The death of Con Costello, historian, author and columnist
for the Leinster Leader has deprived his adopted county of it's foremost
historical researcher and it's most prolific writer on historical topics. I was
privileged to have served as a member of the County Kildare Historical
Monuments Committee for the last eight years or so under the chairmanship of
Con. He brought to his role a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the places and
buildings of the county unrivalled by anyone I know. From his first book
“Ireland and the Holy Land'”published in 1974 to his last “A Class Apart – the
Gentry Families of County Kildare” published last year he maintained a
scholarly rigour and precision in all his historical writings.
His written legacy is to be found in the twelve books that
he wrote and the twelve hundred or so articles written for his Leinster Leader column “Looking
Back”. Con Costello was a truly exceptional local historian, local in the sense
that his research tended to concentrate on the localised historical picture and
not in the disparaging sense in which academic historians tend to regard those
whose research and writing operate outside the hallowed halls of academia. His
research undoubtedly helped to extend and conserve the history of the short
grass county while his weekly newspaper articles helped to bring the fruits of
his research to a much wider audience than could ever expect to be reached by
book publishers. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam
The October Bank Holiday weekend will see the sixth Ernest
Shackleton Autumn School taking place in the Town Hall Athy. Commencing on
Friday the 27th of October the weekends events will be opened by
Senator David Norris who will give the Shackleton memorial lecture. Norris, who
is a distinguished Joycean Scholar, is also one of the most significant figures
in Irish political and cultural life today. Incidentally, the proceedings on
Friday evening are open without charge to everyone and if you would like to
hear in person one of the most engaging and interesting public speakers you are
likely to meet in a long time do come along to the Heritage Centre. That same
evening a musical performance devised by Cliff Wedgbury will be given in the
Castle Inn commencing at 9pm. Wedgbury, London born but now living in Cork is a
singer and poet who has previously performed in the National Museum in Dublin
during last years Shackleton exhibition which exhibition was on loan from the
New York Museum. Admission to the Wedgbury show “The Boss – A Life told in
Story and Song” is €5.
The weekend lecture series starts on Saturday morning at
10.30am in the Town Hall with Dr. Seamus McCann's talk on “South Georgia”
followed by Joe O'Farrell's talk on the “Ross Sea Party”. McCann is an
experienced Antarctic scientist while O'Farrell, a lifelong student of polar
history, will reprise the lecture he gave the National Museum in Dublin last
year.
On Saturday afternoon at 2.30pm we welcome New Yorker Margot
Morrell who is travelling from the Big Apple to talk on her book “Shackleton's
Way”. The book examines the success of Shackleton's leadership skills and draws
on it to give insights into the nature of man management and leadership. The
final lecture that day will be given by Jarlath Cunnane who received the
prestigious Blue Water Medal from the Cruising Club of America earlier this
year in recognition of his achievement as skipper and builder of the Irish
yacht Northabout which completed the first east to west Polar circumnavigation
in October 2002. His talk entitled “Northabout – A Polar Circumnavigation” will
deal with that epic journey.
Whites Castle will be the venue for a special performance
for children by Cliff Wedgway of his show to take place on Saturday at 3pm. On
Saturday night the inaugural Shackleton Autumn School Dinner will be held in
the Clanard Court Hotel and not the Carlton Abbey Hotel as stated in the
programme of events. Tickets at €30 each are limited and early booking with the
Heritage Centre is advised.
On Sunday the 29th of October the lectures resume
at 10.30am with Robert Stephenson co-ordinator of the acclaimed Antarctic
Circle website dealing with the topic “Antarctic Sites Outside The Antarctic –
Memorials, Statues, Houses, Graves and the Occasional Pub”. Twelve noon brings
on stage the inimical Dr Bob Headland of the Scott Polar Institute who will
deliver his lecture “Attainment of the North Pole – A Historical Account”.
The film on Sunday afternoon will be “With Byrd at the South
Pole”. Released in 1936 this is an Oscar winning documentary of the Americans
journey to the Antarctic together with his famous first flight over the North
Pole. Following the film there will be an open forum with an opportunity for
questions to be asked of the participating speakers.
Later on Sunday evening a one woman play “A Father for My
Son” based on the life of Captain Robert Scott's wife is to be performed for
the first time in Ireland by Jenny Coverack. Jenny trained as an actress at the
world famous Bristol Old Vic and the play written by herself and Robert Edwards
has been performed to acclaim all over the world.
The field trip which has been an outstanding feature of the
Autumn School in recent years will again take place on Monday the 30th of October starting from the
Heritage Centre at 10am. During the trip a visit will be made to Ballytore for
the formal launching of the Folk Archive of County Kildare.
The Antarctic Adventures a group of re-enactors who
specialise in recreating the world of Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen will
recreate over the course of the weekend a three man sledging party of the
1901-1930 period with clothing, sledges and equipment of the period.
Books and memorabilia relating to Shackleton and the
Antarctic will be on sale during the weekend and this year a specialist book dealer
will be in attendance with books of interest to those attending for the weekend
lectures.
It promises to be an interesting weekend and one deserving
of support by the local people of Athy. Programmes for the Shackleton Autumn
School can be collected at the Heritage Centre where bookings can also be made
for all or any of the events. A weekend ticket to include the dinner on
Saturday night and all lectures and events costs €65 and may be obtained by
contacting the Heritage Centre on 059 863 3075. The individual lectures cost €5
each.
A special thanks this year goes to local employers Tegral
Building Products who are the principal sponsors of the sixth Shackleton Autumn
School.
On Wednesday 1st November at 8pm Zoltan Zinn Collis, whose book “Final Witness
– My Journey from the Holocaust to Ireland” was recently launched, will give a
talk in the Town Hall. Zoltan's experiences as a young boy in a Nazi
concentration camp during World War II is a tragic story and part of those
horrifying events which were a defining episode in the history not only of the
twentieth century but in the history of mankind. Admission to the lecture is
free but because of the limited seating available those wishing to attend
should arrive as early as possible.
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