Sabina Higgins speech opening of the Permanent Exhibition at Thoor Ballylee
hoor Ballylee, Gort, Saturday, 18th June 2016
It is my great pleasure to be here with you all this afternoon. May I thank my good friend Lelia Doolan for inviting me to officially open the Inaugural Yeats Exhibition and all of you for welcoming me so generously. I also want to thank the donors who have rescued this blessed place and all the voluntary effort of friends.
One of Yeat's phrases when he is talking of building a national theatre. He speaks of "a community bound together by imaginative possessions".
So I am especially pleased to open this wonderful exhibition donated by the generous kindness and scholarship of Joe Hassett – which captures all the modern, storied women whom the poet pursued (and was pursued by!!) and remembered so beautifully and vividly in his life and work. It is a marvel to see them here so gloriously and humanly portrayed -- in such a perfect and appropriate setting -- it brings to life again the character and joy of this memorable place.