May-Jun: Educating Teenagers on the Good & Bad sides of Web Technologies.

The school year ended on a very busy note for my colleagues and myself at the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics in the University of Galway as we continued to introduce teenagers to our pioneering research and in upskilling them on the positive benefits of web technologies through workshops on creative coding and hands-on smart tools such as Virtual Reality, environmental sensors and citizen apps.

But once again I devoted a lot of time in making our young people aware and prepared, through Internet Safety sessions, of the dangers that exist in social media and gaming by educating them on cyberbullying, online misogyny, porn, hate, violence, racism, fake news and addiction.

In May, I spent multiple days giving Internet Safety sessions to the first and second year students of the BISH in Galway city and to those in both the junior and senior cycles of Coláiste Cholmcille in Connemara. These presentations always include insights into using social media/gaming positively, and Wellbeing elements such as on the importance of a good night’s sleep, spending time in the real world with friends, getting out into a natural environment or undertaking outdoor sports.

As always these presentations are two-way, for I also learn a lot from the young people themselves as they make me aware of problems or sites that they encounter which I personally may not have yet come across. So I always come away better informed allowing me to constantly update my content.

In a time of AI which brings huge benefits but also dangers, regulation of the Web is now needed more than ever before. Governments have to stand up to the mega tech giants and protect their citizenry. People come first.

The Bogs of Ireland, Past & Future exhibition

Last Saturday a wonderful Citizen Science initiative, coordinated by my great friend and colleague Niall Ó Brolchain, took place at my workplace of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics located in the Data Science Institute at the University of Galway.

Entitled Mapathon2024, it involved volunteers from many countries using open data to map the locations and policies of the peatlands across Europe. There were team entries from Estonia, Netherlands, France, urban and rural Ireland.

To support this event, I organised an exhibition on the Bogs of Galway based on photos from Insight’s BEO project, which represents an online digital local heritage archive comprising images, videos and audios telling the story of Ireland in times past. Supported by the Galway County Council's Heritage Office and the Galway Education Centre, this material has been collected over the years in collaboration with schools and community groups. Also on display were old sods of turf from our own family bog (sold many years ago to the Irish government for conservation purposes), an enamel (metal) mug used for the much needed cup of tea during breaktime on the bog, and the Slane (Irish = Sléan), the traditional implement used in Ireland for the cutting of the peat.

Hopefully these photos and items will bring back many happy childhood memories to people of my vintage of long hot summer days working in the bog with family cousins and neighbours!

The exhibition also highlighted the new role of peatlands in the 21st century in tackling the interconnected global climate and biodiversity crises and the importance in restorating them to serve as the largest of land-based natural carbon sinks.

Most of the photos in this montage are decades old and were originally black and white before I colourised them.

 

The BEO project - Connecting Rural Communities to their past.

I recently enjoyed the warm friendly atmosphere of an old style local rural community night in Coldwood National School near Craugwell county Galway.

There was lots of home-baked scones, cakes and teas served by volunteers as grandparents and parents of the present generation of pupils came back to the school of their childhood days to reminisce and tell stories of life long ago recorded on the night by children for a series of podcasts for the 150 year celebrations of this fine educational institution.

As part of Insight's BEO online local heritage project, I was there to help in the collection of photographs from times past brought in by the older attendees and the identification of those in these images.

To support this process I enlarged and colourised in advance a lot of old images associated with Coldwood as well as bringing along multiple familiar artifacts from Ireland in days gone by such as a wooden school desk complete with inkwell, blotting paper, erasure and 1960s/1970s school books; a milk churn; a transistor radio, a Sony Walkman cassette player, photo slides and vinyl record albums.

The effort was worth it as the photos on display helped reconnect families across the decades. Paddy Cahill(on the top left in photo montage), standing beside his son, points to his dad in a 1910 photo that he had never seen before, whilst Paddy Rooney (on the top right) points to himself in a 1950 photo.

By the end of the night, most of the people in the sample photographs on display were identified as great grandparents, grandparents, parents and themselves by the attendees present.

The interesting and often unique materials collected over the last few years under the BEO online digital local heritage project, supported throughout by the Galway County Heritage Office, will be unveiled at a big celebratory launch next March in the Galway Education Centre. 

Details to follow at the end of January.

Upstairs, Downstairs – the Inside Story of an Irish ‘Big House’

One of the most enjoyable nights that I have experienced for manys the long year took place recently when it seemed the whole community of Fohenagh and environs, complimented by heritage enthusiasts, politicians and dignitaries, came together to celebrate and to give due recognition to my good friend Frank Gavin for the launch of his excellent book entitled “The Dillons of Clonbrock, a History”.

The venue was Gullane’s Hotel in Ballinasloe and the large attendance and its makeup was a reflection of the high esteem and respect that Frank is held in across east Galway and beyond. Amongst the participants were Senator Aisling Dolan; Galway County Cathaoirleach Liam Carroll; Martin Mac Oirealla, a highly enthusiastic ‘heritage in schools’ educator; Joe Mannion, another local historian par excellence; and the 87 year old Michéal Keaney, owner of the historical Castle Ellen (birthplace of the mother of Edward Carson, the founder of Northern Ireland) and the finest engineer that Galway City Council ever has had.

Master of ceremonies for the event was the brilliant Christy Cunniffe, one of Ireland’s best known community archaeologists. Special guest speakers were Marie Mannion, the country’s hardest working and much admired local authority heritage officer; and Professor Terence Dooley the distinguished historical writer and Director of the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates at the National University of Ireland Maynooth.

I myself was honoured to be asked by Frank to also be a guest speak at the launch, to write the foreword for the publication and to enhance and colourise an old black and white photo taken of Clonbrock House circa 1904 that formed the cover of the book.

I was especially and personally honoured as both sides of my family fought on the republican side during the Irish Civil War, whose forces were sadly responsible for the burning down of many of the gentry mansions across the country, seeing them as symbols of centuries of colonial oppression.

I have known and admired Frank since 2008 when we first collaborated in helping the children of Fohenagh National School, under the guidance of the much loved principal at the time, Anne Burke, to undertake research studies and field trips on the history of the Clonbrock estate. The extraordinary series of podcasts and videos made with the school and the local community during 2008 and 2009 will be relaunched on March 6th 2024 at a special event in the Galway Education Centre to commemorate the BEO online heritage archives project and the Fionn Primary School Science 2002-2005 initiative.

The best tribute that I can give Frank here on the importance of his work is to repeat the foreword that I wrote in the book:

“There have been multiple books written about the Anglo-Irish gentry and their great estates which dominated and shaped the Irish countryside for centuries. Many more will follow in the years ahead. But this book is different. For the author is able to give a personal perspective from within the walls of the demesne as he himself was part of this ‘Upstairs and Downstairs’ world in its twilight years.

Frank Gavin worked as a gardener in the Clonbrock estate when Ethel Louisa Dillon, daughter of the fourth Baron Clonbrock who was one of the largest landowners in Ireland, was still alive. She was a debutante in Victorian London society at a time when it was said that the sun never set on a British Empire that covered almost a quarter of the world’s landmass. Frank provides some fascinating information on the Clonbrock estate during its heyday in the 19th century when the third and fourth barons, along with the latter’s extraordinary wife Lady Augusta Caroline Dillon, were exceptional in this era for being highly progressive pioneering residential Anglo-Irish landlords who practiced mixed farming; planted woods; constructed heated glasshouses (growing exotic fruits such as grapes and peaches), a forge, a sawmill, a butchery, a photographic house and a sophisticated piped water system for the estate; set up a poultry co-operative and established four schools in the locality for the children of their tenant farmers.

But Frank is at his best when he provides the names, photographs and the stories of the people who worked alongside him in Clonbrock and whose families had often done so for many generations before. He moves the spotlight along from the imperial landed class towards the farmhands and house servants that were the essence of these estates and whose descendants still live locally.

This is local history at its most authentic, when it is done by someone who has lived and experienced the subject matter at first hand.”

3 Athenry Castles Trail Revisited: A Magical Mystery Tour through east Galway

Michael Keaney with the cycling group in front of Castle Ellen

The recent Three AthenryCastles looped heritage cycle tour as part of Galway Bike Week 2015 was truly a magical mystery tour across the bogs and botharíns of east Galway. Some of the participating cyclists knew the route and individual castles and villages that we were going to be travelling too. But this time each of us at each stopoff encountered something different, something exciting and at times even exotic. 

The Emerald Isle Express at Ceannt Station, Galway

From our arrival at Galway’s Ceannt Station where we gazed in awe at the classical Emerald Isle Express steam engine and luxurious rail carriages with its international clientele that was straight out of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express; to the food fair market with its mix of food, beverageg and crafts stalls that preceded by a guided tour of the hugely impressive medieval castle with its battlements, keep and towers in historic Athenry; then on the road pass small fields, bogs and the village of Newcastle before we came to view the carnivorous Venus Flytrap plants  and frogs of Monivea Bog; then down into the underground vaults of the aristocratic ffrench family castellated mausoleum with Russian, Maltese and Anglo-Irish coat-of-arms that lays deep in a forest to look at the lead coffins still decked with a wreath of flowers that was placed there in 1938. 

Coffin of Kathleen ffrench, ffrench Mausoleum

Then it was a journey through the woods to look at owl boxes positioned high in the trees by Norman Clune and his friends from the Monivea Wildlife group. In the McGann hostelry of the nearby colonial plantation village, we were served up a fine country spread of sandwiches and teas. 

MacGann's pub in quaint village of Monivea

After being thoroughly refreshed and energised, we cycled on through a picturesque landscape of traditional stone walls and fields populated with sheep and cattle to the Georgian splendour of Castle Ellen to be greeted by the ebullient Gaelic lord of the manor himself Michael Keaney. Every time we visit his historic demesne we encounter some new treasure. This time Michael brought us into a 19^th century garden ‘folly’, comprising a maze of arches and pathways. 

Alexandre Herman in Arch's Bar, Athenry

Our final stop was the new Arch Bar in Athenry which has been transformed into a fine trendy crafts beer and dining establishment. 

Cycling group in front of Athenry Castle

We look forward with anticipation to our next journey on this trail!

Athenry Food Market

Botharín in Tiaquin

Venus Flytrap, Monivea Bog

ffrench's Mausoleum, Monivea

Sculpture of Robert Percy ffrench, ffrench's Mausoleum

German Stain Glass windoww, ffrench's Mausoleum

Victorian era Folly (paths and arches), Castle Ellen

Details of our previous Three Athenry Castles Heritage Cycle Tour in August 2014 are here

 

‘Back to the Future’ Retro Gaming, National Culture Night, Sept 20th (6.30pm-8.30pm)

Relive the thrills of playing video Arcade classics including Pacman, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pong and Sonic on renowned vintage consoles and computers such as Atari, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive and Sinclair ZX81. 

The sights and sounds on offer will try to capture the youthful cultural essence of the early days of computer gaming of the 1970s and 1980 which made such a major contribution in the overall development of digital sound and graphics. 
Attendees will also be introduced to the software coding that constitutes the games. 

There will also be displays of American and European 1960s science fiction comics and memorabilia including Star Trek, Thunderbirds, Stringray, Avengers, Superman, Green Lantern and Thor.
Times: 6.30pm-8.30pm

Website is www.computermuseumireland.com

Seven Galway Castles Looped Heritage Cycle Tour

Mayor of Galway City Councilor Terry O'Flaherty and Deputy Mayor Councillor Frank Fahy are shown on their recent visit to Cumann na bhFear (Men's Shed) holding High Nelly bikes that will be used on Sunday's 7 Galway Castles Heritage Cycle Tour. 

On the road to Cloonacauneen Castle

Discover a magical hidden rural side of Galway city by participating in ‘Slí na gCaisleán’ (‘The Way of the Castles’), a heritage cycle tour through a picturesque rural countryside of botharins, farms, meadows, Burren-like rockscapes, bogs, woodlands, lakes, rivers, turloughs and castles.

Ballindooley Lough

Associated also with The Gathering Ireland 2013, this ‘Off the Beaten Track’ Galway Bike Festival event will appeal to city residents and members of the Diaspora alike as it will bring participants back in history, to a time when people travelled by bike, by horse and by foot through a pre-modern landscape.

Spellman's Botharín

The guided leisurely looped cycle tour takes place at 10am on Sunday June 23^rd from Terryland Castle covering a route that encompasses seven castles on the north and eastern side of Galway city and into Galway county castles. 

Menlo Castle

The castles are Terryland, Menlo, Cloonacauneen, Killeen, Ballybrit, Castlegar and Ballindooley.

Cloonacauneen Castle

Members of Cumann na bhFear (aka Men’s Shed), who are organising the event supported by Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest Park, are lovingly restoring a fleet of High Nelly classic bikes for the tour. 

Carrowbrowne Canal

Participants should bring along their own bicycle, suitable clothing and packed lunch. There will be a stop over at Cloonacauneen Castle where participants can purchase food and beverages. Any children twelve years or under must be accompanied by an adult. All participants must sign a form agreeing to abide by the rules of the tour.

Menlo Pier

To book a place contact Brendan Smith at speediecelt@gmail.com or 0872935106.

Kileen Castle

The Old Bog Road, Carrowbrowne

Mayo's Walking & Cycling Development Officer to Speak at Public Meeting on Greenways

'Off the Beaten Track' Heritage Cycle Tour along a 'botharín' in rural Galway city

 Anna O’Connor, Walking and Cycling Development Officer at Mayo County Council, will give a public lecture next week on her experiences of successfully fostering local authority and community co-operation in the roll out of a pedestrian and cycling trails network.
Her work has won considerable recognition for Mayo County Council in its efforts to establish the county as Ireland’s premier walking and cycling destination.

Volunteers Clearing a Botharín in Carrowbrowne that will form an important link in a new Galway Greenway

The local authority was the recipient of the Best Public Service Innovation Award 2012 at the recent ‘Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards’, due in particular to the establishment of the 'Great Western Greenway', a 42km traffic-free walking and cycling facility connecting Westport and Achill Island in County Mayo. The facility is multifunctional and serves tourists, local recreational, school and work travel needs embracing users of all ages.
The talk will take place at 7.30pm on Wednesday May 23rd in the Menlo Park Hotel. It is being hosted by the ‘Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest Park and environs’, ‘Castlegar Connect’ and Rosie Webb, senior official in Galway City Council responsible for designing the city’s new Greenways network.
For further information, contact Brendan Smith at speediecelt@gmail.com

Jordan's Island Galway city - starting point for new Greenways route

Exciting New Community-based 'Greenways' Network to Link the Castles of Galway City & County

Repairing Old Bog Road, Carrowbrowne

University students, farmers, environmental campaigners, city residents, cycling advocates, heritage groups, local authority officials and politicians are joining forces to develop an ambitious network of ‘Greenways’ that will link up castles on the east side of Galway city with historical mansions and castles in the north and east of the county.

Shane Foran, Cllr Frank Fahy & Oisín Ó Nidh in Community Clean-Up, Carrowbrowne Bog

Community & Environmental Efforts Finally Bearing Fruit

After years of campaigning and activity, the combined efforts of the Friends of Galway's Forests, Castlegar Connect, the Terryland Forest Park committee, the Off the Beaten Track heritage cycle scheme, visionary  local authority officials (Marie Mannion, Rosie Webb, Cathy Joyce, Sharon Carroll, Stephen Walsh) and one lone city councillor Frank Fahy are finally starting to bear fruit as Galway may yet benefit from a network of pedestrian and cycle trails to rival that of Kerry, Wicklow, Scotland and rural England.
Such an initiative could become be the most important eco initiative in Galway city for decades and will help in securing the future of the Terryland Forest Park and in supporting the growth of the community organic garden movement in the city. 

Cloonacauneen Castle

Network of Greenways to Link Galway's Castles

Rosie Webb, Greenways Advocate at Galway City Council, on 'Off the Beaten Track' Heritage Cycle Tour to Menlo

It is envisaged that this exciting community-based initiative under the working title of Slí na gCaisleán (‘The Way of the Castles’), supported by both councils in Galway city and county, could give a whole new dimension to local tourism by providing a wonderful network of scenic pedestrian and cycling trails that will commence at Terryland Castle, continue on through the Terryland Forest Park to Castlegar Castle with one route branching off towards Menlo Castle. An alternative route will wind its way through Carrowbrowne Bog towards Cloonacauneen Castle. 

Botharín, Ballybrit

This trail will connect into an old right of way that  linked Castlegar Church to the Ballybrit Race Course. Known as the Castlegar Mass Path, it is presently been developed and maintained by residents in Parkmore and Ballybrit as well as the Castlegar Connect NGO.  A mosaic of ancient ancient tracks known as botharíns exist all across the country that local people are finally becoming aware off once again after decades of non-use due to modern society's over reliance of cars and main roads. 

Summer Garden Festival, Claregalway Castle

There are plans to develop links to Claregalway Castle, with further routes over time going into the heartlands of north and east Galway county. 

Beautiful Countryside of Carrowbrowne

May 12th: Volunteers Needed for Repair Work on Old Bog Road in Carrowbrowne

An important step in making this ambitious city-county Greenway a reality will take place on Saturday May 12^th when volunteers will gather together at 11.30am beside the Carrowbrowne graveyard before commencing the re-surfacing and cleaning up of a lovely old bog road. This event is being coordinated by Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest Park and environs with city councillor Frank Fahy who has secured the support of local land-owners and has led similar clean-ups in the area over the last year. Participants include NUIG business students operating under the ‘CKI Alive’ programme as well as conservationists and local residents. The students are particularly interested in developing the community and tourism aspects of the Greenways. Everyone is welcomed to participate in this conservation work. 

Michael Tiernan using a 'Grabber' traditional implement that he made himself to clean up a ditch in Carrowbrowne

Galway's Green Heroes

For the event, members of the Ballinfoile Cumann na bhFhear (Men’s Shed) under the guidance of Michael Tiernan are making replicas of special traditional implements ('grabbers) used in bogs in bygone days to remove vegetation and debris from water channels. 

Anne McCabe in a cleaning operation to re-open the old Castlegar Mass Path

Different organisations are involved in different tasks at different stages along the route including Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest, Galway Civic Trust, Castlegar Connect, VEC, Cumann na bhFear and the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden. Within Galway City Council, we are supported by Cathy Joyce of the GTU and Stephen Walsh at City Parks whilst Rosie Webb is the senior official responsible for designing the city’s Greenways network.

Councillor Frank Fahy repairing a drystone wall in Carrowbrowne

 Marie Mannion, in her capacity as Heritage Officer of Galway County Council and prime mover behind the ‘Golden Mile’ projects, is providing much needed inspiration, professional expertise and guidance. Plus of course the redoubtable Councillor Frank Fahy!

Old Bog Road, Carrowbrowne

May 20th: Launch of  'Off the Beaten Track' Cycle Heritage Route for Carrowbrowne

On Sunday May 20^th, an “Off the Beaten Track” heritage cycle tour will go through the enhanced Carrowbrowne Bog to celebrate the work of the volunteers on the previous weekend. Starting at 11am from the Centra Foodstore on Bóthar an Chóiste, it will include a stop-over for hostelry refreshments at Cloonacauneen Castle.

These trails will open up an oftentimes hidden side of Galway city to both tourist and locals alike who, by taking to the bike or by walking, will enjoy a fascinating landscape of ancient castles, hedgerows, farmlands natural beauty and rich biodiversity that commence only a few minutes from the hustle and bustle of the city’s streets.

 For further information, contact speediecelt@gmail.com

See previous articles on
Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden - bringing healthy food & biodiversity to an urban area
Cumann an bhFear (Men's Shed) - a men's movement in Galway city that encourages men from all walks of life to help each other to learn and/or teach skills, particularly traditional Irish crafts and skills that can benefit themselves and the wider community.
 Off the Beaten Track - guided heritage cycle tours through the picturesque rural landscapes of Galway city, landscapes that are unknown to the majority of the urban population.  

'Knitting in the Classroom' - Giving A New Lease of Life to a Traditional Craft

One of my personal highlights of 2011 was in convincing Lawrencestown National School to exhibit at the Galway Science and Technology Science Festival Exhibition. Nothing special about that one might say as I annually coordinate the involvement of schools into this one day fair that is the highlight of a 2 week festival which this year took place in Galway University (NUIG) attracting over 24,000 visitors representing the largest crowd ever to appear on campus.

But what was different about this school was that they were demonstrating something that many people might feel has absolutely nothing to do with science or technology, namely the ancient handicraft of Knitting.

Yet this popular misconception could not be further from the truth. For mathematics is at the core of this traditional craft that produces fabric from a strand of yarn or thread.

Whilst working in the school during the course of the year, teaching the basic concepts of engineering using K’NEX, I noticed that the pupils of both sexes would sometimes take up knitting during lunchtime if it was raining outside. The classrooms also a fine display of woollen animals and objects.

I was intrigued!

The children told me that it was due to the pioneering efforts of teacher Davina Daly that the children were learning the joys and creativity of knitting. Rather than just buying ready-made toys, clothing and gifts as most children have done for the last few decades, these boys and girls were making their very own scarves, rockets and animals out of fabricating yarn with each item that they produced stamped with their own unique style and individuality.

Over the next few months, I noticed too that a few other schools were also doing likewise, once again due to the initiative of individual teachers.

Daire's window display of 'wooly monsters' at Halloween

'Knitting with Granny'

Then in September I found my own 11 year old son Dáire starting to take up knitting with a passion as a result of a new national educational scheme known as Knitting with Granny, whereby older women were being brought into the classrooms to show young people how to knit.  Dáire created an ever-growing menagerie of animals that began to populate the whole house. I was hooked!

 

More Wooly Monsters!

Not only are primary schools reviving and giving a whole new lease of life to a very important aspect of the country’s heritage, stitching is introducing these young people to a practical understanding and usage of mathematics via the counting of stitches, the calculation of gauge (that is the number of stitches and rows required to knit a 10cm square for a particular yarn), the creating of patterns and the quantification of yarn required.

 Some of Dáire's Christmas knitted Santa Claus and helpers

The Makers

As with my work in helping to introduce computer programming into primary and post-primary education sector, Knitting in schools is part of a vision of educating our people to once again become designers and makers of practical things rather than just users and recipients of items manufactured outside Ireland. It will help our national move from a having a culture of dependency to a culture of creativity.

According to Davina, “The knitting craze started in our school two years ago when Evelyn Reidy a friend of my mother's dressmaking instructor Mary passed away. Evelyn's daughter gave Mary all her knitting needles and wool. Mary passed all the knitting materials on to my mum and then to me. I didn't want the wool to go to waste so I brought it to school. The children from second to sixth class took and used whatever wool they needed.
Jean Greenhowe has a fabulous collection of knitting booklets for irresistible dolls and toys http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/booklets.html.  I have bought a number of them - The Scarecrow Family, Little Gift Dolls, Knitted Clowns, Jiffyknits, Knitted Animals, Christmas Special and Christmas Treasures. The children have knitted various items from these booklets. Some of the children buy knitting magazines. Another mom gave her son a magazine that had knitting pattern for boys in it. There was a pattern of a rocket, a dinosaur and a turtle. Some of the children knitted them.

The first stitch the children learn is the Garter stitch (AKA plain stitch). Every row is knit. Once the children have mastered this stitch they learn how to cast on and off stitches. They knit simple hairbands (sweatbands for boys) and wrist bands to practise this stitch. Then they learn the Stocking stitch (aka purl stitch - knit on the right side, purl on the wrong side).
After this they learn how to read patterns. As the patterns get more and more complicated they learn more and more knitting techniques: inc = increase stitches, dec = decrease stitches, psso = pass slip stitch over and so on.

They've knitted dogs, owls, turtles, bears, scarves, penguins, santas and snowmen.
One boy knitted Mrs Claus for his grandmother (finished height 36 cm).
At Christmas the children knitted Christmas trees, Christmas stockings, candy canes, garland rings to hang on their Christmas trees. At Easter they knitted chickens. One girl knitted a rattler for her baby brother and another knitted Binky the Golfing Clown with the help of his Granny.”

Wooly Science

The school exhibited their Knitting project during the  Galway Science and Technology Festival Fair that was held in NUI Galway on November 27th and was visited by over 24,000 people. With the theme of Wooly Science, their stand was one of the most popular as visitors were enthralled to see a line of children knitting away whilst explaining the mathematic basis of this ancient handcraft.