National Heritage Week takes place from Saturday, August 19 to Sunday, August 27 this year.
The Heritage Council is encouraging people and organisations to get involved in National Heritage Week by organising an event in their town, village or community.
This year’s theme is ‘It’s In Your Nature’ highlighting the links between people and their natural heritage. On-line registration is now open and all events must be registered by Wednesday, May 31 in order to be included in the free National Heritage Week Event Guide produced by The Heritage Council.
You can register your event by submitting the details on-line at www.heritageweek.ie
The County Donegal Heritage Office, Donegal County Council will also be producing its free, pocket-size County Donegal ‘Heritage Week’ Event Guide that has proved so popular in recent years based on the information submitted to The Heritage Council.
“Heritage Week saw another record-breaking programme of events across County Donegal last year with 115 events registered for Heritage Week and most of them were free,” said Joseph Gallagher, County Donegal Heritage Officer.
“In fact, County Donegal was the county with the most Heritage Week events per head of population in the country. The tremendous success of Heritage Week lies with the many people, heritage organisations, museums, heritage centres and community groups that organise events – often on a voluntary basis – to focus attention on their local heritage.”
The Heritage Week events programme in 2017 will include built heritage open houses, guided walks, heritage site visits, fieldtrips, exhibitions, conferences, illustrated talks, historical re-enactments, birds of prey displays, whale watching, garden tours, traditional skills demonstrations, craft fairs, skills training, launch events, film screenings, storytelling, traditional music and children’s activities.
Two days during Heritage Week have a particular theme: Wednesday, August 23 is ‘Wild Child Day’ and celebrates young people’s exploration of, and interaction with, nature while Sunday, August 27 is ‘Water Heritage Day’ in recognition of our most precious natural resource – water – in all its forms. Over 450,000 people will participate in over 2,000 Heritage Week events around the country.
National Heritage Week is coordinated by The Heritage Council and Local Authority Heritage Officers with support from Fáilte Ireland. The principal aims of ‘National Heritage Week’ are to foster awareness of the value of our built, cultural and natural heritage thereby encouraging its conservation and preservation and to raise interest in our shared European heritage. Where possible, events should be free of charge or offer special concession rates.
The Heritage Council will promote Heritage Week nationally and provide organisers with materials including posters and a programme of events to promote their activities. For further information, log on to www.heritageweek.ie, e-mail heritageweek@heritagecouncil.ie or telephone 1850 200 878
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