To mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, an exhibition and a series of lectures have been organised as part of the Féile an Phobal in Belfast.
The lecture series begins on Monday 4 August. Each lecture will be preceded by a ten-minute talk by staff from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) on individual experiences of soldiers and civilians during the First World War. Each talk will cover one individual including men and women at both the Home Front and overseas and will showcase some of the archival resources held by PRONI.
The lectures will be chaired by Claire Hackett, project director of the cross-community ‘Pieces of the Past’ oral history, and will take place in Falls Road Library, 49 Falls Road, Belfast, Co Antrim BT12 4PD.
Féile an Phobail is based in West Belfast and is a registered charity/company limited by guarantee. It provides a programme of arts, cultural and community-based activities throughout the year with its flagship festival, the August Féile being the highlight of Ireland’s festival calendar.
Here's the programme:
Monday 4 August: Rediscovering the Belfast Nationalists who fought in World War One. Launch of exhibition with Siobhan Brennan Deane of the 6th Connaught Ranger Exhibition research group. All welcome! 1pm. Phone for details: 028 9050 9212.
Monday 4 August: Remembering, Forgetting and Commemorating Ireland’s Great War: Issues for Belfast, with
Richard Grayson, Goldsmiths College, University of London. This talk will examine how the war has been remembered, forgotten and commemorated in Belfast, reflecting on how this relates to wider issues in Irish (and British) commemoration of the war). It will draw closely on local stories of the war. All welcome! 7pm. Phone for details: 028 9050 9212.
Tuesday 5 August: The Soul of the Nation: Irish republicans, war and rebellion, with Fearghal McGarry, QUB. The lecture will explore republican responses to the First World War, particularly how that wider conflict shaped the Easter Rising of 1916. All welcome! 1pm. Phone for details: 028 9050 9212.
Wednesday 6 August: The Great War and Unionist Memory, with Philip Orr, who will seek to assess why the war continues to feature so much in popular Unionist culture. All welcome! 1pm. Phone for details: 028 9050 9212.
Thursday 7 August: Belfast Women and the Great War. Margaret Ward and Lynda Walker will be presenting a visual account of the impact of war in Belfast, looking at how women mobilised to support the war effort; the impact of war on work and social life and also on women's political organisations. All welcome! 1pm. Phone for details: 028 9050 9212.
Friday 7 August: The formation and history of the three Irish Divisions, with Jimmy McDermott. The lecture will examine the politics that drove the formation of the three Irish Divisions. All welcome! 1pm. Phone for details: 028 9050 9212.