The schoolchildren of Ardmore National School are currently working on a project examining the old school roll books as a source for local history. I know this because, even though I am working 'up the country', I got a call last night to ask me how much the average school fees were in 19th century Ireland. (6 shillings seems to have been at the upper end of the cost range). The children and their teacher are examining the family names, occupations, health and even wealth of the past pupils of Ardmore. This project matches perfectly the talk we gave during the Ardmore Pattern festival at the end of July.
The key elements of that talk outline the core philosophy and methods of the REYNDR Project and can be viewed below.
In essence we aim to work in community-led collaborations to 1. tell local histories and 2. build bridges between communities, leveraging the power of digital technologies.