A three-day commemoration will take place at Fort Camden in Crosshaven, from April 22nd, and will be the largest commemoration marking the Easter Rising outside Dublin, according to the organisers.
A THREE-day commemoration will take place at Fort Camden in Crosshaven, from April 22nd, and will be the largest commemoration marking the Easter Rising outside Dublin, according to the organisers.
The weekend will include 1916 and WWI seminars, flag raising ceremonies, re-enactments, pipe band recitals, traditional music and two major concerts on the Friday and Saturday evenings.
Speaking at the launch, Fort committee chairman Noel Condon, noted that Camden Fort Meagher had strong links to 1916.
The opening ceremony on Friday 22nd at 2.30pm will include the singing of the National Anthem by pupils from Crosshaven Boys NS, followed by two seminars – the story of the Aud by Barry Keane and a seminar by historian Jerry Conroy on the British Legion, WWI and 1916.
The first of two concerts will take place later that evening in a specially erected marquee in the fort parade ground, featuring members of the Carrigaline Java Ladies Harmony Choral Group and the Brandy Lane Orchestra.
Tickets are €25 each and limited to 400.
On Saturday the fort opens at 12 midday, with members of the Living History Group re-enacting defining moments of 1916 during the afternoon, while a war dead database for those seeking ancestors who lost their lives in WWI will be available courtesy of Tom Burnell, also on Sunday.
Music will be provided by traditional group Glu Nua during the day before the second concert, commencing at 7.30pm sharp,featuring Cara O’Sullivan, the Cork Prison Male Voice Choir and the Cork Chamber Orchestra, marking the highlight of the weekend’s activities.
Tickets are €30 and limited, again, to 400 people.
The weekend celebrations conclude on Sunday 24th, the actual date of the 1916 Rising, with a multi-denominational service featuring the Crosshaven Singers followed by the Raising of the Tricolour in the fort at 11am.
Jerry Conroy will give a repeat seminar on 1916 and WWI in the afternoon, while a special seminar will be given by Minane Bridge historian Eileen McGough on IRB member and Tracton native Dairmuid Lynch, reported to be the last person to leave the GPO on that fateful day in 1916.
He was sentenced to be executed after the Rising but his life was spared, due to his American citizenship. The weekend closes with a musical spectacular with three pipe bands from Waterford, Tipperary and Carrigaline performing in the Square.
Amongst the exhibitions on show at the fort will be two special centenary exhibitions – one from Conradh na Gaeilge on the Irish language and the second from Colaiste Muire secondary school in Crosshaven.
The raising of the tricolour on the Sunday morning will be especially significant as the person who brought the tricolour to Ireland from France, which was flown over the GPO and later adopted as the national flag, was Thomas Francis Meagher, whom the fort is named after.
