As 2025 draws to a close, it offers us a valuable moment to pause, reflect, and appreciate just how transformative this year has been for the Ballymacoda / Ladysbridge Historical Group. What began in January as the re-establishment of a community organisation has grown month by month into a vibrant, productive, and collaborative heritage movement rooted in pride of place and a shared commitment to preserving and illuminating our local past.
From new research and restoration projects to public exhibitions, awards, and the revival of community memory, this year has demonstrated what can be achieved when local people come together with passion, energy, and a sense of purpose. What follows is a reflection on the milestones that shaped our year and helped lay the foundations for an exciting future.
Re-Establishing the Group – A Strong Beginning (January 2025)
January marked a pivotal moment with the formal re-establishment of the Ballymacoda / Ladysbridge Historical Group. Earlier efforts to gather and record local heritage had taken place over the years, and culminated in many successful initiatives and publications, and to use a cliché the invigorated group really was “standing on the shoulders of giants“. There was a renewed desire within the community to preserve stories, photographs, artefacts, monuments, and family histories, many of which had never been documented or shared beyond private collections.
Our monthly meetings quickly became central to this renewed effort. Attendance grew steadily, creating an atmosphere that was both productive and enjoyable. Each meeting brought fresh ideas, new volunteers, and a wider range of local voices, descendants of long-established families, newer residents interested in the area’s past, amateur historians, and people simply curious about the story of where they live.
What struck me as Chairperson was the eagerness of the community not just to participate, but to contribute. Members brought old photographs, newspaper cuttings, diary entries, and family stories. Others offered skills – digital expertise, writing, research, photography, and event organisation experience. From the outset, the group was defined by collaboration.
This foundation of trust, interest, and shared purpose would shape all our work throughout the year.
A Year of Images and Memory: The Photo Collection Project (April–August 2025)
One of the most significant initiatives undertaken in 2025 was the launch of our Photo Collection Project in April. The project’s aim was simple yet deeply meaningful: to gather, digitise, and preserve photographic records depicting the people, landscapes, traditions, and daily life of Ballymacoda, Ladysbridge, and surrounding townlands.
The official launch of the project in April generated an enthusiastic response. Word spread quickly through social media, parish networks, local WhatsApp groups, and word of mouth. People arrived with photographs dating from the early 20th century right up to more recent decades: family portraits, weddings, sporting events, school photos, local trades, agricultural scenes, old shop fronts, dances, festivals, and images of buildings long since vanished.
The generosity with which the community opened its albums and personal archives was remarkable. Many individuals entrusted us with fragile, decades-old photographs that had survived floods, house moves, and the passing of generations. Each image was carefully scanned, documented, and, where possible, linked to names, dates, and stories.
This work was not merely about collecting images – it was about restoring memory, reconnecting families with lost stories, and creating a communal archive that will serve future historians, teachers, and residents. As the collection grew, so too did our understanding of how visual history can capture aspects of community identity that written records alone cannot convey.
Heritage Week Exhibition – A Culminating Success
The natural culmination of the Photo Collection Project was our Heritage Week 2025 Exhibition, held in Kilcredan School in August and detailed here.
The exhibition exceeded all expectations. Over the course of three days, we welcomed visitors of all ages – local families, returning emigrants, even some holidaymakers, and people with ancestral links to the area. Many visitors found themselves unexpectedly moved as they recognised faces, places, and moments captured decades ago. Others discovered photographs of relatives they had never seen, sparking conversations and emotional reconnections.
One of the exhibition’s greatest strengths was its ability to bring people together. Visitors shared stories aloud, identified unknown individuals in images, corrected dates, and filled in historical gaps. The room often felt less like an exhibition and more like a living conversation between past and present.
The success of the Photo Collection Project has inspired plans to expand the archive further in 2026. The project has already become one of the most unifying and rewarding activities in our group’s history.
A Visit to the Áras – June 2025
In late June, members of the Ballymacoda / Ladysbridge Historical Group had the honour of attending a very enjoyable garden party at Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of the President of Ireland. It was a memorable occasion for our group, marking one of the social highlights of the year and offering a rare opportunity to visit one of the most historic and recognisable locations in the country. The garden party brought together community groups, volunteers, and organisations from across Ireland, each representing different aspects of civic life. It was inspiring to meet people from such a wide range of backgrounds, all gathered in recognition of the work being carried out within their local communities. Conversations were friendly and engaging, and it was clear that everyone shared a genuine appreciation for the President’s gesture of acknowledging community involvement and cultural contribution.
A particularly special moment for our group was the opportunity to see President Michael D. Higgins and his team, who offered warm greetings to those in attendance. While the President’s schedule naturally limited the amount of time he could spend with each group, his presence added greatly to the significance of the day. His support while in office for community activities, arts, and heritage work is well known, and it meant a great deal to us to be included among the invited guests.
Overall, it was a wonderful afternoon filled with warm hospitality, great company, and beautiful surroundings. We returned home with fond memories of the occasion and a renewed sense of motivation for the work ahead. Our group was truly grateful for the kind invitation from President Michael D. Higgins and for the opportunity to represent Ballymacoda and Ladysbridge at such a special national event.
Community Monuments Fund 2025: Digital Restoration of the Tynte & Harris Monuments (March–October 2025)
Another standout achievement of the year was the securing of Community Monuments Fund (CMF) support in March 2025 for the Digital Restoration of the Tynte & Harris Monuments at Kilcredan Church project. This project represented a significant moment for our group – not only because of its historical importance, but because it marked our first successful application to the CMF since the group’s re-establishment.
Uncovering and Re-interpreting Seventeenth-Century Heritage
The Tynte and Harris monuments are among the most culturally and artistically important early modern memorials in the region. Time, weathering, and structural deterioration had obscured many of their details, leaving aspects of their original design and iconography difficult to interpret.
Through our CMF-supported project, we collaborated with digital specialists, artists, and historians to create high-resolution 3D models, digital reconstructions, and artistic visualisations of the monuments. These reconstructions offer unprecedented insight into how the monuments originally appeared in the seventeenth century, with restored carvings, clarified inscriptions, and an enriched understanding of the social and symbolic context in which they were commissioned.
The outcomes of the project have already shaped new academic conversations and sparked public interest in Kilcredan Church as a site of heritage significance. Perhaps most importantly, the work ensures that even if physical deterioration continues over time, a complete and accessible digital record now exists for future generations.
The work carried out under this funding is documented extensively in this article, where the full digital recreations can also be seen.
Engagement with this project was strong among local residents and heritage professionals. The digital models can be used in presentations, school talks, and online exhibitions, helping to open up early modern history to a much wider audience.
We extend our profound thanks to the Community Monuments Fund and Cork County Council, whose support made this technically ambitious and culturally meaningful project possible.
Celebrating Success: Bronze Medal at the 2025 Pride in Our Community Awards (October 2025)
In October, our group achieved something truly special: we were honoured as Bronze Medal Winners in the Pride in Our Community Awards 2025.
This award acknowledged the extraordinary commitment of our volunteers and community partners throughout the year. It recognised not only the specific projects we completed, but also the spirit of collaboration, inclusion, and heritage pride that defines our work.
What made the award particularly meaningful was the fact that it celebrated grassroots heritage, the kind built not through large institutions but through the dedication of ordinary people working together to protect local identity.
The Bronze Medal reflects the work of everyone who attended meetings, contributed photographs, participated in projects, assisted at events, or supported us in any way. It is a shared achievement – and a bright milestone in our growing story.
Other Highlights from an Active 2025
Alongside the major projects, 2025 also saw:
- Increasing readership and engagement with our new online presence: https://blccheritage.ie/
- The creation of a digital mapping tool to breathe new life into the historical landscape of our parish – this will launch in 2026.
- We had a talk on two very interesting topics from Tony Harpur in Ladysbridge Hall in September – we will be seeking to organize more regular external speakers in 2026.
- Genealogical inquiries from abroad, demonstrating the global footprint of families originally from our area.
- Strengthened links with other local organisations and heritage networks.
- Engagement with the council on the maintenance of our local graveyards and structural issues at Kilcredan Church.
The combined effect of these developments has been hopefully the emergence of a dynamic and outward-looking historical organisation rooted firmly in the fabric of the community.
Looking Ahead to 2026
While this review looks back, it also sets the stage for what comes next. The foundations laid in 2025 open the door to a new chapter of possibilities:
- Expanding the Photo Collection Project into an ongoing, publicly accessible digital archive.
- Pursuing further CMF and heritage funding to protect, interpret, and showcase local monuments and landscapes.
- Publishing additional research articles that continue to uncover overlooked stories and deepen our understanding of Ballymacoda and Ladysbridge.
- Hosting public talks and workshops.
- Growing our membership and reaching more people – locally and across our diaspora.
The enthusiasm shown this year gives me confidence that 2026 will be even more productive.
Closing Words
2025 has been a landmark year for the Ballymacoda / Ladysbridge Historical Group – a year of rebuilding, remembering, rediscovering, and reconnecting. It has shown us that heritage is not simply about the past; it is about community, identity, and shared purpose in the present.
As Chairperson, I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of this year’s work – especially everyone who regularly attends the meetings, and all those who shared photographs, stories, and encouragement. Your passion has made this year exceptional.
Together, we have not only preserved history but created it.
Here’s to an inspiring and ambitious 2026.
Jimmy Collins, Chairperson, BLCC Historical Group
Follow us on Facebook to stay updated, and look out for our next meeting in January: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573114838390
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