County comes alive in celebration of our heritage
ONE of the heritage highlights of the year – National Heritage Week – takes place over the next number of days, from Saturday 18th to Sunday 26th August.
Co-ordinated by the Heritage Council, and part of the wider European Heritage Days Programme, Heritage Week is set to be a most special one this year, as we celebrate 2018, the European Year of Cultural Heritage. Cork County has been excelling in Heritage Week activities in recent years with national acknowledgments given to the Ellen Hutchins festival in West Cork and the John Saul event in East Cork.
It is hoped that Heritage Week 2018 will be another great success around the County and with close to 150 events organised in 60 different locations it looks very promising.
Around the County there are free heritage events taking place for one and for all. Some of the highlights in north and mid Cork include events in Blarney, Coachford, Carrigadrohid, Lombardstown, Inniscarra, Macroom, Mallow and Charleville. On Saturday 18th in Blarney there will be a most interesting storytelling evening by ‘ The Gab Storytelling’, taking place in the Alphasud and commencing at 19:30. Another Gab Storytelling event takes place later in the week in Blarney as well, organised by the Blarney History Society and taking place on Wednesday 22nd, 8pm, at the Church of the Resurrection. Over the road in Griffins Garden Centre, Dripsey, on Saturday 18th, is the annual Cork County Bulb Day for Kids, which coincides with World Honey Bee Day. There will be free workshops all day from 12 noon to encourage children to start planting and each kid gets to carry home their free pots filled with bulbs to nurture over the months and admire in spring.
Throughout the day, children will learn all about the world of bees and their importance, and there will also be free Face Painting, prizes and lots of fun for all the family.
On Monday 20th in Carrigadrohid, commencing at 18:30 in the village, people will travel back in time and see what Carrigadrohid was like long ago.
Meanwhile in Lombardstown, also on Monday and commencing at 19:00, will be a guided tour of the fascinating history of Newberry Cross Cemetery, organised by Lombardstown Community Council.
In Mitchelstown on Tuesday 21st at 14:00 Cork County Council’s Architectural Conservation Officer Mona Hallinan will lead a walk around the town, commencing at Forest Hall, and highlighting good conservation practice with regard to the design of streetscapes and their components.
The next day, Wednesday 22nd sees a very interesting talk taking place in Griffins Garden Centre, Dripsey at 20:00. Organised by the Inniscarra History Society, local historian Tim O’Brien, supported by other members of the Society, will present a visual journey through the parish of Inniscarra, with details of the historical significance of its major landmarks.
Thursday 23rd August sees many further Heritage Week events taking place around the County, including a wonderful evening in Coachford G.A.A. Clubhouse commencing at 20:00, where all present will have the chance to share their stories of old times with one another.
The next day, Friday 24th, sees a talk by archaeologist Deirdre McCarthy at 14:00 in Macroom Library, discussing the archaeological discoveries made in advance of the N22 Baile Bhuirne to Macroom road.
In Mallow Library on the Friday afternoon and also at 14:00, is a talk looking at genealogy through family history curiosities.
Organised by Mallow Library, the talk will cover the strange and interesting finds that arise when carrying out family history research.
On Saturday 25th, those in the Mallow area, will have the opportunity to see and learn all about Longueville House and its gardens, with an open afternoon from 13:00 to 17:00. Meanwhile up the road in Charleville, there will be a wonderful exhibition on display by Charleville Heritage Society.
The exhibition which will be available to see at the Mercy Convent, Main Street, on Friday 24th from 19:00 to 21:00 and again on Saturday from 15:00 to 17:40, will highlight the historic connections that Charleville has with Europe.
Full details of all Heritage Week events are available to view on Cork County Council’s heritage website (www.corkcoco.ie/arts-heritage) as well as on www.heritageweek.ie. The County Cork Events Leaflet is now also in place in Tourist Offices, Libraries, Council Offices and many other such venues throughout the County. Also note that each year the Heritage Council run a number of Awards for the week including categories such as ‘Hidden Heritage’; ‘Heritage Heroes’ and ‘Cool for Kids’. With 2018 being the European Year of Cultural Heritage there is also a special award this year – Le Chéile San Eoraip - that recognises event organisers who showcase heritage links with other places in Europe. Full details are available at https://www. heritageweek.ie/about/awards.
Over Heritage Week undoubtedly hundreds or indeed thousands of photographs will be taken and perhaps some of these will be entered in the 2018 Wiki Loves Monuments Photographic Competition. Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photo contest, organised by local Wikimedia groups, the movement behind Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – a global collaboration authored by volunteers. The contest encourages participants to photograph and upload images of national monuments and listed structures to Wikimedia Commons. This year the list of eligible sites in Ireland has expanded from 1200 in 2017 to over 6000 in 2018, all of which can be found online. There are cash prizes for the Irish winners, and the possibility of winning further prizes at the international competition. The competition goes lives on August 25th and the last date for entries is midnight on September 30th 2018. The photos are then shared under free licenses via Wikimedia Commons, a free media repository which along with other things, provides most of the images for Wikipedia.
You can find more information about the competition by visiting http://www.wikilovesmonuments.ie/.