THE THOMAS KENT SCHOOL OF HISTORY Living History Teaching History Making History SYMPOSIUM FERMOY SEPTEMBER CO. CORK VENUE: FERMOY 27. 28. 29. YOUTH & COMMUNITY 2019 CENTRE, ASHE QUAY Follow on Thomas Kent, 1865 - 1916 Thomas Kent lived in extraordinary times, and died in a most shocking circumstance. He lived ardently, a life committed to the betterment of his country for the common good of all. By 1919, the third anniversary of his death had passed. The country and the places local to his life were in turmoil, the peaceful resolution of matters concerning independence and nationality yet not realised. The Thomas Kent School of History and its annual Symposium is named so that the efforts of Thomas Kent will not be forgotten. We are committed to the discussion and education of our shared history, however challenging and difficult the subject matter. In facing the very unsettling and sometimes disturbing material with the guidance of our talented, brave and insightful visiting lecturers, we believe that we can overcome our past, recover from our sadness, and reconcile ourselves. It is never too late for reconciliation and forgiveness. If we do this, we have the possibility to create a future where the common good for all living creatures prevails. THOUGHTS OF FOOD THE CONVIVIUM ON SATURDAY EVENING, September 28, COMPRISING THREE KEY INGREDIENTS: FASCINATING COMPANY, FABULOUS CONVERSATION AND WONDERFUL FOOD of the BLACKWATER VALLEY TO AWAKEN YOUR SENSES OF DELIGHT and TASTE AND TO CREATE UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES This image was created for the inaugural sympsium in 2018 by BBC award winning graphic artist Sophia Kyriacou. She recreated a wing of the New Barracks from original images and plans. SEPTEMBER 27, FRIDAY Fermoy Youth & Community Centre, Ashe Quay 10:00am - 12.00pm OPEN SESSION for ALL A Sense of Time: A sense of Place What do we know of where we live Fermoy's Digital Archive in the Palace Theatre with Mary Colette Sheehan This is a FREE SESSION SYMPOSIUM OPENING 7.00pm Welcome and Drinks Reception Music by the Thomas Kent Pipe Band, celebrating their 60th Anniversary 7.30pm Mr Gerry White, ‘Remembering Thomas Kent’ 8.00pm KEYNOTE SPEECH by Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, ‘Historical Commemorations: Memory, Community and the Historian’ Tickets: €20 SEPTEMBER 28, SATURDAY The Anderson Room Morning Session 9.30am Registration, Tea/Coffee served Ticket: €20 includes a light luncheon 10.00am Dr Aoife Bhreatnach, ‘Following the Drum: Irish Men, Women and Children in the 19th British army’ 10.40am Ms Carol Walker, ‘The Armistice and the Aftermath - The effects on those that were left behind’ 11.20am Coffee Break 11.35am Ms Orla McAlinden, author ‘The Flight of the Wren’ 12.30pm Conversation and Q&A 1.00pm - 2.15pm Lunch Afternoon Session Tea/Coffee served Ticket: €20 includes a light luncheon 2.15pm Dr Katherine O’Donnell, 'Tense and Tensions: History and the Irish Magdalenes’ 3.00pm Coffee Break 3.15pm Dr Ailbhe McDaid, ‘Literary Legacies of Conflict in Irish Women's Writing’ 4.00pm Conversation and Q&A 7.30pm The Convivium Dinner, Ticket €50 includes wine An evening sharing conversation and outstanding local produce SEPTEMBER 29, SUNDAY The Anderson Room Session 9.30am Registration, Tea/Coffee served Ticket: €20 includes a light luncheon 10.00am Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Andy Hart 'Between The Wars: The British Soldier in Ireland after the Armistice'. 10.40am Dr Mary McAulife, ‘Sexual Violence in the Revolutionary Wars, 1916 - 1923’ 11.20am Mr Martin Snodden, ‘Dealing with the Past’ 12.00pm Conversation, Q&A and Coffee 12.15 Mr Gerry White, ‘Gunner to Guerrilla: Tom Barry’s Road to Rebellion’ 12.50pm Mr Gerard Morrissey, ‘Missing in History: The Story of the Morrissey Brothers from Fermoy’ 1.20pm Conversation and Q&A 1.40pm Lunch WALK AND TALK OR TAKE A SEAT AND VIEW 3.00pm Walking Tour of Historic Fermoy with Mr Christy Roche, meeting at Manor House, Richmond Hill. Ticket: €5.00 3.00pm Film ‘A Month in the Country’ Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh and Natasha Richardson Directed by by Pat O’Connor, 1988. 92 minutes Ticket: €5.00 at The Palace Theatre, Youth and Community Centre, Ashe Quay, Fermoy KEY INFORMATION Tickets per session €20.00 includes Tea/Coffee and light Luncheon on Saturday and Sunday Concession ticket price for Students, Unwaged, and Seniors per Session is €15.00 Saturday 28th, The Convivium Dinner, Conversations, Entertainment , includes wine €50 per person Sunday 29 Walking Tour with Mr Christy Roche, €5.00 Film 'A Month in the Country', €5.00 Tickets for Sale In Person at Fermoy Youth and Community Centre, Ashe Quay Tel (025) 32042 Fermoy Books, Main Street, beside Hanna’s, (025) 49828 All queries: Maevita De Barros, Symposium Manager 085 785 3782 Mary Colette Sheehan, Symposium Director 087 981 6521 The name of Thomas Kent is used with kind permission of the Kent and O'Riordan Families. 2019 SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS Dr Aoife Bhreatnach is an independent social historian. Her work on the history of Irish Travellers is an important contribution to an overlooked aspect of Irish life, as is her work on Irish Garrison Towns. Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Andy Hart OBE served for 32 years with the Royal Irish Rangers and Regiment. He has served alongside the Defence Forces of Ireland on operations in the Balkans, Liberia and most recently in Mali. He is the Development Manager for the Consolidation of the Royal Irish Regiments Museums. Ms Orla McAlinden is an award-winning Irish writer inspired by Ireland's complex and difficult history. The Flight of the Wren, published in 2018 was a winner of the CD Lewis award and the Greenbean Novel Fair. Her novel ‘The Accidental Wife’, was a winner of the 2014 Eludia Award. Born in Portadown, Co Armagh, she was a practicing veterinarian and a secondary school science teacher before embracing the writing craft, Dr Mary McAuliffe is Assistant Professor / Lecturer in Gender Studies at UCD, specialising in Irish women's / gender history. She is currently working on a biography of Margaret Skinnider, 1916 rebel, Cumann na mBan member, trade union and women's rights activist. Her ongoing project is on gendered and sexual violence during the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, and that will be published in 2020. Dr Ailbhe McDaid, School of English, UCC. Her first monograph, 'The Poetics of Migration in Contemporary Irish Poetry', was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2017 and she has published articles and book chapters on poetry, migration, memory studies and the literature of conflict. In 2017, she was awarded the Busteed Postdoctoral Research Fellowship by the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool for her project 'Women and War: conflict, bereavement and Irish cultural memory’. Dr Katherine O'Donnell is an Associate Professor at the School of Philosophy, UCD where she lectures in the History of Ideas and feminist & gender theory. She was a co-founding member of the Irish Lesbian and Gay Archive: the IQA, now safely deposited as a living archive with the National Library of Ireland. She currently works with the group Justice for Magdalenes Research, who were instrumental in having the State issue apologies to the women of the Magdalene Institutions and in the successful lobbying for the Magdalene Redress Scheme. Mr Gerard Morrissey. Gerard’s family comes from Fermoy. He was born and raised in Dublin of Fermoy parents. Gerard worked with Irish Export Board and Enterprise Ireland, with spells living in Glasgow, Bahrain and New York. He now works as a freelance consultant since 2001 advising on trade and investment promotion in parts of the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, Africa, Middle East and Carribbean for the EU, UN and aid programmes of Germany, US and UK. Gerard's grandfather and his two granduncles are commemorated on the World War One memorial in the town. Dr Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh is Professor Emeritus in History and former Dean of Arts and Vice-President of NUI Galway. He was appointed to the Council of State by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins in 2012. He has garnered enormous respect as a teacher, writer, university leader and public intellectual for over 40 years. Throughout his career, Professor Ó Tuathaigh has been known throughout Ireland as a generous supporter of the work of voluntary and community organisations concerned with heritage and cultural matters. Mr Martin Snoddon is an independent, international trainer and consultant who has travelled a long journey from 15 years as a political prisoner of a ‘life' in Long Kesh Prison Camp. On release Martin has dedicated his life, under licence, to conflict resolution and peace building. His journey has taken him from the streets of Belfast to many countries in the grip of or emerging from violent conflict. He continues to work on the legacy of the conflict in and about Northern Ireland. Mrs Carol Walker, is the Director of the Somme Association based at the Somme Museum at Conlig. She was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2017 for her contribution to commemoration and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Mr Gerry White is an author and military historian. A retired member of the Irish Defence Forces, he is currently the Island of Ireland Trustee, and Chairman of the Cork Branch of the Western Front Association (WFA). He lectures nationally on aspects of Irish military history and is a regular contributor to national and international military journals. The Democratic Programme of the First Dáil 1919 We declare in the words of the Irish Republican Proclamation the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies to be indefeasible, and in the language of our first President.