Pictures: History and heritage alive as young Kilkenny Fadó, Fadó winners honoured

The popularity of local history and heritage among the county’s young was emphasised by the enthusiastic turnout for a schools competition.

Organisers of the Kilkenny Fadó, Fadó: Sparking Memories competition were bowled over by the number of entries and praised all entrants at the awards ceremony. Launched in October 2024 this initiative, a collaboration between Kilkenny Archaeological Society, Kilkenny County Council Library Service and Rothe House Trust and Garden, aims to promote local history and heritage among young pupils.

The competition offered primary school pupils from third to sixth classes an opportunity to work as historians and personally engage with the local studies strand of the history curriculum.
The pupils were encouraged to become young researchers and historians as they dug deep into history to learn about their local heritage. Entries were submitted under the two categories - the junior (third and fourth classes) and senior (fifth and sixth classes).

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Schools throughout County Kilkenny responded enthusiastically to the challenge.  The organisers were bowled over by the number of entries and by the breadth and quality of the work. 

“It’s great to see so many personal projects and interesting family stories with lots of new diverse information coming to light,” said Declan Macauley, retired Executive Librarian, who was one of the judges.

“It was very encouraging also to see so many original topics with lots of imagination and originality,” added fellow judge Ann Tierney, KAS Honorary Librarian. “Picking out winners was a challenge as the pupils’ care and attention was displayed all over the place.

“Interest and enthusiasm shone through drawing our attention to new and important aspects of our heritage.”

Projects focusing on family connections included the winning senior entry by Beatrice Mealy of Presentation Convent, Castlecomer, whose topic was Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers. Beatrice traced the family business from her great-grandfather’s time to the present day.

The senior runner-up was submitted by Annie Comerford from St John of God - My Grandfather - A world champion at racquetball, who retired from the sport at age 78.

The winning entry for the junior section came from Patrick Gallagher of Clara NS, who presented a project about a local cottage ‘frozen in time’ on his grandfather’s land entitled Tony’s Cottage. The junior runner-up was Katie Shortt of Clara NS for her project entitled When My Granny Worked in Padmore and Barnes.

Prize winners and highly commended entries were acknowledged at an award ceremony in Rothe House. Special guests included Senator Malcolm Noonan, Mayor Andrew McGuinness, Fiona Deegan Director of Services at Kilkenny County Council, Fonsie MeaIy (President) and Ian Coulter (Chair) of KAS. Valerie O’Sullivan, General Manager of Rothe House and Garden chaired the event.

Winning entries and highly commended will be digitised and available for viewing on the Kilkenny Library Digital Archive at digital-archive.kilkenny.ie.

The organisers are looking forward to running this competition again next year and plan to extend it to post-primary level.
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