Athlone Art and Heritage Ltd invites everyone to come and experience National Heritage Week at Athlone Castle visitor centre with a programme of temporary exhibitions and events. Starting Saturday August 17 the week will be filled with a diverse range of activities for all ages.
Kick-starting the week Athlone Community Radio will host an outside broadcast from the grounds of the castle on the topic of Heritage on your Doorstep hearing stories of Athlone from local people on Saturday August 17. Throughout the week guided walks around the exterior grounds of Athlone Castle will feature on Monday (11.30am-12.30pm ), Tuesday (2.30-3.30pm ), and Saturday (11.30am-12.30pm )
At 2.30pm on Sunday August 18 Athlone Castle will host a lecture by invited guest historian Olive Sharkey entitled: ‘Victorians - the Eccentrics and Inventors’. Olive is a Westmeath artist and writer with special interest in “the quaint, the curious, and the wonderful ways of old”. She is an acclaimed published author on the topic of folk-life including the titles: Four Swans Country, Fore and Its Ancient Buildings, and Way of Old - Traditional life in Ireland.
Joanna Grobosz Athlone Art and Heritage guide said: “We are really excited about Olive’s talk. The Victorians were incredibly innovative and in our exhibition we have examples of some interesting artifacts from that period. It will be quite a treat to listen to Olive’s stories about the eccentric characters and their inventions and maybe even handle one or two quirky object from the collection.”
Also on Sunday, visitors will be able to enjoy demonstrations of thatching, clay pipe and pottery making, a barber presentation, and a game of marbles and hop-scotch.
Athlone Art and Heritage encourages everyone to ‘Storm the Castle’ on Wednesday August 21 offering free whistle-stop admission to Athlone Castle Visitor Centre.
Throughout the week a temporary exhibition of household items will be on show in the Lower Keep with an access to the handling collection.
And Sunday August 25 is all about kids with lots of games and presentations of how children played before the invention of television and computer games.
