A chara,
We want to preserve the story of your club and its members. Every club has its own unique stories, personalities and experiences. The GAA Oral History Project wants to make sure that your club’s history is recorded so that future generations will know the contribution that your club and individual members in your locality have made to the GAA. Take this opportunity to be involved in the largest sport’s history project in the world today and to have your story preserved in a new archive at the GAA Museum in Croke Park.
The GAA Oral History Project aims to record the fullest possible picture of what the GAA has meant to the Irish people, in their own words. The project will record face-to-face interviews with thousands of people in Ireland and internationally, including GAA members and supporters, current and former players, managers, officials and administrators, jersey washers, stewards, drivers – anyone who has ever had any involvement with the GAA. This is not just a story about the famous players and famous matches, but about the grassroots who are responsible for keeping the Association alive. This project aims to be a representative survey of attitudes to and experiences of the GAA among Irish people – be they good or bad. Attached you will find a letter from Uachtarán Christy Cooney introducing the project and also our questionnaire which we encourage you to fill in.
How YOUR club can get involved:
· Forward this email to everyone in your club – everyone knows somebody who is involved in the GAA in some way, forward this email to as many people as possible, even to people who aren’t involved in the GAA.
· Visit our website www.gaahistory.com – enjoy stories we’ve already recorded and learn more about the project.
· Tell us your story – Ask club members (past and present) to fill in the questionnaire or simply to write down their story and send it to the project (see website). Postal and electronic contributions are welcome.
· Become a volunteer – Without your help, the story of your club and county will not be told. If you would like to get involved in collecting stories please visit www.gaahistory.com or give us a call at 01 662 5055.
· Get your local school involved – Primary and secondary school packs are ready to download from www.gaahistory.com so if you know someone who is a teacher, tell them about the website.
· Nominate people to be interviewed – Have your club members tell their story in their own words.
· Donate photographs, documents and recordings – Simply contact a member of the project team. We are also happy to take items on loan for a short time, digitise them and then return them to you.
· Spread the word!
Our project staff can offer full support and guidance to help you with any method you choose!
This project will capture accounts, not only of matches and teams, but also the social life around the GAA – where people stop to have a picnic on the way to or from a match, how people travel to matches, the types of homecoming celebrations and commiserations that take place and the fundraising and social events that are organised. We are also hoping to collect records and minute books from counties and clubs, posters, letters, songs, poems and even prayers relating to the GAA. We want to record the experiences of people involved in all types of Gaelic games, not just football and hurling, therefore we are encouraging people from handball, rounders, camogie and ladies football to get involved. This project will celebrate the grassroots of the organisation by recording and preserving their efforts and achievements over the last 125 years.
Please forward this email to anyone who you think may be interested, not just Irish people at home, but Irish people abroad and also people of different nationalities living in Ireland. If you want more information please check out our website www.gaahistory.com or get in contact with us using the details below!
Make sure your story is told and that your club has its place in the history of the GAA.
Is mise le meas,
Regina
______________________
Regina Fitzpatrick
GAA Oral History Project
Boston College-Ireland
42 St. Stephen’s Green
Dublin 2
Ireland
+353 (0)1 614 7454 / 662 5055
