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| Lawrencetown National School, co. Galway, 1946 |
As part of my Outreach work at the
Insight Centre for Data Analytics at NUI Galway in association with the Galway Education
Centre and Galway County Council I am providing an online facility for schools
and active retirement groups to digitally archive stories, films and
photographs of life in their localities over the last one hundred years as part
of their contribution to the Easter Rising commemorations.
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| Junior Infants class, Creggs National School, 1971 |
The BEO (Irish for ‘alive’)
project is a wonderful opportunity to commemorate the struggle for Irish
independence and its subsequent impact on the lives of of ordinary people. It
provides a way to capture online the changing face of local communities throughout
a century, that experienced phenomenal economic, social, cultural and political
change, by collecting and digitizing the pictures and words of ordinary people
that have been handed down through families over many decades.
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| At Coxtown Bog, Kiltormer, co. Galway, 1940s |
In spite of the
massive transformations that Ireland has experienced in technologies, economics
and population movements since 1916, the parish school in many parts of the
country still serves as the heart of its locality and the people that reside
there. It is probably the only vibrant communal institution left that can act
as the gatherer of such heritage material.
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| Donkey & Trap, McEvoy family, Roscommon, 1909 |
The BEO project has been in
operation for a number of years at this stage and has provided a lovely way
particularly for the Irish Diaspora to re-connect with history of their youth,
or that of their parents or grandparents.
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| Honeymooning in Killarney (Carmel Garvey), 1957 |
Participating schools as well as heritage and active retirement groups are encouraged
to host social evening BEO local heritage events for members of the local
community, where attendees bring along or enjoy viewing images and artifacts of
their school and geographical area in times past that offer a unique insight
into an older Ireland of communal harvesting, livestock markets,
religious devotion, a belief in banshees and fairies, turf cutting, dance
halls, the ‘Big House’ and the small family farm.
Much
of this priceless heritage material brought to the school or community hall is often kept in
family photo albums stored in attics, wardrobes and drawers often forgotten
about as the years pass.
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| Harvesting, Eyreville, co. Galway 1940s |
The digitised images are then placed on a shared
website for the benefit of present and future generations. There will be an
information session for schools interested in taking part in the BEO project at
5pm on Tuesday next February 2nd in the Galway Education Centre.
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| Scanning old photos. BEO Local Community Heritage Night, Lawrencetown School 2015 |
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