1916 Exhibition at Waterford County Museum

1916 Exhibition open

This exhibition is open daily, Monday to Friday, 9-5 pm.

Admission is free.

All are very welcome. Please call in.

European Geopark Network Week at the Copper Coast UNESCO Global Geopark

Events for the European Geopark Network Week

The visitor centre at the Copper Coast Geopark in Bunmahon is now open again for the 2016 season. There are lovely treats available in the café and in the gift shop. There is a great mining exhibition and a lovely photographic exhibition by local photographer Sean Fitzsimons.

There are lots of events lined up including a programme for European Geopark Network Week at the end of May with something to suit everyone from guided walks to literary talks, learning about other geoparks and learning how amateur radio stations operate.

The South Eastern Amateur Radio Group

This group will for the 9th consecutive year take part in the Geoparks Communications weekend which takes place over the weekend of the 28 and 29 May to coincide with European Geopark Network Week. The Radio Group, based in Waterford City, with members from Carlow, Wexford, Kilkenny and Kildare will broadcast from the Tankardstown engine house on the Copper Coast and will make radio contact with other radio groups in various Geoparks around Europe and the world over the weekend. The South East Amateur Radio Group welcomes visitors over the weekend to come along to chat and learn about how an amateur radio operates.

Venue: Tankardstown Engine House on the copper Coast

Date: Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 May

Words

Words is a monthly event, taking place on the first Wednesday of every month in a different venue in the Copper Coast. This is a place for literature lovers and writers of all kinds to share their work, announcements and ideas, encouraging and supporting creativity. The WORDS event founders include the poet and writer Tom Power, Sean Corcoran of The Art Hand and Róisín Power Hackett, poet and artist. The event began back in July 2013 as a performance based writers group but has evolved since then to become a monthly celebration of literature and creativity.

All are welcome to these monthly meetings.

Contact Sean Corcoran of The Art Hand for further information.

Meeting Point: Copper Coast Geopark Visitor Centre, Bunmahon

Date: Wednesday, June 1

Time: 7.45 pm

To Book: Text Sean Corcoran at 087 2524657

Contribution €5 includes refreshments. Duration 2-3 hours approx.

Searching for Irelands Earliest People in Dungarvan Valley Caves

Last Saturday, Members of Dungarvan & Lismore, Adopt a Monument Group explored Dungarvan's Ice Age past when they visited the long running Dungarvan Valley Caves Project (supported by the Heritage Council).

The limestone area between Dungarvan and Cappagh valley has over 25 caves including Dungarvan's well known Shandon Caves. The group met Dr. Coilin O'Drisceoil from Kilkenny and his University of Oxford-based colleagues Drs. Richard Jennings and Simon Collcutt who have been digging small trial pits in search of the remains of what might be Ireland's earliest people.

The valley has the potential to be one of the most exciting and important archaeological sites in Ireland. Dr. O'Drisceoil will give a talk about the project later in the year at Waterford County Museum. To date, nobody has been able to find human traces in Ireland older that about 9,000 years old.

What the Dungarvan Caves Project aims to do is to see if people were here during the Old Stone Age or Paleolithic Age. The Dungarvan Valley is the place to look because the area has caves and was part of a green fringe on an otherwise ice-covered Ireland. It is also known that Wooly Mammoths, Wild Horses and Reindeer were available here for hunting. Archaeologists have long been puzzled by the lack of Paleolithic remains in Ireland and many are watching this project with great interest

A 2009 report from the Dungarvan Valley Caves Project was included in Decies: The Journal of the Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society. It makes for interesting reading and outlines some of the science behind the Dungarvan Valley Caves Project.

More information about the Heritage Council's Adopt a Monument Programme, including information on the Gallow's Hill, Dungarvan and Roundhill, Lismore elements of the project can be can be found online.

Photos by John Foley Images

Sunday, May 29 A Talk with Kevin Myers at Dromana House

'Sons of the big houses and sons of the mud cabins: Munster and Ireland at Waterloo'

Venue: Dromana House, Cappoquin

Date: Sunday, May 29

Time: 12.30 pm

A lunch time lecture takes place at Dromana House with Kevin Myers, Journalist and Writer.

12.30 pm Lunch

2.00 pm Kevin Myers, Journalist and Writer

Lunch, talk and tour of the gardens €40 per person. There will be a special rate of 2 persons €70.

Booking is essential as numbers are limited.

email: Info@dromanahouse.com

Telephone: 024 96144

mobile: 086 8186305

1916 Exhibition at Waterford County Museum

Official Opening of the 1916 Exhibition

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, we opened our new exhibition: "The Recent and Tragic Occurrences" 1916 and County Waterford".

The exhibition highlights the Co. Waterford links with the Rising and some of the leaders. We were delighted to have medals and memorabilia from the Graves and Ó Reagán families who attended the opening.

Renee Fraher from Waterford curated a special display on Cumann na mBan member Kathleen McLoughlin, born in Old Parish.

Also on display is an estimate for a new altar at the chapel of the Presentation Convent, Dungarvan from James Pearse (father of Padráig Pearse) kindly donated by the Presentation sisters.

Author and Historian, Pat McCarthy performed the official opening. Pat spoke about the Waterford people who were associated with the Rising such as Thomas Walsh of Tallow, Michael Murphy of Cappoquin and Dublin Metropolitan Police Constable, John McGrath from Modeligo.

Willie Fraher thanked all those who loaned artefacts and documents and thanked the museum staff, the Waterford 1916 committee, the Friends of The National Collections, John Ormond, Dreoilin Glass, Julian Walton, Thomás Walsh and Ann Broderick, who designed the display boards.

This exhibition is open daily from 9-5 pm and all are very welcome. We also welcome groups from schools and community groups.

 Admission is free

We look forward to seeing you here.

April 26, 2016 Recent visitor to the museum

Recent Visitor to the museum

We were delighted to have a lovely visitor to the museum recently. Alice O'Byrne from Waterford Road, Kilkenny called in to us to make a donation.

She donated two beautiful medals to the museum. They were medals awarded to Edmond O'Connor, Millstreet, Modeligo, who died on March 28, 1971.

One of the medals is  from 1939-1946. It is a Cósanta Aitiúil medal with ribbon. The other medal is a Cogadh na Saoirse medal with ribbon.

We gratefully accepted the medals and they have been catalogued and added to our archive and will be available for future generations to enjoy.

Thank you Alice for your donation.

Alice O'Byrne donating the medals to Willie Fraher and Michael Fitzgerald

Saturday, April 30 Waterford Men in the 1916 Rising in Dublin.

Waterford men in the 1916 Rising in Dublin

Dr. Pat McCarthy

An illustrated talk by Dr. Pat McCarthy

Venue: Dungarvan Library

Date: Saturday, April 30

Time: 11.30 am

There is no entry fee and all are very welcome.

Pat McCarthy is now no stranger to Dungarvan and in conjunction with Dungarvan Library, we are delighted to welcome him once again to the town. Pat's talk on this occasion will cover the experiences of the Volunteers from Waterford who fought in the GPO, Boland's Mill, the Four Courts, the South Dublin Union and Ashbourne during Easter Week. These were men like Thomas Walsh of Knockanore who was sentenced to death for his part in the fighting.

It will also look at Waterford men serving in the British Army who fought against the rebels, men like Joseph Ridgway of Waterford City, the British Army doctor who treated James Connolly after the surrender. The contribution of men from Waterford City and County to the momentous events of Easter Week is largely unknown.

This is an opportunity to learn about them and who better to deliver that information than the very colourful Pat McCarthy.

Look forward to seeing you there.