County Mayor's Diary Cllr Mary Linehan Foley
History is everywhere you look in the county of Cork, from Macroom Castle to the Skibbereen Heritage Centre.
That is why we take the preservation of our history so seriously at Cork County Council, as we aim to preserve our past for future generations.
That is why I was delighted to announce that €875,000 in funding was awarded to County Cork for projects under the 2026 Historic Towns Initiative (HTI).
Mallow Castle will receive €325,000 from the initiative to restore the remaining external windows, which are in an advanced state of disrepair. No. 26 McCurtain Street, Fermoy has received €350,000 for the restoration of the external façade and the roof of the building. Kinsale Market House, which houses Kinsale Museum, has been awarded €200,000 for vital conservation work on the building. The projects will address structural issues and the visual appearance of the buildings like broken brickwork, rotting windows, water-stained walls, and overgrown façades.
This funding will help preserve the historical heritage of Cork county and more information can be found on the Cork County Council’s website corkcoco.ie
I also want to discuss the upcoming Bealtaine Festival. Bealtaine is the national celebration of arts and creativity in older age, and it can be traced back to the Celtic festival that marks the start of the summer season.
Cork County Council has launched its own Bealtaine programme, featuring a selection of free talks and events taking place in libraries across the county.
Free workshops are also available throughout the month of May in many of the Cork county libraries. These workshops range from crafting, creative writing, crime writing and poetry to foraging, puppetry, photography and music. Bealtaine is the time to learn a new skill and all workshops are free, all materials are supplied and no experience is required.
Some workshops taking place taking place include writing workshops like Let’s Talk Crime in Charleville and Mitchelstown Libraries with award winning crime novelist Casey King (Marie O’Halloran), visual arts and craft workshops include Dreamcatcher Weaving with Julie Forrester in Macroom, Millstreet and Skibbereen Libraries, and a hands-on Smartphone Photography Workshop with photographer Chris Finnegan at Clonakilty Library that will look at lighting, composition and styling for professional looking images. Music workshops will also take place across libraries with Kevin McNally and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. For more information, check out the events section on corkcoco.ie.
Finally, I am delighted to say that Cork County Council’s Culture and Creativity team has announced the launch of Frameworks; an innovative, classroom-based education programme inviting primary schools across the county to engage directly with the Cork County Art Collection. The programme will see selected schools become temporary custodians of original artworks from Cork County Council’s collection.
Pupils, with leadership from a professional artist-in-residence, will learn about and create works of art in response to the artwork and the children’s art will be displayed for families and the wider school community.