Valentia Island Heritage Centre in County Kerry is looking into the possibility of publishing island family memories in book form.
The island centre is located on School Road, Knightstown in the 160 years old former school building. It has extensive exhibitions of all facets of life on the Island including the development of the Transatlantic Cable, the Slate Quarry, the Observatory, the Coastal Radio Station and more, dating back to the Tetrapod footprints of the Devonian Period some 385 million years ago.
The annual Newsletter from the Centre says that 2024 was “quite a successful year” when it opened for its planned xix months operation and remained open for a number of extra weeks “to accommodate a large influx of visitors who were captivated by our many varied and unique exhibits.”
The Centre records its thanks to those who have donated artefacts and says these included “a water colour from the Skellig Rock donated by the Delap family from grandfather, Alexander Delap.”
There were several visitors from the USA to the Centre who had connections to Valentia and these have been reached and recorded.
“We have various plans for the coming year,” the Newsletter says. “Exterior paintwork is planned and we are looking into the compilation of family stories, memories and pictures from years past, in book form.”
The Centre says that volunteers to support its work are always welcome.
The annual general meeting will be held in the Centre on March 4 at 8 p.m.
