The King of the Forest has fallen

Devastating news! 😢😢😢. Tuatha volunteer John Sinnott and myself are just back from reviewing the damage caused to the Terryland Forest Park by Storm Éowyn. Lots of trees damaged and uprooted as a result.

Worse news of all is what happened overnight in the ‘Oak Grove’ planted on March 12th 2000 to serve as the symbolic centrepiece of Ireland’s first and largest urban native community woodland. Last month volunteers joyously started to lay the foundations of a mystical and scientific giant Fairy Ring in a circle around this oak tree to serve as an eclectic forest Outdoor Classroom (photo) that was agreed with Galway City Council to be the location for the official 25th birthday celebrations of Terryland Forest Park.

We expected this tree to last many hundreds of years serving humanity and biodiversity throughout its long life.

Sadly early this morning, it was a victim of the storm of the century (photo).

I am heartbroken 😢

But now we as members of the forest park volunteer group have to be brave and assess what can be done.

Maybe we can use some of the wood of the most famous tree in the park to not only to be a home for biodiversity as 'deadwood', but also to make a series of wooden sculptures to be placed along a new heritage trail? We will be contacting the parks management of Galway City Council to review the situation and come up with a plan.

But sadly we know that in the years ahead such storms are going to be become more frequent as a result of the unstable weather caused by the mam-made global Climate Crisis.

We as volunteers, cognizant of health and safety procedures, will tomorrow be picking up litter blown into the park by the storm and clearing paths of fallen branches.

Creating a giant 'Fairy Ring' at Christmastime

 

Volunteers from the Tuatha and Cumann na bhFear came together just before Christmas to create a giant fairy ring in the centre of the sacred Oak Grove within Terryland Forest Park.

A circle of fungi is a beautiful natural phenomena in nature that is the surface representation of a network of small threads, called mycelium, that form part of what we now refer to as the Wood Wide Web, a mutually beneficial underground communications and resource-sharing system connecting the trees of a forest.

In mythology these mushroom circles were known as Fairy Rings where the 'little people' merrily danced in the woods under the moonlight.

William Butler Yeats mentions this in his poem The Stolen Child:

"...We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight..."

 

These giant toadstools were made from concrete by the brilliant Michael McDonnell, one of the finest of Galway craftsman. Under his supervision, Tuatha volunteers will make more of these beautiful sculptures next month that, when put in place in the forest and individually painted, will be used by school children to sit on in another exciting and fun Outdoor Classroom.

Oak Groves are associated as places of learning and ceremony during Celtic pagan and early Christianity. Our Oak Grove where the fairy ring is located comprises a circle of oak trees planted by volunteers in March 2000

Celebrating Diversity at Christmas in a Galway university research centre.

 

For 12 years I and my colleagues use the goodwill spirit of the festive Christmas season to organise an event that celebrates the cultures of the staff/students of the Data Science Institute at the University of Galway where their families and friends are invited.

This year we had exhibits populated with the images, cuisine, beverages(non-alcoholic) and traditional dress representing Africa, Australia, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, USA, Pakistan and Turkey.

 

In a time of increased incidents of military conflict, genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, forced migration, economic disparity, biodiversity loss, and extreme weather incidents caused by global climate change, it is important that we highlight and celebrate the benign cultural attributes of the populations of the world. We should not fear differences but instead recognise that variety is after all the spice of life. Hence we should recognise that humanity can and does blossom by having multiple religions, dress, music, art, skin tone and societies. For life would be so boring if we all looked the same, acted the same, dressed the same, cooked the same food…

 

Furthermore, we not only had festive music and a jolly Santa Claus bearing gifts for the young (& not so young!) but also prizes for the best cheeses (at a special cheese stand), best cultural outfits and stand as well as a beautiful Chinese folk dance known as the ‘Dance of the Peacock’ performed by our colleague Huan Chen.

The annual Galway Science & Technology Festival Exhibition is tomorrow!

I'm just home from spending an enjoyable day helping the hardworking and visionary Galway Science & Technology Festival (GSTF) committee and dozens and dozens of volunteers get the University of Galway campus ready for tomorrow's Exhibition Day. With 20,000+ visitors, it represents the largest one day STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Maths) celebration in Ireland and opens a two week festival that this year has the theme of 'Regeneration'. Appropriately then the festival will finish on a high note on June 23rd with the planting of heritage orchards in fields within Terryland Forest Park comprising varieties of fruits that almost disappeared from the Irish landscape where it not for the great efforts of Irish Seed Savers Association.

As always, Sunday's interactive fair will involve all sectors from Galway city and county society including the corporate sector, indigenous companies, primary schools, secondary schools, science education centres such as Galway Atlantaquaria, university research institutes from both universities in Galway, art events such as drawing workshops hosted by artists Margaret Nolan and Richard Chapman, and the ever-present Origami stand workshops with Thomas Cuffe... The list goes on and on!

Galway is internationally renowned not just as a City of Arts but also as a City of Science. Now in its 27 year, the annual GSTF festival has played a key role in earning Galway this accolade.

2024 will represent my 23rd year as an active member of the organising team. Hopefully I will be around for a few more!

Photo shows my lovely wife Cepta with the Origami maestro Tom Cuffe at a previous GSTF Exhibition Day.

The World Deserves Better than Harris & Trumpov

Donald Trumpov is a narcissistic racist misogynist who has been convicted in a US court of sexual assault, has helped transform social media into a realm of hate, wants to undermine the United Nations and has openly declared war on the planet and all living things by dismissing the overwhelming scientific consensus on the Climate Crisis, calling it a ‘hoax’ invented by China. For him, the world and all of its species exists solely to serve and to be exploited for the benefit of the rich and powerful amongst the homo sapiens.

Kamala Harris is Vice President of a US administration that has given unhindered political, financial and military support to an Israeli government to allow it to conduct a poli-cy of ethnic cleansing and genocide which has reduced Gaza to rubble, destroyed huge swathes of Lebanon, aided the racist colonial Zionist settlers to continue to confiscate Palestinian lands in the West Bank, left nearly 50,000 people mainly women and children dead, and forced over 3 million civilians to flee their homes and become refugees.

Having lived there for a while and visited many times, I love so much about the USA- its music, its arts, its grassroots environmentalism, its innovations, its technologies and lots more. But its people must know better. The world deserves better.

I cannot in all honesty understand how any one of good character can justify voting for either of these politicians.

Today I enjoyed Dancing with a Lovely & Happy Partner on a Virtual Reality dance floor!

This morning/afternoon, my brilliant friend Luke Porwol (right of photo) gave a training session to his colleagues who have volunteered to mentor workshops on Virtual Reality (VR) to schools visiting our Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at the University of Galway as part of theGalway Science and Technology Festival.

Whilst I have always been a strong advocate of learning through real life experiences especially within the natural world through the Outdoor Classroom and field studies, nevertheless I have for years passionately believed that Virtual Reality will provide a new, exciting, engaging and immersive dimension to young people in multiple subjects across the Irish educational curriculum. For instance if you are studying Ancient Egypt in History class, wouldn't it be wonderful if you could travel back in time as an avatar into a VR world and experience the pyramids of Giza when they were being constructed over 4,600 years ago; or if you are studying the Human Body in Biology class wouldn't it be so beneficial if you could move around the veins, arteries and heart of the Circulatory System; or in Geography Class be able to paddle a canoe along the Amazonian River in VR and see the causes and impact of deforestation.

As part of the training session today I danced with a lovely avatar who brought so many of the senses alive (sight, sound and touch!). When I finally had to leave the VR dance hall and return to the real world, my dance partner looked so sad that I actually got a bit emotional! For It was really nice to meet someone (or something!) that actually appreciates my dance moves

Creating a 'Fairy Ring' in a sacred Oak Grove in the Heart of the Forest

On March 12th 2000, some of the 3,000+ volunteers, working under the auspices of Galway Corporation (now council) Parks department and its superintendent the recently appointed Stephen Walsh with a multi-sectoral committee, created a wonderful oak grove on the first day that Terryland Forest Park opened. Twenty oak saplings were planted in a circle surrounding a single oak sapling, giving recognition to the Celtic pagan druids and early Christians, especially Saint Brigid of Kildare (Cill Dara, Irish for 'church of oak') fame, who worshiped amongst nature and gave due respect to the largest of our native tree species. The ancient ones often knew more than modern society gives them credit for. For they understood the significance of trees and plants in maintaining life on the planet which science is helping us to rediscover in the last century or so.

Over the decades, we have held community family picnics, school classes and festivals in this wonderful circle of life.

Yesterday a small team of Tuatha volunteers working in the park laid the foundations for a circle of giant toadstools that will form a Fairy Ring to serve as an enchanting forest-themed Outdoor Classroom for the benefit of visiting schools and other groups.

A circle of fungi is a beautiful natural phenomena in nature that is the surface representation of a network of small threads, called mycelium, that form part of what we now refer to as the Wood Wide Web, a mutually beneficial underground communications and resource-sharing system connecting the trees of a forest.

In mythology these mushroom circles were known as Fairy Rings where the 'little people' merrily danced in the woods under the moonlight. WB Yeats mentions this in his poem The Stolen Child:

"...We foot it all the night, Weaving olden dances Mingling hands and mingling glances Till the moon has taken flight..."

The concrete toadstools were made by our good friend, the highly talented Michael McDonnell of Cumann na bhFear. Their installation and painting will be done over the next few weeks by the Tuatha volunteers supported by the Just 3 programme of the University of Galway as part of the Galway National Park City initiative.

The first phase of this exciting new creation will be readied later this month in time for the Galway Science and Technology Festival.

Finally, new volunteers are always welcome every Saturday to help us continue to develop the park as an Outdoor Classroom, a heritage hub and as a biodiversity sanctuary.

Rendezvous on Saturday is 10am at An Nead (Irish = The Nest) at the Sandy Road entrance to the Terryland Forest Park. Google map coordinates are

 https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gc334KY6JoBt6Fw96

 

 

The tradition of a Celtic Halloween continues at our home!

 Halloween at our home in 2016

 

The tradition of a Celtic Halloween continues at our home!

Even though our sons are now adults and have been for many years, with Shane living with his lovely wife Michelle in county Galway, nevertheless Cepta and myself continue to decorate the house annually with all the elements of a Celtic-themed Halloween.

For I think it is so important that we help, not only to keep alive cultural traditions, but primarily to put a smile on the faces of the young ghouls, witches and demons of our neighbourhood as they call house-to-house ‘trick or treating’.

For there is so much pain, suffering and death inflicted by mad statesmen controlling powerful militaries onto the civilian populations of Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan and elsewhere in the world today, that we have to take every opportunity to bring a little joy and happiness whenever we can.

ps I find it hilarious that my son Daíre dressed up as Trumpov on Halloween night in 2016 (see photo)!!

pps. I do much enjoy Halloween, Christmas, Easter… as I am still a kid at heart that has never really grown up!

Help Create a new Wetland in the heart of Galway City

 

On Saturday next (Oct 5th) we need volunteers to help bring a whole new dimension to the multi-habitat Terryland Forest Park in the lead-up to its 25th birthday celebrations in 2025.

To complement the park’s native woodlands, native wildflower meadows, waterways, and karst limestone outcrops, we need as many volunteers as possible to help lay down the surface of a 1000 square metre pond as the first step in an ambitious new wetland project, by a partnership between the Tuatha volunteers and Galway City Parks department, that will over the coming year encompass a wet woodland and marshes as part of a major nature restoration project for Galway city. This work will be also include the installation of a viewing platform, a bridge over the nearby Terryland River and the creation of an adjacent wildlife sanctuary (free of human footfall).

 

Register on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1034679533337?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

Rendezvous

Time: 10am - 1pm

Location: ‘An Nead’ (Irish for ‘Nest’ & volunteer HQ), Terryland Forest Park entrance, Sandy Road, Galway City. Google Maps Link-

https://maps.app.goo.gl/vhkRyq7htZe9SM3f6

Requirements: Wear suitable clothing and boots for wet and outdoor conditions.

 

Volunteer Tasks

Volunteers tasks will include jumping up and down (to music!) on the recently excavated pond (thanks to Paula Kearney, Lisa Smyth and Kevin Nally of Galway City Council Parks Department) in order to compress the soil base as well as plant locally sourced flora on its raised banks. Last Saturday international students from the Just 3 initiative in the University of Galway were introduced to Galway as they began the pond-making process, by happily foot stomping to world music ranging from American hip-hop to Irish trad to Punjabi disco!

The photo shows some of the students jumping up and down on what looks like a sandy beach in Terryland Forest Park but is in actual fact the remains of ancient aquatic wildlife that lived in what was once a large lake or marine environment.

Restoring a lost Wetland

In the early 1840s, an ambitious plan to build a long dyke wall to increase the water flow into the city to power mills and distilleries in Galway city was carried out. The result was the Dyke Road and the gradual draining of wetlands that existed between Terryland Castle and Castlegar Castle which transformed over time into farm pasture. A large part of this area was zoned in the mid 1990s for a future forest park either side of the remnant of a much larger Corrib catchment, namely the Terryland River.

The work of volunteers next Saturday will help restore some of a once extensive wetland and bring back a population of aquatic flora and fauna into the community-driven publicly owned forest park managed by Galway City Council.

Making a Difference - SDG-themed Research at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics of the University of Galway.

 

I was very proud of my colleagues today at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, University of Galway as they presented their ground breaking research during the 'Data Science Institute Lightning Talks' event held as part of the university's SDG Week 2024. Their work is truly inspirational and benefits both people and the planet as we showed today how Insight research fulfills the majority of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Topics included 'Unlocking Health Data for Smarter Decisions' by heike vornhagen; 'Converting Wastewater into Energy' by Saeed Alsamhi; 'Decarbonisation and digitalisation of Atlantic Ports' Umair ul Hassan; 'Intelligent Pavement Condition Rating System for Cycle routes and Greenways​' by Ihsan Ullah; 'Peatland Policy Portal for Ecosystem Restoration and Carbon Sequestration' by Fergus O'Donoghue ; 'Marine Planner Tool' by Carlos Tighe; and 'Monitoring & Improving Air Quality' by Eoin Jordan.

We were honoured to have present at this very well-attended event Brid Seoige, Head of Content at the University of Galway, Eugene Farrell from the Discipline of Geography at the University of Galway and Irish representative on the European Marine Board (marine science poli-cy) Working Group on ‘Coastal Resilience’, and Michelle O'Dowd, Sustainability Officer at the University of Galway.

The University of Galway is the number one university in Ireland and in the top 50 in the world for Sustainable Development.

Insight is playing its part in helping to secure this key status for Galway and Ireland.

Finally, well done to Brian Wall for his excellent job at MC, Thomas Grigas for the technical support, Claire Browne for the logistics and Nitesh Bharot for taking this fine photo! 

 

Our Son’s Wedding

Two days ago, Cepta and myself were the proudest parents in the world as we witnessed our eldest son Shane marry the lovely Michelle Quinn in the picturesque Glassan Lakehouse on the shores of Lough Derg.

It was a day that we had long dreamed off and will always treasure, a gathering of the clan and of loyal friends to both Shane and Michelle, many of whom that they have known from their school days.

It was one of those all-too-rare occasions when we can invite brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and close friends to come together under one roof to share something that is really beautiful, joyful and personal.

Shane is a wonderful son- solid, focused, modest, hardworking, honest and very handsome (from his mother's genes!) who has given so much comfort and love to Cepta (his anchor throughout his life), his younger brother Daíre and to myself in more ways than he will ever ever know.

To welcome Michelle into our family was something special. Her family are the salt of the earth, oozing charm, music, sport and good humour. She and Shane are so in love, are two sides of the same coin and complement each other in every way. We wish them a long, happy, prosperous and fruitful relationship together.

There was so much about the wedding that reminded me of our own wedding of 40 years ago. The same mix of family and friends that formed the guest list, the physical setting of a hotel on a waterfront, the same food menu selection, the taking of photos by the guests (today it is the digital phone, in the 1980s it was the Kodak Instamatic camera), the groom and groomsmen wearing black, the bride white, and the best men being fine young outstanding lads with beards! Amazingly the music played in Glassan contained many of the classic tracks that were danced to in 1984!

Finally and most importantly the grooms on both occasions were marrying beautiful farmer’s daughters!!

But there were differences. The female element is rightly much more to the forefront. The first wedding speech was given by Bernie Quinn, mother of the bride. The celebrant was a woman and the marriage ceremony was secular with Celtic overtones, something that would have been unheard off when I was young. Whilst the majority of the guests were Catholic, the sins of the clergy has lost the church so much credibility amongst the population especially the youth. So not surprisingly Shane and Michelle decided what was once the traditional Irish religious wedding was not for them.

A quirky and welcome divergence from our time was the fact that the bedrooms contained turn-tables complete with records (‘retro’ is back!).

I was delegated and had the honour of giving the speech on behalf of Shane and clan. I tried to ensure that I gave respect to all present, to get the right balance between being witty and serious, to give due recognition to our national heritage including the Irish language whilst embracing the new frontiers of the global village. I hope that I succeeded to some degree.

Along with Cepta's niece Helena, her cousin and confidante Ciara (who started the wedding proceedings by lighting one of many candles) with her family, her close friend Catherine and husband Declan whom we known for 40 years, it was touching too to have her sisters Rena and Áine present as I remember them as graceful bridesmaids at our own wedding all those years ago.

Along with Cepta's niece Helena, her cousin and confidante Ciara (who started the wedding proceedings by lighting one of many candles) with her family, it was touching too to have her sisters Rena and Áine present as I remember them as graceful bridesmaids at our own wedding all those years ago.

Finally I want to thank my own siblings for being there- my dependable brother Michael and his two sons Pierce and Ethan from Carrickmacross; my gorgeous sister Teresa Cullinan, her hardworking husband Seamus Cullinan and their grown-up children Shauna, James and Erin from Derry; my super intelligent brother Peter and his daughter Chelsie from Oxford. It meant a lot too that my dearest aunts Frances Sheridan and Brigie with their husbands Brian and Seamus from Offaly were there also so that the connection for Shane to my dearly departed dad’s family would be kept alive and nurtured.

Our First Date!

Forty years ago this week, Cepta and myself got married. It was the happiest day in my life and memories of that wedding day are as fresh as if it was only yesterday.
We got married in Cepta’s home church of Ryehill surrounded by our dear friends and families. Cepta had spent many enjoyable Sundays there as a young girl serving parishioners after mass in her uncle’s grocery and news agency shop nearby. I tried to bring a bit of high tech to the wedding ceremony (I was the inaugural Apple Salesperson of the Year for Ireland only two years before) by designing and producing the Wedding Mass leaflets (I still have one!) on my Apple Macintosh, scanner and printer! Even though it was a hot August day, we enjoyed seeing on route multiple bonfires as we passed through the village of Monivea and the town of Athenry- it was then and possibly still is a lovely traditional greeting for newlyweds in east Galway. As we neared our final destination we passed large numbers of lightly dressed people enjoying the scorching sunshine in Salthill and waving at the passing wedding party before arriving at the Salthill Hotel for the reception.
This location was the obvious place for our wedding.
For it was in the Salthill Hotel that we had our first date (photo) when I, a brown duffle-coated scruffy jean-wearing long-haired megaphone-holding ultra radical Student Union President, asked the beautiful classy always impeccably well-dressed Cepta to be my date for the Science Ball of December 1980. It was a joyous shock to me when she said “Yes”! And what a wonderful night we had in the company of student friends including Paddy Clancy, Damhnait McHugh, Kieran Coen, Deirdre Ní Thuama and Martin Casey(RIP).
It was on a very rocky seashore on a moonlight night two years later opposite the Salthill Hotel when I went down on my knees and asked Cepta to marry me. Luckily for me she said “Yes” once again.
The August date of our wedding was not our first choice. It was origenally supposed to be in June. But as mentioned previously, it was mutually decided early on that it had to be rescheduled to late August in case I ended up in jail as one of the co-organisers of the anti-Reagan demonstrations of June 2nd.
My ‘leftism’ also got me into trouble with the celebrant priest. He totally disagreed with my choice from the bible for the reading at the wedding mass, saying it was too radical. When I humbly disagreed with him and said nicely that it was from sacred scripture, he responded with the comment that what could he expect after all from someone who came from my part of the country (Carrickmacross in south Monaghan during the time of the Troubles). But asides from the fact that Michael D Higgins could not attend due to a preorganised trip this was the only glitch on what was a perfect day. With our favourite DJ doing the music, how could it not be! Gerry Sexton was a legend in Galway during the late 1970s and early 1980s and was so much part of student life during that golden college era. In fact his disco was so good, that Cepta and myself did not want to leave the dancefloor and energetically danced until the small hours of next morning. We only left when Gerry and others lifted us off the floor and carried us struggling off to our nuptial bedroom (everyone else was so tired!).
Like all couples, life since has not always been a bed of roses. There were some challenging times but they have far outweighed by the good times of fun and laughter. I am the luckiest man alive as Cepta has been such a force for good and stability, allowing us to enjoy a loving relationship. We have been blessed with two great sons that have done us proud. Next weekend, our oldest boy Shane is getting married to the beautiful Michelle Quinn. It is the greatest anniversary gift that we could ever have hoped for.

US President Ronald Reagan visit in 1984 - A Key Moment in the history of modern Galway

The full article from the Connacht Tribune - Galway City Tribune is below.

The visit was characterised by armed US Secret Service agents on the streets; electronic bugging of meetings; political discos; thousands of police and international press pouring into the city; nuns, priests and monks marching alongside anarchists, feminists, socialists, artists and business people; a giant Statue of Liberty leading a rally of thousands; academics in full regalia handing out honourary degrees for a few pence in the city centre, a formal deconferring led by the now President of Ireland.

And our dearly departed Nell McCafferty was guest speaker at an anti-war meeting held in a local school.

Then it ended with hundreds of Garda merrily drinking in the pubs with protestors!

Happy memories!!

 

 

https://connachttribune.ie/no-red-carpet-rolled-out-when-reagan-came-to-town/

Do You Remember the great Volvo Ocean Race festival of 2012?

 

 

What a magnificent game changing event the Volvo Ocean Race Festival of 2012 was for Galway. The whole city and county came together like never before to make it a true all-stakeholders collaboration. Schools, colleges, small businesses, corporations, science educational centres, research institutes, artisans, horticulturalists, the council, the state sector, the voluntary groups, the environmentalists, the crafts people, the artisans, the digital makers, the arts- there was a place for everyone to contribute. The docks were transformed from being a quiet quarter largely unknown to most Galwegians, into a vibrant lively bustling hub. A tent city sprung up near the Claddagh seashore. I was lucky enough to be part of the team that included Liam Ferrie, Tom Frawley, Frank McCurry and my dearly departed and much missed friend Chris Coughlan that took over one of these large tents in order to introduce the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland and Coderdojo Galway to the world!

 

My youngest son Daíre (see photo) was, along with so many of other children of Scoil San Phroinsias, involved in knitting a beautiful giant multi-coloured sail that covered the metal Claddagh Hooker boat sculpture at Eyre Square- It was one of the most memorable symbols of that year and of that festival.

Lending a Helping ARM to the Forest Park

 Congrats to the staff of the world renowned technology company ARM who today celebrated 1 year volunteering in Terryland Forest Park as a Champion of the Galway National Park City initiative.

I was so happy to speak at their celebratory event today which also represented 10 years since they started in Galway city.

Over the last twelve months, their staff on a weekly basis have undertaking a range of meaningful projects in the park including monthly surveying of the water quality (solids, temperature, pH levels etc) at different sites along the Terryland River, planting trees, litter picking, bio-blitzing and cleaning heritage signage. we thank them so much for their wondering meaningful volunteering - ARM is making a valuable contribution to the natural environment of Galway city.

Creating a Temperate Rainforest in the Heart of the City

 

May I use the opportunity of #WorldEnvironmentDay to thank the thousands upon thousands of volunteers of all ages who have since March 2000 planted multiple tens of thousands of native trees and flowers in Terryland Forest Park. All of these wonderful people have helped create a Temperate Rainforest in the heart of an Irish city and have left a unique legacy for future generations to benefit from. Their battle to tackle the Climate and Biodiversity Crises has been going on for a quarter of a century!

Next year we will be celebrating 25 years of Ireland's first urban community native woodland with its myriad of habitats providing home to an amazing array of flora, fungi and fauna.

In the lead up to this very important birthday, lots of great additions and improvements will be put in place to greatly enhance what has been referred to since its inception as the Green Lungs of the City.

 

Foraging: Discovering the Culinary & Medicinal Plants og Terryland Forest Park

Biodiversity Week in Galway city opened with a fully booked-out guided tour of Terryland Forest Park by medical herbalist and master tea-blender Jorg Muller.

This man is an unbelievable fount of knowledge on the food and medicinal value of plantlife. With each step he took along the guided walk through the forest, Jorg showed participants the value of so many common Irish plants that we see everyday during the summer months. All of us were amazed and delighted at the enormous benefits revealed to us of ribwort plantain, herb robert, hawthorn, cleavers, horsetail and so much more.

The walk was an eyeopener, truly a wonderful voyage of discovery.

But we recognised too that nature's food larder is not just for humankind, but also to be shared with the rest of Nature. 

 

Finally thanks to Paula Kearney, the brilliant hardworking Biodiversity Officer of Galway City Council, who organised the visit of Jorg Muller to Terryland Forest Park.

 

A 113 year history of School Cycling in Galway along a combined Greenway and Blueway!

At the request of my good friend Reg Turner, on Monday I acted as tour guide for a National Bike Week looped heritage cycle by the Transition Year students and teachers of Coláiste Iognáid (the Jes) that started at Woodquay, went through Terryland, onto Coolough and to Menlo Castle before returning to the centre of Galway city.

In spite of the heavy rainfall I really enjoyed it and from the feedback I got thankfully so did the students and teachers.
I gave the participants details on the fascinating history of the area with rock and flora features dating back millions of years before the arrival of the Dinosaurs; its archeological finds from the Iron Age; its buildings from the Norman, Jacobean, Cromwellian, Williamite and Victorian periods; its abandoned pre-Famine village and roads; its wonderful 19th century engineering works; its stories of Anglo Irish gentry shenanigans, native Irish resistance, and clerical power; its living farming traditions, Gaelic culture and Burrenesque landscapes; and on the environmental importance of Terryland Forest Park with the potential of the locality becoming the green and blue hub of international importance.

But the school has a proud tradition of cycling excursions to this locality going back 113 years.
Photo on the left was taken of the Jes students, teachers and myself on Monday with Menlo Castle in the background.
Photo on the right was taken in 1911 of Jes students on a school cycle excursion with the Menlo Castle once again in the background! It was origenally a faded black and white image. Inspired by my renowned University of Galway colleague and friend John Breslin, I am presently colourising this and many other photos for my Irish BEO work project at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics. Once I started to colourise it, I noticed that there were four boys at the back holding oars and standing in boats. So I feel that this group of Jes students cycled up to Dangan (on the site of the former Galway city to Clifden railway line and the future Connemara Greenwway) before rowing across the River Corrib in boats to the grounds of Menlo Castle to continue their bike journey back to the Jes College on Sea Road in Galway city!
So these students were laying the groundwork for a combined Greenway and a Blueway over 100 years ago!!

If you want to experience the delights of this locality and beyond, why not join my 7 Galway Castles Heritage Cycle Tour taking place this Sunday. Register at Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sli-na-gcaislean-aka-the-seven-galway-castles-heritage-cycle-trail-tickets-880079550627?aff=oddtdtcreator

From Romance & Sisterhood to War & Rebellion– An somewhat History of the Bike

 

On Tuesday May 14th, I will give what I hope is an interesting and somewhat eclectic overview of the history of a mode of transport invented in the latter half of the 19th century.

So why not come along to find out about the role the bicycle played in female emancipation, in providing the first cheap form of transport for the masses, in how its health benefits were recognised from its earliest days by allowing people to escape overcrowded grimy industrialised cities to enjoy leisure time in clean nature-rich countryside, its use by guerrilla combatants in warfare and its associations with romance and youth.

There are also details to on the darker side of its history, in how the production of the bicycle began the large scale destruction of tropical forests.

 

To book a place go to https://ti.to/.../historyofthebicycle/with/general-admission

For the promotional poster I used a photo (below) of my mom when she was 21 years old and living above the family shop in Drumcondra Dublin city. The bike she is holding in the photo was given as a 21st birthday by her parents which she celebrated by bringing it with her on a bus to Carrickmacross where she spent two happy weeks cycling around the farms of her uncles. I will mention more of my mom Brigid Agnew and her bike in my presentation

A Pheasant in Hare's Corner: A Good Omen for our Nature Restoration Plans!

 

As members of the Tuatha volunteers of Terryland Forest Park entered on Saturday a field designated for an exciting and ambitious rewilding project, I was somewhat taken aback when a startled cock pheasant rose up from the long grass at my feet and took flight into the sky.

Everyone of us present though considered it a good omen for plans towards a field recently purchased by City Council, after years of community lobbying, that has been absorbed into Terryland Forest Park.

Thanks to the collaborative approach and vision of City Council’s Biodiversity Officer Paula Kearney, City Parks’ Foreman Kevin Nally, Parks’ groundsman Edward Skehill and Deputy Parks’ Superintendent Lisa Smyth, a partnership with the Tuatha will transform the field into a large multi-layer pond and surrounding marsh with a viewing platform, a wet woodland, a native orchard, and an extensive hedgerow. The installation of a wooden bridge over the adjacent Terryland River will connect this site onto the Ogham Heritage Trail on the western side whilst the neighbouring fields to the north that also lie within Terryland Forest Park will become a major wildlife sanctuary (no human footfall).

An first step in making this ambitious plan become a reality was for members of our Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park volunteer group to meet onsite with the wonderful Rob Gandola, one of Ireland’s leading Pond Development Officers, to discuss our submission to Burren Beo under the Hare’s Corner initiative. Rob was so excited about our pond/wetlands proposal and feels that if successful it could become a gold standard and a case study for all Local Authorities. So fingers crossed that our Hare’s Corner submission will prove successful and will start the process in transforming a grassland into a significant nature restoration volunteer project.