First stop the Irish World Heritage Centre to be precise.  For those who don't know Manchester this is located in the Cheetham Hill area, a part of the city that suffered during August's disturbances.

Cheetham Hill comes with the reputation for being a locality with plenty of economic and social difficulties and, whatever the reality before August, the recent history of local violence has made some people from further afield wary of visiting.  Prior to this weekend we received well-intentioned warnings about this from three separate sources - all of whom were themselves put off coming into the area and so missed out on experiencing the wonderful performances Donal and Harriet produced on this first night of the tour.

We'll never know whether other people were deterred too but we can say that those who joined us on the 'Journey' gave us the warmest of responses and the most enthusiastic feedback.  Someone who had travelled from Blackpool for the evening said:

'It was absolutely gorgeous - I'm so glad we came!  It makes me want to rush off and write poetry.'

So rewarding to hear our that work can make an impact of that kind.