2015 Press Releases
Revolutionary Roadshow for Waterford
The people of Waterford are invited to visit and particpate in the 'Revolutionary Decade Roadshow' in the Park Hotel in Dungarvan, Co Waterford on 31 October 2015, 11am-4pm.
The event – which is free, open to all and for which no pre-registration is required– follows on from the success of previous roadshows, which were held in Cork city and county, Muckross House Killarney, and the most recent event in Tralee, and which attracted international attention as a result of the discovery during them of the last known photographs of Michael Collins, taken just minutes before his death in west Cork on 22 August 1922.
The event is aimed at anyone who has an interest – whether personal or familial – in the history of the ‘revolutionary decade’ in modern Irish history, 1912-1923. Anyone who has any documents (eg official correspondence, private letters, diaries, pictures, etc.), stories, artefacts from that period – or indeed are simply interested the events that took place during it - are invited to meet to meet and discuss same with professional archivists and expert historians, in a friendly, informal setting.
Also present on the day will be a number of local & national historical groups with a particular specialism in this period, including the Irish Volunteers Commemorative Organisation and the Women’s History Association of Ireland, among others. Members of the public can browse their exhibits, purchase commemorative items, register as members, and so on. Others stalls will offer for sale books relating to the period. Members of historical re-enactment groups, dressed in period attire, will also be present, as members of the IRA, Crown forces etc., and will deliver short talks ‘in character’ about their aims, their equipment, and so on. Finally, there will be a special participatory session devoted to younger members of the audience.
The event organisers say: ‘The event is being organised in response to public demand following the earlier roadshows. We are very keen to emphasise that the event is not just for the Waterford public, but it is by that public, for it is they – their memories, their artefacts, their documents, their interests – who are the stars of the show. It is no accident that many of the key individuals from that period, such as John Redmond and Richard Mulcahy, either hailed from Waterford, or had connections to it. So we wish to invite all the residents of Waterford city and county to come and talk with us, and with each other, about the role of the people of Waterford during those momentous years in the life of the county, and the country.’
The School of History, University College Cork and Waterford City and County Council are joint organisers of the event.
For more information contact Gabriel Doherty in the School of History, UCC, at 021 4902783, or g.doherty@ucc.ie