The Church of Ireland General Synod held in Armagh City Hotel was the setting on Saturday 9th May 2009 for the convivial launch of two new books on different themes but both relating to the Church, published by Columba Press.

L-R: Sean O'Boyle (Columba Press), Dean Houston McKelvey, Alan Acheson

Why the Whistle Went: A Memoir by Alan R. Acheson was launched by the Dean of Belfast, the Very Revd Dr Houston McKelvey; while Clergy of Meath and Kildare.

L-R: Bishop Richard Clarke, Sean O'Boyle, W.J.R. Wallace

Biographical Succession Lists, compiled by Canon J. B. Leslie and revised, edited and updated by W. J. R. Wallace, was launched by the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, the Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke.

Both books are available from bookshops including the Good Bookshop, Belfast and on www.columba.ie .

Information on both books:

Why The Whistle Went
A Memoir

With a career path spanning ordinand, soldier, headmaster, chief executive, caregiver and author, Alan R. Acheson writes his memoirs. He also spent 44 years as a referee in Ulster club rugby during the final phase of the game’s amateur status.

Alan Acheson comments boldly on the contexts in which he has lived, whether social conditions in the 1940s and the violence of the 1970s as they affected the Protestant community in Northern Ireland, bureaucratic corruption and obstruction in many spheres, or contrasting national characteristics in Australia and Canada.

Uniquely, the author depicts two very different all-Ireland scenes: religion and rugby football. His long engagement with the Church of Ireland highlights issues of churchmanship, inter-Church dialogue, and the General Synod, to which he was first elected in 1970 and again re-elected in 2008. Although unlicensed, Alan Acheson has preached in several Anglican Cathedrals, including Canterbury.

Two singular achievements stand out. Acting with Fr Philip Fogarty SJ, Headmaster of Clongowes Wood College, the author twinned Portora with Clongowes in 1980. A year later, he led the Anglican Consultative Council in an initiative that issued ultimately in the Roman Catholic-Anglican agreed statement, Salvation and the Church.

Alan Acheson is a graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast: BA 1959, Ph.D 1967. He was a British Army officer 1964-72, later Headmaster of Portora Royal School and The King’s School, Sydney. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. He has taught church history in Trinity College, Dublin. He is the author of A History of the Church of Ireland, 1691-2001. He was elected to the General Synod in 1970; though living in Canada, he was again re-elected in 2008.

Why the Whistle Went, A Memoir is priced at €14.99 (paperback)

Clergy of Meath and Kildare
Biographical Succession Lists
Compiled by Canon J. B. Leslie and revised, edited and updated by W. J. R. Wallace

The Dioceses of Meath and Kildare have been united since 1976 but their histories before that date were very different. Meath had always been independent; indeed it is the premier diocese after the two metropolitan sees. Kildare was linked to Dublin for a large part of its history, first when the bishops were also the Deans of Christ Church Cathedral and later when the Archbishops of Dublin were also Bishops of Kildare. This volume lists the cathedral and parish clergy of the united dioceses from the Middle Ages to the present, with biographies where possible.

This volume is based on the work of Canon James Blennerhassett Leslie, Rector of Kilsaran, Co Louth from 1899 to 1951 and Chancellor of the Diocese of Armagh from 1934 to 1943. He published succession lists for several dioceses and left other lists in manuscript in the Library of the Representative Church Body. Two of those manuscripts form the basis of this volume: Clergy of Meath and Clergy of Kildare. The lists have been brought up to date to 2008 and include several thousand biographies of the clergy, as well as brief historical notes on the parishes and churches in the dioceses.

W. J. R. Wallace was educated at The King’s Hospital and Trinity College, Dublin, where he read Modern History and Political  Science. Now retired, he taught History and English at The High School, Dublin for many years. He has published Clergy of Dublin and Glendalough (2001) and Faithful to our Trust: A History of the Erasmus Smith Trust and The High School, Dublin (2004).

Price:  €50 / £45 (Hardback)

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