Heritage Week 17th – 25th August 2024

National Heritage Week celebrates all things heritage. It brings together communities, families organisations, cultural institutions, academics and enthusiasts, to build awareness about the value of heritage and supports its conservation. This year the focus is on connections, routes and networks and invites us to explore the ways we are connected to each other through physical or cultural connections.

Waterford Libraries are delighted to offer a wide variety of events, exhibitions, talks, walks and workshops across our branches for Heritage Week 2024.

Click on the button below to view and download for the full events programme for Waterford Libraries

Heritage Week Events in Waterford Libraries

Exhibition – Waterford Shipping Disaster 1917

The Waterford Shipping Disaster 1917 resulted in the complete loss of the crews and passengers of two ships, the SS Formby and the SS Coningbeg and had a death toll of 83 people. This loss of life was the tragic outcome of the battle for the seas in the First World War. View the exhibition during library opening hours from 14 – 31 August.

Date: 14 August – 31 August
Time: During Library Opening Hours
Venue: Index Gallery, Central Library

Free Event – Booking Not Required

Contact Central Library on 051 849975 or centrallibrary@waterfordcouncil.ie for further information.

Historical Walk – The Promenade Walk, Tramore
with Paul Brent

Take a walk with local historian Paul Brent in Tramore.

Hear about the people, places and events that created the Tramore of today. Walk along the promenade and visit the Men’s and Ladies Slips. Hear why Victorian modesty segregated the sexes for swimming purposes.

(Duration of walk, approx. 1hr)

Date: Sunday 18th August
Time: 2:00pm
Venue: Meet at Old Train Station, Tramore
Free Event – Booking Not Required

Contact Tramore Library on 051 849594
or Ardkeen Library on 051 849755 for further information.

Talk – The Great Irish Silence
Irish Traditional Music of the United States Post Famine
by Tigerlily Keoghan

Tigerlily Keoghan, musicologist, singer and piper, will explore the traditional music of the Irish diaspora of the United States in the decades following the Great Famine

Date: Tuesday 20th August
Time: 2:30pm
Venue: Ardkeen Library
Free Event – Booking Required

Contact Ardkeen Library on 051 849755 for further information.

Craft Demonstration – Basket Weaving
with Cathy Hayden

Find out more about the traditional skill of basket weaving with a demonstration from local Tramore basket maker Cathy Hayden.
Cathy did her apprenticeship in basketmaking at Shanahan’s workshop in Carrick-on-Suir’s Chapel Street in the early 1980s. She has been a Waterford Crafts member for nearly 30 years. From her studio in Drumcannon in Tramore, Cathy runs basketry workshops for beginners and grows her own willow for all her baskets.

Date: Wednesday 21st August
Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Venue: Central Library
Free Event – Booking Required

Contact Central Library on 051 849975 or centrallibrary@waterfordcouncil.ie for bookings and further information.

Talk – From the South East of Ireland to the Shores of Newfoundland – Ireland’s Greatest Diaspora by Dr. Maxine Keoghan

Historian Dr. Maxine Keoghan will discuss Irish Newfoundland connections which began over two hundred years ago and continues to this day.
Maxine holds a PhD in History from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her area of expertise is Irish emigration from the far west of Ireland to North America. Publications include include, “Tramore of our Times” and “Waterford’s War of Independence, the Pickardstown Ambush” as well as contributing to and editing “The Shipwrecked Soldiers’ Cairn – The Tragedy of the Sea Horse in Tramore Bay, 1816”.

Date: Wednesday 21st August
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Central Library
Free Event – Booking Required

Contact Central Library on 051 849975 or centrallibrary@waterfordcouncil.ie for bookings and further information.

Talk – The Heritage Blue Plaques of Waterford City & County
by Marcus Copley, Waterford Civic Trust

Join Marcus Copley from Waterford Civic Trust for a journey through some of the stories behind Heritage Blue Plaque recipients and delve into the rich social and general history of Waterford City & County. It’s a vibrant exploration of our heritage you won’t want to miss!

Marcus J Copley is educated to Master’s degree level – his work with Waterford Civic Trust has evolved into one of fresh research and publication around past recipients of Heritage Blue Plaques. This work includes delving into special and archived collections in Waterford and Dublin libraries, together with interviews with people who knew or have knowledge of the Blue Plaque recipient in question. Marcus also gives presentations and talks on Waterford’s Heritage Blue Plaques.

Date: Thursday 22nd August
Time: 3:00pm
Venue: Central Library
Free Event – Booking Required

Contact Central Library on 051 849975 or centrallibrary@waterfordcouncil.ie for bookings and further information.

Event for Children – Map Making Craft Workshop

Celebrate Heritage Week 2024 and connect the past, present and future with a fun Map Making Craft Workshop. Join us in Central Library to create your very own fold out map. With lots of inspiration from both old and new maps, you can choose to create a futuristic Waterford City, the setting to your favourite book or imagine up an entirely new place!

Suitable for children ages 8 – 10years.

Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Date: Friday 23rd August
Time: 11:00am
Venue: Central Library
Free Event – Booking Required

Contact Central Library on 051 849975 or centrallibrary@waterfordcouncil.ie for bookings and further information.

Performance – Excerpts from Crotty The Highwayman & Petticoat Loose by Martina Collender – Performed by Dungarvan Drama Circle

Step back in time and into local folklore to join us for this dramatic storytelling experience. Learn about these two Waterford legends and be transported to the days of robbers, witches and ghosts. Meet William Crotty, the highwayman who stole from the rich to give to the poor, the woman who loved him and the man who betrayed him. Listen to the tale of the woman undone and her revenge taken during her lifetime and from beyond.

Date: Saturday 24th August
Time: 3:00pm
Venue: Dungarvan Library
Free Event – Booking Not Required

Contact Dungarvan Library on 058 21141 for further information.