New free online series has Offaly connections

AN exciting new free online lecture series commences this week, with support from  the Just Transition  Fund.

This lecture series, entitled the  Conservation and Pollination Lecture Series for Laois and Offaly, is part of a public education programme by the Irish Heritage School, which was commissioned by Offaly and Laois County Councils.

The education programme focuses on six churches being conserved with  Just Transition  funding, namely Kilmanman, Dysartgallen and Clopook in County Laois and Kilmurryely, Kilbride and Monasteroris in County Offaly.
Over the next few months this educational program will feature practical conservation workshops in late April, biodiversity workshops in May and children’s education camps (focused on schools close to the churches) in September – notice of all these events will be circulated in due course. However,  before all  the latter events organisers are hosting five free online lectures,  which focus on the geology, cultural heritage, natural history, conservation and archaeology of these churches and the wider medieval midlands in general.

All five lectures will be hosted on Zoom and will also be recorded and later made available online.
The following list of lectures will be hosted over a five week period. 

5th of April:    'Dig Deeper - It's all About the Rocks' (Dr. Stephen Mandal)

11th of April: 'The Golden Age of Monasticism in the Irish Midlands' (Prof. Muiris O'Sullivan)

19th of April: 'History at your Fingertips' (Dr. Stephen Mandal)

26th of April: 'The Natural History of the Six Church Sites'  (Dr. Fiona Mac Gowan)

5th of May:      'The Magic of the Mortar' (Patrick Hickey)