Category Archives: Ward Events

Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project 2020 launched for new school term

Arts, Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Events

     The Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project is entering its seventeenth year and is open to all schools in Cork City. The new areas of the City are especially welcome. The project encourages students to compile a project on any aspect of Cork history. It is about exploring and investigating local heritage in a constructive, active and fun way. Interested students can pick any topic on Cork’s local history to research and can participate as individuals, groups or as a class. Students produce a project using primary material such as fieldwork, interviews, making models and short films of their area.

 Project books may be submitted on any aspect of Cork’s rich past. The theme for this year’s project is “The Past and its Legacy”.

 FREE and important project support in the form of funded workshops led by Cllr Kieran McCarthy in participating schools will be held in October 2019. This is an hour workshop to give participating students ideas for compilation and resources.

 FREE Workshop support is also available to schools who have never entered before and wish to have a workshop to see how the project works.

 The fourth-class level is open to fourth class students. The primary senior level is open to students of fifth and sixth class. Post primary entrant/s will be placed in Junior

Certificate or Leaving Certificate levels. The post primary level is open to any year from first to sixth year. A student may enter as an individual or as part of a group or as part of a class project.

 Co-ordinator and founder of the Schools’ Heritage Project, Cllr Kieran McCarthy noted that “The project is about thinking through, understanding, appreciating and making relevant in today’s society the role of our local heritage – our local history, our oral histories, our landmarks in our modern world for upcoming citizens. The annual workshops involve visiting circa 20 schools in Cork City with hours of workshops given overall to over 800 students. The workshops comprise showing students projects from previous years and providing a framework to work to and to encourage colour and creativity”.

 The City Edition of the Project is funded by Cork City Council. It is also sponsored by the Old Waterworks Experience, Lee Road, Learnit Lego Education, Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill and Cllr Kieran McCarthy. Application forms to express interest and participation have been sent to all principals and history teachers in Cork. Unfortunately, due to back surgery for Kieran last year, the County Cork edition of the project has been discontinued. Contact Kieran at kieran_mccarthy@corkcity.ie for details or click on the brochure here:

2020 Brochure Discover Cork Schools’ Heritage Project

Auditions, Cork City Musical Society, 4-5 September 2019

Cork City Events, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized, Ward Events

 Auditions!!! Auditions!!! Auditions!!!

 

 Cork City Musical Society presents its annual concert “An Evening at the Musicals” at the Firkin Crane, Shandon on Sunday 20 October 2019.

Open auditions to sing solo, duet, in a group or in the ensemble will take place at the Firkin Crane Shandon on Wednesday 4th August and Thursday 5th September, 6pm-9pm.

Prepare one song from any musical and preferably bring along sheet music for our MD or backing track on a phone. Older and newer musical theatre songs are all welcome.

Participants must be over 18 to participate in Cork City Musical Society.

To book an audition slot please PM us on our FB page with your optimum time and with the song you’ll be singing.

“An Evening at the Musicals will run on Sunday 20 October and will be directed by Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Musical Direction by Jimmy Brockie and production by Yvonne Coughlan, Red Sandstone Varied Productions.

Auditions

Cllr McCarthy Announces his National Heritage Week Walking Tours

Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Events

    Douglas Road and Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has organised seven free historical walking tours for the upcoming National Heritage Week. The focus in the southern suburbs is on Douglas village and that of The Lough whilst in the northern suburbs. Shandon and the area of St Patrick’s Hill to MacCurtain Street will be focussed on. City Hall, Fitzgerald’s Park and the story of the Mardyke also feature. Cllr McCarthy noted; “these suburbs and sites possess really rich local histories from the early origins of Cork to historic views, big mansions, from Corporation social housing to philanthropic dwelling companies to buildings that define a district. There are hours and hours of exploration to be had from such sites; all add to the historical DNA, feel and sense of identity of these Cork suburbs”. The tours are listed below and all are free.

Saturday 17 August 2019 – A Tour of Cork City Hall, 11am, ticketed (free, part of Cork Heritage Open Day; details at www.corkheritageopenday.ie)

Sunday 18 August 2019, Cork Through the Ages; meet at the National Monument, Grand Parade, 6.45pm (free, two hours).

Monday 19 August 2019, Shandon Historical Walking Tour; meet at North Gate Bridge, Shandon Street side, 6.45pm (free, two hours).

Tuesday 20 August 2019, The Victorian Quarter; meet on the Green at Audley Place, top of St Patrick’s Hill, 6.45pm (free, two hours)

Thursday 22 August 2019, The Lough and its Curiosities; meet at green area at northern green of The Lough, entrance of Lough Road to The Lough; 6.45pm (free, two hours)

Friday 23 August 2019, Douglas and its History, in association with Douglas Tidy Towns; meet in the carpark of Douglas Community Centre, 6.45pm (free, two hours).

Saturday 24 August 2019, Park Stories, explore the history of Cork’s Mardyke; meet at band stand in park, opposite Cork City Museum in Fitzgerald’s Park, 11am (free, two hours).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 8 August 2019

Arts, Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Events


1009a. Queen’s College Cork, by Robert Lowe Stopford, c.1850-1870

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 8 August 2019

Cork Heritage Open Day, Saturday 17 August 2019

 

   Cork Heritage Open Day and Heritage Week are looming – a kind of Christmas week – for a heritage fanatic like me. It is great to see the city’s local history and natural heritage being focussed on. Indeed as a city we need to celebrate it more publicly and more regularly.

   For one day only, nearly 40 buildings open their doors free of charge for this special event.  On Saturday 17 August, Members of the public are allowed a glimpse of some of Cork’s most fascinating buildings ranging from the medieval to the military, the civic to the commercial and the educational to the ecclesiastical. This event was greeted with great enthusiasm by building owners and members of the public alike in 2018 with an estimated c.24,000 people participating in the day.

   The event showcases the many elements of Cork City’s rich heritage in a fun, family friendly way. The event is organised by Cork City Council as part of Heritage Week in partnership with the Heritage Council. This event is organised almost entirely on a voluntary basis with building owners, local historians and communities giving their time free of charge. The success of the event lies with the people behind the buildings who open their doors willingly every year to allow the public a glimpse of the amazing and unique built heritage of Cork City. Without the generosity of the building owners, this event would not happen.

   It is always a great opportunity to explore behind some of Cork’s grandest buildings. With the past of a port city, Cork architecture is varied and much is hidden amongst the city’s narrow streets and laneways. Much of its architecture is also inspired by international styles – the British style of artwork pervading in most cases– but it’s always pays to look up in Cork and marvel at the Amsterdamesque-style of our eighteenth century structures on streets such as Oliver Plunkett Street or at the gorgeous tall spires of the city’s nineteenth-century churches.

   Cork Heritage Open Day(.ie) is fifteen years in the making and with 40 buildings it is almost impossible to visit them all in one day. It takes a few goes to get to them all and spend time appreciating their physical presence in our city but also the often-hidden context of why such buildings and their communities came together and their contribution to the modern day picture of the city. The team behind the Open Day do group the buildings into general themes, Steps and Steeples, Customs and Commerce, Medieval to Modern, Saints and Scholars and Life and Learning – one can walk the five trails to discover a number of buildings within these general themes. These themes remind the participant to remember how our city spreads from the marsh to the undulating hills surrounding it, how layered the city’s past is, how the city has been blessed to have many scholars contributing to its development and ambition in a variety of ways and how the way of life in Cork is intertwined with a strong sense of place.

   The trail Life and Learning is a very apt way to describe an important aspect of the city’s built architecture. The trail encompasses not only some of the amazing buildings on the western of the city, but also some of the most spectacular views. Admire the quadrangle of University College Cork, re-examine the Glucksman Gallery, gorge on the multitude of objects in Cork City Museum, and re-imagine life within the old Cork waterworks on the Lee Road.

   The origins of University College, Cork (UCC) dates to the early half of the 1800s. UCC was founded under the provisions made by Queen Victoria to endow new Colleges in Ireland for the advancement of learning in Ireland. Under the powers given by this act the three Colleges of Belfast, Cork and Galway were incorporated on the 30 December 1845. Architects, Bengamin Woodward and Sir Thomas Deane adopted a perpendicular Gothic style. The main buildings were arranged around three sides of a quadrangle, with the lecture rooms on the west while the towered entrance, examination hall – Aula Maxima, and library were located in the north-east range. The college opened on 7 November 1849.

  Sir Robert Kane became the first president of the college (1845-1873). His open-minded attitude took a stand against the traditionalist view that a university should be solely dedicated to the pursuit of liberal arts. He also had strong contacts with and beliefs in the importance of the social, industrial and economic life in the city.

  One of the buildings on the campus open on Heritage Open Day is the Crawford Observatory dates from 1880. The University attained the Observatory through the donations of several benefactors. One of them, William Crawford, contributed £1,000 towards its construction and the acquisition of astronomical instruments. William Crawford was also to donate to the buildings of Berkeley Hall, known as the Honan Hostel. He also gave a large sum towards the building of the entrance on Western Road. The Observatory houses an equatorial telescope, one for which Howard Grubb, who created it, obtained a Gold Medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. The Observatory also hosts a Ciderostatic telescope and Spectroscope.

See www.corkheritageopenday.ie for more details.

 

Kieran’s Upcoming Heritage Week Tours:

Saturday 17 August 2019 – Historical Walking Tour of Cork City Hall, 11am, ticketed (free, part of Cork Heritage Open Day; details at www.corkheritageopenday.ie)

Sunday 18 August 2019, Cork Through the Ages; meet at the National Monument, Grand Parade, 6.45pm (free, two hours).

Monday 19 August 2019, Shandon Historical Walking Tour; meet at North Gate Bridge, Shandon Street, 6.45pm (free, two hours).

Tuesday 20 August 2019, The Victorian Quarter; meet on the Green at Audley Place, top of St Patrick’s Hill, 6.45pm (free, two hours)

Thursday 22 August 2019, The Lough and its Curiosities; meet at green area at northern green of The Lough, entrance of Lough Road to The Lough; 6.45pm (free, two hours)

Friday 23 August 2019, Douglas and its History, in association with Douglas Tidy Towns; meet in the carpark of Douglas Community Centre, 6.45pm (free, two hours).

Saturday 24 August 2019, Park Stories, explore the history of Cork’s Mardyke; meet at band stand in park, opposite Cork City Museum in Fitzgerald’s Park, 11am (free, two hours).

Captions:

1009a. Queen’s College Cork, by Robert Lowe Stopford, c.1850-1870 (source: University College Cork)

1009b. Crawford Observatory, UCC, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

 

1009b. Crawford Observatory, UCC, present day

Lennox Robinson Award 100 Word Flash Fiction Award 2019

Arts, Cork City Events, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized, Ward Events
LENNOX ROBINSON AWARD
FREE ENTRY TO 31 AUGUST
 
 
The closing date for the Cllr Kieran McCarthy Lennox Robinson 100 Word flash fiction Award 2019 has been extended to 31 August due to the interest from writers all over Ireland.
 
The award aims to remember the Douglas born playwright  and Abbey Theatre director Lennox Robinson who spent his formative years living in Ballymoney House near Ballineen in County Cork.
 
The 100 word short story has to be linked in some way to the work of Lennox Robinson who was one of  Ireland’s leading cultural figures.
 
The Award is open to writers both nationally and internationally. Submissions remain open until 31st August 2019 There is no entry fee and submissions, not more than 100 words must be emailed to douglaswriters1@gmail.com.
 
Ronnie McGinn, chairman of the Douglas Writers the event organisors said today that a short list will be published at the end of September.
 
The 100 euro prize will be presented to the winner by Cllr MacCarthy at a special event in the Douglas Library on Thursday 17th October 2019. 

Douglas Flood Relief Works

Cork City Events, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized, Ward Events

Cork City Council, in collaboration with Cork County Council and the Office of Public Works (the funding authority for the scheme), intends to undertake engineering works along the Ballybrack Stream, Grange Stream and Tramore River with the objective of reducing the risk of flooding in the areas of Douglas.

The Scheme is designed to provide protection to the design standard of 1 in 100 year rainfall/1 in 200 year tidal event.

McGinty & O’Shea Ltd has been awarded the works contract (€5.5m) for construction of the Douglas Works package and the works are due to commence in August 2019.

The works contract has been divided into 5 areas as shown in Plate 1 below. With the exception of Area 1, works in rivers are constrained to the months of May to September (inclusive) as required by the planning permission and Inland Fisheries Ireland. Also, following the principle that the works cannot increase the flood risk during the construction phase, instream works will start downstream and work upstream.

The works will be constructed on private property in a number of locations. The project team have been liaising with these property owners over the last 2 years to facilitate the construction of the works under agreement.

The following table gives an indication of the types of construction in the relevant areas. All time frames are provisional and subject to clarification by the Contractor.

General Construction Activities.
Area 1 – St Patrick’s Mills
Construction of flood defence wall.
Likely timeframe for Construction – Winter 2019

Area 2 – Douglas Community Park
Construction of flood defence wall and river bank stabilisation. River widening and regrading. Hard and soft landscaping.
Likely timeframe for Construction – Autumn 2019

Area 3 – Church Rd
Replace culvert, river widening and flood defence walls.
Likely timeframe for Construction – Summer 2020

Area 4 – Ravensdale and Ballybrack woods
Replace access bridges, river widening and flood defence walls. Course screen in Ballybrack woods.
Likely timeframe for Construction – Summer/ Autumn 2020

Area 5 – Donnybrook Commercial centre.
Replace culvert, river regrading and course screen.
Likely timeframe for Construction – Autumn 2020

Works to Douglas Community Park:

It is intended that works commence in Douglas Community Park in the August 2019, however this is to be confirmed by the Contractor.

The Contractor will install safety barriers along the west edge of the cycle track and this half of the park (between the cycle track and the river) will be out of public use for the duration of the works in Area 2. It is estimated that the works to the park will take approximately 5-6 months to complete.

Due to the extensive planned works to Douglas Community Park and Church Road, the opportunity was taken by Cork County Council Architects Department to deliver a public amenity outcome from the Flood relief works. This was as envisioned in the Douglas Land Use Transport Strategy 2013 (DLUTS) to deliver public Realm outcomes for the community.

The river will be visually opened to the park to create a pleasant riverside walking and viewing areas which are accessible and safe. Quality materials and bespoke furniture will be incorporated to provide place making and flexible use of public space for community events.

The widening of the river and the replacement of the left bank with a gabion wall (on private lands) reduces the space allowable for replanting of trees. To account for this, relocation of proposed trees and scrubs was designed in cooperation with a Landscape Architect Consultant to create screening and sheltering at appropriate locations. Where possible, existing trees will be retained and incorporated into the revise layout plan. Selections of scrubs and grasses are included to compliment the tree planting.

Compensation replanting will also be provided in other areas of the community to account for any net loss of trees to the park/Church road. The location of these areas will be identified in consultation with Cork City Council Parks Department and the Tidy Towns Association.
An information poster has been designed to inform the local community and park users of the project and the proposed finish for the park.

For more information on the development of the scheme please visit www.DouglasFRS.ie

Ursuline Convent SHD An Bord Pleanála, 22 July 2019

Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized, Ward Events

Ursuline Convent Housing works have been granted permission 🙁 by An Bord Pleanála with 16 pages of conditions- thanks to all locals who fought the case.

There was a concerted huge effort by residents in Blackrock and surrounds asking for the scaling back of the development- People are not against housing but there have been huge concerns on the traffic which will move through a small avenue with two local schools and onto an even narrower Blackrock Road; there were other concerns as well regarding the visual design and the building heights – it seems to me that housing density is ruling the decision making process – that the ruling is the more apartments and houses the better on a small site.

The upcoming review of the Strategic Housing Development cannot come sooner enough in my opinion. For me I just find the voices and concerns of local people are being lost in the decision-making process.

Ursuline Convent SHD Decision Document, July 2019