Sir, – In 1984, when the Patrick Kavanagh Centre extended its Kavanagh commemoration to a full weekend, Anthony Cronin was a great support.
One particular event he chaired was the prize-giving ceremony for the poetry awards in the community centre. New that year was a second-level schools award. When presenting the prizes, he observed that in his time, a teenage boy at school would have kept quiet about his leanings towards writing poetry. He was pleased to see that they were now getting prizes for it and in public too.
This encouraged us to continue, and when he spoke at the Kavanagh weekend in 2015, he awarded the prizes once more. He was reminded that he presented the prizes 30 years previously and that the competition was now a country-wide event.
As was the case with many vital initiatives in the arts, Anthony Cronin was supportive and encouraging.
Last year Michael Harding was present and wrote glowingly about the confidence of the winners reciting their poems to a full audience. Anthony Cronin would have been pleased. He backed a winner for sure. – Yours, etc,
ART AGNEW,
Chairman,
Patrick Kavanagh Centre,
Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.