Clan Gathering 2025
At our Committee meeting just before Christmas we discussed some options for Clan Gathering 2025. The following were the results of our deliberations:
The Gathering will, as is now tradition, be held on the second weekend in July.
On Friday 11th July we will gather in Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh around 6pm for an informal meet, greet and reminisce for our regular attendees and introductions for first time visitors.
Informalities done we will then retire to a meeting room in the hotel ( probably around 8pm) where Prof. Mark Kennedy will bring us up to date on his Irish Kennedy DNA research.
As many of you will know Mark has devoted a great deal of both his time and expertise in establishing connections between many different branches of the North Tipperary / East Limerick Kennedys, and this will be a great opportunity for Mark to bring us all up to speed on his work. Don’t be surprised if by the end of Mark’s presentation you discover you have more cousins than you thought you had before he began.
We are also hopeful that another eminent member of our clan – Professor Liam Kennedy, Queen’s University, Belfast and formerly of Borrisoleigh will take us on a trip through his own Kennedy and Ryan ancestors with reference to the social and political changes that occurred through over 100 years of their family histories. There should be ample time afterwards to get even greater clarity on all topics discussed in the friendly environs of the Abbot’s Bar in the hotel.
I am personally really looking forward to these talks as they will undoubtedly help bring a deeper understanding and knowledge of my own Kennedy ancestry.
Saturday 12th July
Our proposals for Saturday 12th are as follows:
Saturday Morning (at a respectable time)
Nenagh Heritage Centre and Irish Kennedy Display. For those who haven’t see this display previously, it’s a must see on your visit with its collection of copies of treaties hundreds of years old, family histories, photographs, genealogical charts and much more. We are hoping that the staff of the Heritage Centre will once again facilitate us as the Centre is not normally open on a Saturday. There will also, we hope, be a guided tour of the Centre which is the old Nenagh Gaol and has a wealth of history within its walls.
Saturday Afternoon.
Meet up in Bunratty Folk Park, Co. Clare in the afternoon.
Guided tour of Bunratty Castle followed by a leisurely stroll around Bunratty Folk Park.
Bunratty Castle is a 15th century castle and is the seat of the O Brien Clan descended from Brian Ború, brother of Donnchuan from whom many of our Kennedys are descended.
Bunratty Folk Park stretches to over 25 acres and is basically a recreation of an Irish Village from the 1800’s. You will be able to visit rural farmhouses, village shops and craftsmen at work and much more as you get a taste of life in Ireland in the 19th/ 20th centuries.
Mention of taste, we then suggest that we return to the castle for a medieval banquet.
Having attended one of these a few years back I can heartily recommend this feast of food, drink (mead) and entertainment.
There are two important things to consider in our planning of the weekend.
Friday’s events will be free of charge as we just have to cover the rent of the meeting room.
However the tour of Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and the later medieval feast do naturally come at a cost – in the region of €90 for the two combined. The exact figure will depend on the number of us attending – the rate varies depending on the size of the group.
It will therefore be necessary to give them a reasonably accurate number beforehand so I would appreciate if you could notify me of your intended attendance in good time.
I do want to state again that we are in the preliminary stages of planning – there may well be changes as we go along, and there will also be a menu of places of interest that people can explore in their own time.
