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All Trácht magazines published by Kinvara Community Council over the years (1980-2008) are being scanned and will be available soon on the Kinvara.ie website. Subsequent Trácht issues were published online. These documents will be available in (searchable) pdf format and should be of interest for research purposes and to local residents, businesses or any persons interested in Kinvara’s history and heritage.

Here is a list of all Trácht magazines published (printed) over the years which are now being scanned and will be available soon on the Kinvara.ie website. If you happen to have a Trácht magazine that is not listed here please let us know by emailing communitycentre@kinvara.ie or dropping a note into Eilish at the Community Centre office (mornings Mon-Fri). We would like to borrow any missing magazines not on this list for scanning. Please check any back issues you have. List of years published (in print): 1980, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1990,1994, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008.

The objective of the Seniors Alert Scheme (SAS) is to encourage community support for vulnerable older people in our communities through the provision of personal monitored alarms to enable older persons, of limited means, to continue to live securely in their homes with confidence, independence and peace of mind. Funding is available under the scheme towards the purchase of equipment via Kinvara Community Alert  i.e. personal alarm and pendant with one year’s free monitoring. The subsequent associated monitoring and service charges must be paid by the participant. The equipment will be funded by Pobal and made available through the Kinvara Community Alert voluntary and not-for-profit organisation registered with Pobal under the SAS. Please email kinvaracommunityalert@gmail.com for more details.

The Kinvara Community Alert Text Alert Scheme is in operation with over 100 members. The Text Alert Scheme is used to get short, immediate messages out to registered users who have an interest in helping reduce crime and help keep the community in which they live or work safer. If you wish to join please email kinvaracommunityalert@gmail.com for more details.

Muintir na Tíre has been allocated funding by the Department of Rural and Community Development to install Carbon Monoxide alarms in the homes of elderly and vulnerable persons. This programme is aimed at persons who do not have existing alarms and do not have the resources to install alarms themselves. It will be rolled out through the Kinvara Community Alert Group who will apply for alarms for residents in their areas and will install them on a voluntary basis. They are battery powered alarms so installation is straightforward.

President Michael D Higgins, Launching the Ireland In Focus

Exhibition at Collins Barracks Dublin on 20 November Last.

Both the President and the Museum thanked Kinvara Community Council for its work in preserving the Cresswell images. M D Higgins thanked all those who were involved in bringing this archive to public attention: “Thank you for your contribution to citizenship for it is a citizenship and contribution in the best sense.”

Report on Exhibition

The exhibition launch went very well and was attended by about 300 people. The President spoke for about 25 minutes. See link below. The French ambassador was also present.

A selection from Robert Cresswell’s work (29 images, people, locations and events in Kinvara) is shown in the first two rooms/spaces. The enlarged B/W and Kodachrome images are shown in the adjoining room.

Bresson’s and Lange’s works are shown in the second room, together with a slide show of Bresson’s work never shown before.

The exhibition runs until April 2020.

Download Museum flyer for the event

Listen to a speech given by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, at the launch of the exhibition

An interview with Michael Brogan and Patricia Brehony-Martyn. This is to mark the opening of Ireland in Focus: Photographing the 1950s. The exhibition seeks to highlight the way in which three photographers, from France and North America, saw and portrayed Ireland of the 1950s, through the places they visited and the people they photographed.

The photographs of Paris-based American anthropologist, Robert Cresswell, who lived for over a year in Kinvara during 1955 and 1956, will also be shown. Cresswell took over four hundred photographs in the Kinvara area, including an exceptional set of Kodakchrome slides. The photographs were taken as part of his fieldwork in a 1950s’ rural community in transition. He published his findings in what is now regarded as a seminal anthropological study of rural life, Une Communauté Rurale de l’Irlande. 

The exhibition is being formally opened tomorrow, 21 November 2019, by President Michael Higgins.

All of the Cresswell Photo Archive are available to view on this website. Simply click on the links at the top of the page.

More details of the exhibition are available here: https://www.museum.ie/Decorative-Arts-History/Exhibitions/Future-Exhibitions/Ireland-in-Focus-Photographing-the-1950s

Kinvara Community Council’s: monthly meetings take place the third Wednesday of each month. The next meeting is taking place on Wednesday 20^th November at 8pm in Kinvara Community Centre. This will be followed by our monthly meeting. We encourage all members of the community to attend these meetings. All sub groups who are affiliated to Kinvara Community Council must send a representative to every KCC meeting in order to maintain their benefits. Any items for inclusion on the agenda must be emailed in before Friday 11^th November.

Tidy Towns end of year Get together Friday 8th November: Kinvara Tidy Towns were delighted to host Ian Griffiths Horticulturalist who kindly gave a Pruning Workshop last Saturday 25th October for our group of volunteers. Well done to all those who attended and it was well worth it as Ian gave us a great talk and then stayed and did lots of work with us. Thank you very much Ian. We hope to hold another gardening workshop in the New Year. If you would like to help Tidy Towns or partake in any of our activities please leave your name and mobile number into the Community Centre office. This year our score in the Tidy Towns competition went up by 11 points and we really appreciate all the work our volunteers did this year. Also all those who went the extra mile and painted their premises and kept their flower pots watered. You can read the Judges report on TidyTowns.ie. 

We are holding an end of year get together Friday week the 8th November in Tully’s back room from 7pm onwards. We will have poster boards showing our projects and we welcome your suggestions. Come along and meet us there.

KAVA, Kinvara Area Visual Arts, would like to acknowledge the funding we received from Bord Iascaigh Mhara. As a community group in a coastal community we were eligible for 80% funding to improve the Old Courthouse. We have installed secondary glazing and insulation in the attic to increase energy efficiency, painted inside and out and bought 40 new folding chairs and some office equipment. Our thanks to BIM. We would also like to thank Galway County Council for their grant aid towards making the courthouse more accessible for people with mobility issues.