Tag Archives: National Heritage Week

The Rekindle Festival of Lost Skills is set to return to North Clare on August 16 and 17, with this edition focused on uniting communities across generations and cultures through traditional skills and crafts. Following its success at the National Pride of Place awards in 2023, this year’s festival, part of National Heritage Week, promises an enriching experience with live music, workshops, and demonstrations showcasing the richness of Ireland’s heritage and beyond. Festival Highlights include ‘LASRAÍ’ – Rekindle Launch Concert, Ennistymon Community Centre on August 16. Lasraí, which means gathering around the flames, will ignite the weekend with an intercultural traditional music and dance concert featuring masters of tradition from Ireland and also all over the world including Stephanie Keane, Ultan O’Brien and Seamas Hyland. Aindrias De Staic and Louise O Connor will be performing with top class traditional musicians from around the world including Mohammad Syfkhan, a Kurdish bouzouki player living in Leitrim, Citadel a 10 piece global sounds …

RECORD temperatures, touching 29 degree Celsius, and a cloudless sky were the backdrop for the recent 12 O’Clock Hills Heritage Tour, which attracted participants from across East Clare and further afield. The tour, organised to mark National Heritage Week, set off from the Belvoir carpark. The route taken was via the Crag River to view the 19th century Crag Bridges and the river’s mini-waterfall. Much to the satisfaction of the participants, there was a cooling breeze between the trees for this section of the walk. Walkers were next guided onto the Famine Road. This was to be a link from East Clare to Limerick City to keep people employed back about 1846 during Famine times. Participants were then guided back to see some of the heritage gems dotted around the area. These include sites whose names are reminders of the lore and legacy of the Hills, such as Paddy Kippin’s place, Matt Moloney’s, Dysart Lyons Stephens, the Stepping Stones and Butter Hole. …

THERE are many Heritage Week events still to enjoy in county Clare over the coming four days, a selection of which we will round up here. In Scariff, Irish Seed Savers will host an exciting ‘Food Heritage for Biodiversity’ event on Sunday (August 21), from 11am to 5pm. ‘Sustainable Heritage’ and ‘Biodiversity’ are the themes for this year’s National Heritage Week and in exploring this further Irish Seed Savers have lined up a series of talks, tours and tastings which aim to deepen our connection with Ireland’s food crop heritage, natural environment and biodiversity. A Biodiversity Treasure Hunt for children will take place at 1pm and 3pm and live traditional music throughout day to accompany the schedule of events: 11am Seed Saving Demonstration with Deirdre Morrissey, Seed Curator at Irish Seed Savers 12am Guided Orchard, Log Bee Hive Tour & Heritage Apple Tasting 1pm Growing & Saving Seed for Biodiversity Walking Tour with Tristan Lienhard, Head Gardener at Irish Seed …

CLONLARA Development Group has issued an appeal for people in the Mid-West to search for old photographs, stories and press cuttings in connection with “Pattern Day” at St Senan’s Holy Well in Clonlara. The group are in the process of compiling a display for National Heritage Week 2021 Exhibition, which runs from August 21 August to August 2nd. It believes that the current lockdown to minimise the spread of Covid-19 provides the ideal opportunity for people to go through old albums and momentoes to help preserve these memories from days past. The 2021 “Pattern Day” exhibition will follow the successful 2020 exhibition, a two-day event held at local Kiltenanlea Church. For those who are not familiar with “Pattern Day”, the word pattern is derived from the Irish word patrun or English word patron. In olden days most Irish parishes would honour and celebrate their patron saint. Only parishes with a holy well or shrine typically had a pattern day. Prayers …

CLARECASTLE and Ballyea Heritage and Wildlife Group were named among the country’s Heritage Heroes this week. The local group were named the first ever winners in the County Clare category at the National Heritage Week Awards 2020 for their project, “Clarecastle on film in the 1950s.” Eric Shaw of the Clarecastle and Ballyea Heritage and Wildlife Group explains, “The film had been recovered from reels of old cine-film taken by Anthony Considine with wonderful scenes of Old Clarecastle, fancy-dress parades at Regattas and of ships being unloaded at Clarecastle Quay. The film brought back memories of those days.  Covid-19 put paid to a lot of our plans for Heritage Week 2020 but we were determined to mark the occasion as we have done over the past eight years. The finding of that wonderful old film on Clarecastle helped us to put it forward as a project to the Heritage Council and we launched it during Heritage Week. It was very well received …

National Heritage Week 2014 has been hailed as a “fantastic success” with over 980 programme  organisers running events. In Clare, there were more than 80 events right across the county. “It is fantastic to see that 31% of those organizing events this year have been involved in Heritage Week for more than five years, while 25% were getting involved for the first time, remarked Michael Starrett, chief executive of the Heritage Council. “Heritage Week would not be the success it is if it wasn’t for the dedication and commitment of all those who get involved in organizing events and promoting their local heritage for people to enjoy,” he added. Event Organisers are being encouraged to enter their events in the 2014 Event Organiser Awards, which showcase the fantastic work by event organisers throughout the week. Entries can be made in the following categories – Best Overall Event, Best Event organised by a Community Group / NGO / Individual, Best Children’s Event …

The world’s biggest photography competition, Wiki Loves Monuments, is taking place in Ireland for the first time this year. Officially launched this Tuesday by Wikimedia Ireland and Minister Simon Harris , the Wiki Loves Monuments photographic competition takes place from now up to September 30. Organised by Wikimedia, the movement behind free encyclopaedia Wikipedia, the competition aims to raise awareness of Ireland’s national monuments and create a crowd-sourced bank of quality photos that will be free to use for education. Amateur and professional photographers are being invited to photograph the national monuments in their locality and upload their photos to www.wikilovesmonuments.ie. Entries will be judged by a four-person expert panel and the winners will be announced on Friday, October 31. The project is being supported by The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, National Heritage Week, The Heritage Council of Ireland, The Office of Public Works, Open Knowledge Ireland and Dimension Data. Certified by Guinness World Records as the …

A total of 75 events ranging from nature walks to history lectures will take place across County Clare during National Heritage Week 2014 from August 23 to 31. Co-ordinated by Clare County Council and The Heritage Council with support from the Department of Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht and Fáilte Ireland, the initiative will focus on Clare’s built, natural and cultural heritage. Some of the highlights of Heritage Week 2014 include a commemoration of the life of submarine inventor and Liscannor native, John P Holland; a tour of towerhouses around Shannon Town, a lecture on the life of an Kilrush-born Boer War general, Sir Thomas Kelly-Kenny; a Victorian Heritage Walk around Kilkee, a tour of Lisdoonvarna’s famous restorative waters. The centenary of the outbreak of World War One is also being marked with a lecture by historian Cormac O Comhrai’s on life in Ireland during the Great War, while Killaloe will also be marking the millennial anniversary of the death of …