Lecture Season for 2010/2011

The lecture season is with us again, with the first talk beginning in October.

The talks will take place on the third Wednesday of each month at 8.p.m in the Town Hall Theatre unless otherwise stated.  Entry fee for the talks is €5.  Any changes will be published here and in the local papers.

The line-up for the coming season is as follows:

13. October- Julian Walton- Lismore Castle & Cathedral- A Personal View.

17 November - Michael Smith- Ireland’s Antarctic Explorers.
      (The venue for this talk is Lawlor’s Hotel).

19 January-William Fraher.- “The Bad Times” The War of Independence & The Big Houses in Co.Waterford.

16 February- Bernadette Guest.- Aspects of Co.Waterford’s Heritage

23 March- Details to be confirmed.

Seminar on Houses,Gardens & Demesnes of Co. Waterford.

Brochure on the Seminar

On Thursday October 14 a seminar on the historic houses, gardens and demesnes of County Waterford will be held in Lismore Castle. Waterford has many fine homes and gardens, such as Dromana House, Ballyin House and Tourin House to name but a few.

The seminar begins at 9.00 a.m with a welcoming address by Orla Russell, Mayor of Lismore Town Council.

At 9.10 a.m William Fraher museum curator will give a talk on County Houses of West Waterford, their history, architecture and demesnes.

Other talks during the day include:

The NIAH and Historic Garden and Designed Landscape Survey. Willie Cumming.
Curraghmore House and Demesne -An Overview. Lord Waterford
The Sustainability of the Country House in Ireland. Colm Murray
Demesne Landscapes in the broader Cultural Heritage Context. Louise Harrington
The Great Garden Trail. Kristin Jameson
A tour of Lismore Castle Gardens and Gallery will take place at 2.30 p.m and the seminar will close at 4.00 p.m.

There is no charge for the seminar, places are limited so booking is essential.

Thanks For All Your Help

We enjoyed a fantastic night in the Town Hall Theatre on Wednesday  8th September. Well over two hundred people turned up for the museum's fund-raising variety night. A great night was had by all and we raised well over 2000 Euro that will go towards preserving Waterford history. You can view photos of the show on Eddie Cantwell's Facebook page.

As most of you are aware the museum is a voluntary body, without support form the public it would not be possible for us to do our work. It was really gratifying the support we got from so many locals, local organisations and companies. So thanks is due to all of the following:
We got prize donations from The Cliff House Hotel, The Round Tower Hotel, The White Horses Restaurant, Willie Fraher and Tony Hayes. All prizes were organised by Roberta Whelan.

Behind the scenes we had support for Seán Organ, Ian Noctor, Value Centre, Dirk Baumann of DBL Lighting, Dungarvan Brewing Company (great people, great beer :) ), Dungarvan Town Council and Joe Flaherty.

Thanks to all the committee members who gave up their time particularly our canteen workers Helen Moynihan, Emma, Niamh and Mary Giblin (for her excellent apple tart and cake).

Lastly, and most importantly, congratulations to the man who organised the event Eddie Cantwell, it is a mark of the man that when I forgot to thank him publicly at the end of the night he only laughed at it.

New Conservation Lighting And Portable Display Cases Installed



Waterford County Museum has recently installed conservation standard lighting and taken delivery of 5 new portable temporary exhibition cases. The total cost of the improvements was in the region of €8500. Waterford Leader Partnership gave us 3/4 of that in grant aid. The rest we raised ourselves.  This short video shows you the cases and the lights and gives you an insight into what we are trying to do. It is quite a step forward for us technically. It is great achievement for a community group to be running a museum in such a professional manner. Hopefully we will continue to 'demand the impossible' from ourselves for many more years to come.