Packed programme of conferences and talks at PRONI

PRONI (www.proni.gov.uk) has an amazing programme of events coming up in the next few weeks in Belfast and elsewhere in Northern Ireland:

Special weekend opening:

PRONI would like to remind visitors that we will be open throughout European Heritage Weekend on 12-13 September. Included will be a full service on the Saturday which is a welcome opportunity for those who are unable to visit PRONI during the working week.


Talks

On the Saturday 12 September, there will be a special lunchtime talk entitled: SS Nomadic – A Titanic Restoration by Graeme Moore of Consarc Conservation. This will be particularly of interest to anybody with a passion for maritime history, conservation and all things Titanic.

PRONI will be participating at a number of salmon related events at both the Stories of Salmon Leaping Symposium in the Ramada Hotel, Portrush, on 18th September; and the DCAL stand at the Bushmills Salmon and Whiskey Festival on 19th September.

PRONI would particularly like to highlight a special presentation by John Larkin, the Attorney General, who will be talking on the significant role played by the Irish Manor Courts using examples from PRONI records, on 17th September at 7pm. Book your seats early.


Conferences:

½ DAY CONFERENCE: The Golden Age of Steam in Ireland.

PRONI is delighted to announce that we will be hosting a ½ day conference on the 20th October on the era of steam trains. Speakers for the event will include: Charles Friel, Robin Masefield, Mark Kennedy, Robert Davison, Francis Jones and our very own Jayne Hutchinson on PRONI sources.

The conference will start at 1.30pm and close at 4.30pm and cover a vast amount of detail including train travel between Holywood and Bangor; Railway police in Ireland in the nineteenth century; and railways on film.

More information on the titles of papers will follow at a later date.


CONFERENCE: ‘Playing the Game’ Sport, Ireland and the Great War.

PRONI are delighted to be hosting a joint conference with the Antrim and Down Western Front Association branch, on the 5th November from 10am to 4pm. Speakers for the event will include Dr Timothy Bowman, Tom Thrope, Tara Lynne O’Neil, Dónal McAnallen, PRONI’s very own Ian Montgomery and the BBC’s Steven Walker.

More information on the title of the papers will follow at a later date.

Contact PRONI to secure places on these conferences.


At a Glance Summer and Autumn Schedule:

LUNCHTIME TALK: Eastside Arts Festival; Belfast Blitz by Brian Barton
When: 20th August – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME TALK: Eastside Arts Festival; East Belfast First World War soldiers by Jason Bourke
When: 25th August – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: Pure Water for a thirsty Belfast: the need for a reservoir in Silent Valley by Philip Donald
When: Wednesday 26th August – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME TALK: Eastside Arts Festival; East Belfast Industry by Ian Montgomery
When: 27th August – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: Up Down: Stories that make a County. Describing the Ards in 1683: the William Montgomery manuscript revisited. By Ian Montgomery
When: Wednesday 2th September – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: Up Down: Stories that make a County. Building the Silent Valley Dam, 1923 to 1933: Setting the Record Straight. By Phillip Donald
When: Wednesday 9th September – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME TALK: “Following the Road Signs to Your Ancestral Home: Using American Resources to Find Ulster-Scot and Irish Ancestors” BY Kevin Shue
When: Friday 11th September – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: SS Nomadic – A Titanic Restoration, by Graeme Moore
When: 12th September – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: Up Down: Stories that make a County. A favourite watering place’: the development of Bangor as a Victorian Seaside Resor. By Sadra Milsopp
When: Wednesday 16th September – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

EVENING LECTURE: 'The rise and fall of the Irish Manor Courts 1785-1859' by John Larkin QC
When: 17th September – starting at 7pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: Up Down: Stories that make a County. Another time: photographs of the Stewart family, marquesses of Londonderry. By Lorraine Bourke.
When: Wednesday 23rd September – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: Up Down: Stories that make a County. The rising of 1798 in County Down. By Allan Blackstock
When: Wednesday 30th September – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES: Pushing the Boundaries; 19th century Prison Records by Chris Colvin
When: 1st October – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: Up Down: Stories that make a County. Nendrum Mill, Strangford Lough (619 AD): the oldest excavated tidal mill in the world. By Tom McErlean.
When: Wednesday 7th October – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES: Pushing the Boundaries; Suffrage Militancy in Ireland by Margaret Ward
When: 8th October – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: Up Down: Stories that make a County. The Family Plot: Historic Graveyards of County Down. By William Rouslton
When: Wednesday 14th October – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES: Pushing the Boundaries; Female Political Imprisonment during the Irish Civil War by Laura McAtackney
When: 15th October – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

CONFERENCE: The Golden Age of Steam
When: 20th October 2015 – starting at 1.30pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE: Up Down: Stories that make a County. ‘The tune we played was the Protestant Boys’: songs and the battle of Dolly’s Brae, 1849. By John Moulden.
When: Wednesday 21 October – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES: Pushing the Boundaries; DeLorean: Back to the Failure by Graham Brownlow
When: 22nd October – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES: Pushing the Boundaries; Decriminalising Homosexuality 1974-1982: The Role of the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association by Jeffrey Dudgeon & Richard Kennedy
When: 29th October – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME IRISH CLASS in conjunction with Foras na Gaeilge: Caoimhe Ní Chathail
When: 3rd November 2015
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES: Irish Culture and Language in conjunction with Foras na Gaeilge: Dr Fionntán de Brún
When: 4th November 2015 – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

CONFERENCE in conjunction with Western Front Association: Playing the Game: Sport, Ireland and the Great War
When: 5th November 2015 – starting at 10am.
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME IRISH CLASS in conjunction with Foras na Gaeilge: Caoimhe Ní Chathail
When: 10th November 2015
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES: Irish Culture and Language in conjunction with Foras na Gaeilge: Gearóid Mac Lochlainn
When: 11th November 2015 – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME TALK: “All routes led to Chicago: Irish railroad workers and canal builders in the nineteenth century” by Tina Beaird and Debra Dukek
When: 16th November – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME IRISH CLASS in conjunction with Foras na Gaeilge: Caoimhe Ní Chathail
When: 17th November 2015
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES: Irish Culture and Language in conjunction with Foras na Gaeilge: Professor Micheál O Mainnín
When: 18th November 2015 – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME IRISH CLASS in conjunction with Foras na Gaeilge: Caoimhe Ní Chathail
When: 24th November 2015
Where: PRONI

LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES: Irish Culture and Language in conjunction with Foras na Gaeilge: Dr Marcas Mac Coinnigh
When: 25th November 2015 – starting at 1pm
Where: PRONI


Western Front Association talks at PRONI

Although not organised by PRONI, the following talks are hosted at PRONI on behalf of the Antrim & Down branch of the Western Front Association at 7pm and any interested visitors are welcome.

13th August 2015: Recording Ireland’s First World War Landscapes: by Heather Montgomery, Queen's University Belfast

10 September 2015: Spirit building training or morale sapping slaughter?: Raiding on the Western Front by Tom Thorpe, King’s College London

8 October 2015: Royal Naval Armoured Cars in Russia by Ian Montgomery, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

12 November 2015: Researching East Belfast and the Great War by Jason Burke, Project Co-ordinator: East Belfast & The Great War

10 December 2015: The Ulster Division (tbc) by Dr Timothy Bowman, University of Kent

Further details on all PRONI events at http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/exhibitions_talks_and_events/talks_and_events.htm

(With thanks to the PRONI Express)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.