A few photos from our wonderful Summer Tea Dance - a wonderful afternoon of friendly faces, food, dancing!

“After Heather’s husband passed away, there was a lot to deal with,” says Shaun. “Obviously she was grieving, but there were some practical issues, too. Suddenly, the house she was living in felt far too big for her. She asked her housing association if she could move to a smaller property, but nothing was forthcoming.” 

Since 2018, John Hourigan has helped Leeds Irish Health & Homes raise in excess of £150,000 through dinner dances and charity dinners, as well as corporate and personal donations.

We had even more reason to celebrate than usual on Sunday 16 March at the Leeds St Patrick's Day Parade - we won the coveted Best Float trophy!

Our community party for St Patrick's Day is the highlight of our year - and this year we had even more to celebrate than usual.

In case you missed it, last month we moved into our very own premises - our first permanent home in our 29 years of service to the the Leeds Irish community.

Some HUGE news: we've successfully purchased a new office and community space to continue our work, 29 years after first setting up in the city.

Our new home in Harehills, Leeds, is a milestone achievement for us in our work supporting members of the Irish and wider Leeds communities to live healthier, more independent lives.  

Support our life-changing work in 2025

We had almost 200 people turn our for our annual festive get-together at Leeds Irish Centre on Monday 9 December and everyone had a simply wonderful (Christmas) time!

As always, it was a huge collective effort and we have a LOT of people to thank.

Joe, Enhance Support Worker at Leeds Irish Health & Homes (LIHH), has worked at LIHH for two years. For Men’s Health Awareness Month – a month devoted to early detection and support with men’s health issues – he tells us about the importance of keeping an eye on his mental health... 

We had a wonderful Samhain Tea Dance on Wednesday 30 October at the Queen's Hall, Leeds - and, as always, our community members did us proud by really getting into the spirit (get it?) of things.

Cara community worker Clare Mone tells us about the Cara Group's recent trip to Filey.

This Suicide Prevention Day, one of our community members, Sarah, tells her story of losing her son to suicide.  

Intergenerational work is so important at Leeds Irish Health & Homes.

'Cara' means 'friend' in Irish, and it would be hard to find a friendlier lot than our Cara Group who enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Leeds Golf Club recently.

We had a fabulous Tea Dance at the Queens Hall at the Immaculate Heart Church, Leeds. As always, our staff and community members made it a great afternoon of tea, sandwiches, cake and craic.

Many of our LIHH community will know Peter, either through his work with the Men’s Group or from seeing him with a camera in hand at our parties and events.

For Men’s Health Month, Peter is sharing the story of his recent prostate cancer diagnosis and the journey he’s been on since.

Over to Peter…

This week - 10-16 June - is Carers’ Week. To celebrate the theme of ‘Putting Carers on the Map’ we’re sharing Susie’s story, who cares for her mum Florence. 

Did you know that throughout the month of March - the month in which St Patrick’s Day is internationally celebrated - Irish History Month is celebrated?

On 13th March 2024, Leeds Irish Health and Homes celebrated another fabulous St Patrick’s Day party at Leeds Irish Centre.  

The 25th Leeds St Patrick's Day parade fell on the 17th March, and what a wonderful day we had celebrating our heritage, culture and the contribution of Irish people to Leeds.