Flag Lane Publishers was started by Vincent Murphy to publish his first book:
Goodbye Kit. It may be for years and it may be forever Michael C. Kickham 1861 – 1909 : A Memoir.
Vincent Murphy, a native of Clonmel and living in Cork, is a retired Chartered Engineer. He is interested in family research, writing, hill walking, sailing, travel and photography. This current book is the result of extensive research into the life of Michael Kickham, who had a very interesting and enigmatic life. See Reader Reviews
He has also produced:
The Wild Patagonian Way, covering three trips to Patagonia: first as a lone traveller hitchhiking in winter in 1981; then with family in 2005 / 2006; and in 2016 leading a group of hill walkers to El Chaltén in Argentina and Torres del Paine in Chile. This book, originally for family and fellow hill walkers, is currently being reworked for publication.
In 2010, he was co-founder of the Cork based voluntary organisation The Next Step, supporting people who experience depression and mental health difficulties. The Next Step is now part of Cork Mental Health Foundation and Vincent is on the board.
Declan Gould was inspiration for and co-founder of The Next Step. He has written a memoir: Crazy Daze – A Bipolar Odyssey, which can also be accessed via this website.
Vincent is currently involved in planning the commemoration of Conor OBrien’s* circumnavigation of the globe between 1923 and 1925, the first to do so under the Irish tricolour flag, in Saoirse, a boat he himself designed. He sailed south of the three capes: Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin (SW Australia) and Cape Horn, the first person ever to do so in a small private craft. The booklet, Conor OBrien – Sailor Extraordinaire, provides an overview of Conor’s life and his many achievements.
*Conor always wrote his surname without an apostrophe.