Deirdre’s love of local history inspires her to research and collect the stories of her community!
Deirdre got involved with the Louisburgh Killeen Heritage Group after moving to the area in 2018. For her, volunteering with a local history organisation was an extension of her passion for the subject, as she has a Master’s in Public History.
One of the most important parts of her research was looking into the cilliní in the area. These children’s burial grounds were the final resting places for unbaptised children and other people who could not be buried in consecrated ground in the 18th and 19th centuries. There are different efforts across the country to preserve and honour these spaces which can often go unnoticed or unremembered. These powerful efforts require the meticulous work of historians like Deirdre to document and research the sites. “Find a project that interests you” Deirdre says, “pick something you love!”
More recently, Deirdre has helped with projects to document the economic history of the area. She helped with a documentary by Mary O’Malley called Traders on the Reek which looks at the traders who set up stalls near Croagh Patrick for Reek Sunday. This even segued into getting parttime work on a project called The Village Shops/An Siopa Áitúil doing historical research on the village shops that existed in Louisburgh since the early 1900s.
For Deirdre, the best part about volunteering in her community is getting to know people. She loves taking oral histories from older people who have rich memories of the past. “I love interviewing people,” she says, “I think we have so much to learn from the older generations.” The Louisburgh Killeen Heritage Group also set up a programme where Sancta Maria Transition Year students were paired with older people from Senior Citizens of Louisburgh to interview them about their experiences. “It’s a great way to interact with people and with the community” she says, sharing that she’s made friends with some great storytellers over the years.
Deirdre loves that everyone’s story is different and encourages people to give whatever time they can to volunteering. Even for people who might not have a lot of time to give to volunteering, many local history and heritage organisations are eager to hear from people willing to share their personal histories. The Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN) is the leading organisation championing and supporting digital community archives in Ireland. To date, iCAN has supported the creation and development of 50 online archives in counties Clare, Cork, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Tipperary and Wicklow, and is currently working with new groups in counties Carlow and Limerick. The programme aims to support the development of up to 80 digital archives across Ireland by 2028.
This National Volunteering Week, we’re celebrating the volunteering happening from every corner, for every cause!
Thank you to Deirdre for sharing their story. Please email [email protected] if you’d like to share yours!
