Dún Bleisce Historical and Literary Society
The inaugural meeting of Dún Bleisce Historical and Literary Society was held on Monday 15th of October 2006. There were 18 people present at the meeting. The following officers were elected. Donal Anderson as Chairman, Gerry Connors as Secretary and Michael Kennedy as Treasurer.
On the 20th of November 2006 Fr. Liam Ryan , Cappamore gave a talk on the
history of the area over the last 50 years.
On the 11th of December 2006 Tom Twomey gave a talk on the war of Indepedence in
East Limerick.
As we had no funds to cover any expenses that we might incur for our visiting
speakers it was decided to hold a table quiz in Moores Bar on Friday the 5th of
January 2007. This was a very successful venture as we had 27 tables. We would
like to thank all who supported the table Quiz and we hope to have another in
early January 2008 D.V.
On the 29th of January 2007 Michael Quinlan from Lough Gur gave a talk on Lough
Gur and its History.
On Thursday 1st of March 2007 Noreen Higgins gave a talk on The Tithe War 1830
to 1838.
On Monday the 26th of March 2007 Ruan O,Donnell of U.L. gave a talk on Robert
Emmett.
On Tuesday the 1st of May 2007 Michael Corish gave a talk on Lighthouses and the
People that Manned Them.
On the 30th of May 2007 P.J. McNamara did a walk of Doon village and pointed out
and discussed areas and buildings of Historical significance in the village and
environs. As this walk was so informative and interesting in the detail and
discussion that took place it had to be held over two evenings. The second half
of the walk was held on the 18th of July 2007.
On Saturday the 11th of August 2007 Dún Bleisce Historical and Literary Society
went on a day trip to Birr Castle and Clonmacnoise. We left Doon at approx 8.30
a.m. We had 16 people on the bus . We had Lunch in Dooleys Hotel, Birr and we
stopped for tea in Nenagh on the way home. We arrived home in Doon at approx
8.15 p.m. All present said that they enjoyed the day.
On Wednesday the 22nd of August 2007 we went on another trip to Lough Gur and
there we met Michael Quinlan who had given us a talk on Lough Gur in January. He
brought us around the area and pointed out the various places of interest. This
was a most enjoyable and informative evening.
On Saturday the 13l of October 2007 we paid a visit to Thompsons at Castlegarde.
This castle is the oldest inhabited castle in Ireland. It was builtin 1198 and
has been lived in continuously since then. We are grateful to the present
occupiers David and Hazel Thompson for welcoming us into their home.
Early in the year we decided that we would do a reprint of Dún Bleisce - A
History. This book was first produced by Cumann Forbartha Dún Bleisce in 1990.
It was quickly sold out and it was a keepsake for anyone lucky enough to have
obtained a copy at the time. It was a history of the area and the research was
done under a Fas Scheme. There were approx. 23 people involved full time in the
project and the research was very detailed. We received permission from Cumann
Forbartha Dún Bleisce to do a reprint. We received generous sponsorship from
Tipperary Credit Union and after a lot of hard work by Peggy and Paud Sweeney
and our Chairman Donal Anderson we produced 125 copies of the book. We had a
relaunch in The Credit Union in Doon on Monday the 15th of October 2007 and we
are glad to say that it sold out again within a week. We will do another reprint
immediately to satisfy demand.
We have several talks lined up over the coming months and we would love to have
people along to the talks. All are welcome and admission is free so please come
along to hear about your local History. We intend to develop the Literary side
of our title over the coming months so if you have an interest in that side
please watch for notices.