Ernest Shackleton Autumn School 2008
The 8th Annual Ernest Shackleton Autumn School
Friday, 24th October
Official Opening of Shackleton School & Exhibition -
‘Face to Face: Polar Portraits’
Athy Heritage Centre - Museum 7.30pm
Nimrod
The second volume of “Nimrod”, the journal of the Ernest Shackleton Autumn School, will be launched on Friday evening.
Daily Exhibitions Athy Heritage Centre - Museum
10.00 am to 5.00 pm
Face to Face: Polar Portraits
This touring exhibition, exclusive in Ireland to Athy, features a selection of 50 portraits alongside some unique polar camera equipment from the museum of the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. The exhibition will travel later in the year to the Explorers Club in New York and the Royal Geographical Society, London.
Ernest Shackleton Exhibition – includes a scale model of the Endurance, artifacts relating to Shackleton’s expeditions and his Quaker ancestry and an audio-visual display
Antarctic Adventurers – the Antarctic adventures will recreate a sledging party from the early years of Antarctic exploration.
Saturday, 25th October
Lecture Series Athy Heritage Centre – Museum
10.30am “Shackleton and Chile”
Jim McAdam
Admission €5
12 noon “The Hero’s Heart – the women behind Polar Exploration”
Kari Herbert
Admission €5
2.30pm “The Royal Navy and Polar Exploration”
E. C. Coleman
Admission €5
4.00pm “Antarctic Destinies – Scott, Shackleton and the changing face of heroism”
Stephanie Barczewski
Admission €5
Dinner Clanard Court Hotel, Athy
8.00pm Autumn School Dinner
Admission €35
Sunday, 26th October
Lecture Series Athy Heritage Centre – Museum
10.30am “Freeze Frame – Historic Polar Photography”
Huw Lewis-Jones
Admission €5
12 noon “The SS Terra Nova (1884-1943) and other polar exploration ships of the ‘heroic age.’”
Mike Tarver
Admission €5
Film Athy Heritage Centre – Museum
2.30pm “Foothold on Antarctica” & “Antarctic Crossing”
These two films chart the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic expedition from its landfall in the Antarctic in 1955 to its eventual successful crossing of Antarctica in 1958. The expedition, led by Sir Vivian Fuchs and Sir Edmund Hilary completed the crossing which Ernest Shackleton had hoped to pioneer.
Introduced by Peter Fuchs.
Admission €5
4.00pm Open forum chaired by Bob Headland
Music Athy Library
9.00pm “Ernest Shackleton, his life story in song”
Performed by Cliff Wedgebury. The performance includes Cliff’s own composition ‘The Ballad of Ernest Shackleton’ and ‘The Ballad of Tom Crean’.
Admission €10
Monday, 27th October
Field Trip Assemble at The Heritage Centre – Museum
10.00am Bus tour through Shackleton country. A Visit to Ballitore and the home of Mary Leadbeater, writer and ancestor of Ernest Shackleton, the Quaker Meeting House and the Shaker Store.
Admission €5
Contributors
Dr. Jim McAdam
Jim teaches at Queens University Belfast and is a research scientist with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland. He is the scientific advisor to the Falklands Island Government, and consultant to the UK Falklands Island Trust. He has visited the Falkland islands annually for the last 30 years and has published many scientific and public papers on the islands. He lectures extensively on the Falklands and has been editor of the Falklands Island Journal since 1991.
Kari Herbert
The daughter of distinguished polar explorer Sir Wally Herbert she is a travel writer and photographer, contributing regularly to newspapers and magazines. Her book “The Explorers Daughter” an account of the first few years of her life spent living on a remote island in the Arctic with the Polar Inuit of North West Greenland was published to much acclaim in 2004. Her new book “The Hero’s Heart” telling the story of the women behind Polar Exploration will be published shortly.
E. C. Coleman
After 36 years service in the Royal Navy and having undertaken four Arctic expeditions, he has published two volumes on the Royal Navy and Polar Exploration which are now regarded as the definitive works on the subject. He continues his research into Polar history and is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Dr. Stephanie Barczewski
A specialist in modern British Cultural history she is currently a Professor of History at Clemson University in South Carolina USA. She is the author of a number of books including “Titanic - Night Remembered” and her most recent publication “Antarctic Destinies” which examines the evolution of the reputations of both Scott and Shackleton in the decades after their deaths.
Dr. Huw Lewis-Jones
Huw is Curator of art at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. He is also the curator for the “Freeze frame” digitization programme whereby all historical images in the archive of Scott Polar Research Institute will be digitized. He has just published ‘Face to Face’, an account of pioneering Polar photography and modern portraiture and is currently working on two major book projects - the first comprehensive catalogue of Dr Edward Wilson’s artistic work on Scott’s ‘Discovery’ and ‘Terra Nova’ expeditions, and a book describing his new UK Heritage Lottery Funded acquisition project ‘Arctic Visions: Inuit Art and Material Culture’.
Mike Tarver
His interest in polar regions began as a child, inspired by a memorial to polar exploration in Cardiff. Combined with his love of sailing he researched and published ‘The S.S. Terra Nova – From the Arctic to the Antarctic’ a comprehensive history of Captain Scott’s last ship. He is a vice president of the Captain Scott Society based in Cardiff, and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Peter Fuchs
Peter Fuchs, son of Sir Vivian Fuchs, is a geologist by training, and now, after a thirty year career in the mining and minerals industries, manages the Fuchs Foundation which sends young teachers to the Polar Regions to undertake science projects, thereby inspiring their teaching. He has been to the Antarctic twice, Ross Ice Shelf and the Antarctic Peninsula, and has undertaken a three month post graduate diploma in Antarctic Studies from University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Bob Headland
Bob is a senior research associate of the Scott Polar Research Institute of the University of Cambridge. He specialises in the history and geography of both polar regions. His work with the Antarctic Heritage Trust involves the preservation of the historical huts and other aspects associated with the exploration of the discovery of the Antarctic. He is due to publish shortly the updated and revised edition of his pioneering book “Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions that relate to historical events”.
Martin Hartley
Martin Hartley is an acclaimed photographer who specialises in documenting the most inaccessible parts of the planet. His work has been published worldwide in international press and journals. His recent commissions include The National Geographic Frankincense Trail (Yemen and Oman) and the Adventure Ecology Top of the World Trans-Arctic Expedition. His images of the men and women exploring and working in the Polar regions today appear in the recently published book ‘Face to Face-Polar Portraits’.
Cliff Wedgebury
London born and now long term resident in Cork, poet, playwright, performance artist and broadcaster, he was first inspired by the Antarctic expeditions when as a 10 year old school boy he visited the research ship R.S.S. Discovery docked in London in 1956. He has written and released CDs of Antarctic ballads inspired by Scott, Shackleton and Crean amongst others.
Antarctic Adventurers
The Antarctic Adventures are a group of British re-enactors who specialise in recreating the world of Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen. They perform regularly for museums and English heritage. They recreate a sledging party of the 1901 – 1913 period with clothing, sledges and equipment of the time deployed by Scott and Shackleton.
The Ernest Shackleton Autumn School is a project of Athy Heritage Centre - Museum.
The Heritage Centre - Museum and its Shackleton festival team would like to thank our funding bodies and sponsors whose support makes this event possible. These include Fáilte Ireland, Tegral Building Products Ltd., Diageo Ireland, Athy Town Council, The Heritage Council, Kildare County Council, Bank of Ireland, Athy, Carlton Abbey Hotel, Athy.
A special thanks to Athy Library for their support and help
