September to be fruitful month on heritage front
One of the cultural highlights of the year is National Culture Night, which this year takes place on Friday 20th September The 11th Celebrating Cork Past Exhibition will take place on the weekend of Saturday/Sunday 28/29th
Although sunshine hasn’t been a familiar sight to the summer this year, one sight that many a keen eye has noticed is the number of house martins, swallows and swifts circling above and around us.
These summer visitors are a welcome sight and a number of excellent groups are undertaking local measures to ensure that their numbers won’t be in decline. With regard to Swifts, Bird Watch Ireland and the Local Authority Heritage Officer Network has teamed up to produce a publication ‘Saving Swifts’ which sets out practical measures, small and large in scale, that can make a real difference. Whether a home owner or a business manager there are many options available so that everyone can play their part. For more information and to see the document visit the news and updates section of the Cork County Council heritage webpage – www.corkcoco.ie/ news-and-updates.
The website also contains information on the recently announced Royal Irish Academy Archaeological Grants. The Royal Irish Academy (RIA) is one of Ireland’s best known learned bodies and was founded in the year 1785 with its aims established as ‘ the promotion and investigation of the sciences, polite literature, and antiquities, as well as the encouragement of discussion and debate between scholars of diverse backgrounds and interests’ (www.ria.ie). The RIA has a keen interest in archaeology and the recent grants announced will no doubt see a number of applications. The grants cover new excavations, continuing excavations and post excavation work; grants for World Heritage Site research, and grants for C14 Radiocarbon Dating with regard to archaeological finds – scientific dating that is used to identify the period in which the find is from. The Grant Schemes opened on 3rd September and for more information visit www. ria.ie.
With the month of September upon us there is much to look forward to in terms of upcoming cultural and heritage events. One of the cultural highlights of the year is National Culture Night, which this year takes place on Friday 20th September. Culture Night is an annual all-island public event that celebrates culture, creativity and the arts and on the night arts and cultural organisations and venues of all shapes and sizes, including the National Cultural institutions, extend their opening hours to allow for increased access to the public. Special and unique events and workshops are specifically programmed at participating locations and everything is available free of charge. Over 100 events will be taking place in the County of Cork and for full details visit http://culturenightcorkcounty.ie/.
The month of September is also very much on the heritage calendar with a number of fine annual events also taking place. Of particular note is the weekend of Saturday 28th of September when the 11th Celebrating Cork Past Exhibition will take place – a day where heritage groups from Cork City and all around the County meet up to showcase their areas and share ideas and memories with groups new and old alike as well as the many hundreds of people who pop in to see what the day is all about.
The 2019 Exhibition will take place in the City Hall from 10:00 a.m. to 16:00; admission is free and everyone is most welcome, and indeed encouraged, to attend.
Also at the end of September will be the 17th Annual Youghal Celebrates History Conference and in Fermoy in North Cork, the 2nd Annual Thomas Kent Symposium will take place – a conference that looks at the impact that conflicts in Ireland have had on the Irish people over many years. There will be more information available on this Symposium over the coming weeks.
For those in the West Cork area and in particular for those with an interest in natural heritage, the inaugural Cape Clear Wildlife Festival is one that will be of interest to many. Running from Monday 2nd to Saturday 14th September, the Festival will see an action-packed range of exciting events over the course of the period, including guided natural history tours, sea-watching, whale-watching, bird-ringing demonstrations, bee and butterfly walks and fun family wildlife days.
All events are free and everyone is welcome.
The festival marks the 60th anniversary of Bird Watch Ireland’s bird observatory on the island and the festival promises to be a most exiting one. For more information, visit https:// birdwatchireland.ie/ccbo60. For those with an interest in the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Anglo-Irish War of Independence Spike Island is the place to be over the weekend of September 7th and 8th. Open for all to see is the wonderful exhibition ‘Independence’, which focusses on these important aspects of Irish history, and this special weekend will also see Irish and Crown force re-enactors; autograph books, original artefacts, and much more. For more information on this and many further heritage events over the month of September visit www. corkcoco.ie/upcoming-events.