Sligo Libraries delivered a Music and Memoir Project in Autumn 2019 with funding provided by the Department of Rural & Community Development through the Dormant Accounts Fund.
Project Booklet Launch
Music & Memoir Project Booklet Launch
Pictured at the Project Booklet launch are Donal Tinney, Sligo County Librarian, Cathaoirleach Councillor Dara Mulvey and Patricia Keane, Senior Executive Librarian
This funding was available for projects working with marginalised, socially excluded and disadvantaged communities.
Residents from St. John’s Community Hospital and from Caltragh Crescent, through Cranmore Regeneration, participated in this project. Library staff introduced participants to the range of Library services, issued Library cards, demonstrated the free online services and assisted participants in accessing eBooks, eAudiobooks, digital magazines and online newspapers. Participants enjoyed weekly facilitated sessions with writer Gerry Boland and with musicians Shaza and Lucie O’Hara in St. John’s Community Hospital and in Caltragh Community Centre. The Caltragh residents completed their final session with Gerry Boland with a visit to Sligo Central Library. These lively interactive sessions are documented in the booklet with photographs and quotations.
The Music and Memoir project allowed Sligo Libraries to build on links in the community while working to ensure participants would benefit from Library services long beyond the lifetime of the project. The Caltragh Crescent residents who participated continue to meet weekly in their Community Centre. St. John’s Community Hospital residents continue to access free online Library services through Library Apps on iPads in each unit.
The positive engagement throughout this project reinforced the important role of Public Libraries in social inclusion and in empowering marginalised communities through access to Library services.
Sligo Libraries are grateful to all the participants in the Music and Memoir project; the facilitators, staff and residents of St. John’s Community Hospital, staff of Cranmore Regeneration Office and residents of Caltragh Crescent.
The Project Booklet will be distributed to all participants with additional copies available from Sligo Central Library.