This coming October Bank Holiday weekend visitors from the UK, the
U.S., Canada, Norway and all over Ireland will be coming to Athy to attend the
9th annual Ernest Shackleton Autumn School. The school was established in 2001 by a group
of local polar enthusiasts in conjunction with Athy Heritage Centre. The school was established to commemorate the
year of heroic polar exploration of which so many Irishmen were key figures
including Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean.
Such has been the consistent interest in the school that it has gone
from strength to strength since its foundation.
Many of us will recall the wonderful performances of Liam O’Flynn and
his fellow musicians in the Dominican Church Athy for the premier of his piece
specially commissioned by the Heritage Centre to commemorate Ernest
Shackleton’s exploits. The piece was an
eloquent tribute to Shackleton and all those men who served with him and
hopefully one day Liam will release a recording of it. In the intervening years there have been a
number of different events during the school which have left indelible
impressions on those who attended it.
Chief amongst these must be Aidan Dooley’s wonderful evocation of the
life of Tom Crean. Aidan’s extraordinary
virtuoso performance gave life to this wonderful Kerry man whose exploits
earned him a reputation almost on par with Ernest Shackleton. Last year one of the most significant events
was the hosting of the Face to Face polar portraits exhibition. This exhibition, on loan from the Scott Polar
Research Institute of the University of Cambridge, was the first time that the
Scott Polar Research Institute had brought a full exhibition to this
country. It is testament to the growing
reputation of the Shackleton School that the Scott Polar Research Institute
were pleased to be associated with it.
The exhibition displayed a wonderful array of historic polar photography
over the last 150 years, again featuring prominently many Irishmen, including
Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean as well as the Dundalk-born Arctic explorer,
Francis Leopold McClintock.
This year the school will be marking the centenary of Shackleton’s
Nimrod Expedition. This is the
expedition which established Ernest Shackleton’s international reputation where
he came within 90 miles of the South Pole. His pragmatic decision to return to
his base without having reached the South Pole was a tribute to his leadership
qualities insofar as he was unwilling to risk the lives of his men to achieve
his geographical object. He famously
wrote to his wife Emily Shackleton afterwards that he presumed that she would
prefer to have a ‘live donkey than a dead
lion.’
The Heritage Centre this year will host an exhibition of material
and artefacts from the Nimrod Expedition including Shackleton’s own sledging
flag and some of the equipment used on the expedition. Many of the artefacts will be on loan from
the Scott Polar Research Institute and from private collectors from all over
the world.
The Exhibition is only one of a number of events which is sure to
draw particularly good crowds this year to Athy. Dr. Michael Rosove, from California will
lecture on Shackleton's books and writing.
Mr. Hans Kjell Larson, a grandson of Captain C.A. Larson, one of the
most distinguished Antarctic pioneers, will be travelling from Norway to
lecture about his grandfather. Dr. David
Wilson, a grandnephew of Dr. Wilson, a member of the polar party who perished
with Captain Scott in 1912, will be talking about his new book ‘Nimrod Illustrated Pictures from Lieutenant
Shackleton’s British Antarctic Expedition’.
Professor Andrew Lambert of Kings College, London and Dr. Russell
Potter of Rhode Island College, U.S.A. will also be talking about aspects of
the famous Franklin Expedition lost in the Arctic, which to this day continues
to generate a huge degree of scholarship in this area of Arctic history. A living link with modern Arctic life will be
provided by Lady Marie Herbert. The Dublin born writer and traveller will speak
about her life with the Inuit. A notable first for the school in that it
follows the very successful talk given by her daughter Kari Herbert last year.
A particularly interesting feature this year will be a session on historic
polar cinematography to be hosted by Dr. Hugh Lewis Jones, the curator of art
at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge and Dr.
Russell Potter, Professor of English from Rhode Island College. They will present, perhaps for the first time
in Ireland, a series of historic polar films from the early 20th
century, many of them unlikely to be ever seen in this country again. There will also be a few surprises as there
will be a number of contributions from special guests yet to be announced.
On the Friday night the school will begin with the launch by
American polar historian Regina Wilson Daly of her latest book titled 'The Shackleton Letters - Behind the Scenes of the Nimrod
Expedition'. This will be a
particularly significant book launch in this the centenary year of the Nimrod
Expedition. The launch will be followed
by the Shackleton memorial lecture to be delivered this year by Caroline
Casey. Caroline, a social entrepreneur
and disability activist, was the founder of the Aisling Project, recently
re-named Kanchi which has been to the forefront in heightening awareness of and
enhancing the relationship between disability and society. One of her most significant achievements has
been demonstrating that disability should not be a bar to an individual’s
active participation in society or in the work place. The O2 Ability Awards, established by Kanchi,
were the first Irish business awards which recognised best practice for the
inclusion of people with disabilities as customers, employees and members of
the community. Caroline’s extraordinary
commitment and dedication has resulted in a series of significant
acknowledgements and awards both nationally and internationally. She was the first Irish person to be
appointed a young global leader of the World Economic Forum in 2006 and was
awarded an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland in the
same year. A hugely popular, energetic
and charismatic speaker, her lecture on the opening night of the Shackleton
weekend is not to be missed.
A very important part of the Shackleton School has been the social
aspect particularly after the lecture sessions on the Saturday and Sunday and
the friendships and relationships that have been fostered between the lecturers
and the attendees has been an important factor in contributing to the continued
success of the Shackleton Autumn School.
It is true to say that while Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic endeavours
established him internationally, the school which carries his name continues to
promote Athy both nationally and internationally in a manner which was
difficult to imagine when the school was first established in 2001.
Further details of the 2009 Ernest Shackleton Autumn School can be
got from the Autumn School’s website:
www.shackletonmuseum.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment