Early warning: Limited PRONI service, 8-12 December

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has announced that it will run a limited service during 'Preservation Week', which will take place from 8 to 12 December.

Preservation Week sees many of PRONI's Preservation & Collections Management staff dedicating their time to the vital work that goes on behind the scenes. This includes collections management projects in the stores, emergency planning training, conservation assessment and possible digitisation of some large format items.

On the plus side, PRONI will take the opportunity to post daily articles to its website about preservation, reprographics, preventative conservation, digital preservation and emergency planning. They hope to upload lots of photos and possibly some videos to give us a flavour of what is going on behind the scenes.

The knock-on of this vital work will see some services restricted. There will be no Document Production, for example. However, the Public Search Room, including the Self-Service Microfilm area, will operate as normal.

Best mark your diaries accordingly.

PRONI presents Irish culture and language series

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is to host a short series of talks exploring Irish language and culture, including shared traditions, identities and heritage.

These free talks will be in English with some Irish, and will be delivered in the relaxed atmosphere of the PRONI building in Titanic Boulevard, Belfast:

Wednesday 15 October, 1-2pm: Ulster Protestant Gaelic tradition, with Diarmaid Ó Doibhlin
Wednesday 22 October, 1-2pm: Influence of Irish on English as we speak it, with Joe Ó Labhraí
Wednesday 5 November, 1-2pm: History of the Irish language, with Mícheál Ó Máirtín
Wednesday 12 November, 1-2pm: Our shared musical heritage, with Brian Mullen

For more information call 028 90 534800. Bookings for the talks series can be made by sending an email to proni@dcalni.gov.uk.

The talks are presented in collaboration with Foras na Gaeilge, the body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the whole island of Ireland. Announcing the talks, the group's CEO, Ferdie Mac an Fhailigh, said: "Foras na Gaeilge is delighted to be part of a series of talks on the Irish language and culture. These talks will provide a linguistic, historical and cultural context for further exploration and enjoyment of Irish language and culture."

Irish seafaring ancestors? See the Liverpool Crew Lists

Schooners at Merseyside Maritime Museum

A new release from Ancestry holds plenty of promise for Irish family historians. It's the Liverpool Crew Lists, 1861 to 1919 collection, which has come our way as a World Archive Project ie it's been transcribed and indexed by volunteers.

It's no tiddler, either. It consists of 1,064,441 entries!

As far as I can make out, there are nearly 78,000 entries for men who were born in Ireland.

The collection includes records for 912 ships whose home port was registered as Liverpool, England. The lists contain information on ship voyages, crew members, and apprentices. Many of the records are grouped together as agreement booklets or ships’ logs.

Depending on year and information available, the details found in these crew lists can include the following:  name, age or birth year, birthplace, nationality, place of residence, service on other ships, rate, date and details of engagement and discharg, and reports of character and ability. Some even include the signature of the crew member.

Ancestry's notes mention that when you have located an ancestor on a particular ship, you should do a separate search for the named ship. This can throw up logs and other ship information.

This release will see me packing up early for the weekend! I've done a search for one of my seafaring ancestors, George Doolittle, born 1842 in Wicklow, and, sure enough, 18 of his voyages, some as Master, are recorded in the 1880s.  I've even found his signature! A couple of his sons are also mentioned as sailing with him on a few of these journeys, but not my great great grandfather, Edward, who owned a number of ships. Presumably Edward's vessels were registered elsewhere. I'll have to look into that.

Of more urgent investigation is a crew member who might just be a cousin from George's mother's family. This might be the link that helps me finally prise open that ancestral branch.

Before I take shore-leave, as it were, I'll recommend this collection as of great potential to anyone whose ancestor settled in the UK and appears in the UK censuses as 'from Ireland'. If your ancestors had any connections with the sea, you may just find that vital clue to place of origin in these documents. The vast majority of the 78,000 sailors recorded as born in Ireland have at least a county of origin recorded. There are, for example, many thousand from County Cork and nearly 1,200 from Sligo; in fact, all the coastal counties seem to be represented.

Some entries also record a specific town; all the ones I found are ports, so I don't think it should be taken as gospel that this was the sailor's real birthplace. Admittedly, most seamen are brought up in ports or on the coast, but it doesn't always follow, so it'd be as well to exercise some caution.

Seven days to BTOP: Focus on free research advice!

Back To Our Past returns to the RDS, 17-19 October

Back To Our Past will be alive and buzzing this time next week, so it seems a good time to start a series of blogposts focussing on what's on offer to the visitor.

Call it what you will – an exhibition, a fair, a show, a conference – Back To Our Past is THE place for helping yourself to free Irish genealogy advice. Whether you're not sure where to start, or if you've got stuck with a particular branch of the family or have encountered a specific ancestor who isn't playing ball with revealing the details of his life, this is where you are guaranteed to get some help with your research.

Family historians, both professional and amateur, will be practically tripping over one another to help answer queries and discuss suitable new lines of enquiry for your research. For a start, all the island's societies – the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS), the North of Ireland Family History Society (NIFHS), the Irish Family History Society (IFHS) and the Genealogical Society of Ireland (GSI) – will be in attendance and their volunteers will be happy to assist.

So, too, will the main commercial database providers, Ancestry and FindMyPast, who will guide you in finding relevant records in their online collections. Access to their databases is free of charge on their respective stands.

This year will also see the General Register Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI) making its first visit to BTOP. GRONI's online database includes all registered births in Antrim, Armagh, Derry-Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone up to 1914, all marriages to 1935, and all deaths to 1954, and for a small fee, you can view a copy of individual register entries. At this stage, I don't know if GRONI will be offering free access to this wonderful collection during the show, but they'll certainly be able to answer any queries you may have about civil registration in the Northern counties.

BTOP is also the place to be if you're looking for free, independent advice from an accredited professional genealogist because members of the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland (APGI), are offering 20-minute one-to-one sessions to visitors (you'll need an entry ticket) and these consultations have to be booked. APGI monitors the standard of work of its members to ensure they are maintained at the highest possible level; as you can imagine, these free sessions with expert genealogists are highly prized.

All the Friday and Saturday sessions are already booked. However, if you'll be attending on one of those days and were hoping for a free consultation, pop along to the APGI stand on the day. You may just find there's been a cancellation or a 'no-show'.

There are still a few Sunday sessions available, but I'd urge you to book quickly.

Download half-price voucher to BTOP

I've mentioned here just some of the opportunities for receiving free research advice at Back To Our Past. As the World's biggest annual gathering of Irish family historians, there will be plenty more, not least from the many professional service providers who'll be exhibiting. And then there's the extensive lecture programmes, too... you may well find your questions answered in the great line-up that's been put together by APGI for this year's show.

One thing that won't be free, unless you've been lucky enough to be passed a complimentary free ticket by one of the exhibitors, is getting in to BTOP.

While Irish Genealogy News can't run to free tickets, you can keep your costs to a minimum by downloading a 50% discount voucher which will reduce your full-day entrance costs to just €5. Once you're in the doors, it's all free. Make sure to take a big helping!

Concerns about GRO records raised in Dáil Debate

The Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014 reached its Second Stage reading on Tuesday 7 October.

As previously mentioned on Irish Genealogy News, this Bill seeks to update existing legislation to better reflect modern Irish society as well as providing a legal framework for the General Register Office to eventually provide electronic access to its historical civil registration records of births, marriages and deaths*.

Not surprisingly, most of the deputies who have spoken so far in the debate have concentrated on the primary areas being amended within the Bill ie the compulsory inclusion of the father's name on a birth certificate, preventing marriages of convenience, registering Irish deaths abroad etc.

Catherine Murphy TD

Only Deputy Catherine Murphy (Independent, Kildare North) has, to now, raised the issues currently bothering today's generation of Irish genealogists: access to online civil registration records and the poor standard of research facilities (essentially, Werburgh Street).

I'm not going to summarise or paraphrase her speech. If you are interested to read it, you can follow Tuesday's entire Oireachtas Debate here (Ms Murphy's contribution starts on page 39), or you can download her speech in pdf format here.

UPDATE: The debate resumed today and this second session can be followed here. A number of deputies spoke, but only one – Olivia Mitchell TD (Fine Gael, Dublin South) – made any mention or comment about the historical records.  Her contribution can be read on page 16 (penultimate paragraph).

The debate was wound up by Deputy Kevin Humphries, Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection. In his closing comments he said: "Deputy Catherine Murphy covered the area of online access to historical records. This is becoming ever more important. Deputy Olivia Mitchell also referred to this. It is covered clearly in this Bill, but we must be careful that citizens' privacy is also protected. In the Bill, we are acting within the international norm.

"Deputy Murphy also raised the General Register Office in Werburgh Street. As a result, I intend to visit the office to see exactly what the Deputy means. I will come back to her at a further stage in regard to the specifics because it is not within the Bill."

The Bill has now been referred to the Select Committee.

*Back in July, the Minister responsible for the GRO stated that she wanted to see the historical bmd registers (not just the indexes) available to the public online, and this Bill is the legislation that is expected to facilitate that path.

It's a long way to Tipperary: the Irish story launches

The University of Limerick has launched a new website this morning to tell the story of the First World War through the experiences of one family: the Armstrongs of Moyaliffe, Co Tipperary.

It’s a Long Way to Tipperary – An Irish Story of the Great War involves an active online archive that follows the lives of a single family in weekly online bulletins throughout the First World War. The diaries, correspondence, memorabilia and photos of the Armstrong family provide a fascinating insight on the social, physical and emotional impact of the conflict on individuals, families and society.

This virtual First World War Exhibition will run in ‘real time’ from July 2014 until November 2018, with a new exhibition uploaded every week, allowing visitors and subscribers to the site to relive the events of the war as they unfolded exactly 100 years previously. The weekly exhibitions comprise of updates of the current stage of the war, photographs taken by Captain Pat Armstrong, press cuttings, and extracts from diaries and correspondence to give both the soldier’s and the civilian’s experience of the war. The exhibition is supported by social media, including Facebook and Twitter, with weekly tweets to subscribers.

Performing the official launch honours, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD, said: “Exploring the website feels like being taken back in time; as we read about the experiences of those on the front line, we can also share in the everyday happenings of the family at home. Initiatives such as this are an excellent example of how communities around the country are getting involved in the Decade of Centenaries. I would like to commend the creativity and imagination of the team who have transformed the historical material into this fantastic online resource, fit for a 21st century audience. I have no doubt that it will be enjoyed throughout Limerick and far beyond.”

The Armstrong Archive was donated to the University of Limerick's Glucksman Library in 1999. The estate collection encompasses 350 years of history of the Armstrongs of Moyaliffe Castle, County Tipperary, and the related families of Maude of Lenaghan Park, County Fermanagh, and Kemmis of Ballinacor, County Wicklow. It contains some 50,000 items, including over 13,000 photographs. All original material used in the online exhibition can be viewed, by appointment, in the Library's Special Collections and Archives Department.

Galway Vindicator joins British Newspaper Archive

Amomg the latest titles to join the online British Newspaper Archive (BNA) is the Galway Vindicator and Connaught Advertiser. Better known in its day as "The Vindicator", the newspaper was published between 1841 and 1899, and is regarded as an important source for those researching the Great Hunger and social conditions in Galway in the second half of the 19th century.

Full years' editions for 1858, 1859 and 1861 have been added so far. The BNA collection will eventually cover 1841 to 1871.

After making its debut on BNA last month, The Drogheda Journal collection has also grown in the last few days with the addition of more 1830s editions.

The line-up for the twice-weekly title, which was also known as The Meath and Louth Advertiser, now covers the full years of 1828, 1831-1833, 1836 and 1838-1839.

These latest BNA additions will automatically be added to FindMyPast's British and Irish newspaper collections.

See blogpost of 18 September for details of last month's BNA updates.

Richmond Barracks to be restored for 1916 centenary

The surviving buildings of the former Richmond Barracks in Inchicore, Dublin 8, are to be restored and will reopen as a cultural, education and heritage facility. Funding of €3.5 million has been approved by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG) as part of its programme for the 1916 Commemorations.

With its 200-year history, Richmond Barracks represents both the British colonial era and the history of Dublin's working-class families. Most regiments of the British Army spent some time there during its 108-year spell as a military barracks, and most Irishmen who went to fight in WW1 departed for England or the continent from Inchicore.

But it is its place in Ireland's struggle for Independence that is of most current focus. After the Easter Rising, it was used as a holding and processing centre for more than 3,000 suspected rebels, and most of the signatories of the Proclamation and other leaders were interned, court-martialled and sentenced to death there. Eamon De Valera, W.T. Cosgrave and Michael Collins were among its temporary 'guests'.

Announcing the restoration and redevelopment plans, DAHG Minister Heather Humphreys TD said: "Richmond Barracks is particularly remembered as the place of confinement for so many of the personnel of the Easter Rising. It is in that context I welcome this regenerative proposal for the Barracks, which will recognise it as one of the key heritage projects in our centenary programme.

“I would also like to acknowledge the position of the soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment who were stationed here in 1916 – I'm sure most of them could never have imagined being called upon to fight Irishmen in Dublin when they signed up; they must have felt themselves to be in an impossible position.

“It is right that we should remember all of those associated with Richmond Barracks who lost their lives due to conflict, and I am very keen to see their stories told."

The project is part of a DAHG's €22 million capital funding package which will see a number of other projects completed in time for the 1916 Commemorations. These include the interpretive centre at the GPO, and the visitor facility at Kilmainham Gaol.

Tales of Medieval Dublin: telling our ancestors' stories

Anyone who has ever attended one of the lectures hosted by the Friends of Medieval Dublin (they're held at City Hall's Wood Quay Venue, typically on the second Tuesday of the month) will be delighted to hear that some of the stories told of the city's inhabitants have been transferred to book format.

Tales of Medieval Dublin presents fourteen of these individuals.

While written by experts and providing the most up-to-date research, these tales are written to appeal to a general audience, so anyone interested in the city’s past will enjoy them as well as learn from them. They span almost 1,000 years of Dublin’s history and trace the lives of warriors, churchmen, queens, bards and barons, as well as those who are so often ignored in the historical record: housewives, tax collectors, peasants and slaves.

See the full list below.

Edited by Sparky Booker and Cherie N. Peters, the 256-page colour illustrated book has been published in both hardback (ISBN 978-1-84682-496-8) and paperback (ISBN 978-1-84682-497-5) by Four Courts Press. It's available in good bookshops or at the publisher's website. Catalogue prices are €45 for the hardback and €24.95 for the paperback.

CONTENTS

• The Skeleton’s Tale | Linzi Simpson (ind.)
  
• The Abbot’s Tale | Seán Duffy (TCD)
  
• The Slave’s Tale | Poul Holm (TCD)
  
• The Mother’s Tale | Howard B. Clarke (RIA)
  
• The Farmer’s Tale | Cherie N. Peters (TCD)
  
• The Tax Collector’s Tale | Áine Foley (TCD)
  
• The Archdeacon’s Tale | Margaret Murphy (Carlow College)
  
• The Crusader’s Tale | Edward Coleman (UCD)
  
• The Wife’s Tale | Gillian Kenny (TCD)
  
• The Mason’s Tale | Michael O’Neill (ind.)
  
• The Notary’s Tale | Caoimhe Whelan (TCD)
  
• The Knight’s Tale | Sparky Booker (TCD)
  
• The Man of Law’s Tale | Colm Lennon (NUIM)
  
• The Poet’s Tale | Katharine Simms (TCD)

Irish genealogy and history events, 7–19 October

Tuesday 7 October: Armagh and the Great War, with Dr Colin Cousins. Host and venue: Armagh City Library, 2 Market St, Armagh. Free. All welcome. 7pm. For details, tel 028 3752 7851.

Tuesday 7 October: Omagh family business and trades at the turn of the 19th century, with Vincent Brogan. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Omagh Branch. Venue: Omagah Library, Dublin Road, Omagh BT78 1HL. 7:15pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 8 October: Translations? The Ordnance Survey & Irish place-names, with Prof. Nollaig Ó Muraíle. Part of the Mapping City, Town and Country lecture series. Venue: Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. 1-2pm. Free. All welcome. No need to book.

Thursday 9 October: Exploring family history – Police, Lawyers and Criminals, with Dr Janice Holmes and Dr Barry Sheehan. Part of the Open University Lunchtime Lecture Series, examining the working lives of families in the past, with examples from PRONI's collections. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Booking recommended but not essential. Free.

Thursday 9 October: Militarism in Ireland, 1912-1918, with Professor David Fitzpatrick. Part of The Road to War Lecture Series. Hosted by PRONI and National Museums Northern Ireland. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 7pm. Free but booking essential. Email proni@dcalni.gov.uk or phone 44+ 028 905 34800.

Thursday 9 October: Limerick at War 1914–18, a History Ireland Hedge School. Venue: Desmond Hall, The Square, Newcastle West, Co Limerick. 7:30pm. To be chaired by Editor Tommy Graham; panelists Tom Toomey, Ruan O’Donnell, Tadhg Moloney and Matthew Potter. 7:30pm. Free.

Thursday 9 October: The war photographers and the photography of WW1, with Bryan Rutledge. Host: Craighavon Museum Services. Venue: Craighavon Civic Centre, Lakeview Road, Craighavon, Co Armagh BT64 1AL. 7:30-9pm. Free. Details: 028 3832 2205. 

Thursday 9 October: Two talks on the Londonderry Papers by PRONI staff. Peers, Politicians and Polemicists: The People Within the Londonderry Papers at PRONI, with Lorraine Bourke at 1pm, followed by Lady Londonderry and the Great War, with Brett Irwin. Venue: Ards Arts Centre, Newtownards. Free. Reserve your space: tourism@ards-council.gov.uk or +44 028 91826846.

Thursday 9 October: Surplus People: From Wicklow to Canada, the Coolattin Clearance, with Jim Rees. Host: West Wicklow Historical Society. Venue: The Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely, Co. Wicklow. 8:30pm. €5/€3.

Friday 10 October: Ireland’s entry into war, 1914: acceptance or refusal?, with Dr Catriona Pennell. Host: Military History Society of Ireland. Venue: Griffith College, South Circular Road, Dublin 8. 8pm. Non-members welcome.

Saturday 11 October: Hidden histories – the unfolding stories of Ireland in WW1, a joint North/South seminar. Host: Federation of Local History Societies. Venue: Plaza Hotel, Dundalk, Co Louth. Cost of full day seminar, lunch and refreshment: €25. See blogpost for programme.

Saturday 11 October: Assisted Emigration to Escape the Great Famine of Ireland, with Ann Burns. Host: BIFHSGO. Venue: Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 10am–11:30pm. Free.

Saturday 11 October: Open Day (tours, seminar, advice) at the National Archives of Ireland, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. 10:00am to 5:00pm. Free, but need to book. Download programme.

Saturday 11 October: Crowdsourcing your Irish family history, with Claire Bradley. Part of the Continuous Professional Development workshop series hosted by Eneclann and Ancestor Network. Venue: Trustees Room, National Library, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Free, 2–3:30pm. Booking essential.

Saturday 11 October: Getting over brick walls, with Audrey Leonard. Host: Irish Genealogical Society International. Venue: Minnesota Genealogical Library, 1185 Concord St N., St. Paul, Minnesota. USA. 10:30am–12:00pm. $10 IGSI members/$15 non-members. (Library open 10am–4pm). Details.

Monday 13 October: Fighting in 11th-century Dublin, with Christina Wade. Part of the Living and Dying in a medieval city – Dublin in the Age of Clontarf lunchtime lecture series. Host: Friends of Medieval Dublin. Venue: Wood Quay Venue, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8. Time: 1:05pm to 1:45pm. Free. No booking necessary.

Monday 13 October: The Thompson Farm, Dunaney, with Dr Jim Bradley. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Newtownabbey Branch. Venue: Drama Theatre, Glenformley High School, 134 Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey BT36 5HP. 7:00pm. All welcome.

Monday 13 October: How to undertake War grave research - War graves in Northern Ireland, with Nigel Henderson. (See also 13 October for narrower Belfast focus.)Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. All welcome. 1pm to 2pm. Free, but booking required. Email proni@dcalni.gov.uk or telephone 028 90  534800 to reserve your place.

Tuesday 14 October: Commonwealth war graves records for Ireland, with Patrick Lynch. Host: Genealogical Society of Ireland. Venue: Dun Laoghaire FEi, Cumberland Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. 8pm. €3.

Tuesday 14 October: Serving Belfast Municipal Services, with Robert Corbett. Part of the Belfast Corporation lecture series. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. All welcome. 1pm to 2pm. Free, but booking required. Email proni@dcalni.gov.uk or telephone 028 90  534800 to reserve your place.

Wednesday 15 October: George Petrie’s “Topographical Department” (1835-42), with Paul Walsh. Part of the Mapping City, Town and Country lecture series. Venue: Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. 1-2pm. Free. All welcome. No need to book.

Wednesday 15 October: A Call to Arms – Portadown and the Great War, with Richard Edgar. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, North Armagh Branch. Venue: Town Hall, 15 Edward Street, Portadown, BT62 3LX. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 15 October: Ulster Protestant Gaelic Tradition, with Diarmaid O Doibhlin. Part of the Irish language and culture lecture series. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. All welcome. 1pm to 2pm. Free, but booking required. Email proni@dcalni.gov.uk or telephone 028 90  534800 to reserve your place.

Wednesday 15 October: The decline and fall of the dukes of Leinster, with Professor Terence Dooley. First of the Strokestown Park/CSHIHE Lecture Series. 8pm.  Strokestown Park, Co Roscommon. Details and bookings: info@strokestownpark.ie or tel: 071- 9633013.

Thursday 16 October: Exploring family history – Churches and churchgoers, with Dr Janice Holmes and Dr Barry Sheehan. Part of the Open University Lunchtime Lecture Series, examining the working lives of families in the past, with examples from PRONI's collections. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Booking recommended but not essential. Free.

Thursday 16 October: New system at GRONI, with Emma Elliott. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, North Down & Ards Branch. Venue: 1st Presbyterian Church Hall, Upper Main Street, Bangor BT20 4AG. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Friday 17 October: Australia and Ireland in the First World War, a symposium. Plus the launch of the Irish Anzacs Database. Host: The Keith Cameron Chair of Australian History at UCD. Venue: Room K114, Newman Building, UCD. 10am to 4:15pm. Programme and details.

Friday 17 October to Sunday 19 October: Back To Our Past, Ireland's major annual genealogy exhibition and conference. Incorporates the Genetic Genealogy Ireland conference. Venue: Industries Hall, RDS, Dublin 4. 11am–7pm each day. Exhibitors, two strands of genealogy/heritage lectures, one strand of DNA talks, free APGI consultations. €5 on the door entry each day if you use 50% voucher – see blogpost for link to voucher and more details.

Friday 17 October to Sunday 19 October: The Genealogy Event, includes some Irish family history presentations. Sunday is dedicated to DNA. Venue: Fri & Sat: Alexander Hamilton US Custom House,1 Bowling Green, New York City, USA; Sunday only: India House Club, NY, NY. Details.

Saturday 18 October: Irish Genealogy, Intermediate level, with Diane Bryant and Lorraine Roberts. Venue: Dyer Memorial Library, 28 Centre Avenue, Abington, New England, USA. Workshop 1-2pm followed by guided research 2-3pm. Free.  Tel: 781-878-8480 to register.

Sunday 19 October: Charity and the Great Hunger: The extent to which people throughout the world mobilized to provide money, food and clothing to assist the starving Irish, with Professor Christine Kinealy. Venue: The Gaelic-American Club, 74 Beach Road, Fairfield, CT 06824 USA. 2-4 p.m. Open to the public. $5. Need to register.