Launch of So civil a people
So civil a people - Methodists in the Midlands is the title of a book written by Rev Dudley Levistone Cooney inspired by the journals of John Wesley describing his many visits to the Midlands in the 18th century, particularly Offaly towns and villages. These are important chronicles from a period in our history for which there is limited source material available. The book was published by the Society. It retails at €15 and is available at the Research Centre and bookshops.
The launch was performed by Minister of State, Mr Tom Parlon T.D. in the Methodist church hall, Church Street, Tullamore. There was a particularly large attendance. Our thanks to the Methodist community for providing such a fine facility and for the refreshments afterwards.

Forthcoming Events

Lecture - Offaly's First Railway
Thursday 7th Oct at 8.30 pm. Illustrated lecture entitled Offaly's First Railway with particular reference to Tullamore by Peter Burke. This is to mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the rail connection from Dublin to Tullamore. The actual date of the connection was the 2nd October 1854.

Compiling a Parish History: the Eglish Experience
21st October 2004 Brian Pey who has published a substantial and important history of Eglish, Co. Offaly will give a lecture on Compiling a Parish History: the Eglish Experience. The lecturer will highlight the various sources used and incorporate information from the main chapters in the book by means of a computer presentation.

November Lecture
To be confirmed

Christmas Lunch December 5th
Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore at 1 pm. The Christmas Lunch speaker will be Dorothee Hermann Bibby and her topic is The Rhine Revisited. This will be an armchair tour illustrated with images collected on the recent trip by members of the Society to Germany. Dorothee is a native of that part of Germany and this is a subject close to her heart. Further information to follow.

News from the Heritage Officer

On Wednesday 13th October 2004, at 8.00 pm there will be a lecture in Pullough Community Hall on the 'Leamonaghan, an introduction and results of a summer's surveying'. This will be given by Caimin O'Brien, archaeologist and Paul Gibson from Dept of Geography, Maynooth, who carried out the geophysical survey. Society members would be particularly welcome

Offalyhistory.com Web site statistics
It is interesting to read the statistics for our website offalyhistory.com . In one year there were 114,718 visitors to the site giving an average of 312 per day. This makes it one of the most visited Offaly sites.