Mayo oral history event: Bring your item and tell your story
IT will be a unique opportunity. The people of Mayo are invited to bring an item of personal sporting significance and tell the story behind it at a free event happening in Castlebar in November.
The Oral History Network of Ireland (OHNI) are organising ‘Magic Moments, Medals & Memorabilia: Sport and Oral Heritage’, which will take place on Saturday, November 7, at the TF Royal Hotel.
Among the novel elements of the day is an invitation to members of the public to participate in an interactive ‘bring and tell’ session with a sporting theme. Attendees are invited to bring an item that means something to them, such as an object or photograph, and share its story. They will have an opportunity to have the item professionally photographed and record a short oral history interview with a member of the OHNI team.
“We’re trying not to be too prescriptive in terms of guiding people. We’re sort of leaving it up to people’s own imaginations,” says Daniel Carey, a member of the Oral History Network of Ireland steering committee.
“We ran an event in Cork for Heritage Week in in August where we we invited people to bring an item that had some kind of personal meaning or significance for them. And then we were talking about options for the community day, it just it struck me that first of all that we hadn’t been in the in the West for quite a while and if we were going to do something in Mayo, given the year that’s in it, that it would be nice to have some kind of a sporting tie-in,” Carey explains, alluding to Mayo’s All-Ireland win in July, beating Kerry in the final, which ended the 75-year-wait.
Carey himself being from Mayo, is bringing an item himself for the event.
“I inherited a cap from my from my late grandfather who who died in in 2006. It’s a green and red Mayo cap. He was a huge Mayo fan and as a Mayo person now living in Dublin it’s become a badge of identity. We had a really warm summer so it’s a it’s a baseball cap type situation as opposed to a woolly hat, so even long before July 26 it was getting a lot more outings than it might have got in a in a normal summer,” Carey laughs.
The event on November 7 in the TF Royal Castlebar start at 9am in the morning with a practical workshop: Learn fundamental oral history techniques and tools to start capturing stories in your own community.
Next up: Community Heritage Panel: Hear from a panel of speakers exploring regional history and community-led preservation. After that there will be presentations from the Oral History Network Ireland perspective: Daniel Carey introduces a new GAA-focused oral history project, sharing audio clips reflecting on Mayo’s rich sporting culture; and Linda Fitzgibbon explores how physical objects serve as tangible symbols of our collective memory, and how oral history can unlock their stories - turning them into vital primary sources to record your own lived history.
Then at 3pm, there will be the interactive Sporting ‘Bring & Tell’ Session where participants bring along an item of personal sporting significance, such as an artefact, photograph and memorabilia, and share its story. They will have the opportunity to record a short oral history interview with the team and have their object professionally photographed.
Carey also points out how objects can serve as a conversation starter. He recalls a moment, when he met a man in a park in Dublin, who was talking about going to the 1969 All-Ireland semi-final with his mother who was from Kiltimagh.
“I’ve done dozens of oral history interviews without the kind of prompt of an object but for people who’ve used this they say it can be a useful way to start the conversation because even before people arrive it means they’re thinking about this. They’ve chosen something with meaning or significance for them, and it means they they’ve already reflected on it.”
The event is free, but registration is required. It’s available online: https://oralhistorynetworkireland.ie/events/