Kilkenny 'Decade of Centenaries' to be digital, virtual experience this year

Local library services are to offer a unique digital and virtual experience to allow people to engage with history as part of the Decade of Centenaries initiative this year.

Kilkenny County Council library service has always welcomed audiences into libraries in the past to a variety of events and talks based on the Decade of Centenaries period. People of Kilkenny were active participants during the events of these decades and the hope is to encourage the people of Kilkenny and beyond to actively engage with history from this period, both locally and nationally.

Offerings have three main pillars:

• A series of podcasts with Historian and Author, Eoin Swithin Walsh on happenings in Kilkenny in 1920;
•  Decade themed learning materials for children in the classroom, with Educationalist and Author, Anne Murtagh based on research for her recent book, ‘Sound of Freedom’;
•  A collection of commissioned photographs of Decade-themed sites around Kilkenny.

"While Covid 19 has presented challenges in delivering a programme of events this year, using virtual and visual channels has allowed Kilkenny County Council Library Service to reach both existing and new audiences with content, that is both wide-ranging and thought provoking", says executive librarian, Declan Macauley.

Hugginstown RIC outside the barracks

Podcasts and learning materials can be accessed on the library website www.kilkennylibrary.ie and are being promoted on the library social media channels. Images are available on Kilkenny Digital Archive at https://digital-archive. kilkenny.ie/index.php and will form the basis of a series of commemorative postcards later this year.

Kilkenny County Council Library Service actively supports the Decade of Centenaries initiative.

The objective of the State Centenary Commemoration Programme for the years from 2019 – 2023 is to ensure that this period in history, including the struggle for Independence, the Civil War, the foundation of the State and Partition, is remembered appropriately and sensitively.

The Projects are supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative.