It is always a pleasure to visit the Maiden City and Tuesday 25 August was no exception. The blue plaque to George Farquhar was the sixth that the Circle had erected in the city. The Verbal Arts Centre, on which it was placed, occupies an imposing position on the south west corner of the historic walls. The building had hosted the First Derry Primary School when it moved from an adjacent site in 1894. The listed building had been purchased in 1996 and renovated by the VAC to provide Ireland's first home for the literary arts.

The event was attended by Councillor Paul Fleming, Mayor of Derry City, by Mark Durkan MP, MLA, by Maire Gallagher of the Heritage Lottery Fund and a number of distinguished guests. The event was graced by the performance of excerpts from some of Farquhar's plays, mainly from Love And a Bottle that was receiving its premiere that same evening, by the Blue Eagle Productions, an independent Londonderry-based theatre company that performs main-stage productions at the Millenium Forum and tours in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Here are some photos of the event.