Thirteen students from Westport’s Rice College have launched an ambitious transition year project to research and explore the history and heritage behind Westport GAA club as part of the GAA’s 125 anniversary celebrations.
The GAA 125 project, which runs until December in the school, will involve recording, researching, and documenting the rich tapestry of tales behind the establishment of Westport GAA club. The students will interview past club chairpersons, delve into the local newspaper archives, and talk to past club members and players. Chairperson of the student TY editorial committee Joe O’Connor stated that the students would leave no stone unturned in their efforts to correlate and examine the legacy and impact of the local GAA club on Westport over the past 100 years.
“We are all excited about the project. We hope to publish all the material at the finish and make the recordings available as iPod downloads to the public. We are all involved and interested in the GAA, and this project with the support of the school and Westport GAA will give us lots of experience in different aspects of the media work,” he said. Vice chairperson of Westport GAA Piaras Ó Raghallaigh stated that the idea was mooted at a club meeting earlier in the year and the club members invited the students to take on the project as part of their TY work.
Principal of Rice College Patricia Atkins said the college was delighted to support the project and that the students had shown great enthusiasm and initiative in taking it on. “The students will benefit academically from this project as they will be learning the skills of interviewing, journalism, editing, public relations, and publishing,” she said.
The project co-ordinators Piaras Ó Raghallaigh from Westport GAA and Sinead McManus from Rice College praised the students for their hard work saying that it was appropriate to undertake this venture for the GAA’s 125 celebrations. Anyone with old pictures of past club members or players, articles or reports about the club, or any interesting information on the history of Westport GAA can e-mail the students at [email protected] or post them to Rice College TY GAA project, Rice College, Westport.
