Visit From Abbeyside National School

Today we had a visit from a group of children from Abbeyside National School.  They are currently learning about The Moresby, a ship that went aground in Dungarvan harbour on Christmas Eve 1895 with the loss of many lives, the youngest being the daughter of the Captain, Ivy Neesham Coomber who was just two years old.

The children were able to look at the Bible belonging to the youngest crew member aboard, apprentice Eugene J. Sibert who was only fifteen when he perished, and also The Moresby bucket, which are among many artefacts relating to The Moresby here in the Museum.

The story was brought to life with the children viewing "Tragóid an Moresby",  which our President, Níoclás ó Grífáín contributed to greatly.

Waterford County Museum are delighted to be able to assist in the teaching of local history and we welcome teachers and students alike to visit us.

  

 Abbeyside National School Teachers & Students Learning About The Moresby Tragedy

Entertaining Talk By Líam Suipéil On Ardo House

Líam Suipéil principal at Cólaiste na Rinne gave a fascinating presentation to a captive audience on the history of  Ardo House, Ardmore and the Coghlan family who occupied it in the 18th century.

The house lies in ruin on the road to Goat Island.  The history of the house begins in the 17th century.  It passed through the Fitzgeralds and Prendergasts eventually coming into the possession of the Coghlan family in 1718.  The Coghlans were descendants from an ancient Irish family, Ó'Cochlain.  There are many early 18th century references to the Coghlans in relation to trade with Bristol, Waterford and Newfoundland.

Jeremiah Coghlan occupied Ardo House c 1790-1824.

Two of the Coghlan daughters married well.  One to the Duc de Castries and the other to the Earl of Barrymore.  In the 19th century Ardo was occupied by the Lawlor family who added further towers to the building.  The next owner was Sir Joseph Neale McKenna who is buried along side his wife in a mausoleum by the entrance gate.  By the end of the 19th century Ardo was passed to Marshal McMahon, first President of the Third French Republic. It was sold by him and eventually fell into ruin in the 1920's.

Researching Your Family Tree In Co. Waterford

Download:
Beginners Guide To Researching Your Ancestors In Waterford
244 Kbytes .pdf file

As part of the family afternoon in the museum on the 6th of December 2009. The museum ran a workshop on  on tracing your ancestors in County Waterford. We produced a document on 'Researching Your Genealogy In Waterford' that covers topics such as useful contacts in Waterford and Ireland, military ancestors, archives, useful web sites and mailing lists. It is aimed at beginners and hopefully will be of some use to them as they attempt to discover their ancestors. We welcome any comments or suggestions for improving the document from experienced family history researchers so feel free to email any amendments or suggestions to william@deisedesign.com or history@waterfordmuseum.ie

Christmas Family Day At The Museum

 St Mary's School Choir

On Sunday, 6 December 2009 we held our first Christmas family day here at the museum. The event brought a crowd of 120 parents and children into our museum for an afternoon of songs, stories, artwork and games. 

The children of St.Mary's Primary School under the guidance of Dina Walshe entertained us  with some beautiful carol singing and then joined in the fun of the day.

The children had great fun making Christmas cards and decorating the Christmas tree with their hand made decorations under the watchful eye of Niamh Power, Emma Walsh and Aibhe Power.

No event at this time of the year would be complete without a visit from the man himself, Santa, and the children made sure to get their requests in.

Our President, Níoclás ó Griofáin told stories of Christmas of by gone days and the adults were given instruction on how to research their family history, assisted by committee members, Willie and Martin Whelan.

Willie Whelan Assisting A Visitor With His Family History

The event was organised by our Educational Officer and Vice President Helen Moynihan, assisted on the day by Darren Moynihan and Karen Cottier.  We would also like to thank all the committee members and museum staff who helped make this day the success it was.

 Stories From Christmas Long Ago With Níoclás ó Griofáin.

First Museum News Letter Out This Week:

This week sees the issue of our first News Letter. This booklet will be sent out to museum members 3 times a year and will help to keep them in touch with events and happenings within the museum. A calender of events will be printed in each issue therefore members will be aware of all important dates.

In this issue we have included the events for the first 4 months of 2010 and also  

The Museums Plan for 2010.

• Launch our revamped website
• Improve and expand our schools programme
• Introduce information packs for schools
• Commence using twitter, facebook and Web 2.0 technologies to promote the museum.
• Translate the contents we have into other languages
• Install conservation standard lighting within the museum
• Initiate a purchases fund for historic objects we wish to buy
• Contribute to the Museum and Web-International Conference 
• Expand our handling object area
• Mount 2 temporary exhibitions in Spring and Autumn
• Participate in European Nights of the Museum (May)
• Participate in Heritage Week (August)
• Participate in Féile na nDéise (April)
• Participate in Waterford Festival of Food (April)
• Continue with the ongoing survey of visitors in a bid to improve our service to visitors
  

 We welcome feedback from our members and the public and any comments will be taken on board.

Waterford Adult Education Centre Visit The Museum

Some Of The Group From The Adult Education Centre

Last Monday we had a group of 28 students along with their teachers from the Adult Education Centre in Waterford. The students from many different parts of the world were very impressed with our museum. A number took a great interest in the history of industry in the area, and Ernest Walton was a popular topic with some more of the students.
Even though a lot of these  students don't have a great understanding of our language, they found the  photographs and artifacts very interesting and they thoroughly enjoyed their visit.

Family Afternoon At The Museum: Children's Activities & Family History

Sunday 6th December 2009 - 2pm to 4pm

Helen Moynihan, the museum education officer (ably assisted by Karen Cottier) is putting a great effort into organising a family afternoon in Waterford County Museum on the 6th December 2009. As well as a range of activities for children we will also be laying on some tables where adults (and children) can find out about how they can trace their family tree.

The event will run between 2pm and 4pm. As ever admission is free and all are welcome :)

Children's Events

• Colouring In
• Quizzes
• Craftmaking
• Special Children's Exhibition
• Storytelling with Nicholas Graves
• Possible appearance of Santa Claus
  

Family History
Find out who your ancestors were and how they lived. Martin, Eddie and Willie will be providing advice on:

• IRA Records
• The 1911 Census
• Researching Military And Naval Ancestors
• Waterford County Archives
• Griffiths Valuation
• Local Parish Registers
• Family History Software
• Family History Research Online (Thanks to Janet of the Waterford Genealogy Mailing List for the handout.)

The above programme is only a preliminary one and is subject to change. As we arrive closer to the date we will publishing the final programme in the museum newspaper notes and on this blog.

For more details contact the museum
Email: history@waterfordmuseum.ie
Phone: 058 45960