Write a commentThe third Winter School in honour of Michael J. Murphy was launched last week at Ti Chulainn and will take place in South Armagh from the 18th of November.
The first winter school was held in 2013 to coincide with his centenary and this years theme is ‘A Sense of Place’.
Michael J. was born in Liverpool, but came home to Dromintee when he was not yet nine years old. He went to Dromintee Primary School, left school at fourteen years old and went to work in the fields around Slieve Gullion. He began to collect the stories of the people and started to write articles for the newspapers and periodicals as well as starting a career in broadcasting. When his first book ‘At Slieve Gullion's Foot’ was published in 1941 he began to work for The Irish Folklore Commission throughout ‘Old Ulster’ from Rathlin to the Boyne and from Sligo to the Ards in Co. Down.
By the time of his retirement in 1983 he had compiled the largest collection of oral tradition ever collected by a single individual in the English-speaking world. It cannot now be surpassed. He published ten books and amassed a huge photographic collection.
The Winter School, appropriately, begins in Dromintee GAA club on Wednesday November 18th at 8pm where his very detailed survey of Dromintee Parish in the spring of 1942 will be unveiled for the first time, with the kind permission of The Department of Irish Folklore, University College, Dublin.
On Friday 20th November and on Saturday 21 November Ti Chulainn Cultural Centre, a number of eminent speakers will address the theme ‘A Sense of Place’. These include Joe Mahon (Lesser Spotted Ulster); Aine Ni Neachtain (University College,Cork); Donna Traynor (BBC News Presenter); Bernadette McAliskey (Community activist and former Mid-Ulster MP); Linda Ervine (East Belfast Irish Language Development Officer); Cathleen O’Neill (Dublin City Community activist); Frances Black (Singer and CEO of The Rise Foundation); Colm Donnelly (Archaeologist) and Donal McAllen (GAA writer based in the O’Fiaich Library).
There will be music on both nights with Paula Flynn and Bothan. Look out for the detailed programme which will be available in retail outlets, in the press and on social media in the coming weeks.
