23 April 2016, Saturday
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Today (Saturday)
A series of ceremonies will take place in Cobh to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising and the role of local members of the Irish Volunteers who assembled at Ballywilliam outside the town before marching or cycling to Cork city to join their comrades.
The Cobh 1916 Commemoration Committee will be unveiling a series of monuments in and around the town over the next two days to mark the occasion and the Cobh’s role in the momentous events of a century ago.
Today’s events begin at 1.00pm with a re-enactment of the gathering of Cobh Volunteers at Tay Road, Ballywilliam approximately one mile north east of the town. A commemorative plaque will be unveiled before re-enactment group The Pards march off from the spot led by a lone piper from the Cork Volunteers Pipe Band.
At approximately 3.00pm a monument will be unveiled at the corner of Casement Square near the existing Lusitania Monument. This will include the names of 13 Cobh Volunteers who mobilised in 1916 and three other Cobh men who did so elsewhere. The events will conclude with the performance of Amhrán na bhFian and other songs outside Cobh Library.
Tomorrow (Sunday)
Cobh will see the unveiling at 3 o’clock of a Memorial Garden at West View behind the library which was the site of the old RIC police barracks. This will be followed by a number of brief ceremonies at Casement Square and at 4.45pm by a concert at the Commodore Hotel by the Cork Rokk Choir. All are welcome.
