Famine in County Offaly,Monday 19th February 2007 at 8.15pm.
This lecture will be given by Dr. Tim O'Neill B.L. who is originally from County Offaly and now living in Dublin. He contributed an article to the book of Offaly Essays published in 1998. His work is such that he would be the leading authority on famine studies in County Offaly and we look forward to having your attendance at the meeting.

The famine was a watershed in Irish History and led to a fall in the population of County Offaly from about 146,000 in 1841 to less than half that by 1911. In the immediate aftermath the population declined by 25%. This is an important area and it is essential to the understanding of the population history of the County in the period from 1820 to 1920 and to the poverty afflicting Offaly and Ireland in that difficult decade.

Monday 26th March 2007, Dr. Harman Murtagh, will lecture on the battle of the Boyne. Dr. Murtagh has recently published a book and CD about this famous episode in Irish History.

23 April 2007 a Lecture will be given by Orla Egan and colleagues on the archaeological discoveries made during the NRA by pass works near Tullamore and further a field. More details to follow.

17th September 2007 Dr. Cormac O'Cleirigh will lecture on the subject of his PhD Thesis the O'Connor Faly Lordship of Co. Offaly in the medieval period.

Renewal of Membership, please ensure that you have discharged your membership fee for this year at the meeting or as per details already sent to you. Membership fees are €25 for individuals and €15 for students. Life membership is available for €350.

Local History Course 2007. The local history course is well under way with the two lectures given and four more to come. About 25 people are doing the course and the feed back has been good. Our thanks to our speakers and to those who are attending.

The course started on the 1st of February and will finish on the 8th of March. Late comers to the course are welcome. The fee is €30 for the remaining four talks which run from the 15th of February to the 8th of March on each Thursday night at 7.30p.m. details have already been issued with previous newsletters.

FAS Community Employment Scheme
Our new CE scheme commenced on 29th Jan. with 17 people, two of whom are dedicated to the Comhaltas office to help out with preparations for the forthcoming Fleadh Ceoil. Another person is on loan to the Special Olympics project.
One of the main aims of the scheme is to get participants back into employment and in this regard we are glad to report that during the past year three people on our project have got good full time jobs. We wish them well in their new careers.
At the Research Centre we continue work on a number of areas including family history research, computerisation of Laois and Offaly civil registers of births, marriages and deaths from 1864, the scanning and archiving of some 20,000 old photograph negatives of the Harris collection, extracting and typing local newspaper articles for publication, updating the library catalogue, typing articles for the web site, centre maintenance, and a host of other day to day tasks.
In the mean time participants are constantly engaged in training programmes to further develop their skills and knowledge both for the work on the project and their future careers.

Local History Certificate Awards
Congratulations to staff members Phyllis Caffrey, Emmet Keoghan, and Marie Smith who were recently awarded their NUI Maynooth certificates in Local History studies.


2007 Volunteering Projects
Below are set out projects which members of the Society could help with. If you would like to help why not contact Stephen McNeill, Dorothee Bibby, Michael Byrne or Breda Hoey.


1. Indexing Old Photographs

About eighteen thousand have been indexed and there are perhaps another twelve thousand to be done. In relation to the eighteen thousand already done there will be many names which could be identified by members and inserted into the index. The pictures will be scanned and you can learn to do this as part of the project. Dorothee Bibby is leading up this project.
DB and BH

2. Scanning existing photographs

There are some ten thousand existing photographs (apart from the Clara Collection) which could be scanned in over time at about 350 dpi. We have about four scanners and ten new computers to facilitate some of which will be dedicated for this work.

3. Website

Sandra Dunne, Dorothy Bibby and Alan Guerin are working together with a view to improving the website. In regard to articles there is a good deal of material available for proof reading which once it is checked carefully and corrected it would be available to put on to the website.

4. 1911 Census

The Census is not so urgent but it is important and date entry can be started anytime.

5. Tithe applotment books

There is still work to be completed here.

6. Graveyards

We have identified work that is done and to be done. Fred Geoghegan has agreed to check the entries for Durrow abbey and the catholic and protestant cemeteries.

7 Newspaper indexing

Christy Lennon did a lot of work here and we now have some 20,000 entries in the computer which is a valuable starting point for research.


Archive CD Books Ireland newsletter are delighted to announce the latest releases. We are publishing six titles this month. These include one of the earliest topographical studies of Ireland, being Pococke's 1752 Tour of Ireland. Continuing our republication of George Bassett's important county directories, this month we release his Directories of Kilkenny (1884) and Louth (1886). We also continue our republication of the Statistical Surveys, this time for County Mayo. This month sees the publication of our first family specific title, The Crofton Memoirs, which contains an extraordinary amount of detail on that family in Connaught. We are also pleased to announce the release of Charles Hanna's 2 volume "The Scotch-Irish, or the Scot in North Britain, North Ireland, and North America". This mammoth work details the settlement of Scots in Ireland and throughout North America since the 1600s. Further details about both titles are given below, with more details on our web site.
All are important additions to our catalogue, and as always are published at an affordable price. To find out more details about our new releases please take a look at our web site, or see full details below:
http://www.archivecdbooks.ie/acatalog/New_Releases.html

Official opening of Famine Memorial Garden at Arden Road, Tullamore on Monday next 19th of February at 5 pm..

The Offaly Famine Commemoration Committee will officially open to the public a Memorial Garden dedicated to the memory of those who died locally during the terrible famine of the nineteenth century, particularly the blackest year of 1847 - one hundred and sixty years ago. The Memorial is located on the site of the old Tullamore Workhouse where so many starving and destitute were forced to seek refuge during that nightmare period.

Tastefully designed with the assistance of the architects who designed and supervised the construction of the extension to Riada House and it was due to the work on Riada House (that is now a showcase for nursing care homes) that the Famine Memorial was delayed until now. Centrepiece is the Baptismal Font retrieved from the workhouse chapel at the time of demolition. Carved from a single piece of local limestone, induces visions of the many babies receiving the water of Baptism and whose life span was decided by the prevailing hunger. The Commemorative scripts are cast in metal and reflect not only the horrors of famines of the past but also those famines that are still parts of the world even today.

Monday evening's programme will be completed by a lecture entitled "Famine in Offaly" to be held at the Offaly Historical Research Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore at 8.15 p.m. The lecture will be delivered by Prof. Tim O'Neill.

Submitted on behalf of the Local Famine Commemorative Committee by Jim Kenny.