Museum of Country Life
Museum Events 24 May - 7 June
By Bernie Byron
17, May 2014 - 08:55

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND - COUNTRY LIFE
TURLOUGH PARK, CASTLEBAR, CO. MAYO
PUBLIC PROGRAMME 24 MAY - 07 JUNE 2014

Note: If you would like to receive SMS text messages about ongoing Museum events, please email your mobile number to bbyron@museum.ie
Contents:
* Vacancies in the Museum Cafe * Féile na Tuaithe * Programme of events

* May Customs Survey & Memory Collection * Temporary Exhibitions * Museum Shop & Café
* Memory Book Project * On-line Resources * Other Details

01. VACANCIES IN THE MUSEUM CAFÉ

There are immediate vacancies for additional staff in the Museum Café in Turlough Park. If you know of anyone who is looking for part or full-time work, can you ask them to please contact Maeve Reid on 087 243 1005. Various positions are available. Experience required. Immediate start required.

02. FÉILE NA TUAITHE - TURLOUGH PARK

It's hard to believe that Feile na Tuaithe is taking place next weekend. Make sure to take a look at our programme (attached and on the website - details below) to see what we have lined up for all the family. The programme is full of exciting activities that will keep you entertained for hours. Please note that a traffic management plan is in place in Turlough village (see local shops for more details) and a shuttle bus will run between Castlebar Library and the Museum every 30 minutes from 11.30am (both days).
Please pass on the word to family & friends. We look forward to seeing you all here next weekend....

See attached programme of events, Our programme of events can be seen on http://www.museum.ie/en/list/events-projectsTP.aspx?article=1e398fb1-6a74-47ce-aad5-9263bb3fb629.


COMPETITION DETAILS

Féile na Tuaithe: Traditional Dress Competition

Visitors to Feile na Tuaithe are invited to enter our Traditional Dress competition. Enter by sending us a picture of you, your family, friends etc dressed up in traditional costume in front of the model thatched cottage in the Museum grounds. The Féile na Tuaithe Traditional Clothing Competition has four categories - Best Dressed Family, and three age groups of Best Dressed Children (under 12, under 8 and under 6). Your period costume can be anything from a stylish outfit your grandparents or great grandparents might have sported to a wedding, to day-to-day work or school day clothing. The choice is yours. The only limit is to wear something from the dates the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life represents - that's anytime from 1850 onwards, so it leaves you with a wide choice.
To enter, please send your photo to feilephotocomp@museum.ie by 12 noon on Friday 6th June with "traditional dress competition" in the subject line. Please include your name, address, contact information, and which category you are entering. Photos entered in this competition may be shared on Facebook, Twitter, on the Museum website or in promotional materials.

03. PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
Visit www.ouririshheritage.org to find out about local Irish history & heritage and to contribute photos and stories about your locality.

Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th May:
12.00am-5.00pm. Open Day. Family.
Feilé Na Tuaithe 2014: Free Family Festival. Féile na Tuaithe is back again by popular demand! Modern and traditional Irish food takes the spotlight this year with more choices than before, as does a newly designed craft retail area in the Museum's shop. Traditional craft demos, an historic dress competition, music and entertainment for the whole family makes this a festival not-to-be missed! See www.museum.ie for Saturday's and Sunday's full listings.

Friday 6th June:
11.00am-1.00pm. Drop-in Activity. Adults & Children 7yrs+. Come Knit With Me! Enthusiasts and beginners alike are welcome to join the Museum knitters as they share skills, patterns and top tips. No booking required.

Saturday 7th June:
3.00pm-4.00pm. Talk. Adults & Children 7yrs+. Ireland's Extraordinary Storm Record: Past, Present and Future. Hear about storms that have battered Ireland in the past like the Big Wind of 1839, the Big Snow of 1947 and more recently storm Darwin with Dr.
Kieran Hickey NUIG. Booking required.

Saturday 7th June:
3.00pm-5.00pm. Drop-in Activity. Adult. Music Circle. Dust down that fiddle, polish that whistle and join the music circle to practice, share, play tunes and
songs. No booking required.

04. May Customs Survey & Memory Collection
Do you know of any customs still being carried out on May Eve, May Day or during the month of May? We invite you to help us complete a national survey of May Customs in the 21st Century and to add you May Memories to our collection. Fill in our easy online form by following the link on http://www.ouririshheritage.org/category.aspx?id=28

05. TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
HAIR HURLING BALLS: Earliest Artefacts of Our National Game
This exciting new exhibition firmly establishes the antiquity of our national game of Hurling with radio-carbon dated hurling balls from 800 years ago! The hair hurling ball collection of the National Museum of Ireland is displayed with an ancient hurling stick. These hurling balls are of matted cow-hair with a plaited horse-hair covering. This exhibition looks at these bog finds in relation to where in the country they were discovered, how they were made and the scientific analysis undertaken by the Museum. This revealed so much more than the naked eye could see... The exhibition runs until 15 June 2014.

Opening 14 June 2014:
Preserving the Peace: Policing on the Island of Ireland: 1814-2014

The Peace Preservation Act of 1814 allowed for the creation of the Peace Preservation Force which is seen by many as the precursor to the establishment of the Irish Constabulary and of the modern police services on the island of Ireland. To mark this bicentenary, the National Museum of Ireland-Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co. Mayo will open Preserving the Peace: Policing on the Island of Ireland: 1814-2014, a major new exhibition dedicated to Irish policing on 14 June 2014. The exhibition will run until Easter 2015 and forms part of the National Museum of Ireland's Decade of Commemorations calendar of events. The exhibition will focus on organised policing over two hundred years on the island, exploring the degree to which standard policing has metamorphosed or remained static against the backdrop of British and Irish rule.

Other exhibitions include:
· 100 OBJECTS MUSEUM TRAIL

In a partnership between the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), the Irish Times and the Royal Irish Academy, 100 objects have been chosen by journalist Fintan O'Toole to take us through the history of people in Ireland over 7,000 years. 4 of these objects can be seen in the NMI-Country Life, Turlough Park.

· No. 81 EMPTY COOKING POT, 1845-9
· No. 82 EMIGRANT'S TEAPOT, 1850-1950.
· No. 93 BOYNE CORACLE, 1928
· No. 95 EMIGRANT'S SUITCASE, 1950s.

No. 66 CRUCIFIXION STONE, 1740 & No. 77 WICKER CRADLE, 19th & 20th Centuries are also from the NMI-Country Life's Folklife collection and are based in NMI-Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, Dublin.

Further details can be found on:
http://www.museum.ie/en/list/history-of-ireland-in-100-objects.aspx and on http://www.100objects.ie/

Visit http://www.museum.ie/en/exhibition-list/country-life-temporary-exhibitions.aspx for details about temporary exhibitions which are ongoing in the Museum Galleries

CAFÉ ART PROJECT:
On Leaving Project: new exhibition in the Museum Café
A selection of photographic work by David Monaghan will be on display in the café until mid-May 2014. This work is part of a series called ‘On Leaving". This project is a comprehensive and ongoing photographic study of the lives of a particular set of migrants from Ireland with an eye to what they have left behind. It is a three stranded project which has its roots in a three year long documentation of the renewed trend of emigration from Ireland or more specifically from David's town in Ireland, the city of Dublin. Leaving Dublin became a series of 84 studies of people on the move which employed a very tight visual strategy. Low light cityscapes carefully lit, traditional poses, with a suitcase as the only prop and the sitter in most cases looking away from us into the future. David's work can be viewed on his website: http://www.davidmonahan.eu/ where you will find a detailed blog on this project.

06. MUSEUM SHOP & CAFÉ
Museum Shop: Broad range of specialist books and Museum-branded and handcrafted gifts to suit all budgets. Further details from the Museum Shop: 094 90 31767 or E-mail: shoptp@museum.ie

Museum Café: See above for details of Café vacancies. Visit the Museum Café for a wide variety of tasty and seasonal meals and snacks. Enjoy our freshly baked produce and speciality teas and coffees; the perfect complement to your museum visit. For queries and bookings contact the Museum Café: 094 928 9972 or E-mail: maeve@brambles.ie

07. MEMORY BOOK PROJECT
Your Stories - Our Histories: Memory Book Project
During your Museum visit, please take a seat at our Memory Book to record personal memories and stories related to the objects and exhibitions you have encountered in the Museum. The Memory Book form can be downloaded and returned to the Museum. This form can be completed even if you haven't been to the Museum yet as we would still like to hear your memories relating to Irish country life.

08. ON-LINE RESOURCES
Blog by the Museum's Documentation Department
The Documentation Department in the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life have launched a blog as a spin off from the Museum's Inventory Project - http://turloughparkhouse.wordpress.com/. Visit this blog to get some information on objects in the Museum's collection.
Website for local heritage
www.ouririshheritage.org features articles on local history and heritage from around the country. Anyone with an interest in their local area can contribute to this website which, it is hoped, will eventually reflect the local history of the island of Ireland. Groups and organisations are welcome to promote their cultural and heritage events via the online events form.

09. GENERAL INFORMATION
Visit http://www.museum.ie/en/list/calendar-of-events.aspx for details of the current programme of events.
Contact tpark@museum.ie if you would like to join the Museum's e-mail distribution list.
Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Museum-of-Ireland/94907090068?ref=hl
and Twitter: https://twitter.com/NMIreland.

10. MUSEUM OPENING TIMES
Museum: Tuesday-Saturday: 10am - 5pm Sunday: 2-5pm. Closed Mondays (incl. Bank Holiday).
Museum Shop & Café: open during Museum hours with extended opening from 12pm each Sunday.

11. CONTACT DETAILS
GENERAL INFORMATION: Museum Reception: 094 903 1755
MUSEUM CAFÉ: 094 928 9972; e-mail: maeve@brambles.ie