Our School Tour to Skibbereen
On Thursday 17th January, 3rd and 4th class went on a school trip to Skibbereen. We all met at St. Luke’s Cross at 8:15am. While we waited for the bus, we chatted together, we also danced and waved making cars beep at us. When the bus eventually arrived, we hopped on and settled down for the long journey ahead.
When we arrived at the Skibbereen Heritage Centre, we got a warm welcome from the staff. We had a quick nose around the gift shop while we waited for our lovely guide, Terri Kearney.
We watched a short film about Lough Hyne, local history and the work that is done there. We completed a quiz sheet and hope we will win.
Next, Terri led us to the famine area. Together, we all sang a verse of “Dear Old Skibbereen”. We examined the materials which were used to build 19th century houses in the local area. We moved on to learn about the millstone which was the actual stone used for grinding down grain. We saw a model of lazy beds which were used for growing potatoes back then. The soup kitchen building still stands today outside the centre. The soup pot that was used to feed the people during the famine was on display in the Heritage Centre. We wonder how many people were fed from it? Terry showed us an Old West Cork cloak which was an example of what women widely wore in West Cork for years.
Then we got to roam freely around the exhibition for a period of time. We listened to audio clips and watched shorts based on the Famine in Skibbereen.
A little while later, we took a photo of ourselves outside the Skibbereen soup kitchen before getting back on the bus.
We left Skibbereen and made our way to Abbeystrewry Graveyard. We walked around the unmarked mass grave where over ten thousand people were buried. We said the Lord’s Prayer in memory of the people that tragically died during the Great Famine. There was an old ruined watchhouse situated in the graveyard. It’s roof caved in many years ago. A few of us went to examine it. We remembered how families watched their loved ones graves, so that they weren’t taken for scientific research.
Finally, we travelled back on the bus for an hour and a half and went back to St. Luke’s Cross where we met our parents and went home. In conclusion, we all enjoyed the trip to Skibbereen.
Written by Jessica, Elise, Hannah, Sophie, Seán, Anabel, Bláithín, Ava and Aidan R
https://skibbheritage.com/
