Heritage Week: A trip down memory lane in central Mayo
AS part of National Heritage Week 2023, the Keelogues Heritage Group are hosting what promises to be a fascinating trip down memory lane this Sunday, August 13.
Local historian Lauren Mullaney will host ‘Saol mar a bhí - Life as it was’ in Ballyvary Central National School from 2 to 4 p.m.
It will be a celebration of the local living heritage in Keelogues, Ballyvary and surrounding areas. The event is focused on this year’s theme: ‘Living Heritage: the traditions and practices, knowledge and skills passed down through generations’.
Lauren Mullaney, a member of the heritage group, and a local historian who completed a dissertation entitled ‘Self-sufficiency and independence of the local people in my native area, in County Mayo’, will informally share some of the rich information she gathered from local people.
The Keelogues Heritage Group hope to bring the event to life through a selection of handling objects related to everyday rural life loaned from the National Museum of Country Life in Turlough.
The main themes of the event will be focused around the work that the local people did as well as their day to day lives, such as working the land, the production of food, the use of the local drinking wells and much more; the pastimes of the local people - local musicians, card games, dances and the many games that young children played; local folk medicine, such as the many old cures and remedies, and some integral people in the area such as Paddy O’Hora of Keelogues.
The event will be relaxed, informal and allows people of all ages to participate however they wish.
The heritage group hope to hear some memories along the way, and join the community in making some new ones for all.
On sale at the event will be Mary O’Brien’s ‘Keelogues - A Parish History’, which is a perfect gift for anyone with a connection to the parish and/or an interest in its history.
It was first published by Keelogues Community Council in 1989 and an updated ‘Keelogues book’ was republished by Keelogues Heritage Group with Mayo Books Press in 2022, with monies from the book going to the heritage group and their continuous work in the parish.
All are welcome for what will be a nostalgia filled event as the past is explored and reminisced.