Tag Archives: CUIMHNEAMH an Chláir

This Friday will see the publishing of the first episode of the new series of the Clare Oral History Podcast. Produced by Paula Carroll, with sound supervision by Darragh Purcell, The Clare Oral History Podcast showcases the oral histories of Clare people recorded over the last 15 years in the county. This year’s series will focus on some of the finest storytellers and carriers of traditional knowledge in the Cuimhneamh an Chláir archive. It will give Clare people a chance to sit down and listen to evocations of times past in Clare. The first episode features 88 year old Kitty Leyden, a well-known and much beloved figure in her native Cree and her adopted Tulla. Her stories range from her fun-filled childhood in West Clare, to talking parrots, and from the cruelty of educators to how her parents’ match was made. Listeners will find out what the “plucking of the gander” is, what to stuff a pigs bladder football with, …

PRECIOUS footage of some of North Clare’s most renowned singers, musicians, dancers. storytellers and characters has been gifted to the county’s oral history group, Cuimhneamh an Chláir. Excerpts of the material, gathered by piper Eugene Lambe in the 1980s, will be shown as part of a public interview with Cuimhneamh’s Coordinator, Paula Carroll, on December 1 at The Old Ground Hotel. The event, will also see the launch, by Dr Maura Cronin, of the organisation’s strategic plan and its new website (clarememories.ie). The interview with the acclaimed piper will be recorded for the very popular Cuimhneamh an Chláir podcast. Having moved to Fanore from Dublin in the 1970s, the professional botanist, realised the importance of capturing the music and the characters around him. “I was playing one night in O’Connor’s in Doolin and Dick Grant was with me and we were watching some of the local musicians and we were saying, ‘These guys are amazing and they won’t be around …

THE first-ever episode of the news Cuimhneamh an Chláir podcast will go live online this weekend. The Clare Oral History Podcast, produced by Paula Carroll, will provide deep dives into the oral history archive of Cuimhneamh an Chláir, which now contains over 12 years of memories and stories collected from the county’s oldest citizens. The most surprising, interesting, informative, inspirational and moving of these stories will now be shared in a permanently accessible way, thanks to funding from The Heritage Council. The pandemic has forced many organisations to review how they work and it inspired Cuimhneamh an Chláir to find new ways to share its material. Ordinarily, the main focus would have been put on live community events where the stories recorded in an area were brought back to that area. “The pandemic has made that kind of in-community sharing  impossible in the last 18 months’, said Paula. “Older people have been isolated in their own homes – the very …

NEW voices and new stories collected as part of the Cuimhneamh an Chláir archive of oral history will be aired next Monday night, as part of the Bealtaine Festival of creativity in older age. At the online event, from 7.30pm on May 31, Paula Carroll will host an evening of memories and stories from Clare’s older citizens. In recent times, Cuimhneamh an Chláir has welcomed new members through the Clare Volunteer Centre and they have been recording and transcribing more stories for the online archive, Clarememories.ie. Topics in the latest round of collecting include the scourge of TB in 1940s Doolin; the cheapness of workers’ lives on the Shannon Scheme; pipe-smoking grannies; dead bodies in the yard, and houses that weren’t there. On the last day of Bealtaine, Cuimhneamh an Chláir is inviting all interested people to a Zoom gathering to listen to these new voices and stories. To register your interest, e-mail at info@clarememories.ie A zoom link will be …

AFTER what has been a incredibly tough year for nursing home staff, residents and their families, a unique oral history project is hoping to spark reminiscences about times long before the threat of Covid-19. Cuimhneamh an Chláir has dipped into its extensive archive to compile an album of Christmas stories which it is distributing to every nursing home in the county. “We celebrated our tenth anniversary last year and were delighted that we got to mark it,” said Leonard McDonagh, Chairperson of Cuimhneamh. “Some people who attended our celebrations, including the late Chris Droney, are no longer with us and that’s a huge loss. We’re also conscious that many people in nursing homes have contributed their stories and memories to our archive. We wanted to give something back to them and that’s why we created the CD.” The album contains voices from all over Clare and many colourful memories of Christmases past. Among the traditions described are preparing the house, …

CUIMHNEAMH an Chláir has launched three new audio walls at Aillwee Caves, the County Museum in Ennis and Bunratty Folk Park Cormac McCarthy of the group said visitors can view footage of people talking about times gone by and explained the installation of the audio walls is part of their work to increase access to oral history. “We were fortunate enough to get funding from Clare Local Development Company. The last bit of funding that we had we put towards the development of these interactive audio-visual displays. A core part of what the group is about is recording the oral history and also trying to get it back out there into the community. This is a project we devised that would get it out there into the public and the locations that we’ve chosen have among the highest footfalls in the county,” said Cormac. The interactive audio-visual displays will showcase 55 clips from the massive Cuimhneamh an Chláir archive and …