Documentary Screenings 12th December 2024
and
More Extraordinary, Ordinary Women
with
Karen Minihan and Ciara Buckley
Thursday December 12 2024
at
8pm
in
Clonakilty GAA Club, Ahamilla
Extraordinary, Ordinary Women
Ordinary women in West Cork played a huge role during the War of Independence and the Civil War. 'Extraordinary, Ordinary Women' is a short documentary based on Karen Minihan's book. The documentary focuses on four women from the book who lived throughout West Cork, from Ardgroom on the Beara peninsula through to Clonakilty.
Presented by Karen, she interviews living relatives of the women:
Ellen Holland from Clonakilty, devoted most of her time to the National movement, along with her sisters Mary and Margaret set up the Letter Branch of Cumann na mBan.
Rose O’Connell from Main Street, Skibbereen, owned a prominent butchers shop. Reddy O’Regan, Rose’s grandson speaks about Rose’s sons who disagreed and fell out over which side to take during the War.
May O’Driscoll from Skeaghnore, was a secretary of her local Cumann na mBan branch. From carrying dispatches for the IRA to home nursing May’s life was certainly impacted by her contribution to the cause.
Using footage from present day locations in stunning West Cork, hidden stories unfold from these turbulent times.
This project is funded through Cork County Council as part of the ‘County Cork Commemorations Grant Scheme’
More Extraordinary, Ordinary Women
More Extraordinary, Ordinary Women is a short documentary based on Karen Minihan's second book. The documentary focuses on three chapters from the book, all women involved in Cumann na mBan and women who emigrated after the War.
Matilda Mary Mulvey (nee Dudey) from the Beara Peninsula played a significant role in the Irish War of Independence in the area, Karen interviews her grandnephew David Dudley.
Tess and May Buckley who lived in Castlehaven. These two sisters were members of the local branch of Cumann na mBan. Nephew Con O'Callaghan speaks to Karen about their experiences during the revolutionary period.
Finally in Kilbrittain, Karen meets with cousins Eugene & Mary Walsh who recount the lives and times of their grandmother Molly Walsh (nee O'Neill) and her sister Maud O'Meara (nee O’Neill).
Writer and Presenter:
Karen Minihan is a native of Clonakilty, which, she says, continues to influence her work and imagination. She has worked in a variety of roles, including: theatre director, performer, writer and drama teacher, on projects large and small. She particularly likes to work creatively and collectively with other artists and creatives and analyses this in her blog and podcast series, Take a Chair: Talking Theatre and Creativity (karenminihan.ie/take-a-chair/). Her writing is mostly for the stage, although the Extraordinary, Ordinary Women project has been the focus of her work since 2022. There are two books in the series, a performance, Extraordinary, Ordinary Women: Live! and short play, Home Rules, performed by Bandon actor, Pauline O'Driscoll, which travelled on a tour around West Cork and islands. And of course, there are these two short documentaries.
Director
Ciara Buckley is Director and Producer at Wombat Media a video production company based in West Cork. A native of Castletownshend, she is passionate about history and especially women’s stories from the War of Independence and Civil War. Ciara directed ‘Engagement and Endurance: Cork City Women During the 1920’s’ when she heard about Karen’s book she was extremely excited about the opportunity of making a documentary about women in her native West Cork.
Lecture by Professor William O’Brien
A Tale of Two Forts: Landscapes of Power in Early Cork
Lecture by
Professor William O’Brien
Wednesday November 27 2024
at
8pm
in
Clonakilty GAA Club, Ahamilla
This talk will present the archaeology of Clashanimud hillfort and the Garranes ringfort complex to the north of Bandon. The significance of both landscapes will be explored for an understanding of political relations in Cork during the later Bronze Age and early medieval periods respectively.
William O'Brien is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology in University College Cork. Research interests include the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in Ireland, early mining and metallurgy in Atlantic Europe, upland archaeology, the study of hillforts and all aspects of monumentality in the later prehistoric period. Much of his work focuses on the prehistory of south-west Ireland, where he has conducted many research excavations, now published in various monographs and papers.
Duchas AGM 2024
The AGM of Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage was held recently at O’ Donovan’s Hotel with a large crowd in attendance!
Cathaoirleach Tim Feen welcomed all and gave an overview of another busy year for the organisation, which organised activities practically every month. He thanked everyone for their support and paid tribute to the various sub-committees who all work diligently and effectively throughout the year.
The establishment a few months ago of the West Cork History Societies Association – an umbrella group for all the local history and heritage groups in West Cork was welcomed and William Casey spoke about this initiative during the meeting. Pádraig O’ Reilly, Pavilion Manager and the Clonakilty GAA Club were thanked for facilitating the monthly lectures so efficiently.
Fachtna McCarthy, AGM Minutes Recording Secretary, read the detailed account of last years AGM.
Reps from the various sub-committees - Lectures and Field Trips (Marian O’ Leary); Journal (Con O’ Neill); Preservation (Clíodhna O’ Leary); Big Cross 125th Commemoration (Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin); Website and Mayoral Council delivered their reports.
Rúnaí Marian O’ Leary reported there were eight well attended lectures, two films, a number of fieldtrips, heritage week events and a three-day trip away to Newgrange and Knowth with stops on the way to and back at other points of historical interest in September which was enjoyed by 24 members.
Fachtna McCarthy outlined the Treasurers Report and PRO Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin thanked the local print, broadcast and website media organs and journalists for publicising events during the year, and spoke about the growing popularity of the Facebook page.
Looking forward, the AGM noted that 2024 marks the centenary of the re-location of the Clonakilty Post Office to the former Presbyterian Church and is also the 200th anniversary of the founding of the RNLI and Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage will mark these occasions. May will see the screening of “Rebel Wife” the film on the life of Mary Jane Irwin at Clonakilty Cinema.
On June 8th, the unique Clonakilty Mayoral Election (held every five years) will again take place and Tomás Tuipéar and Jerome JC O’ Sullivan outlined the plans for same and that sub-committee was re-activated to oversee, plan and organise the upcoming election and count and installation of the newly-elected Mayor for 2024-2025.
The committee elected for the coming year included: Tim Feen, (Cathaoirleach); Michael O’ Mahony, (Leas Cathaoirleach); Marian O’ Leary, (Rúnaí); Barbara McGuirk, (Leas Rúnaí); Fachtna McCarthy, (Cisteoir); Michael O’ Sullivan, (Leas Chisteoir); Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin, (PRO); Con O’ Neill, (Asst. PRO); AGM Recording Secretary: Fachtna McCarthy. Committee members: Don Hill, Seán Brennan.
See "Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage" on Facebook for regular updates of activities and historical, archeological and heritage articles of local interest.
Clonakilty 1798 Journal being updated and re-published
A sub-committee of Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage is currently working on the republication of the 1998 “Battle of the Big Cross” journal published 25 years ago as part of the bicentenary commemoration of the battle which occurred on 19th June 1798.
As well as re-publishing the journal there will also be a number of new chapters which will include accounts, and photos of the June 2023 commemorative events (225th anniversary), and also articles relevant to the Battle of the Big Cross and participants not previously published.
It is planned to have this ready by the end of October and printed for early November.
They appeal to anyone who has any information that could be included to make contact as soon as possible to ensure the associated articles can be written up and prepared for the journal.
Information such as participants in the battle (both sides), folklore passed down about it, songs or poems, photographs of past commemorations, etc. will all be considered by the editorial committee.
Contact DuchasClonHeritagePRO@gmail.com, phone 086-2202029 or send a message via the dedicated Facebook page www.Facebook.com/BigCross225
Clonakilty Journals on sale
Clonakilty Historical & Archaeological Journals are available from Coolim Books HERE
(Please note the Biblio website takes a little bit of time to load)
Recording of Dúchas Tribute to Dick Barrett and Sean Hales
The link to the recording of our Sean Hales and Dick Barrett commemorative event held on November 18:2022 is HERE