Lecture by Paddy Hughes on his times at Bord Na Mona

Thursday 20 Sept. @ 8.30p.m. at the Research Centre

Mr. Paddy Hughes the former Chief Executive of Bord Na Mona who retired late last year has agreed to give a talk on his time in Bord Na Mona over forty years up to his retirement. Bord Na Mona was a significant company for the history of economic development in County Offaly over the period since 1940 and Mr. Hughes will be dealing with aspects of his own involvement in the company. We hope for a large attendance at this important presentation. The time is 8.30p.m. and refreshments will be served afterwards.

Microfilm of Offaly Newspapers

We are currently arranging to purchase the Midland Tribune on microfilm reader from 1953 to 1970. We lately purchased an additional microfilm from Kodak at a cost of £2,500 and it would our aim to upgrade the existing microfilm reader printer at an early date. Unfortunately the cost is high and could be anything from £6,000 to £10,000. We are looking at the possibilities of a transfer from microfilm to digital but the cost is somewhat horrendous. A few of us intend to go Blanchardstown Library shortly to see the facilities in place there.

OHAS Library Catalogue

The Library Catalogue has now been completed up to about 5,000 items and is up to date. The catalogue is on a computer Access database and means that books can be found with little difficulty. To%date we have entered on the catalogue our printed books, audio tapes and video tapes together with microfilm and newspapers. We have not as yet had time to catalogue the manuscript collection.

Our thanks to all involved.

The library represents a very substantial investment for the Society and will be a benefit to Offaly for many years to come as it constitutes an important collection of material on Offaly History and on Irish History which is being added to virtually on a daily basis.

New Books on Offaly

We have three new books for sale on Offaly, lately published

  1. Clonmacnoise    £10
  2. Birr 697 and Adamnan    £30
  3. The Archaeology of Lemanaghan Bog    £4.95

We also have a lot of other books for sale and we will be emailing this list to members and it may also be consulted on our web site www.offalyhistory .com.

Offaly History and Irish Midlands Ancestry Web sites

We are continuing to make rapid progress with offalyhistory.com and irishmidlandsancestry web sites. Our host is novara.com and web masters are Mr. Sean Hackett for offalyhistory.com and Ms Sandra Dunne and Mr. John Kearney for irishmidlandsancestry. The number of hits per day on the Offaly history site is of the order of 200 while that for Irish Midlands Ancestry is about 170.

The source of usage by country for September is very mixed with visitors coming from the U.S., U.S. Commercial, New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom Ireland and Australia.

Currently we need a panel of proof readers to check material going on the web site which is being scanned in and to date the following is the panel:

  1. Dr. Rory Masterson
  2. Ms. Breda Hoey
  3. Mrs. Kathleen Geoghegan
  4. Mr. Jim Kenny

If you would like to help and you are based near Tullamore or you have email we would be obliged if you could assist in checking material so that we can make the necessary corrections.

The need for new members

We are all the time on the watch out for new members and for existing members to discharge their annual subscription. If your subscription is still due for 2001 you will be receiving a letter with this newsletter by way of reminder. If you would be interested in direct debit or standing order please let us know. We enclose the form involved for the standing order which is easier to manage with the banks than direct debit.

For new and existing members we want to point out that the advantages of membership are as follows:

  1. Regular notification of all items of Heritage interest in County Offaly generally on a monthly basis.
  2. The holding of monthly lectures and outings.
  3. Regulated access to the Society's Library each Thursday evening and by appointment.
  4. 10% discount on all of the Society's books where possible and with some exceptions where the Society is selling on these books to support the authors at no discount.
  5. Your subscription will be a support to the development of our work in Offaly on building a library, building up a web site and providing a forum.

The Photographic collection

We have resumed work on our photographic collection. Currently we have a list of 18,000 photographs in an access data base and we want to expand this to 35,000 . This will take an amount of time as the photographs have often to be identified and the persons in them and it is a slow tedious process. We have also to upgrade the manner in which the photographs are held so as to store them in acid free boxes covers etc. Our recent visit to the Irish Architectural Archive was helpful in this regard. If you would be interested in helping out with the photographic identification perhaps you would like to come on Thursday night of each week and we can work as a group on this particular project. If this would not suit there is ample other work in the Society which members might be prepared to do either by coming tc the Society or indeed by working through email.

Research work in progress

New projects are in progress on a daily basis at the Society's centre and these include the following:

  1. An up dated Chronology of Events for Offaly from the earliest times to the latest date which now runs to about fifty pages and which we hope to put on the internet soon.
  2. A listing on an access data base of all the cemeteries inscriptions for Laois and Offaly. This work is in progress.
  3. A listing of the land owners in Laois and Offaly in 1876.
  4. A listing of the Laois voters of the 1750s.
  5. The scanning of photographs and other material to add to the web site of offalyhistory.com and www.irishmidlandsancestry.com. conservation works. These buildings are a matter of national importance and indeed international importance and it is essential that the relevant authority prepare a study of how best these properties can be conserved. All of them would presumably be listed under the recent listings and would have the benefit of the Planning Act 2000 and the earlier legislation. A brief history of the estate without pictures is on our web site.
  6. The regular response to family history queries by people calling to the Centre, by email and by post.

This is very time consuming work but the quality of the reports has greatly improved in recent years and we are satisfied to provide this service for as long as it can pay its way.

Durrow High Cross

There is little in way of change here and we are not aware as yet as to what the current situation is in relation to the proposed expenditure of £1 million on necessary conservation works at the site.

Charleville Demesne

The Society organised an interesting walk to Charleville Demesne as part of Heritage Week and the Balloon Festival. What comes possibly not as a surprise but as a matter of concern is the deteriorating condition of the grotto and Camden Tower. The castle itself is also in need of conservation works. These buildings are a matter of national importance an dit is essential that the relevant authority prepare a study of how best these properties can be conserved. All of them would presumably be listed under the recent listings and would have the benefit of the Planning Act 2000 and the earlier legislation. A brief history of the estate without pictures is on our web site - www.irishmidlandsancestry.com.

Membership Renewal

Please note that if your address label indicates 2000 or earlier your membership fee for this year is still outstanding. Please support the Society and its work by sending in your fee as soon as possible.

  • Students: €12.50
  • Individuals and Families: €25
  • Overseas Members: €25
  • Corporate subscription: €63.50
  • Friend of Offaly Heritage: €63.50
  • Life Membership: €317