Oral History seminar on Saturday

An ambitious project to record and preserve the voices, stories and histories of Kildare residents by Kildare residents is being launched on Saturday, 20 October in the Kilcullen Heritage Centre.

The project invites participants to acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills to record the oral history of County Kildare and in doing so allow Kildare to develop an archive of local oral recordings.

“This is a great opportunity for people who have always wanted to learn the correct way to plan and prepare for an oral recording project to come along and learn,” says Bridget Loughlin, County Kildare Heritage Officer.

The inaugural seminar on 20th October is open to all members of the public and will present an overview of Oral Histories in Ireland and an introduction to the National Folklore Collection in Dublin.

Those interested are then invited to join in a training programme which will equip participants with the skills to record the oral history of Kildare. The training programme will be based in the Naas Community Centre - McAuley Place, Sallins Road, Naas, Co Kildare for approximately eight weeks and will include visits to the National Folklore Collection at UCD and the recording studio in Leixlip Library.

The Course will commence on Saturday, 3rd November and run for 8 weeks. Participants are asked to sign up for the course by Monday, 29th October. Places are limited so an early sign up is recommended.

The project is an action in the Kildare Heritage Plan and is funded by County Kildare Leader Partnership.

Things kick off at 10am on Saturday and admission is free.

For more information see www.kildare.ie/saveourstories or
contact Bridget Loughlin, Heritage Officer with Kildare County Council at heritageofficer@kildarecoco.ie.