A Wing and a Prayer is launched at Waterford Regional Hospital - April 2004

A Wing and a Prayer, an anthology of writing by staff, patients and visitors to Waterford Regional Hospital, was launched by renowned Waterford playwright, Jim Nolan as part of the recent Sean Dunne Festival.

This anthology of poetry and prose emerged from poet Mark Roper's eighteen-month residency in Waterford Regional Hospital, which ended in December 2003. The anthology includes poems by Mark Roper, Michael Coady, Ian Duhig, and Kerry Hardie, who all gave public readings at the hospital in November and December 2003. The anthology also includes a short story by local writer Alys Ware which was originally broadcast on Radio Eireann in 1950 and was published with the kind permission of her daughter Christine Cronin.

The launch of the A Wing and a Prayer was attended by many of its 37 contributors along with their friends and families. Marguerite Sands, Rebecca Moran, Michael Dunphy and Eileen O'Connor all read examples of their poetry and prose included in anthology. Dympna Dreyer read a poem by her friend Maura Burns who recently passed away.

Jim Nolan spoke eloquently about the role of the arts in a healing environment: "I have often thought it daring, not to say arrogant, to consider that the arts can play a meaningful role in the essential activity of a hospital – that of healing the sick. Faced with the sonnet or the scalpel as cure, which of us would not reluctantly choose the scalpel? Yet if a play or poem or piece of music cannot fix a broken leg, it is possible to think it may assist the healing of a fractured spirit."

The Waterford Healing Arts Trust is grateful to Comhairle for their generous sponsorship of their publication.