Museum of Country Life
Museum Events 3-11 January 2013
By Bernie Byron
18, Dec 2013 - 08:31

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND - COUNTRY LIFE
TURLOUGH PARK, CASTLEBAR, CO. MAYO
PUBLIC PROGRAMME 03- 11 JANUARY 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:
* Christmas Greetings & Opening Times * Christmas Exhibition * Christmas gifts in the Museum Shop & Café

* Programme of events * Temporary Exhibitions * Museum Shop & Café

* On-line Resources * Other Details

01. CHRISTMAS GREETINGS & OPENING TIMES
We would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a peaceful & prosperous New Year. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to welcoming you to the Museum during 2014.

Regular Museum opening times apply this Christmas, except for the following days over the Christmas period:
· Tuesday 24 December 2013 (Christmas Eve): closed from 1pm

· Wednesday 25 December 2013 (Christmas Day): closed

· Monday 30 December 2013: closed as normal.

· Please note: the Museum Shop and Café will re-open on Friday 27 December 2013.

Bookings Office: Closed from 24th December to 2nd January, re-opening on Friday 3rd January 2014.

02. CHRISTMAS EXHIBITION
While in the Museum, make sure to visit Christmases Past, a charming exhibition of festive artefacts - from the archives and from the public. This runs until 06 January 2014. Also, write a festive greeting to family & friends and we will hang it on our Christmas Greetings Tree. Designed by Mayo ArtSquad, we invite you to share your greetings until 06 January 2014.
Full details available on: http://goo.gl/UV2BVQ

03. STILL TIME TO GET THOSE LAST MINUTE PRESENTS FROM THE MUSEUM SHOP & CAFÉ
Museum Shop: the Museum Shop offers a broad range of affordable quality gifts for the festive season. Unique products to suit all budgets and requirements. Gift vouchers available.
Museum Café: Are you organizing a Christmas lunch for work colleagues, family, friends or you would like to purchase a gift voucher as a special gift? For queries and bookings contact the Museum Café: 094 928 9972; E-mail: maeve@brambles.ie

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

Friday 03 January: 11am-1pm. Drop-in Activity. Knitting Circle: Spring Out of Winter! Adults and children 7yrs+.
Join the museum knitters to make your own spring time knits and crochet. Start a new project or get help finishing an old one! Exchange ideas and tips. Learn a new skill for life. Beginners welcome. No booking required.

Saturday 04 January: 3-5pm. Drop-in Activity. Learn a Tune for the New Year. Adults. Tune up, tune in and join the music circle to practice, share and play tunes and songs. No booking required.

Saturday 11 January: 11.30-1pm. Drop-in Activity. Mayo Genealogy Group. Adults. If you have an interest in finding out about your family history come along for free practical tips with the Mayo Genealogy Group. No booking required. New researchers welcome.

Saturday 11 January: 2.00-2.30pm. Talk. Genealogy Talk: Who Are We? Adults. Find out about the history and origins of the rural village of Ballinphuill near Ballyhaunis county Mayo. With William Lyons. No booking required.

05. TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
CHRISTMAS PAST INCLUDING YOUR CHRISTMAS STORIES
A charming exhibition of festive artefacts - from the Museum archives and from the public. Some come from the Museum collection but for the first time ever, they are complemented by a special exhibition of Christmas-related objects on loan from the general public. This display of ordinary and extraordinary items reveals personal, and often touching, stories of Christmases past. This exhibition is on Level D and runs until 06 January 2014 .

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 May 2014.
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 Exhibition
Buildings of County Mayo
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage is carrying out a survey of the post 1700 built heritage of the country. This photographic exhibition, which is currently running in the Museum Café, marks the publication of the Co Mayo survey. The purpose of the survey is to highlight a representative sample of the architectural heritage of each county and to raise awareness of the wealth of architectural heritage in Ireland. The full survey is published on the website www.buildingsofireland.ie. Photographers: James Fraher, Bogfire, Eamonn McCarthy, Images of Mayo, Simon Wall.

06. 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.

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