Some exciting events are just around the corner, so take note! Love trees? Interested in Wicklow genealogy? Two great events are coming up in May. You have a bit more time to get organized if you are a Brosnan from County Kerry – your Gathering isn’t until July!
I know we included it last time, but make sure you check out the video near the end of the post. This video just makes us smile!
The Gathering of Tree Lovers
Our friends at the Laois Gathering want to share a fun event for all you tree-lovers out there…
The Irish Forestry, Woodland & Bio Energy Show 10 & 11 May 2013 is joining the Gathering by hosting ‘The Gathering of Tree Lovers’ – a wonderful chance for tree and environmental enthusiasts to meet and share knowledge in the setting of an idyllic and beautiful wooded parkland Irish estate.
The Show takes place on Friday 10 & Saturday 11 May at Stradbally Hall Estate. Show Hours: 9.30 am to 5.30 pm. Admission: €15; Students/OAPs; €10; accompanied children free.
The Gathering is hitting its stride with this week’s featured events. Take a look at what’s happening and book your tickets to Ireland! As usual, there is a little something for everyone – peat, art, traditional music… Continue reading →
September 20 -28, 2013 is a very special week-long celebration – The Leitrim Roots Festival. County Leitrim welcomed its Diaspora home for a visit long before the launch of The Gathering 2013. In fact, the Leitrim Roots Festival began in 2006, and Anthony Tighe was kind enough to tell us what the Festival is all about!
Each week we are blown away by the creativity and hard work being poured into the Gatherings throughout Ireland. This week we shine the spotlight on four special events:
Irish Redhead Convention – Crosshaven, County Cork – August 23rd-25th
The Feerick Family Reunion– Westport, County Mayo – September 27th-29th
Roscommon Military Conference 2013 – Roscommon – May 3rd
Parkville United Reunion – Tullow, County Carlow – June 7th-9th
In this week’s Spotlight, we take a look at one of the most creative Gatherings I have heard of so far – Welcoming Claire to Clare. We also highlight the Aylward Gathering taking place in Waterford this September, and there is a weekend of fun planned in Mallow this Easter. We would also like to share the official invitation to the Sullivan-O’Leary Gathering this June in Bantry.
We are featuring a few more great Gatherings this week. Whether you are a Tobin, a Coughlan, or a football enthusiast, there’s a Gathering just for you! If you need help planning your trip or your time in Ireland once you get there, we can help. Just visit our Tours page for information.
Tobins of Sheepshead Gathering
Church at Kilcrohane
On June 2nd, a gathering of The Tobins of Sheepshead will be held. Everyone with a connection to John Tobin and Mary Spillane, of Caherurlagh, Sheepshead, Kilcrohane, West Cork is invited. John and Mary were married on February 4, 1836. There are a lot of Tobins from Sheepshead, so Danny Tobin (who submitted this listing) would like to give a particular shout-out to the Malllory Tobins.
Several of the Mallory Tobins made the journey to America over the years, and Danny is looking for any of the American branch to get in touch with him. So, if you think you might be descended from the Tobins of Sheepshead, County Cork, let us know you are out there!
Click here to view listing on TheGatheringIreland.com
Coughlans of Ballydehob
Ballydehob
Calling all descendants of Daniel Coughlan and Bridget Reilly who were married on the February 11, 1870 in Ballydehob North, West Cork! On August 4th is the gathering of the Coughlans of Ballydehob. There is already a large group of descendants from the East Coast of America planning to attend, and Danny is hoping that some family from the West Coast will make the trip as well.
In case you haven’t heard, 2013 is the year of The Gathering in Ireland. Hundreds of reunions, festivals, and celebrations are on the books, and more are planned every day. From time to time, I will turn the spotlight on Gathering attempting to trace and invite American relatives. And sometimes I will feature Gatherings that just look like a good time! Email me if you would like to have your gathering featured on The Irish in America.
Power Family Gathering
The Power Clan Gathering is a weekend of events for all the Power families across the world to celebrate their ancestral homeland and to meet with your family members and friends – new and old – in your historic homeland.
This is an opportunity to visit major landmarks throughout Tír Paorach and there will be lots of entertainment including traditional Irish music, song, dance, storytelling and folklore.
The Convent School, Stradbally, has been in existance since 1885. We are inviting parents, pupils and past-pupils to a School Gathering to celebrate the educational heritage of this small Waterford community. Bígí linn.
So, the LOUGHMAN FAMILY is getting together this summer for a gathering, and they are inviting ALL DESCENDANTS OF MICHAEL LOUGHMAN born about 1790 in COUNTY TIPPERARY, IRELAND to join them.
The Loughman Gathering organizers would be thrilled to hear from the American branch of the Loughman family tree. They know you’re out there, so get in touch! Please email them, even if you are unable to attend the reunion this summer. But, really, who could pass up an invitation like this? Read on to learn more about the Loughman Family and their Gathering!
The Loughman Gathering is seeking to reunite the descendants of Michael Loughman (born c.1790) & his son, William Loughman (1828-1899) of Foilmacduff, Hollyford, Co. Tipperary. William married Mary Ryan (1836-1943) who lived to be 107 and was said to remember the night of the “Big Wind”. They had fourteen children in all, a number of whom did not survive beyond infancy, and there were two “double” marriages, i.e. brother and sister married brother and sister with the Harringtons of Milleen, Ailihies in Cork and the Tuohys of Knockroe, Annacarty, Co. Tipperary.
The US branch of the family is well-documented with a large family tree on the internet and reunions have taken place in Butte, Montana but never in Ireland….so now in the year of The Gathering, it is time to invite all the Loughmans worldwide (and all branches of the family: Harringtons, Touhys, Butlers etc.) to come back to Co. Tipperary.
WHAT: Loughman Family Gathering
WHEN: Friday, August 23rd – Sunday, August 25th 2013
OFFICIAL INVITATION: Clickhereto view the full agenda and details for the weekend
For information on The Irish in America’s genealogy and family history tour services, click here. We can help you plan your visit to Ireland around your family gathering. We absolutely love County Tipperary! In 2011 our family had a magical experience staying at Tipperary’s luxurious Lisheen Castle.
The Gathering 2013 initiative was launched earlier this year by the Irish government. The Gathering 2013 website introduces the project:
It’s about asking anyone who has Irish blood, a link to Ireland, or even just a love of our country – to join us for a series of amazing and diverse events throughout 2013.
Sounds good to me! Any excuse to go to Ireland is a good one. The Navy-Notre Dame Emerald Isle Football Classic on September 1, 2012 at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium is sponsored by The Gathering 2013 and will serve as an unofficial kick-off (no pun intended) to the 2013 festivities.
Sponsoring this event is a great move by The Gathering. The U.S. Naval Academy Director of Athletics had this to say:
We are delighted for The Gathering Ireland to be the Presenting Sponsor of the Emerald Isle Classic. This game represents exactly what The Gathering Ireland is all about, a unique coming together in Ireland of Navy and Notre Dame college football fans, some returning to their ancestral home and some travelling for the first time to Ireland. The Emerald Isle Classic presents a once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase Ireland to this group and also to the many millions of Americans watching the game through the broadcast.
People all over Ireland have begun planning for the 2013 Gathering. A number of local community meetings have already taken place in Roscommon, Mayo, Clare, Kerry, Cavan, Leitrim, Carlow, Meath, and Wicklow, with meetings in Monaghan and North Tipperary later this week. A meeting in Limerick is coming up in early September. Click on the county names for more information.
This is what is so exciting about The Gathering 2013 – get the counties involved on a local level. Residents of any given county or town will know best what their home community has to offer, as well as what visitors have enjoyed in the past. It is fantastic to see the enthusiasm throughout Ireland for The Gathering.
Of course The Gathering 2013 is about more than tourists visiting monastic ruins and tracing their roots, it is about business. The first Gathering event will take place in January 2013:
A two-day meeting of top executives, entrepreneurs and venture capital investors operating in Silicon Valley, Hollywood and the US east coast will travel to Cork…
For an Arts focus on The Gathering, look no further than Irish Gathering 2013 – “Ancestry Research, Stories from the Irish and The 2013 Festivities of the Gathering in Ireland!” Christine and Sabrina Joyce (great-grand-nieces of James Joyce) want to help visitors make the most of the time they spend in Ireland in 2013. They are working closely with a variety of artists to bring out the best of Ireland for The Gathering.
Waterford wants people with ties to the county to register on their website, while Galway has a plan for a Gathering of the Tribes. Don’t see your county anywhere in this post? Visit the County Council website for information on what the county has planned.
If you live in Ireland, what’s happening in your home county for The Gathering 2013? Leave a comment, I would love to share your plans.
Do you live outside of Ireland and are thinking about paying a visit next year? Anything special you would like to see or do while you are in Ireland?
Enjoy this Gathering video for Abbeyleix, County Laois. I wonder what my McCormack relatives have planned for us next year?
Our friends at the Laois Gathering want to share a fun event for all you tree-lovers out there…
The Irish in America 