December Presentation

Tuesday 9 December at 8pm in Skerries Bowling Club

Tis the Season to be Jolly – a look at local customs associated with Christmastide by Geraldine McQuillan

Geraldine will revisit the Schools’ Collection held by Duchas. Between 1937 and 1939 the Irish Folklore Commission organised a nationwide survey of folklore and memories in conjunction with the Department of Education and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation.

The teachers encouraged national school pupils in 5th and 6th Class to ask older relatives and neighbours about scraps of folklore relevant to the local area. There are over 750,000 pages of local history and oral tradition from across the 26 counties of the Irish Free State. Geraldine has been looking at the record for schools in Skerries and surrounding areas and digging up nuggets relating to Christmas traditions etc.

Time and Tide

Volumes of papers from the society’s archive will be on sale before the talk.

Time and Tide is available for online purchase by clicking here.

Annual Membership fee for season 2024/ 25

The Annual Membership fee, due from October, remains €10 for 2024/25. Many thanks to those who have already paid. You can renew at the the next meeting or renew online here.

Images from the archive: Monsignor Casey

Monsignor Richard Casey was Parish Priest in Skerries from 1949 to 1960. In this photograph, taken outside the Carnegie Library in Strand Street, he is opening An Tostal, the festival created in the early 1950s to celebrate Irish Life.

Committee Members 2024/25

Chair – Oona Roycroft
Vice Chair – Seamus Murray
Hon Secretary – Stephanie Bourke
Hon Treasurer – Brendan Grimes
Hon Librarian – Maree Baker
Hon Archivist – Jean Harrison
PRO – Bernadette McKenna
with Maura Duggan, Bill Kee and Carmel Power.