ÉARLAMH
Catherine Connolly
UACHTARÁN NA hÉIREANN
CHAIRPERSONS
Elizabeth Kiely & Linda Fitzgibbon
PRESS RELEASE
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‘Electrifying Oral History & Heritage with a ‘Bring and Tell’.
FREE National Heritage Week 2026 Event
Tuesday 18th August 2026, 1:30pm-4:00pm
Cork City Library, 57-61 Grand Parade, Cork.
Under this year’s National Heritage Week banner of ‘Heritage at Risk’ (running from 15th–23rd August 2026), the Oral History Network of Ireland (OHNI) presents our 2026 National Heritage Week event, ‘Electrifying Oral History & Heritage with a ‘Bring and Tell’.
This FREE event with our guest speaker, Dr Sorcha O’Brien, presenting her Electric Irish Homes Project, features oral histories and cultural heritage pertaining to how Irish homes and housework were changed by rural electrification in the 1950s and 1960s.
Elizabeth Kiely, Co-Chair of OHNI said, “While our heritage includes what is natural and what is built, it also includes our memories, stories and experiences and when we share our stories about the things we have from the past, we also keep our heritage alive.”
INTERACTIVE
Attendees to this FREE event are warmly invited to bring along a kitchen tool, implement, appliance, product, or treasured toy (or a photograph of such) that helps tell the stories of our home lives, home-based work, and activities from the past. Members of the OHNI team will discuss the items with attendees and record a short audio account of their memories (with their permission). We will also have a photographer on hand to photograph items. What is shared is a vital part of our cultural heritage that is at risk, but together we can preserve it with care and attention.
Dr Sorcha O’Brien will deliver her talk, followed by a Q&A session, and the interactive element of the program will conclude the event.
OUR VENUE
This FREE event will be held in the Thomas Davis Room, Cork City Library, 57-61 Grand Parade, Cork City, Eircode T12 NT99 on Tuesday 18th August, from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm. MAP
This event is free of charge to anybody across the wider community who would like to attend, although registration is required via this Ticket Tailor link, due to limited spaces. Tea, coffee, and a light lunch will be provided.
For general information about the Oral History Network of Ireland visit www.oralhistorynetworkireland.ie and more on Heritage Week, visit www.heritageweek.ie
FACEBOOK: @ORALHISTORYNETWORKOFIRELAND / X: @OralHist_ie / BLUESKY: @oralhistoryie INSTAGRAM: @oralhist_ie / LINKEDIN: @Oral History Network Of Ireland