Mayo Alive - 1 October 1996

 

Educational Visit to Mayo of Cúlra

By Joe Sheeran
Provincial Coordinator of Cúlra

Cúlra, the Irish historical and cultural education programme of Comhaltas in Britain will be visiting Mayo from October 19-23. Each year the Cúlra proramme has a different theme which is explored by numbers of participants through the format of regional study days, a residential Summer School and a one-week study trip to Ireland.

This is the fifth year and in previous years themes have covered the province of Ulster, Emigration, An Ghaeilge and the Women of Ireland. This year in keeping with the times the theme is the Great Hunger. The party visiting Mayo will be 40 persons approx. made up of members of Comhaltas from all parts of Britain. They will be representative of all age groups and both genders. Included in their itinery will be a meeting with schoolchildren from Achadh Mór, who will be presenting work they have done on the Hunger; a presentation by Joe Byrne on aspects of the Hunger and another lecture by a theologian from Dublin on the same theme.

The party hopes to be able to complete the Doolough Walk, visit some Hunger sites and take in Tom Hennigan's Heritage exhibit at Kilasser. Ballintubber Abbey for Mass on the Sunday will be followed later in the day by a public presentation and lecture given at Knock Folk Museum by Danny and Helen Kennally from Leeds, on the Migration of Mayo people to West Yorkshire. Their presentation will be supported by display material descriptive of the history of the Irish in that part of the world, a great many of whom hailed from Co Mayo, their lives and the conditions they encountered on arrival and how they managed to settle and rear their children against a backdrop of absolute deprivation, poverty and rank hostility from the host community. Danny and Helen have spent many years researching this aspect of the Irish experience and their findings are a fascinating account of the era.

During the visit, Cúlra will want to meet with Mayo people and share some music-making and craic. To this end arrangements are being made for a number of sessions to be held at various venues in the evening time.

The group will return to Cultúrlann na hEireann in Monkstown on the Wednesday, calling on the way to look at the Great Hunger exhibition in Strokestown House. The reason Cúlra will not be staying longer in Mayo is because the group is due to meet with Uachtarán na hEireann at Aras an Uachtaráin later in the week. Cúlra was the recipient this year of an Irish Post Award for its work in developing greater awareness of Irish Culture and History among second, third and further generations of Irish people in Britain. The British school system does not offer the children of Irish parents any insight or exposure to things Irish and it is to compensate for this that Cúlra was initiated five years ago.

The group is just now getting excited about the visit..



The Nallys of Rockstown in County Mayo, Ireland