Paula Williams.

MJ Wells takes a light-hearted look at getting older, and Eamonn Duggan continues his Ireland in 1919 series with The Emergence of the ‘Big Four’. Part four features Dan Breen.

We have all this for you to enjoy alongside your weekly favourite including Cassidy Says, Pete’s Pets, Dan Conway’s Corner, jokes, songs, puzzles and much much more. Enjoy the read and I’ll look forward to catching up with you again next week.

                                                                                                              Best wishes,

Seán Nolan, Editor, Ireland’s Own