Heritage At Risk - Protecting What Matters Week Long Celebration

The Connaught Street and Environs Community Group invites you to a week of events celebrating the heritage of Athlone’s westside and inspiring a shared commitment to safeguard the places, traditions and stories that make our community unique.

Responding to the National Heritage Week theme, Heritage at Risk, the programme reflects on the challenges facing our historic streets and buildings, while celebrating the living heritage that continues to shape our community.

As much of Athlone’s historic building stock stands vacant or in decline, we are reminded that heritage is not just bricks and mortar. It lives in our music, poetry, crafts, language, sport, commemorations and, above all, in the stories passed from one generation to the next.

Throughout the week, local poets, historians, musicians, craftspeople, performers and community groups will come together to celebrate the heritage that defines our place. Highlights include poetry inspired by Athlone; a heritage market and family fun day; a guided historical walk revealing overlooked features of our town; a special lecture and book launch on Jadotville; an over-40s community football tournament celebrating sporting heritage; traditional craft demonstrations, oral traditions and a pop-up Gaeltacht; a memorial wreath ceremony; and What’s This Heritage Malarkey?, a new play by local historian Gearóid O’Brien, where humour, memories and conversation between generations remind us that heritage lives not only in buildings, but also in the stories we share.

Together, these events celebrate Athlone’s unique legacy and encourage us all to recognise, cherish, protect and pass it on to future generations.

The programme brings together local expertise, history and community participation to safeguard Athlone’s heritage. Genealogist John Grenham will highlight the importance of family history, while historian Paddy Costello will lead a guided walk exploring overlooked features, artefacts and stories of Athlone’s westside. Leo Quinlan will present a talk on the Siege of Jadotville, reflecting on Ireland’s military heritage.

Community participation is central to safeguarding local heritage. A Pipe Band parade, the Army Band, local sports clubs, football teams, Army Veterans and community groups celebrate traditions that unite generations. The Traditional Market will showcase heritage skills including pottery, soda bread making, butter churning, woodcarving, spoon carving, basket weaving, knitting, lime plastering and beekeeping. Poetry readings by Desmond Egan, Tadhg Carey, Gearóid O’Brien, Jackie Gorman, Christa de Brún and Linda Butler celebrate language, creativity and sense of place.

A Junior Heritage Explorer Bingo Trail will inspire children to explore, discover and protect what matters, completing heritage challenges throughout the week and earning certificates as young heritage champions.

Gearóid O’Brien’s play, directed by Chrissie Keane, uses humour and conversation between generations to preserve memories of buildings, traditions and community life. Throughout the week, visitors will be invited to share memories of Connaught Street and its environs through vox pops. Stories of shops, trades, families, childhood, music and everyday street life will form a community oral archive. As buildings change and older generations pass on, these memories become heritage at risk, and recording them preserves Athlone’s shared story for future generations.