Virtual Events Join us online - all of our events are free.Register now, see links to register in the table. Click on the + symbol to display more information. Events Event Name Event Details Start Date & Time End Date & Time Library Booking Give it a Go Choir Have you always wanted to sing, but were too scared to give it a go? Perhaps your teacher told you that you couldn’t sing and you’ve gone through life believing this was the case. Whether you consider yourself to be a lark or a crow Anne McCambridge will help you find your best voice, to use it effectively and have a lot of fun in the process! These online lunchtime workshops will help you address simple but fundamental skills in singing which are transferable to our daily lives. You will touch on breathing, quality of tone, good intonation all in the privacy of your own space. You will learn a newly adapted versions of old songs with the opportunity to blend your voice in a special recording in the third week as part of the Give it A Go online choir. Booking is essential. Register for this series of events here in advance. These online events take place at the following dates and times: Jan 10, 2022, 12:30 PM, 45 mins Jan 12, 2022, 12:30 PM, 45 mins Jan 17, 2022, 12:30 PM, 45mins Jan 19, 2022, 12:30 PM, 45 mins Jan 24, 2022, 12:30 PM, 45 mins Jan 26, 2022, 12:30 PM, 45 mins 10/01/2022 12:30 PM 26/01/2022 01:15 PM Virtual Library See event details to check if booking is essential (phone/email). Otherwise, if the event is not virtual (via Zoom) then simply call into the library at the time of the event. Introduction to North West Family History This is a taster session to get you started with your family history. 24/01/2022 02:00 PM 24/01/2022 03:00 PM Virtual Library Please register here in advance. Dr Caitriona Clear - The popular fiction of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland 1930s-1950s as a source for social history Dr Caitriona Clear teaches nineteenth and twentieth-century European and Irish history at NUI, Galway. She has written books on nuns in nineteenth-century Ireland, women’s household work in the twentieth century, women’s magazines in the 1950s and 60s, and a general textbook on Irish social history. She has also published on a variety of historical topics including homelessness, children, health, dress and fashion, oral history, emigration, work, and welfare, and she is currently engaged in a study of Irish popular writers, especially women, between around 1920 and 1970. Caitriona’s books include: ‘Nuns in Nineteenth-century Ireland’ (1987); ‘Women of the House: women's household work in Ireland 1921-61: experiences, memories, discourses’ (2000); ‘Social Change and Everyday Life in Ireland 1850-1922' (2007); ‘Women’s Voices in Ireland: women’s magazines in the 1950s and 60s’ (2016). 25/01/2022 12:30 PM 25/01/2022 01:30 PM Heritage From Home Please register here in advance. Keady Yarnspinners with Steve Lally (via Zoom) A native of Co Kildare now based in Co Armagh, Steve Lally has worked as a storyteller and visual artist for over fifteen years. He writes his own fresh material as well as re-imagining folk tales, myths, legends, recitations and story songs, and is the author of several books of folk tales. 26/01/2022 02:30 PM 26/01/2022 04:00 PM Virtual Library - Yarnspinners via Zoom Please register here for this event in advance. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Dr Dónal McAnallen - Games of Two Halves: Sport & Partition in Ulster, 1921-39 Partition forced difficult decisions on almost every sporting organisation in Ireland. At a time when sport was rapidly rising in popularity and becoming a vital determinant of national identity, the officials and players of various codes had not only to navigate a new border, but also to decide quickly how they wanted to play on the world stage. Were they Irish, Northern Irish, or British; or could they be more than one of these? What would they call their teams, what colours would they wear, and what would their symbols be? This talk will discuss how the early years of partition saw many of the sporting allegiances for Ulster and Irish athletes settled for the next century. Historian Dónal McAnallen has lectured and written widely on the history of sport in Ireland. He is the author of, among others, ‘The Cups that Cheered’ (2012) and ‘Forgotten Gaelic Volunteers: GAA Members who fought in World War One’ (2019). Dónal is the Library & Archives Manager for National Museums NI. 27/01/2022 12:30 PM 27/01/2022 01:30 PM Heritage From Home Please register here in advance. Lisnaskea Yarnspinners with Sharon Dickson (via Zoom) Popular Belfast yarnspinner Sharon Dickson will tell a selection of stories to commemoriate Holocaust Memorial Day. Sharon is an experienced facilitator of reminiscence projects and often works with people who live with dementia. 27/01/2022 02:30 PM 27/01/2022 04:00 PM Virtual Library - Yarnspinners via Zoom Please register in advance of this event. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Give It A Go - Comic Drawing Class with Will Sliney: Artist to Marvel's Spider-Man and Star Wars Will Sliney is an award winning comic book artist, writer and presenter who has worked on titles such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, Defenders, Celtic Warrior (Ireland's bestselling comic book) and many more, including over 100 issues for Marvel comics. During this 90 minute workshop, Will Sliney will take participants through various drawing techniques, a live drawing and demo and will answer any questions the audience may have during a Q and A session. Register in advance here. 27/01/2022 06:00 PM 27/01/2022 07:00 PM Virtual Library See event details to check if booking is essential (phone/email). Otherwise, if the event is not virtual (via Zoom) then simply call into the library at the time of the event. Tales from Across the Pond Listen to some interesting stories. 27/01/2022 06:30 PM 27/01/2022 07:30 PM Virtual Library Please register here in advance for this event. Give It A Go - Starting your Family Tree (via Zoom) Get started with the basics of family history research. For adults. 28/01/2022 11:00 AM 28/01/2022 12:00 PM Virtual Library Booking is essential so please register now to book your place by contacting Omagh Library and you will be provided with the Zoom/online event details. t: 028 8244 0733 e: omagh.library@librariesni.org.uk Anna Lo - The place I call home Former MLA Anna Lo will answer your questions and talk about her experiences of living and working in Northern Ireland. Born in Hong Kong, Anna came to live in Northern Ireland in 1974. Initially, she worked for the BBC in Belfast as a secretary and a freelance contributor for the Chinese Service. After qualifying in social work at the University of Ulster, she worked in social services and Barnardo’s before becoming the director of the Chinese Welfare Association in 1997. She was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007, becoming ‘the first non-white elected politician in Northern Ireland and more astonishingly, the first China-born parliamentarian in Europe.’ She retired in 2016. The Blackstaff Press published her autobiography, ‘The place I call home’, in October 2016. Anna was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University in 2018 for her exceptional contribution to public services. 01/02/2022 12:30 PM 01/02/2022 01:30 PM Heritage From Home Please register here in advance. To submit questions please email: heritage.talks@librariesni.org.uk Chair Yoga This is a gentle form of exercise suitable for everyone. It helps improve your flexibility and also supports concentration and strength, while boosting your mood, and reducing stress and joint strain. Join in the sessions with our Chair yoga facilitator Karen Deery and feel good for the rest of the day. 01/02/2022 02:00 PM 01/02/2022 03:00 PM Virtual Library for Health Please register in advance here: https://bit.ly/3BtEhHB Twentieth Annual Irish Migration Studies Lecture, Reflections on a Life in Genealogy and Migration History It is 40 years in June this year since Brian Mitchell took up the post as local history tutor at Derry Youth and Community Workshop and he has been involved in local history, family and emigration research in the wider Derry area ever since. His output and contribution to our understanding of the migration history of the area has been enormous. The database, whose construction he supervised from 1982 to 2007, contains one million records (dating from 1642 to 1922) extracted from the major civil and church registers of County Derry. It can now be accessed at www.derry.rootsireland.ie. Brian is the author of numerous local history and genealogical reference books such as A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland, A Guide to Irish Parish Registers, Irish Passenger Lists 1847-1871, Genealogy at a glance: Irish Genealogy Research, The Making Of Derry: An Economic History, The Surnames of Derry, Derry: A City Invincible, Derry-Londonderry: Gateway to a New World - The Story of Emigration from the Foyle by Sail and Steam among others. He is currently contracted to Derry City and Strabane District Council as their Genealogist where family historians are encouraged, at no charge, to forward any queries they may have concerning their family history by email at genealogy@derrystrabane.com Booking is essential. 05/02/2022 11:00 AM 05/02/2022 12:30 PM Virtual Library Booking is essential. You can watch Brian Mitchell’s presentation via Zoom for free. Please register here in advance. Contact: Christine Johnston t: 028 8225 6315 e: mcms@librariesni.org.uk “Time to talk” - Talk, Listen, Change Lives Do you find it difficult to talk to someone when they are not ok? Could you be a better listener? This event will provide an insight into how to spot when someone is not ok. It will give you tips on how to open up a conversation and how to become a better listener. The event will also provide tips on building resilience and staying connected. Ken Bamford is a volunteer with the Samaritans who provide a listening service for people in distress and despair. His talk will give you ideas and tips on how to talk to someone who may need help. For more information contact Deirdre Nugent: e: Deirdre.Nugent@librariesni.org.uk t: 07850205432 07/02/2022 11:00 AM 07/02/2022 12:00 PM Virtual Library Please register for this event in advance here. Hatha Yoga A form of yoga that places special attention on controlled breathing and posture. Discover the benefits of Hatha yoga which include better sleep, strengthening core muscles, improving depression symptoms and helping with stress. It is enjoyable too. 08/02/2022 11:00 AM 08/02/2022 12:00 PM Virtual Library for Health Register in advance here. Children's Mental Health Week - Mood Boosting Food For Children (via Zoom) Join registered dietitian Clare in this zoom talk where she tells us how to identify and make mood boosting foods for children. Places are limited and booking is essential. Contact: cypteam@librariesni.org.uk 10/02/2022 10:30 AM 10/02/2022 11:30 AM Virtual Library Please register in advance here. Tai Chi with Jane Burke on Zoom Join in this graceful form of exercise that is used to support reducing stress and anxiety. It also helps increase flexibility and balance. Our facilitator Jane Burke will guide you through a series of movements performed in a slow focused manner and accompanied by breathing techniques. 10/02/2022 11:00 AM 10/02/2022 12:00 PM Virtual Library for Health Please register in advance here. Kay Muhr ‘Family names in the North of Ireland’ Kay Muhr read Celtic Studies at Edinburgh and gained a PhD (on narrative style in traditional Gaelic literature) from the same University. After postgraduate fellowships in Cambridge, Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast, she became a research fellow on the Ordnance Survey Memoir project in Queen’s University’s Institute for Irish Studies. She was Senior Research Fellow of the Northern Ireland Place-Name Project in Irish & Celtic Studies in Queen’s from its foundation in 1987 until 2010. She is a member and former president of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland, and a member and former chairman of the Ulster Place-Name Society (www.ulsterplacenamesociety.org) She is the author of vol. 6 in the Place-Names of Northern Ireland series (NW Down), an introduction to local place-name study called Celebrating Ulster’s Townlands, and joint author (with Patrick McKay) of Lough Neagh Places: their names and origins (2007). She was the consultant on Irish and Scottish Gaelic surnames for DAFN, the Dictionary of American Family Names (OUP 2003) and for FaNBI, Family Names of Britain and Ireland (OUP 2016), a role shared from 2013 with Liam ÓhAisibéil in Galway. In autumn 2021 Kay and Liam published a volume on Irish surnames north and south: A Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland (OUP). 10/02/2022 12:30 PM 10/02/2022 01:30 PM Heritage From Home Please register in advance here. Tai Chi with Jane Burke on Zoom Join in this graceful form of exercise that is used to support reducing stress and anxiety. It also helps increase flexibility and balance. Our facilitator Jane Burke will guide you through a series of movements performed in a slow focused manner and accompanied by breathing techniques. 15/02/2022 11:00 AM 15/02/2022 12:00 PM Virtual Library for Health Please register in advance here: https://bit.ly/36STm7v Karen Corrigan “Languages have no respect for human borders: Geography, culture and politics in Northern Ireland” This talk focuses on the extent to which borders do or do not act as barriers to the spread of languages and dialects. It will also examine the consequences of partition for the linguistic landscape of the island’s border regions by exploring a newly digitised database: The Tape-Recorded Survey of Hiberno-English Speech, which contains recordings from 3 generations of speakers some of whom were alive before partition while others were born several decades afterwards. The three speakers (Karen Corrigan, Newcastle University, Sonya Matthews, QUB and Joan Rahilly, QUB) have researched and written widely on the history and present-day dynamics of Ireland’s languages and dialects. Their work includes: Advertising in Ireland (2003); Irish-English (2010); Irish-English Speech Acquisition (2007) and Linguistic Communities and Migratory Processes (2020). Karen Corrigan is Professor of Linguistics and English Language and Director of Research in Linguistics at Newcastle University. She is a leading authority on the languages and dialects of Ireland. For the last decade, she has worked with Joan Rahilly of QUB and Sound Archivists at NMNI to preserve for future generations the Tape-Recorded Survey of Hiberno-English. The original recordings have now all been digitized and archived at the British Library as part of their Save Our Sounds project. This talk, based on 2 projects - the ‘Eavesdropping On Our Past’ which is a collaborative doctoral project involving staff at Newcastle University (Karen Corrigan), National Museums Northern Ireland and Queen’s University, Belfast (Sonya Matthews and Joan Rahilly). The second project-‘Múin Béarla do na Leanbhain’ (‘Teach the Children English’) is a project led by Karen Corrigan on language, migration and identity in Northern Ireland. It compares the experiences of Irish emigrants historically with those of 21st century immigrants to the region. 15/02/2022 12:30 PM 15/02/2022 01:30 PM Heritage From Home Please register in advance here. Chair Yoga This is a gentle form of exercise suitable for everyone. It helps improve your flexibility and also supports concentration and strength, while boosting your mood, and reducing stress and joint strain. 22/02/2022 02:00 PM 22/02/2022 03:00 PM Virtual Library for Health Register in advance here. Hatha Yoga A form of yoga that places special attention on controlled breathing and posture. Why not join our facilitator Edel McGinley and discover the benefits of Hatha yoga which include better sleep, strengthening core muscles, improving depression symptoms and helping with stress. It is enjoyable too. 01/03/2022 02:00 PM 01/03/2022 03:00 PM Virtual Library for Health Please register in advance here: https://bit.ly/3zlTMQ5 Hatha Yoga A form of yoga that places special attention on controlled breathing and posture. Discover the benefits of Hatha yoga which include better sleep, strengthening core muscles, improving depression symptoms and helping with stress. It is enjoyable too. 08/03/2022 11:00 AM 08/03/2022 12:00 PM Virtual Library for Health Register in advance here. Tai Chi with Jane Burke on Zoom Join in this graceful form of exercise that is used to support reducing stress and anxiety. It also helps increase flexibility and balance. Our facilitator Jane Burke will guide you through a series of movements performed in a slow focused manner and accompanied by breathing techniques. 15/03/2022 11:00 AM 15/03/2022 12:00 PM Virtual Library for Health Please register in advance here: https://bit.ly/3hRIeOI Chair Yoga This is a gentle form of exercise suitable for everyone. It helps improve your flexibility and also supports concentration and strength, while boosting your mood, and reducing stress and joint strain. 22/03/2022 02:00 PM 22/03/2022 03:00 PM Virtual Library for Health Register in advance here.