Each year, Christmas creeps up earlier and becomes more elaborate, with decorations both inside and outside houses, and multiple gifts to everyone and their dog. It has not always been this way, even fifty years ago Christmas was a much more subdued affair, with only a single gift and a family dinner being the norm….
On Tuesday 15 December 2015 the Limerick’s Life project was honoured with the Limerick Person of the Month Award for aiding social engagement in local history. This monthly award is sponsored by the Limerick Leader, Southern Media and the Clarion Hotel. The nominees come from various sections of the Limerick community, from sport to volunteers…
In January 1796, Jane Austen wrote a letter to her sister Cassandra: “At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, & when you receive this, it will be over—My tears flow as I write this, at this melancholy idea.” These lines to her sister may have…
Limerick Chamber is one of the oldest and most influential organisations in Limerick City and the Mid-West Region. Founded in 1807, it received a Royal charter in 1815. One of the highlights of the bicentenary is the publication of this major book, aptly entitled Limericks Merchants, Traders and Shakers. Having been inextricably woven into the…
I would personally like to thank all of you who took the time to nominated Limerick’s Life for the Blog Awards Ireland it was a delight to find that my blog made it through to the short list out of the thousands of blogs that entered into the awards in 2015. Update: 2 September 2015:…
Philip Henry Holland was born into a family of solicitors and when he was 16 years old in 1801 he had enrolled in Trinity College, Dublin to join the family practice. By 1817 he was a practising solicitor in Limerick. Philip’s name first hit the court records as an accused in 1822, when he was…
Limerick was the birth place to world renowned author, Kathleen Mary Louise O’Brien, or as she was more commonly known, Kate O’Brien. Her novels were some of the earliest examples of Irish literature to feature homosexual themes, which ultimately lead to them being banned on release by the Catholic patriarchy in Ireland. Kate was born…
Limerick in 2014 was an extremely busy year with Limerick City of Culture and we at Limerick’s Life were heavily involved with many projects this year, almost too many to name. One of our most memorable though was when for three days in September we ran around the city chasing Grandma, the Limerick Giant, along…
The traditional Limerick city fishing community the “Abbey Fishermen” will now be remembered for posterity as their families have erected a memorial on the Abbey Bridge. These men fished the Shannon river for centuries and lived primarily in the Park and Abbey areas, which is where their name came from. Today their surviving relatives came…
The TomCat Street Festival runs over the June Bank Holiday weekend on Thomas Street and Catherine Street. You can view photographs and other events on their facebook page. We were asked to create a walking tour for the festival. This tour took place on Friday 30 May at 7pm and covered everything from the naming…
On Wednesday 7 May 2014 Nigel Dugdale wrote a lovely review of the Limerick’s Life project for the Limerick Leader. In this review he mentions the love of nostalgia and how this encourages people to visit the Limerick’s Life website. You can read the review below and you can continue to follow Limerick’s Life here…
In 2004 Limerick’s Life was created out of a passion for Limerick’s history and a desire to share that history with the general public. Over the years, the website has shared tales, photographs, collections, videos, lectures with the people of Limerick and those further afield, always with the motto of Read, Tell, Remember at the…
Limerick’s Life was very busy in 2013. Not only were we able to contribute 90 posts to the website, but we were also featured in articles in the Irish Independent, Limerick Leader and Limerick Chronicle, RTE’s Nationwide, had a book published and made appearances in two other published works. Additionally, our Facebook page now has over 3,500…
The launch of “The Little Book of Limerick” by Sharon Slater took place on Tuesday the 19th November 2013 at 7pm, at the No.1 Pery Square Hotel. Launched by Liam Irwin, former head of the history department at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. “The Little Book of Limerick” is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, and entertaining…
It was a great honour to be approached by Sean Curtin a number of months ago and be asked if he could reproduce one of my Limerick’s Life articles in his latest edition of Limerick – A Stroll Down Memory Lane Volume 13. This is the latest in another great collection of photographs from Limerick…