So I took the official plunge and put myself on the ballot paper last Friday morning in Cork City Hall. I look forward to the 5 June, which is coming up fast. It has been a tremendous adventure so far and a steep learning curve at the doors. Thanks to all who opened their doors and chatted to me.
I have also sharpened some of my manifesto issues and plan, so have a read of that in the manifesto section of my website. My continued thanks to my team headed up by Cliona Murphy.
The award cermony of the Discover Cork School’s Heritage Project 2009 for the City was held last Wednesday in the Concert Hall, City Hall. There are 30 schools involved in the city edition and approx, 700 students. The project has been running in the city since 2003 and is co-ordinated by myself. The project is funded by Cork Civic Trust (thanks to John X. Miller), Heritage Council, Cork City Council (thanks to Niamh Twomey), Evening Echo, Sean Kelly & Kieran McCarthy.
McCarthy’s Art competition is a community and educational initiative. It about looking and appreciating our local neighbourhoods. We received 120 colourful and creative entries from several schools in my ward. These were all displayed in Blackrock Hurling Club on Sunday Afternoon, 10 May. The competition was judged by Fiona Kearney, Director of the Glucksman Gallery in UCC and facilitated by Norah Porter of Art Sparks, Ardfallen. Well done to all that entered. I am delighted to announce the following were the winners:
Laura Healy, Our Lady of Lourdes N.S.
Irina Riedewald, Our Lady of Lourdes N.S.
Aoife Ni Fhinn, Gaeilscoil Mhachan
Jordan, Gaeilscoil Mhachan
Clodagh & Abbie, Gaeilscoil Mhachan
Keelin Walsh, Beaumont G.N.S.
Sally Boyle, Eglantine G.N.S
McCarthy’s Talent Competition had its final on Friday 8 May in Blackrock Hurling Club. The competition is a community initiative that builds on my manifesto theme of Building Our Community Together. Well done to all, great effort, fantastic work and a very enjoyable evening!
Winner of Senior Section, Tracey Fleming (singer, song writer)youtube.com/XXxxtraceyfxxXX
Winner of Junior Section: Emma Teahan (Ballerina)
My sincere thanks to:
Producer: Yvonne Coughlan, Red Sandstone Varied Productions, Kinsale (www.rsvp.blog.ie)
Final judges: Elaine Canning, Claire Mansfield, Jon Whitty
Sound engineer: Chris Geasley
Stage manager: Hannah Rose Farrington
Stewards: Sarah Hegarty, Aoife Lucey
Production assistant: Francesca Farrington
Special guest: Christopher Prout and Lassie (& Con Prout)
The staff and management of Blackrock Castle and Blackrock Hurling Club
Photographer: John Allen
Moonshine Children’s entertainer: Victor Forja
All the competitors, their parents, family, friends and schools!
The Junior Category:
The senior category:
On my digital camera, some of the writing on some of the buttons are worn from overuse. Sure I can take a picture – zoom in, zoom out, set up a shot, play with the light, try to be creative and download the pictures on my computer. The pictures are my framings of place – but there are other camera buttons that look brand new from not being used – I have never fully experimented with the lens and all its features – what I could potentially achieve in taking photos is not harnessed- the camera not brought to its full potential or my own photo skills developed.
The switches on the camera aperture, shutter speed, macro, portrait, landscape buttons create photographs of different results textures. The varied textures are subject to the viewers interactions with place and varied meanings. In the Lee Valley, I have tried to find, use and harness as many of the ’buttons’ of the Lee Valley as possible in order to build a profile of its histories and place. I have tried to find new ways of making local history come alive, make it meaningful and relevant to a modern society. I have attempted to unlock the factualness of local history revealing more about the human connection to the past and cultivating it and harnessing it to comment on modern identity. In particular each year I attempt to do this through my school program, Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project of which there are two editions, a county and city.
On Friday 24 April, 1,000 students from 35 County Cork schools gathered in Silversprings Convention Centre, Cork for the annual award ceremony for the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project. The County edition is funded by myself, Laura’s/ Buckley’s Schoolwear, Cork, Lifetime Lab on Lee Road, Cork and Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill. Prizes in the City edition are funded by Cork City Council, The Heritage Council, Cork Civic Trust and the Evening Echo.
Established in 2003, the School’s Heritage Project is co-ordinated by myself. I along with the efforts of senior project judge Sean Kelly, Watergrasshill conduct project training workshops in all participating schools. The project is a youth forum for students to do research and offer their opinions on important decisions being made on their heritage in their locality and how they affect the lives of people locally. The aim of this project is to allow students to explore, investigate and debate their local heritage in a constructive and active way. The project is about thinking about, understanding, appreciating and making relevant in today’s society the role of our heritage- our landmarks, our oral histories, our scenery in our modern world for upcoming citizens. So the project is about splicing together activity on issues of local history such as thinking, exploring, observing, thinking, discovering, researching, uncovering, revealing, interpreting and resolving.
The Schools’ Heritage Project also focuses on motivating and inspiring young people, giving them an opportunity to develop leadership and self development skills, which are very important in the world we live in today. The Project is about developing hope and opportunity, broadening young peoples’ opportunities, providing them with new ways of seeing their locality in a relevant and meaningful way. It attempts to build a new concerned generation of Cork people, pushing them forward, growing their self-development empowering them to connect to their world.
The Project grows strength from students, teachers, parents, family, neighbours and the local community. Students can pick any topic to research and can participate as individuals, groups and classes. The project is open to many directions of delivery. I encourage the development of methodologies to engage with the world around them– in order to make sense of it, understand and work with it. The students are insiders in their local area. Many are pursuing work on familiar places. So the challenge is to reveal the biographical depth that each place offers and to capture the young imagination.
Students produce a project using and generating primary material through walking- fieldwork, taking- interviews with local people, making models, photographing, cartoon creating, making DVDs of their area. Re-enacting is also a feature of several projects. For example a winning project from fourth class in Rathcoole in Millstreet completed a project on school life in the past and dressed up in the style of clothes from previous decades to gauge an aspect of what life was like. In fact, the Schools’ Heritage Project is more about developing empathy for the past plus worked the students not only intellectually into the work but also physically and emotionally. One of the key foundations in the process is to try to link the present to the past – to think about attitudes in the past. Interpretation is also empowering for the student- all the time developing a better sense of the different ways in which people engage with and express a sense of place and time.
Sean Kelly, the senior judge and one of the sponsors of the Project is giving class tours of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre for class winners in the County edition. He noted “As always the standard was very high this year. The top prizes, 60 in all, have been given to students’ projects, which have taken a clever approach to the topic. Much of the work should be published as local heritage / history guides. Students experiment with the overall design and plan of their work. It is great to see students using modern up todate technology to present their findings from mediums such as bebo to websites to camcorders to survey work. As part of the project, students also actively distill the information gathered back into the community. That includes discussing with schoolmates or parents, getting newspaper coverage or creating a newsletter with project work and findings detailed”.
Another key sponsor of the Project in the County Edition Rosarie Murphy of Buckley’s / Laura’s Schoolwear Cork noted:
“we are delighted to support this worthy educational initiative. Young people are an important part of our business. We realise that schools and the voices of students are a central part of community life and building community. They are key to celebrating and sustaining Cork’s rich heritage into the future”.
The overall process and advantages of the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project are many. An award ceremony takes place for the City Edition on Wednesday 13 May in the Concert Hall, City Hall, where 30 schools and 1,000 students from the city region will receive prizes for their involvement. Long live the local history revolution!
The talent competition got great support last Sunday with 55 acts taking part. Thanks to everyone who took part from auditionees to parents who queued up. We have sixteen finalist acts. They are:
Name (Age)
Primary Category
Grace Daly (10)
Emma O Sullivan (12)
Claudia O Sullivan (11), Leanne Hill (11), Sally Mackesy (11), Abbie O Donavan (12)
Sara Turnbull (11)
Rachel O Donavan (10)
Emma Teahan (11)
Oran O Sullivan (8)
Audrey Kane (11), Caitlin Cunningham (11)
Secondary Category
Emer Lyons (18)
Shauna Pumphrey (16)
Laura Cahill (15)
Andrew De Juan (17)
Carol-Ann Gould (15)
Jody Bermingham (13)
Joanna McCarthy (13)
Tracey Fleming (15)
Warm Up Act
Ada, Iggy & Louis O’Brien
The final is next Friday at 7.30p.m., Blackrock Hurling Club. Admission is free. All welcome.
As published in my history column, Cork Independent,
23 April 2009
So there are now two roads of research, one through the satellite rural area of Inniscarra and the other through the city’s south eastern suburbs, both in the Lee valley but both in different human canvasses of settlement.
So the new road pulls me back to the city, my canvassing and climb through the Lee Valley’s ridges of Ballinlough – the journey brings me to new roads – the grassy valleys of farmhouse and farmland are replaced with vast tarmadamed roads jam-packed with houses and even more memories – memories bound up in concrete. The road in terms of time brings me to pre World War Two. I’m told by everyone were built by brothers Paddy and William Bradley i.e. in Pic Du Jer (the plaque at the entrance says 1938), Douglas Drive and Laurel Park. The Bradleys added Beechwood and Ardfallen once the war ended. The ordnance survey map hanging in Ballinlough Community Centre reveals further insights into the area’s development. The area had market gardens, which still exist next to Glencoo Gardens, still worked by an older generation of tractor, which I have seen in the vintage rallies in Dripsey. People who moved to this area when the houses were built talk about the intersection- the merging of the city boundary and the countryside.
I struggle in some parks with how the numbers on the doors are put together. They are out of sequence and I wonder why and imagine these houses as shiny pieces of architecture when they were first built. I struggle with stiff letter boxes and say that I will make the postman’s job easier by providing oil. The people I meet describe where they originally from – each resident brings their own memory to the parks I visit – the back stories come fast – each door opened presents a new face – a new stranger – the strangers come fast and in a session of knocking at doors presents new insights into people’s journeys through life, their family, grandchildren and that feeling of let down by national government. However, one can see how a suburb such as Ballinlough is a sought after area to live in, quiet, accessibility to services and alot of green spaces.
I finish and emerge from one park and encounter a whole new landscape. The walk stretches beyond the fact of knocking on people’s doors and saying vote for me. It is a kind of pilgrimage. I reminded by my friends it’s a numbers game. “You must reach the quota if you want to get elected”, my team reminds me. But that’s the thing, with every house; there is no guarantee of a vote. It’s a game of uncertainty. The other thing pressing on my mind is that fewer than fifty per cent of my ward only vote. But I’m not an accountant. I carry my own experiences into every garden path to the door. I’m a geographer cum historian, teacher and quasi anthropologist with a huge interest in developing the talents of people, heritage as a way of life, landscapes and memories and how they all interweave to create a sense of place. I bring those qualities up the garden paths. My feet push into the cold concrete of doorsteps as I ring the doorbell or ring the knocker. The ensuing shadow behind the door tells me to prepare, to stand tall and to smile. The door opens and the gauntlet of talking to a complete stranger is run. I marvel at the people – the young and old I encounter as I ask them where they are from and their commentaries on life.
In the last week, I was presented with older people originally from destinations from Mayo to Dublin to Spangle Hill/ Farranree. Immediately as I leave them, I remind myself that everyone has a story to tell and even in a concreted city estate, the sense of personal identity prevails but reflecting it has seemingly not been awoken or harnessed in many years. The now dead Celtic Tiger in its time created a very busy world for itself. In terms of community, it has created a veil of doubt of do we actually need it – a sort of we can live alone isolated policy (?)
Some people get straight to my point of visit. What is my platform? I point to my manifesto – the issues of jobs and retraining, more community participation, local government reform and enhancing heritage. I normally don’t get past one of the points as ideas as how the individual would solve the issue at hand flow. Others look at me and smile– but where these are great and important pillars to solve, they are the issues of a politician – the issues I present, for many years possibly causing the huge disconnect between the local government, the people running the city and the local resident.
However, my pilgrimage has got me engaged. I think of all the people I have met so far, think of my own traits, merge them all, shake them up, let simmer and form new angles of thought. Perhaps in these times a Councillor needs to be than just a figurehead or needs to do more than fix the roads or the local lights. The atmosphere I have encountered requires thought, leadership, working together and action. So I break the word ‘councillor’ up. So C is for caring the people, O is for opportunity, the creating of opportunities to enhance and bring forward the community, their sense of self development. U is for Understanding, that each person has their own view and in an estate of hundreds of people, the happy balance may not always be achieved. N is for needs, the needs of constituents but that being said a councillor does not have all the answers and is only as good as the support of its constituents. The next C is for community and the question that keeps entering my own thoughts – does the world need the concept of community? I is for ideas. In the times we live in, ideas are important to move forward- that thinking outside of the box. L is for listening and how important that is. The second L is for learning and continuous professional development. O is for the onus of responsibility that a councillor endures. R is for reaching out, which may turn local government to re-connect to its people that the term councillor is linked to its second definition. And coupled with that every few houses I come across a ‘jewel’, a leader with talents, an ally, someone to work with, someone with hope and someone with a passion that needs to be harnessed…
But time to move on – the vast landscapes of Cork’s south easterly suburbs await. “Sure I might give you a vote” says the last resident as he walks me out the pathway. Two metres to the left is the next door, another mini adventure of memory awaits…
To be continued…
Have you got a talent?
Cork’s young people are invited to participate in the inaugural ‘McCarthy’s Talent Competition’ on 8 May 2009. The auditions and registration will begin Sunday 26th April at 1pm, in Blackrock Castle. There are no entry fees and all talents are valid for consideration. The final will be held on Friday 8 May, 7.30pm to 10pm in Blackrock Hurling Club. There are two categories, one for primary school children and one for secondary school students. Winners will be awarded a perpetual trophy and prize money of €150 (two by E.150).
The competition is open to all children in south east Cork City (Turners Cross, Ballinlough, Ballintemple, Blackrock, Mahon, Douglas & Tramore). A panel of well known Cork professionals in the Arts will preside over the auditions and judge the final winner.
The project is been organised and funded by Kieran McCarthy in association with Red Sandstone Varied Productions (RSVP). Kieran is running as an Independent local councillor candidate in the local elections in south east Cork City. He noted: “The talent competition is a community initiative. It encourages all young people to develop their talents and creative skills and to embrace their community positively”. Further details can be got from Kieran at 087 6553389 or from the talent show producer (RSVP), Yvonne Coughlan, 085 7335260.
McCarthy’s
Community Talent Show
Have you got a talent?
Are you willing to take that extra step?
Ages:
Junior category – primary schools
Senior category – secondary schools
Prizes:
Perpetual trophies for junior and senior categories,
E.150 for each category & honour & glory
Further details from the organiser: Kieran McCarthy, 087 6553389 or
the competition producer, Yvonne Coughlan, Red Sandstone Varied Productions, 085 7335260
Auditions for all school going students
In South East Cork City
(Turners Cross, Ballinlough, Ballintemple, Blackrock, Mahon, Douglas & Tramore)
Blackrock Castle, 1p.m.-5p.m., Sunday 26 April
Final:
Blackrock Hurling Club, Friday 8 May, 7.30p.m.
Judges:
Elaine Canning (Soprano)
Gerry Kelly (Cork School of Music)
Graham Lynch (Cork Independent Entertainment Correspondent)
Claire Mansfield (Seraphim Group)
Jon Whitty (Cork Director & Actor)
Aaron Wolfe (Playwright)
The talent competition is a community initiative. It encourages all young people to develop their talents and creative skills and to become more part of their community. The project is funded by Kieran McCarthy who is a Cork historian, a youth leader, an author and a columnist with the Cork Independent. He runs the Discover Cork: Schools’ History Project in 90 schools in Cork. He is also running as an Independent local election candidate in your area.
I have been asked alot at the doors regarding what can I do? Well as you can see from my biography, I’m a historian,geographer and teacher/ educationalist. I have been working with communities for over fifteen years now especially running local history and European studies programmes (lectures, writing, workshops, surveys, publishing). So I carry a professional toolkit to carry out educational and community initiatives.
As part of my pre-election day programme, I have planned a number of community events. The first three I have held
(1) a Parish Ceili in Ballinlough
(2) a pier clean-up in Blackrock
and (3) two community meeetings, one in Blackrock Castle and the other in Blackrock Hurling Club.
They were all aimed to gauge more of the local issues in my ward and also to give local people a forum to talk about their concerns and to discuss, debate and even celebrate community life and all that the south east of the city has to offer.
The next initiative is also a community based one and is aimed at the younger generation in the ward. It is an art competition which encourages all young people to become more creative and to become more involved in the world around us. Information has already been sent into schools in the south east part of the city. The project is being co-ordinated by Ballinlough resident Norah Porter who I met in my canvass travels and who is developing a business in art education for children.
McCarthy’s
ART COMPETITION
Theme:
“My Neighbourhood”
OPEN TO ALL YOUNG PEOPLE IN
SOUTH EAST CORK CITY
CATEGORIES:
National School: 4-6, 7-9, 10-12
Secondary School: All levels
Drawing or painting
on a A4 page,
must be colourful
Each category winner will receive a E.100 worth of art equipment.
AN EXHIBITION OF ALL WORK WILL
TAKE PLACE IN BLACKROCK HURLING
CLUB ON SUNDAY 10 MAY, 2-5p.m.
Submission date: Friday 1 May 2009
If a young person is interested in entering the competition, an adult may contact the artist facilitator Norah Porter, 086 255 3216 or myself (Kieran) at 087 655 3389. Norah will be collected all artwork from participating schools. Apart from that, those children from schools not participating can send all artwork to McCarthy’s Art Competition, C/o Kieran McCarthy, Richmond Villa, Douglas Road, Cork with name, category, address and contact details on the back of the picture (By 1 May).
(As published in my heritage column, Our City Our Town, Cork Independent on 12 March 2009)
There is a tree, a blackthorn, I watched for many years. It grew tall embedded in a country stone wall. Its branches took shape splaying into an adjacent field. For many years, this tree bore leaves. Its youth and vibrancy were seen annually. I eventually took the tree for granted and forgot about it. I was too busy to notice it and recently a friend of mine showed me the tree and expressed huge concern for it. Over the years, ivy had grown up the tree embedding itself into the tree’s arteries, stopping the tree from breathing. The ivy had thick branches that hugged and clung strongly. In essence the tree was dying and in past weeks, the tree was cut down; its strangled branches revealing to all present the rotting inner core of the tree.
In the Lee Valley there are multiple trees, some covered with ivy and being strangled, some stretching out and thriving on life. I always think that communities of people are like trees. They can be strong and stretch out with a motivated community of people behind them. However, as noted above, with the ivy and the blackthorn if unattended, a community does not take long to become a wilderness.
People are an important part of my work so they appear alot. I’m interested in people, their identity and how they physically inscribe places with meaning. It is that inscription like some mark on a art canvas that intrigues me. I have an interest in the architecture of life. The lives of people in my head are like rich artworks, constantly being drawn in my head as they relate their story to me. Heritage seems to be passed down the generations through choice. Life affects heritage as heritage affects life. They are both bound up with each other. I’ve also discovered though that heritage is a personal concept and becomes very engaging for the individual and very relevant when family and memories of growing up are told. Heritage becomes real, integral to present and future actions and powerful in developed self esteem, self confidence and self pride. I’ve also discovered that when you bring the individual stories together, heritage can become highly volatile and contested as the community tries to find the middle ground of what to preserve.
The journey down the valley based on the legend of St. Finbarre has brought me to many individuals and communities, all with very relevant talents to survive in the modern age. I always think that Finbarre met similar people with similar talents but in a different age to the 2009 journey. The heritage of the Lee Valley survives in various conditions from complete disappearance to ruins to surviving because it is being used in everyday lives in a personal way. As noted in the last week Inniscarra Community Centre has much nostalgia attached to it. The multiple pictures on the walls and the vast photo collections it possesses of various events. However, its heritage is tied to people and what they have done for the community over the years. Heritage and modern community work in the present. Here heritage is life itself and is bound up with identity and citizenship. Heritage is harnessed to move forward. Heritage is part of the centre’s foundations but also performed with each meeting held to discuss the way forward.
However, whilst on the canvass trail or the long road as an Independent Councillor Candidate in the south east of Cork City I daily continue to gather a number of ideas about community and its relevance to modern society. Daily I come across isolation and people’s choice to disconnect from the world around them. For my own journeys, I can see the value of community of working together. Of course, the nature, depth and value of participation in creating inclusion or bringing people together are significant factors. Through breaking up the respective letters of community, I came up with the following thoughts, which I wish to share..
• The C is for citizen; active citizenship develops a sense of belonging. One is also taking ownership of one’s life direction.
• O is for onus and responsibility. I think that any community organisation in particular has a responsibility to its people and must move forward with a plan as best as possible. I would like to also note here that even local councillors should not only help their constituents but lead a way forward to be pro-active more so than reactive.
• The first M of community is for motivating. A group of people together can be inspiring, encouraging, empowering and enabling.
• The second M is for moving forward. The future is a worrying element for many people. Even though when one reaches it, one is usually wiser and able to deal with it.
• U is for understanding. From my own travels and attending community meetings, every attender has something to bring to a community. As a result, community has various meanings to people. A sense of place infused by a spirit of doing things individually and collectively. Listening and engaging people and mining their talents is important.
• N is for the new generation in the community. Young people bring vibrancy and energy to any work they engage with. Most are also looking for opportunities to develop their talents and to fit in. Community adds to help people develop in personal ways.
• The I is for ideas. Brain storming and a plan on paper is important. People need direction, something to work toward. Otherwise, the heart of the community will become stale and disillusioned.
• T is for being tolerable of the ‘other’. Working together as a team, getting everyone involved is important. People working together can stop the decline of local living places and bring them to renewed states of stability and viability.
• The Y of community is about the yearning to be part of something- to do something purposeful, to hone our personal talents, to create and sustain strong bonds.
The above are just ideas and in fact there is probably a myriad of other ideas that I have not touched upon. If heritage is about life itself, then community must be a core element in developing a sense of identity and a sense of pride. So what are you waiting for, go get stuck into your local community. If anything, you won’t return to the same place from which you started….
