Death of Shap Mangan
The Committee of the Society on behalf of all the membership wish to commiserate with the family of the late Shap Mangan who died about the 2nd of November 2002. Shap was a member of the Society since its founding in 1969 and was on the committee for most of that time. He was Chairman of the Society for some years.

He had a great interest in Local History and was instrumental in having the Society take an interest in the proposal to quarry Croghan Hill back in 1974. This ultimately resulted in then minister for Local Government (including planning) deciding against the proposal.

He was a great supporter of all the work of the Society and was a frequent attendee at the outings and lectures. He will be greatly missed. Our sympathy to his dear wife who is also an active participant in the Society’s activities and to all his family.

Lecture on the History of Charleville Demesne 1600 – 1950 at Bury Quay Tullamore at 8.15pm on 21 November 2002 by Michael Byrne
This lecture will be given by Michael Byrne and will be an illustrated presentation on the history of Charleville Demesne from the 1600s to the time of the auction of the Castle contents in 1948. It is an overview of the history of the Demesne and hopefully will be of interest to the members and the wider public. The lecture is open to all.

Offaly Heritage Seminar 23 November 2002
An important Seminar will be held at the OHAS Centre Bury Quay on 23rd November 2002 organised by the County Heritage Officer, Ms. Amanda Pedlow, You will probably have already received a brochure on the seminar and if you are interested in attending you should book immediately through Amanda Pedlow Offaly County Council. The day will consist of presentations on Leamonaghan, surveys of thatched premises in Offaly and the funding of the heritage projects. The afternoon is devoted to a trip to Leamonaghan and St. Manchan’s Shrine. It promises to be very enjoyable and useful day and your presence would be appreciated.

Chancery Inquisitions Offaly
The Chancery Inquisitions Offaly relate to grants of land from the time of Elizabeth’s reign in the 1570s to William of Orange in the 1690s. It is extremely valuable for the Local History in the seventeenth century. The Society bought copies of the two published volumes of circa 1830 in England last year. However we did a photocopy and it occurred to us that there may be members who would like to receive it. It consists of 27, A3 pages including the index. If you would be interested in acquiring a copy please let us know and forward us e13 to include postage.

Methodist History of the Midlands
Our thanks to Geoff Oakley and Reverend Irene Morrow who have looked at the Methodist History for proof reading purposes. We are now collecting photographs for the publication and if you are aware of any Methodists photographs of churches or groups of Midland interest you might let us know. We hope to publish it in the Spring of 2003. The author of the book is the Reverend Dudley Levistone Cooney.

The Journal
The Journal has now been sent to the printer and we hope to have it ready for the lunch on the 8th of December. Orders are now being accepted for the Journal and it will be available at e10 euros with postage extra of say e3 euros. Orders will be received on a first come, first served basis. The publications number is small at about 750 and we hope it will be a sell out. It is unlikely to be reprinted. If you would like to order would you please send on e10 euros or e13 euros to include postage in Ireland. If overseas this could be substantially more and we will make enquiries.

Christmas Lunch December the 8th
The Christmas Lunch will be held at the Bridge House at 1p.m. on Sunday December the 8th . The cost of the luncheon will be e20 for adults and e12 euros for children. Following on the meal we will have as a speaker Mr. Joe Kenny who has spent upwards of 50 years in Tullamore and will be giving his reminiscences of the town over that period. This promises to be a very enjoyable occasion and your attendance would be greatly appreciated. Bookings can be made through the Society’s offices at 0506-21421.

Lecture on Shinrone
Our thanks to Noel McMahon for his very interesting and enjoyable lecture on Shinrone which he did in the form of a travel guide around Shinrone district using the computerised projection facility and an overhead projector which his own eloquent commentary. The lecture was given on 17th October.

Report on annual general meeting held on 17th October 2002
Reports were read at the general meeting by Chairman Steve McNeill, Treasurer Peter Burke and Secretary Michael Byrne. A library report was given by Steve McNeill and a report on the FAS project by John Kearney. In his report Steve McNeill stated that we had acquired the 1911 census for three Midland Counties. Helpers are needed with the checking of the work that is ongoing in Family History and any one interested could contact Steve directly. The situation with microfilms had improved and during the last few months we have acquired four new readers at considerable cost. Details will be provided in the 2003 Journal. The committee for 2002 –2003 is as follows:-

Chairman – Steve McNeill
Secretary- Michael Byrne
Treasurer- Peter Burke
Manager – John Kearney

Committee Members
Fred Geoghegan
Owen Clyne
Noel Guerin
Helen Bracken
Breda Hoey
Matt Mooney
Anne Horan
James Kenny
Marie Neville
Dr. Rory Masterson
Jim Mathews

The sympathy of the Society was extended to Sean Hackett a member of the committee last year on the death of his wife.

Peter Burke gave the report on the Offaly Heritage Centre Ltd. Apart from the FAS Scheme total income for the year was e83,605.91 euros. While expenditure was of the order of e70,000. The excess of income over expenditure will help to defray of almost e14,000 euros is being put aside to help defray the cost of necessary work on the roof.

John Kearney gave a report on the FAS Scheme which is scheduled to run until May of 2003 and there are twenty people on a Community Employment programme involved in training projects and research work. Our thanks to all in FAS for their assistance and to the staff for their excellent work.

Under any other business it was reported that a sheela na gig from Rahan can be located with difficulty in the Athlone Heritage Centre and should be brought back to Offaly and put on display in the Tullamore Centre.

Books for Christmas presents
Please do not forget to support the centre’s book shop and pictures for sale so why not and make a selection of suitable books for Christmas presents. We have a range from as a little as e1 to circa e60 euros in books and from e10 to e150 euros in pictures.

Oliver Dunne
Congratulations to our member Oliver Dunne on his graduation with flying colours from Maynooth. Oliver has completed research on his own area of Croghan which we hope we will see a sample of in the next journal.

The History of Ferbane by Brendan Ryan
This handsome book was launched recently at Ferbane and copies are available at the Society’s premises for e25 euros. The book is in hardback and numbers circa 340 pages. Our congratulations to Brendan Ryan on a handsome and informative publication which takes the history of Ferbane from the seventeenth century to the twentieth and provides in the appendices a number of valuable sources on the history of town.

Christmas Draw
Enclosed with the newsletter (postal) is your card for the Christmas Draw. Thanks for participating in other years. Members receiving the newsletter by email are requested to call to the office for a card or they can purchase tickets by sending in the money c/o the treasurer and tickets will be set aside for them.