Athy's Photographic Society

Athy Photographic Society, founded in the early 1980s, is one of the most active and successful societies in the town. Over the years it’s members have held annual photographic exhibitions, produced an annual calendar, while engaged in training to improve their photographic skills. The Society has grown through a number of rebirths in the forty or so years since it’s foundation. The early photographic pioneers were George Robinson, Gerry Lynch, Mary Cunningham and Pat O’Rourke and it is the last named who remains a committed member of the society to this day. Early meetings were held in Jim McEvoy’s pub and later in the Leinster Arms Hotel. The first photographic exhibition was held in the same hotel in or about 1985. It’s now an annual event which over the years has graced venues such as Smuggler’s pub in Duke Street, the Dominican Hall, Athy’s Vocational School, the town library and the Heritage Centre. John Minihan, Athy’s most famous photographer, was the subject of an exhibition early in the society’s life. A few years ago John returned to Athy to give a talk on his work to members of the society and their supporters in the Community College. Over the years the society was renewed and strengthened with the arrival of new members such as Tom Kirwan, Con Doyle, Denis O’Donovan, Jack Brogan, Brendan Hughes, Vincent O’Connor, P.J. Ryan and Peadar Doogue. Unfortunately, I do not have the names of all those who joined the society during the various revival periods of the society. The success of the annual exhibition encouraged the society members to produce an annual calendar, the first of which appeared in or about 2007. Sponsored and supported by local businesses the calendar has proved to be a wonderful keepsake for locals and especially for Athy folk living overseas. Today the photographic society is flourishing and it’s members have rooms in the community hub in the former Mount St. Marys secondary school building. Several members of the society have won national and international awards over the years. The first major success was achieved by James Mahon, current chairman of the society, who was awarded an Excellence in International Artistic Photography by the F.I.A.B. That award was also won by Ned Mahon, another Athy club member. The Jack Brogan Cup, in honour of one of the former members of the society, is awarded to the photographer of the year. Last year that prize went to Elena Doyle. Others who have achieved success at national events include Clodagh Doyle, Pat O’Rourke, Noel Kelly, Suzanne Behan and Brendan Hughes. The society’s most recent exhibition was in the town library during last year’s Culture Night. ‘The Prado on the Barrow’ exhibition featured works by the Athy Photographic Society members. The members borrowed an idea from the Spanish Art Museum in Madrid by recreating and photographing some of the classic paintings in the Prado collection. The paintings recreated and photographed for the exhibition included works by El Greco, William Leech, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh and several other great masters. It proved to be a fascinating exhibition, combining fine photography, exceptional costume arrangement and design. The next exhibition by the society is scheduled for Wednesday, 19th June when again it will be held in the local community library. It will show the work of three international photographers with connections to Athy. These are award winning John Minihan and John Maher, whose pictures of the Outer Hebrides featured on BBC 1 recently. John’s parents emigrated from Athy in the 1950s and John is perhaps better known as a founder member of the Manchester band, ‘The Buzzcocks’. The third exhibitor is Kieran Tully, formerly of William Street and now based in New York where he has gained fame for his imaginative bold photographs of that city’s streetscapes. Past members of the Athy Photographic Society include P.J. Ryan and Peadar Doogue. P.J. is regarded as one of the foremost wildlife photographers and I am privileged to have in my collection a series of twelve wildlife photographs taken by P.J. which were exhibited in the Heritage Centre some years ago. P.J. is a superb photographer, as is Peadar Doogue whose photographic work features frequently on Facebook. The Athy Photographic Society is one of Athy’s most innovative and successful community organisations. It has achieved great success over the years and with an ever increasing membership the society’s work in recording the people and events of our time will provide a unique archive for future generations.

Ernest Shackleton was Irish

I have been marvelling at the restoration works being carried out by Kildare County Council on the Town Hall in Emily Square, Athy. For much of my life it has been a dark grey presence in the centre of Town. I have been pleasantly surprised by the lightness of colour of its stonework since it was cleaned and repointed over the last number of months. Is brings a lightness and airiness to the square which I could not have foreseen and the re-ordering of Emily Square over the next twelve months will give Athy a civic space to be proud of. When the Museum re-opens at the end of next summer it will be a draw for international visitors. I was reminded of this when two stalwarts of the Shackleton Museum, Kevin Kenny of Naas and Seamus Taaffe of this town were invited to lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London this month. The occasion was the Shackleton 150th Anniversary conference. Kevin Kenny delivered the opening address on the evening of Friday, 17th May where he spoke to a rapt audience with a whistlestop tour of the life of Shackleton. The weekend was punctuated by a variety of interesting talks on all matters relating to Shackleton Antarctic Experience. The next contribution from Athy was from Seamus Taaffe who gave a lecture titled ‘Shackleton, the Irish perspective’. This was a useful corrective to the narrative often foisted on visitors that Shackleton was British or English. It often forgotten that the Shackleton family have been established in the South Kildare area since the early 18th Century. The first of the number to arrive here was Abraham Shackleton who came from Yorkshire as a private tutor in 1725. Such was his successes in education that he established his own school in the Quaker Village of Ballytore in 1726. Among its pupils was the renowned Parliamentarian Edmund Burke remembered for his writing and particularly for his pamphlet “Reflections of the Revolution of France”. Napper Tandy, the revolutionary founder of the United Irishman was also a pupil. It was he who inspired the famous ballad “The Wearing of the Green” and many of us will recall the wonderful rendition of that self same ballad by Jack L, of this town, at the unveiling of the Shackleton statute in Athy on the 31st August 2016. The significance of that date being that it marked the centenary to the day of the rescue of Shackleton’s men from Elephant Island where they had been stranded for many months after abandoning their ship Endurance on the Ice. While Shackleton himself would spend the first ten years of his life in Ireland, the first four years were spent in Kilkea area which surely had a formative influence on him. His Irish identity was important to him and his siblings to the point that his youngest sister Gladys who was born in London was often teased by the rest of the family as being a ‘Sassenach’ as the rest of them were all Irish born. When Shackleton rose to worldwide prominence in the advent of his expedition to the Antarctica in 1909, his Irishness was to the forefront in the ensuing public acclaim. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Home stories, whose mother was Irish, reflected on the tension between Ireland and the United Kingdom at that time. In his speech in 1909 he stated “Shackleton is an Irishman. As a fellow Irishman, I take pride in that thought. These are times when antagonism between the Islands, may even cause you to have hard thoughts on the gallant race who are our neighbours. When such a time comes, think of what you have on the other side. Think of that flag flapping yonder on the snowfield planted there by an Irishman.” It is interesting to note that whenever Shackleton was obliged to register his details as a crew member on a sailing ship or otherwise, he always recorded his nationality as Irish. In 1911 when he was residing in London, in completing the Census Form, he described his nationality as ‘Irish’ and his place of birth as ‘Athy, Co, Kildare, Ireland’. Their Irish heritage remained important to Shackleton’s siblings and at different stages of their lives, they all made their way back to Ireland. His sister Helen spent three months in Ireland in the Summer of 1908 visiting some of her old haunts in the Kilkea/Moone area. Shackleton’s eldest sister Kathleen also returned to Ireland in 1925 for a number of months where she toured the country and painted the portraits of many of the most significant members of Irish society including the poet W.B. Yeats and the President Douglas Hyde. Eleanor Hope Shackleton spent much of her life nursing in Canada and the UK and also served in the Great War in Salonica and France. She visited Ireland after her retirement as a nurse at the age of 78, in 1959. She was last of the Shackleton’s to return to Athy where she visited Kilkea House where she had been born. She would die a year later

Books published which listed the dead of War of Independence and Civil War

The Decade of Commemoration has witnessed the publishing of a number of very interesting books on our recent history. County Councils throughout the Republic have done an excellent job in highlighting the stories which inform us of the revolutionary years and a number of historians have earned our admiration and respect for works they published. What had been absent for decades since the ending of the War of Independence and the Civil War were the life details of those men and women who played a part, prominent or otherwise, in the fight for National freedom. The late Padraig O’Farrell first published his “Whose Who in the Irish War of Independence 1916-1921” in 1980 and followed it up with a revised edition entitled “Whose Who in the War of Independence and Civil War 1916-1923” seventeen years later. The Last Post first published in 1932 and since republished in enlarged editions several times detailed the stories of Irish Republican dead from 1916. In more recent times, Ray Bateson has published “They died by Pearse’s side”, “Memorials of the Easter Rising” , “Deansgrange Cemetery and Easter Rising” and “The Rising Dead RIC and DMP”. His published works are a wonderful mine of information and first class works of reference. Closer to home are the two publications which came to us courtesy of the Kildare County Decade of Commemoration Committee. James Durney’s “Stand you now for Ireland’s Cause” is a comprehensive biographical dictionary of Kildare Republican Activists 1913-1923. It was followed last year by Karel Kiely’s Biographical list of Republican Women Activists in County Kildare 1913-1923. Clare Historian, Padraig Og O’Ruairc has written “The Disappeared” a detailed account of forced disappearances in Ireland between 1798 and 1998. His book identifies all the known victims of abduction and secret killings which were part of the violent political conflict in Ireland over two hundred years. Conor Dodd has written a first class account of fatalities of the War of Independence and the Civil War who found a last resting place in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. Conor, who is a historian for Dublin Cemeteries explores in his book “Casualties of Conflict” , the lives and deaths of over three hundred men, women and children who died during the national conflicts. Historians throughout the country have added to our knowledge of the many who died during the course of the national struggle. Following perhaps the work of the early mentioned Ray Bateson, Galway man Ronan Gearoid O’Domhnaill is the author of “Gone but not Forgotten – Historic Graves of Kerry” and “Gone the Way of Truth- Historic Graves of Galway”. As the titles indicate the works are not confined to the revolutionary years of the early 20th century but cover all periods in Ireland’s History. Donegal’s republican dead 1900-2000 are detailed in Brian Anderson’s recently published book “Gone but Not Forgotten”. It outlines in great detail the lives of the forty two republican volunteers with Donegal connections who died during republican campaigns of the 20th Century. Barry Keane’s book “Corks Revolutionary Dead 1916-1923” examines the major incidents in Cork during that period and details the more than 700 men, women and children who were killed in the Rebel County. The list of those who died is comprehensive and includes not only volunteers but also British Army, RIC and Civilians. Dr. Tim Horgan’s book “Dying for the Cause Kerry’s Republican Dead” is a well researched account of those killed in the Kingdom and whose lives are now to be remembered forever. “The dead of the Irish Revolution” by Eunan O’Halpin and Daithi O’Corrain is perhaps the most comprehensive account of all the deaths during the Irish Revolution years. It charts all of those who died starting with Cornelius Keating, Charles Monaghan and Daniel Sheehan who drowned when their car went off Ballykissane Pier on the 21st April 1916. The last entry dated the 21st December 1921 records the accidental shooting of Michael McCrann a 19 year old IRA Volunteer in the Guardroom of Gilhooly Hall, Sligo. Organising deaths chronically, the book records all casualties whether civilian, police, military or volunteer. It is a magnificent work by the two University historians. My intention in writing this article was to highlight the work of a Carlow man, Colum O’Ruairc, who has to date produced two volumes of what is intended to be six volumes dealing with the Irish Republican dead. The first volume 1916-1919 and second volume 1920 has been published as part of a project which Colum declares is “steadfastly neutral historically and politically”. He has produced two excellent books which outline not just the Republicans who died but also the incidents in which they were involved. The books are notable for the quality and variety of photographs which are featured, many of which I have never seen before. The late great GAA man, Jimmy Wren, produced two superb books around the time of the Centenary Celebrations of the 1916 Rising. He researched and published the full list of those who were part of the G.P.O. Garrison in Easter Week and followed up with a book on the members of the garrison in the Four Courts and the Mendicity Institution. University based historians as well as local historians such as Colm Ruairc and the others mentioned in this article have added enormously to our knowledge of the participants and victims of the Revolutionary years.

How local elections have changed

We know local elections are near when the election posters appear on every available pole on the approach roads to town. But of course, the rural landscape cannot escape the explosion of coloured photographs which are also to be found high above the country hedgerows. Their appeal is a simple one – Vote For Me. And yet there are so many ‘Mes’ to be catered for, so many ‘Mes’ with unending promises charged to deflect our vote to one candidate or other. I went through two local election campaigns, the first almost 40 years ago. That first election campaign in 1985 saw all the candidates from the same party provided with canvass cards featuring all the party candidates. There were no individual canvass cards. It all seemed, on the surface at least, a peaceful acceptance of the value of team effort with the notion of letting the best person win. Local Government elections are to national politics what local history is to national history. One does not exist without the other. So, often it is success at the local level of democracy that compels an emerging local politician to step up onto the national stage. Here in south Kildare there are three examples of that type of transfer from the local to the national in the careers of Athy man Paddy Dooley, Castlemitchell native Joe Bermingham and Castledermot man Jack Wall. They were County Councillors and Town Councillors before being elected to the Dail. Not all Council candidates aspire to follow their footsteps and many, indeed the vast majority, are content to devote their time to the local authority. There is enormous free for all atmosphere about the present day election canvassing. The candidates have their own canvass cards, their own election posters and call to voter’s houses, sometimes alone, and sometimes with a few supporters to seek the all-important vote. This individualistic exercise can be a punishing ordeal for the candidates but perhaps even more so for potential voters who are likely to be confused by the priority lists which each of the candidates present. It is difficult to recognise on reading the many and varied priorities and promises wherein lies the job of a County Councillor. A County Councillor’s role is that he or she is part of the policy making arm of the Council sharing reserved functions with executive functions exercised by the Chief Executive Officer, who used to be called the County Manager. The County Councillors are responsible for adopting the Council’s annual budget, Bye Laws, Development plans etc. with a general overview of the Council’s affairs. The functions of the County Council have changed enormously since the time I worked in Kildare County Council many many years ago. Nowadays policy focused committees known as Strategic Policy Committees set up for various Council functions give Councillors better opportunities of developing a significant role in the policy development area. That is good because the Councillors with local knowledge are best placed to help develop policies and strategies which are best for their local communities. Having been elected by voting members of the local community, Councillors have an important role in the democratic process to represent the peoples interests and to articulate local needs and interests. They are an important part of the civic leadership of the community and as such occupy a vital representational role as regards the functions of the County Council. It is intriguing and, to somebody who understands the role of a County Councillor, mystifying to read of the priorities/promises offered by candidates in the forthcoming election. Ranging from crime prevention, mental health initiatives, improved home care facilities, supporting farmers and helping to get medical cards and social welfare benefits. One gets the impression that the job of a County Councillor is not seen by the vast majority of the candidates, including sitting Councillors, as policy making and effective provision of local services but rather as a means to help with matters unconnected with County Council business. There are many people who are functionally illiterate and who need help to meet the growing detailed and exacting requirements for State applications of any kind, but that assistance should be provided by State sponsored Citizen Advice Centres in every town. While no such service exists one appreciates why County Councillors are called upon to help, but I certainly find it questionable why so many people with the ability to make their own applications feel it necessary to call on County Councillors. To have County Councillors employed in this way is wasteful and inappropriate. For democracy to work, we need good candidates from all walks of life to give voice to the peoples needs in a Local Government system which is far too centralised. The power and authority of County Councils in this country is more restricted than any other Local Government system in Europe. Central Governments control of County Councils is exercised by the Department of Local Government through strict administrative, financial and technical control. So should we vote in the Local Government elections? Of course we should. Whatever the shortcomings in the Irish Local Government system or in the Councillors who represent us, it is vitally important that we exercise our voting rights. It is a right previous generations did not enjoy and a right which must be treasured and valued as an essential part of our democracy.