TALBOT BREAKFAST - Join Husky Legend/Hall of Fame Member Rick Redman, Seattle Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke and Shaun Alexander at the 6th Annual Downtown Mattt Talbot Center  "Breakfast with Champions", Wednesday, April 30, 7:30 AM at The Matt Talbot Center, 2313 3rd Ave, Seattle. Breakfast is free but donations accepted. Reservations by April 28 to 206-256-9865 or rosalynj@mtcenter.org.

SEATTLE GAELS - The Seattle Gaels Gaelic Footballers and Hurlers held their annual Open Field Day on Sunday, March 30th, and a lot of new and old faces came out for what was one of the best attended Open Field Days in the past couple years. The Hurling team and the Men's and Women's Gaelic Football teams have already started weekly practices at Magnolia Playfields, but are still looking for beginning and experienced players, especially for the Hurling city league which starts in two weeks. For more information, visit www.SeattleGaels.com or call 206-940-1113.

DEPORTEES BENEFIT - A fundraiser on Sunday, May 18, 5-9 PM, at Mick Kelly's Irish Pub, 435 SW 152nd St, Burien, will assist individuals who are in a US Immigration No Man's Land because of their past involvement in Northern Ireland's Troubles. Numerous Irish immigrants with US-born spouses and children face potential deportation because their names are on lists provided the INS by the British government. This fundraiser is an effort to help in any such situation that arises locally. Suggested donation is $10 ($20 per family) and Raybone Experience and Leo McNamara provide live music. For information, call 206-542-3781.

SENIORS' LUNCH - Over 200 Irish-born Seniors have been identified as living in the Seattle area and 75 of them, along with 20 US-born spouses and friends, attended a recent Irish Seniors' Luncheon at the Wilde Rover Restaurant in Kirkland that was organized by Seattle's Irish Immigrant Support Group. If you know of someone who would like to attend the next such luncheon in September, email siisg@irishclub.org.

MONTHLY FEICEÁIL - The Thursday May 15th Feiceáil helps out 8:30 AM - 4 PM at Redmond Habitat for Humanity. For information, contact Melissa at 206-229-8512.

LÁ GAEILGE - An Irish Language Day for beginners to fluent enthusiasts takes place Saturday, May 31 (Saturday following Memorial Day), 9 AM - 5 PM at Marylhurst University, 10 minutes south of Portland. Bring your dance shoes and musical instruments for a seisiún Saturday evening. For information, contact AnRoibeard@Comcast.net.

IRISH NIGHT - Enjoy reduced price tickets to Irish Heritage Night at the Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland on Thursday, August 21 by going to www.Mariners.com/Irish. $20 tickets cost $11 or $40 tickets for $25 and receive a FREE T-Shirt and enjoy Irish Dancers and Bagpipers. One 2008 Irish Heritage Club member will be drawn at random to help throw out the first pitch! Email membership@irishclub.org.  

OLYMPIA IRISH - An Irish language and singing class takes place Monday and Thursday evenings from June 23 through July 24 at Evergreen State College in Olympia. Led by Seán Williams, half of each class will be spent learning the Irish language and the other half learning songs in Irish. Contact WilliamS@evergreen.edu  for details.

LAW FELLOWS - The UW Law School has announced eight 2008 William Sampson Fellows of International Law. These are UW law students who this summer will travel to Ireland to work on public service law projects, four in Dublin, three in Galway, and one in Belfast. The Law Fellowship program is sponsored by the UW Law School and supported by The Irish Heritage Club, the Friends of St Patrick and the Seattle Galway Association.

IRISH PLAY - From May 15th-June 8th, the Historic Bathhouse Theatre at Green Lake produces Spokesong, a whimsical play about an idealistic bike shop owner in Belfast during the Troubles. As his city becomes a war-zone, he dreams of peace through superior transportation: the bicycle. It's a romance with plenty of music, wit, whimsy, and bike history to boot. Call 206-524-1300, or visit Bathhouse Theatre.

IRISH SNOWBOARDER - Winter Sports Athlete Jen Grace represented Ireland at the 2007 World Snowboarding Championships in Switzerland, and now hopes to represent Ireland at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC. A graduate student at the University of Montana, she was in Seattle for St. Patrick's Day looking for support and sponsors to permit her train full-time for the next two years. If you can help, or for more information, visit www.jengrace.com.

IRISH HORSERACING - If you fancy experiencing the Sport of Kings in Ireland, you might want to join Tacoma's Tom Quinlan on a 15-day Ireland trip starting August 26 that takes in Stud Farms, Race Meets (including the Galway Races), sightseeing and visits to historical sites. For more information, visit Irish Racing Trip or call Tom at 253-847-4430.

YOUTH LEADERSHIP - The Global Youth Leadership Institute runs June 23-26 at the UW and is a free intensive summer program designed to help high school students learn about current global issues. Washington State students entering 11th or 12th grade in September 2008 can apply, and the deadline is May 13th. Visit World Affairs Council for details and Application Forms.

SHOREWOOD HS PLAY - Shorewood High School, 17300 Fremont Ave N, Shoreline, produces the Irish play "Dancing at Lughnasa" on May 2, 3, 9, & 10 at 7:30 PM at Shorewood Theater, 2 blocks west of Aurora on 175th St. Tickets are $6 and $8, and information is available at Shorewood HS.

PHOTOS - Go to the Seattle Times to see Photos from Seattle's St. Patrick's Day Parade, and about 500 other photos are online at www.irishweek.org.  

MISCELANEOUS IRISH / CELTIC EVENTS

* For information on Irish Tenor Anthony Kearns at the Kirkland Performing Arts Center on May 9, or Daniel O'Donnell at Seattle's Benaroya Hall on May 13, and many other Irish / Celtic events, visit "Upcoming Celtic Events" at www.hoilands.com.

* Local Irish Fiddler and artist Sarah Dillon invites you to a preview opening of her exhibition at Gallery 110, 110 S Washington St (1 block N of Elliott Bay Books in Pioneer Square), Wednesday, April 30, 6-8 PM. 

* Fionn O Lochlainn, an Irish singer/songwriter from New York, stars in this year's Rosehill Revue at Mukilteo's Rosehill Community Center, Saturday, April 26, 2 PM and 7 PM. Tickets at the door, or call 425-290-9500.

* 'AS GAEILGE', Seattle's Irish language conversational group, meets every second Tuesday! Contact WendyZ@irishclub.org.

* Sunday, June, 8, the annual SEATTLE GAELS GOLF CLASSIC at West Seattle Golf Club - email golf@seattlegaels.com.

* IRISH DAY at the Races at Emerald Downs, Sunday, June 22. Free tickets available - races@irishclub.org.

FINUCANE INQUIRY - The British government will not now hold an inquiry into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane because the Finucane family refuses to accept the rules governing the inquiry. Finucane was killed by loyalists acting in collusion with British Army and British Intelligence Service agents, but the family believes the proposed inquiry would not be sufficiently independent of British government control.

PEACE TRIP - The leaders of Ireland's four main Christian churches - Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian - together visit the Holy Land next week to bring a message of peace from the churches in Ireland. There they will meet local church leaders and representatives from the Palestinian Authority and Israeli Government.

NEW ARMS - The Genealogical Society of Ireland suggests that maybe it's time for the United Kingdom to redesign its Royal Arms to remove the Arms of Ireland. The current Royal Arms feature the Arms of England in the 1st and 3rd quarters, the Arms of Scotland in the 2nd and the Arms of Ireland in the 4th quarter. The Royal Arms have not been changed since 1801 after the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland.

"THE PRIESTS" - Three Irish Catholic priests this week signed a recording contract with Epic Records (Britney Spears label!) which will invest almost $2 million promoting the singing act to be known as The Priests. The three have previously performed in front of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict, and their contract stipulates that they will never be required to do anything that would conflict with their religious beliefs or interfere with their "day jobs".

NURSERY RHYMES - The Irish government will mail a copy of the book Humpty Dumpty and other Rhymes to every baby born in Ireland in 2008 to highlight the importance of early reading. The mailing will include a short note in English, Irish, Polish and French outlining how best to read to a baby.

BANNED - Ireland has banned the Manhunt 2 video game because of its "gross, unrelenting and gratuitous violence". Anyone buying the game online or importing it from another country commits a criminal offense. Manhunt 2 is the only video game banned in Ireland.

FIRST FLIGHT - 80 years ago on April 12, 1928, an Irish Free State Army Captain and two German aviators became the first to cross the Atlantic Westbound in a non-stop fixed-wing aircraft flight. They took off from Dublin on April 12th, narrowly dodging a stray sheep on the runway, and landed 36 1/2 hours later on a frozen lake on the Gulf of St Lawrence, Quebec.

* Ireland's Road Safety Authority has announced plans to reduce the DUI blood alcohol limit to 50mg per 100ml of blood (.05) while the limit for those on Provisional licenses will be .02. The current limit is .08.

* The UK government plans to repeal a law that has been described as "legalized sectarianism", the Act of Settlement which bars a Catholic from sitting on the throne and bans heirs to the throne from marrying a Catholic.

* The Irish government is considering removing the 70 years upper age limit for jurors while still retaining the right of excusal for those 65 and over.

* A record price of $570,000 was recently paid at auction for an original copy of Ireland's 1916 Proclamation of Independence.

* An Irish-born engineer spent 40 years digging tunnels underneath his 20-room Victorian house in London to store cars, boats and other item. He must now pay the local council almost $500,000 to repair the damage he caused.

* An article about the Irish game of Hurling taking root in US colleges and cities can be read at IrishAbroad.com.

* Irish airline Aer Lingus has agreed to honor 300 round-trip Ireland-US tickets mistakenly sold for $8 each because of a computer malfunction.

* According to Bono, Ireland is 6th in the world in terms of per capita GDP commitment to the poor of the world.

* All the battle scenes in the movie Mary, Queen of Scots starring Scarlett Johansson, will be shot in Ireland later this summer with members of Ireland's Defence Forces enacting the battles. Braveheart, another Scotland-based film, was also shot in Ireland in 1996.

* 55-year-old Christy Cooney from Cork takes over as President of the Gaelic Athletic Association in April 2009.

* Dun Laoghaire will erect a statue of King Laoghaire in the center of town to honor the High King of Ireland who welcomed St. Patrick to Tara in 431 AD.

* Dublin is still the best city in which to live and work in Europe according to a University of Glasgow study which shows that Dubliners enjoy higher salaries and better employment prospects than anywhere else in Europe.

* The number of US troops going through Shannon airport increased from 27,070 in the first quarter of 2007 to 66,667 in the same period this year.

* There are about 750 Irish-born people in prisons outside Ireland, including around 700 in British prisons and 25-30 in US prisons.

* Northern Ireland's Unionists are objecting to an interactive human rights game in a museum in Amsterdam which draws comparisons between the Orange Order and the Nazis.

* Over a third of all Irishmen between the age of 25 and 44 own a hair straightener.

* The average annual industrial wage in Ireland is now about $50,000.

* A recent study claims that 50% of Irish Travelers die before their 39th birthday.