Large attendance at Greystones Festival of History
At the completion of the 29th La Touche Legacy/4th Festival of History, chairman George Jones said that organisers were delighted with the large attendance, the great quality of the presentations and the overall shape of the weekend.
The opening presentation on Friday by the students of 6th Class St Brigid’s NS was a stirring insight into the lives of three women with very close connections to Greystones- Grace Gifford, Kitty Kiernan and Sinead de Valera.
George expressed the appreciation of the Committee for all the work undertaken with production by the students and of course by their teachers Mary Beausang, Jane Ahern, Niamh Murray and in particular Martin Dodd.
On Friday three lectures were provided by Dr Conor Mulvagh (UCD), Dr Maurice Manning (UCD) and Dr Ida Milne (NUI Maynooth) , the Committee thanked the three chairmen of these presentation Cllr Christopher Fox, Cllr John Ryan and Cllr John Snell .
There was a large attendance on Saturday morning for talks by Dr Mel Farrell (NUI Maynooth), Dr Leeann Lane and our own local historian Joan Kavanagh who provided the Jim Brennan Memorial Lecture.
The Seminar Dinner Guest Speaker was Dr Martin Mansergh Historian, Former Minister of State and former Advisor to successive Taoisigh, Chairperson of GAHS Ms Rosemary Raughter said ‘everyone enjoyed Dr Mansergh’s elegant and exhilarating presentation on Saturday night and he made a very memorable contribution to what was an extremely successful weekend.’
The Minister of Heath Deputy Simon Harris also addressed the dinner audience.
In conclusion George Jones thanked the Committee, the Captain and Staff of Greystones Golf Club and it was certainly very nice to be in the home of golfer Paul Dunne on the weekend he had such success. George also thanked Anne Daly of SuperValu, and members of the local media