Heritage Week starts this Saturday, with an array of events taking place until August 27th throughout the north west.
The week’s activities, most of which are free, are coordinated by the Heritage Council and involves hundreds of community organisations working to preserve and promote the natural, built and cultural heritage of local areas.
So many events are taking place throughout Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal during Heritage Week that it’s simply impossible to list them all.
But most counties have their own events guide booklet that’s available through outlets such as county council, Failte Ireland offices, libraries, museums, heritage centres and other public buildings.
But the first call for many seeking information will be the Heritage Week website from which county guides can be downloaded.
The events come in all varieties.
For example, in Leitrim there’s a bell-ringing workshop in Manorhamilton, a bumble bee ramble at Parke’s Castle, a lecture on holy wells, tombs and tunes.
There will also be foraging for wild food at the Organic Centre in Rossinver.
In Donegal there’s also a huge variety of events arranged, among them an adaptation of Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ on Bundoran’s Tullan Strand, an exhibiton commemorating the 60th anniversary of Bundoran Railway Station, and a historic bus tour of Killybegs.
There’s also a wide vartiety of events in Sligo, including a talk on the archaeological work and findings along the route of the planned new N4 Sligo to Dublin road from Collooney to Castlebaldwin.
The talk, on Monday at 7pm in the Aurivo Auditorium in IT Sligo, will be given by the archaeological site director, Brian O’Hara:
Heritage Week is one of those occasions when the passion of those who work at local level to preserve, enhance, promote and learn about their area, really emerges.
Siobhan Ryan, is heritage officer with Sligo County Council:
