27 April 2020
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
River Lee, Cork City
Stories from the Waterside
Cork enjoys a rich heritage of storytelling. It’s a big part of our identity. Stories bring local places to life, allowing us to remember, cherish and to view in mind’s eye; our favourite places, be that lake, river or stream.
The lakes, rivers, streams and indeed the beautiful coastline and seascape of Cork are long associated with mythology, legends and folklore. They are inspiring places, beautiful, unique and forever changing with the seasons. Indeed, it could be said that Nature is at its best where there is water. With increasing changes to our towns, villages, City and countryside, some of what we remember is being lost, and so a National story-writing competition has been launched by the Local Authority Waters Programme, in partnership with The Heritage Council and The Heritage Officer Programme, Inland Fisheries Ireland and Waterways Ireland, to capture some of our stories.
The stories may be factual – recording what is special about wildlife, fishing, heritage, traditions and crafts, or just remembering and writing down how things were or are – or they may be from your or someone else’s imagination.
The storyteller is the expert on their favourite place and they may take on the role of the teller or maybe they would like to ring and interview a family member or friend who is an expert.
According to Catherine Seale-Duggan, Community Water Officer with the Local Authority Waters Programme: “We hope that everybody in Cork with an interest in their local watery place will take part in this exciting competition and share their stories.”
How to enter
To enter this youth competition write your original story in 600 words or less: it can be a story of your own or one that you have been told. There are great prizes to be won to a total value of €4000, made up of 10 prizes worth €300 each and 10 prizes worth €100 each. The lucky prize winners can choose from local providers to do any of the following with family or friends: guided fishing for the family, zip-lining over a lake, family kayaking adventure or other water-based activity. You can choose book tokens or arts and crafts tokens if you prefer! Prizes will support local businesses and operators.
Details for the competition are available at www.lawaters.ie or https://www.facebook.com/LAWPROteam/
Send entries:
• by email to stories@lawaters.ie
• by post to Stories from the Waterside, Local Authority Waters Programme, The Lodge, Ballingarrane Estate, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, E91 X370.
