Had lessons in Irish traditional singing from Father O’Flynn ((Father James Christopher O’Flynn (1881-1962), curate in Cork´s North Cathedral, founded the Cork Shakespearian Company in 1926, which from 1927 performed regularly at the Opera House and produced a series of renowned actors. Fr. O’Flynn developed a very effective method of curing stammering. He taught elocution in Farranferris; in 1946 he became parish priest in Passage West where he founded a children´s choir that often broadcast on Radio Éireann. His mother had sung in Hans Conrad Swertz´s Cathedral choir; he studied the piano with Tilly Fleischmann for a while, argued with her husband over the merits of classical vs. traditional music, but was the first to visit him in the internment camp in Oldcastle in 1916. A BBC documentary film was made of him in 1961: It happened to me.)) in school to-day, and learnt about the Authentic and the Plagal modes of Re. It is a very interesting subject, but I do wish he would not teach in Tonic Solfa. This system is one of the musical nuisances here. Went to my cousin Arthur after dinner, and found him in bed with the flu, and Frieda with measles. Patty, the baby, is really charming. ((Arthur, his sisters Frieda and Patricia, were the children of Tilly’s sister Elsa O’Malley-Williams, née Swertz.)) Spent the remainder of evening fixing stamps from my old album into the new. It is a terrible job, and one would require the patience of an angel for it. I have a champion stamp, catalogue value of which is ₤6, and I am very proud of it. I have about 3,000 stamps now, and have a real passion for stamp collecting. It is very instructive in geography, as well as amusing, and it sometimes can become financial.
