Maynooth Memorabilia Evening 23 January 2013
Maynooth Local History Group held its first event of 2013 in the Glenroyal Hotel on Wednesday 23 January. The annual ‘Memorabilia Night’ was well attended. Members of the group and members of the public brought along a variety of interesting items. Among them were the following.
Declan O’Connor displayed a postcard which he had bought at a recent Fair. It was sent to a Mrs Sarah Davy who lived in Carrickfergus by her husband Alan who was serving in France in 1916 with the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Through research Declan discovered that Alan Davy died in April 1918.
Peter Nevin brought along a Victorian sword he found in a bog in Westmeath. He also had a copy of the Census of 1841 containing details relating to his great-grandfather.
Rita Edwards also spoke about a copy of the 1841 Census which she had in her possession. This document has helped her to trace her family tree. This particular copy was used to confirm her great-grandfather’s age when he applied for the old age pension in 1912.
Fergus White displayed a number of old books which he bought in the mid-1970s. One book was printed in Dublin in 1795.
Hilda Dunne spoke about a beautiful hand-stitched collage, showing different scenes in Maynooth, which had been presented to the Local History Group by Felicity Satchwell. This currently resides in the Community Library in Maynooth town on view for all to see.
Also on display was an impressive collection of bayonets and other war memorabilia which have been collected by Ken Maddock. Among them were German military helmets from World War One, and a Combatant Medal which had been presented to Maynooth Volunteer Thomas Mangan for his contribution to the fight for independence in Ireland in the early twentieth century.
Seamus Cullen brought a copy of a Report of the arrest of Maynooth Volunteer Patrick Colgan. Patrick was arrested in 1920 for being a member of the IRB. Seamus discovered this report in the Imperial War Museum in London.
Martina Reilly showed a beautiful lady’s pocket watch which her grandfather’s sister received on her 21st birthday and Iris Hildebrent spoke about a bronze statuette that had been given to her father.
Liam Kenny presented two books relating to St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. The first was a 1955 copy of The Silhoutte , a students’ in-house magazine printed for private circulation. The second was a copy of Má Nuad, (1972) written in Irish by the late Tomás Ó Fiaich.
Ger McCarthy from the Naas Local History Group brought along his family’s Ration Books from 1951.
The consensus was that the group had a very enjoyable evening and we look forward to another successful ‘Memorabilia’ event in 2014.