Athy's new Shackleton Museum welcomes its first overseas visitors

THE first overseas visitors to arrive at the Shackleton Museum did so last week. These visitors were from the Falkland Islands situated a few hundred miles off the eastern coast of Argentina. Their trip required a flight from Port Stanley, capital of the Falklands to Ascension Island and from there to Brize Norton in the UK. The visitors were four young students, winners of a school essay competition in which they were required to write of the Irish Polar Explorer, Ernest Shackleton. The four young students, Ruby Marsh, Alice May Curtis, Benjamin Goodwin and Theo Young were accompanied by Emma Brook, Falkland College manager and Sandra Alazia outreach assistant with the Falkland Island Museum.

The Shackleton Museum, which is currently being fitted out, was specially opened for the Falklands visitors where they were greeted by the museum curator, Aline Fitzgerald and two directors of the museum board. I was among a number of others who were also invited to give us our first glimpse of what awaits those visiting the museum after its official opening on the 10th of October. As someone who is familiar with the previous history and use of the Town Hall stretching back over 70 years or more I was very impressed with the design and workmanship which has left us with an extraordinary fine interior, a mixture of the old and the new. The impressive early 18th Century building has been transformed internally and restored externally to give a magnificent backdrop to our newly developed Town Plaza.

Work on fitting out the museum with exhibits was not completed on the day of our visit and indeed Sven Habermann of Conservation Letterfrack and his team were scheduled to be on site this week and for sometime thereafter to complete the task. However there was sufficient evidence in the exhibits already in place to confirm that Athy’s Shackleton Museum will be of national and international importance. The subject of Shackleton’s life and achievements have gained an importance in the last few decades and with it has brought recognition of Athy’s importance in the telling of his story. I doubt if anyone visiting the museum when it opens will be disappointed with the range of exhibits and participatory media..

The Falklands students and the adults who accompanied them were very impressed by what they saw in the former Town Hall. Thanks must go to the museum curator for making arrangements to allow the overseas visitors and a few others the privilege of seeing at first hand the early development of the world’s most important Ernest Shackleton Museum.

The management of the museum is now controlled by a board of five members on behalf of Kildare County Council. The curator, who was appointed some months ago, served in the same position for several years in the 1916 museum in Dublin’s GPO in O’Connell Street. As mentioned earlier the official opening of the museum will take place on 10 October, but I am uncertain as to whether the museum will be open to the public before then.

Good luck to everyone involved with the Shackleton Museum which comes to us as a result of a public meeting which set up Athy’s Museum Society forty two years ago. Let’s hope that the acquisition, preservation and subsequent development of White’s Castle as a Fitzgerald and Town Museum does not take as long.

I have had some feedback from last week’s Eye on the Past on the adoption of Market Byelaws with a small number of people agreeing with my suggestion as to the best way of protecting and developing the Tuesday market. My suggestion involved the protection of the town’s newly developed Plaza to facilitate its use seven days per week by visitors and locals alike. To do this will involve the expense of acquiring the Abbey grounds but incurring that expense will give Athy the advantage of replacing the lost carparking in Emily Square and meeting the additional carparking required for the Shackleton Museum visitors. I would hope that Kildare County Council would see the advantage of doing so and thereby ensuring adequate Athy centre parking facilities and the preservation of a Tuesday market.

FRANK TAAFFE