The 1916 roadshow is coming to Kerins O’Rahilly’s Clubhouse on Saturday.
AN event designed to commemorate the 1916 rising and look forward to its centenary celebrations next year is set to take place in Tralee this coming Saturday, October 3.
The Revolutionary Decade Roadshow in conjunction with the School of History in UCC, Kerry County Council will be the first official event of Kerry’s 2016 Centenary Programme
The Kerins O’Rahilly GAA club will be the venue for the event which will run from 11am-4pm on Saturday. It will be formally opened by Cllr Pat McCarthy, Cathaoirleach of Kerry and Minister Jimmy Deenihan.
The free event is open to all ages and is event is aimed at anyone who has an interest – whether personal or familial – in the history of the ‘revolutionary decade’ in modern Irish history, including the 1916 Easter Rising, World War 1, and the War of Independence.
Anyone who has any documents (e.g official correspondence, private letters, diaries, pictures, etc.), stories, artifacts from the Rising or revolutionary decade – or indeed are simply interested the events that took place during it – are invited 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 and 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 and register as members.
Others stalls will offer for sale books relating to the period while 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.
Local choirs will sing songs from the period and there will be a re-enactment of the speech given by Maud Gonne at the unveiling of the foundation stone of the Pikeman Statue in Denny Street.
Finally, there will be a special participatory session devoted to younger members of the audience.
It’s certainly a day not to be missed for anyone with an interest in Irish history.
