Honorary Secretary’s Report on behalf of the Council
As we move towards the end of 2009 the Society can look back on another busy year, one that saw, among many memorable events, the Society’s first trip to Northern Ireland and, just a couple of weeks ago, the launch of our new fully searchable DVD containing the entire content of our journal from 1891 to 2007. Membership of the Society remains strong with 329 members, two more than at the end of 2008. Thirteen new members joined this year, made up of 2 joint members and nine individual members.
It was also a year however, in which we learned with sadness of the death, in September, of Belinda Jacob. Belinda was Honorary Librarian for almost 10 years and she is very much missed by everyone on the Council and by her many friends in the Society. Our Council meeting planned for September 12th was postponed, as a mark of respect, until October.
The Society’s Programme of events this year included two lectures. The first, in March, was a lecture on the Provenance of the Book of Leinster, held at the wonderful Kilcullen Heritage Centre. The speaker was Professor Gearoid MacEoin who presented the lecture in memory of the late Col Con Costello, his friend of many years. We were pleased that members of the Costello and Fitzsimons families could attend on the day.
The second lecture was in October and was given by Ms Nicola Matthews, Conservation Architect on “Reusing Farm Buildings: a Kildare Perspective”. A large attendance enjoyed the facilities of the newly opened Naas Community Centre, part of the former Convent of Mercy.
Again this year we undertook the recording of headstones. Under the direction of Mario Corrigan, Council Member and Bridget Louglin, County Heritage Officer, an enthusiastic group gathered in April to record the headstone inscriptions at the Church of Ireland graveyard in Rathangan. The Society was delighted to accept the invitation of the Dempsey family to visit their home for tea following the hard work. It was not possible to record all the headstones in one afternoon and a return visit is planned for 2010.
In May members enjoyed a visit to Leixlip Castle at the kind invitation of the Hon. Desmond and Mrs Penny Guinness and in June Lord and Lady Mount Charles welcomed us to their lovely home at Beau Parc.
Our annual excursion this year was very special. We visited Clonmacnoise in July where we were guided by our Vice-President Con Manning who had directed excavation work at the site. The outing was dedicated to the memory of Fergus O’Farrell who was responsible for the replica crosses at the site. Our picnic lunch was curtailed by bad weather but the sky cleared in time for our tour of the monuments. For the first time this year a coach was hired for the annual excursion. This was organised by Mary Kirby and proved successful. It is hoped to repeat the exercise this year.
The Heritage Week event in August was a talk at Jigginstown Castle by Ana Dolan, Senior Architect with the OPW. It was very encouraging to see a large group, including many non-members, turn up on a wet afternoon to hear Ana tell us of the conservation works being carried out on the building.
The Society again this year ventured far afield with a three day visit in September to Northern Ireland. Highlights of the visit included a visit to PRONI, the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland and a trip to Barons Court, Co Tyrone, the latter arranged on the Society’s behalf by Mr Desmond Donagh. On the final day we visited Parliament Buildings at Stormont where following a tour we enjoyed lunch in the members’ Dining Room. Our sponsor for the Stormont visit was Mr Mark Durkan MLA who kindly took time to meet us during lunch. Great thanks is due to those who assisted with all aspects of the visit but the vast majority of the work was done by our President, Elizabeth Connelly, and a special word of thanks is due to her.
In October, members and guests attended a dinner at the Keadeen hotel to launch the Society’s new journal and to award the Lord Walter FitzGerald Prize for 2009. We were very pleased that, again this year, Professor Raymond Gillespie agreed to be our guest speaker.
The new issue of our journal, Volume XX, Part 1, has a completely new look. Some colour photographs have been introduced, the cover is also in colour and the dimensions have been altered slightly. Among the many excellent articles in the issue are papers from the Seminar on “the Curragh of Kildare, ancient and modern” held in 2007 in memory of the late Col Con Costello. As usual, our thanks most go to Professor Raymond Gillespie and to Mr Eamon Kane. Their hard work ensures the continuing high quality of the journal.
The Lord Walter Prize was presented this year to Mr Patrick Cosgrove for his excellent paper “The sale of the Leinster estate under the Wyndam Land Act, 1903.” As the winning paper, it appears as the first article in the new Journal.
In January the Society made a submission to Kildare County Council, expressing support for the proposal to add Donaghcumper House and Demesne to the list of protected structures attached to the County Development Plan.
In October a letter to the County Manager expressed concern at the delay in making appointments to the Monuments Advisory Committee. The Society has always had representation on the Committee and is of the view that its continuation is vital for the preservation of monuments in the County.
The protection of the Kilkea Rent Table is also of concern to the Society and Mr Eamon Kane has worked to gain agreement on the best plan for its future survival. It is now hoped that the table will go to Maynooth Castle museum.
The Society, in June, subscribed to the appeal from Kildare Cathedral for funds to complete the restoration of the organ at the Cathedral.
During the year work continued on the production of the DVD of the Society’s journals. Under the expert guidance of Mario Corrigan, the final periods of testing were completed and on November 17th the DVD was launched at Aras Chill Dara. A new “Directory of Archaeological Sources relating to County Kildare”, prepared as an Action of the Kildare Heritage Plan, was launched, at the same time, by the County Heritage Officer, Ms Bridget Loughlin. The production of the DVD is a huge milestone in the history of the Society and was a great note on which to end the year. Our thanks must go to everyone involved, particularly Kildare County Council and, of course, Mario Corrigan whose work was vital to the success of the project.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone on the Council for their great support during the year.
Mary Glennon
Honorary Secretary
28th November 2009