Update on North Kerry Reaching Out

As promised here is the latest from NKRO.

The website is in train. Right Price Media are currently working on it. As soon as we have the skeleton, we will be linking to all the great local websites, so if you are reading this and you maintain a website that we might be in danger of forgetting, be sure to email us with the details. Caroline in The Seanchaí has been trawling through the web for all the local sites so we have lots of links ready. Then the real work will begin of gathering the news and the archival material.

In the meantime, NKRO is using this blog to stay in touch with people who might want help with the genealogy side of things. So far we have had 6 contacts, ranging in location from U.S. to Australia to Zambia. Ger Greaney, who is the nearest we have to a genealogist, is helping these people with their queries. Separately, our local historian, Vincent has been liaising with the diaspora you have been reading about here.   Queries so far did not all relate to Listowel, so it is important that we establish contact people in the other parishes.

Here is a list of the villages we have included so far but if anyone contacts us we will try to help regardless of where they place their ancestors.

Listowel

Ballyduff

Lisselton also known as Ballydonoghue

Ballybunion

Asdee

Ballylongford

Tarbert

Duagh

Lyreacrompane

Lixnaw, Rathea and Iremore

Moyvane also known as Newtownsandes

Knockanure

Finuge

At our last meeting Tom Fitzgerald gave us a demonstration on how he had used MyHeritage.com to build his own family tree. It is no replacement for the hard slog of trawling through online documents and databases and making contacts by email, phone and letter but it does put it all together in one place, and its free to upload 250 names. So if you get tired after the first 250, it will have cost you nothing except your time and effort.

Everyone is waiting for news of our training. Negotiations are taking place with U.L. who have a marvellous genealogy and heritage dept. which runs cert., diploma and degree courses from its Irish Ancestry Research Centre. We are hoping shortly to have news of workshops run by Dr. David Butler and his UL team coming to a venue in Listowel this winter. 

Meanwhile we are holding an informal genealogy evening on Oct. 18 in The Family Centre. The purpose of this is to share what knowledge we have learned from trial and error, and to get to know one another better. The Centre has only 16 computers so we have to limit the numbers to the first 16 to email nkreachingout@gmail.com. But if there is enough demand we will organise another such night.

The bottom line. Currently we have a very slack purse. 

We have a little income from Ger's sponsorship for his Killarney Adventure.

Please support our raffle in The Saddle tomorrow night.

This money will go to pay for hire of The Family Centre and for printing and stationery costs incurred so far.

The big money for training we are hoping to get from a grant. The application has been made and fingers and toes are crossed.

We haven't forgotten the Week of Welcomes. A decision on a date will be made before Christmas.

Our next meeting will be in three weeks time. Local people will be notified.