Burrenbeo Trust were recently at Oranmore Boys National School to celebrate the launch of the national Heritage Keepers programme. After a successful pilot in 2022, Heritage Keepers has expanded to include more schools and communities in 2023.
Heritage Keepers is a free programme for schools, youth groups or communities that will enable them to work together to explore the built, natural, and cultural heritage of their local place and then plan an action or actions to enhance their place. In-person, online and blended learning options are available.
Last year 20 schools and communities took part in the programme, with most going on to complete a local project or actions. These funded actions included pond building, local heritage trails, signage for biodiversity, oral history projects and local heritage booklets, including the one pictured here, which was completed by the boys of Oranmore National School. Using knowledge gleaned from the local library and stories from local experts they wrote and illustrated a booklet on the history of Oranmore. The expanded Heritage Keepers programme is now looking for ‘Expressions of Interest’ from schools, youth groups and community groups who wish to take part in the five 2-hour workshops in Spring 2023.
“Heritage Keepers aims to empower people to explore and discover their own local heritage” says Burrenbeo Trust Co-ordinator Áine Bird. “This helps foster a sense of pride, ownership and ultimately responsibility towards both their community and environment. This is more important than ever given the challenges the world currently faces”.
For those interested in learning more, an online information session will take place on Tuesday the 15th Nov at 7.30pm. See Burrenbeo/hk for more details on this or to fill out a short Expression of Interest form (the deadline for submissions is the 30th of November).
Further info: burrenbeo.com/hk
