Great lectures to look forward to ...

ON Saturday a talk will be given on ‘ The Story of Waterville Cable Station’. This informal talk will outline the history of Waterville’s telegraph cable station from the 1880s to the 1960s, including the history of Waterville cable station during the war years. Personal anecdotes and reflections on growing up in the cable station will be discussed, and how Waterville helped set the clocks of Northern America. This is at 4pm in Teach Amergin.

There’s a film chronicling the Barack Obama administration’s foreign policy team and the events of Obama’s final year in office. This will be followed by the return to Waterville of US diplomat, Samantha Power, who will talk about her key role in the administration following the screening. Samantha will be at the Sea Lodge Hotel on Saturday 25 at 10am. Moreover, US legal scholar and author Cass Sunstein will be in Waterville to give a talk. His topic will be ‘ The Great Dictator: Can Authoritarianism Come to the United States?’ It starts at 5pm in St Michael’s Church.

UCC lecturer Gwenda Young will give a talk on ‘Funny Girls: Women Comedians of Early Hollywood’. Gwenda explores the talented female comedians of the time, who were not always recognised for their talents. Among the comedians discussed will be Mary Pickford and Mabel Normand, who were both from Kerry. It takes place at St Michael’s Church at 2:30pm.