Posts Tagged ‘ESB’

Media coverage of the Kitchen Power exhibition, July 2019

Posted by ku19205

RTE Six One News

 

The Kitchen Power exhibition has received quite a bit of coverage on Irish TV and radio and in the newspapers in the last couple of weeks and I wanted to do a round-up of all that coverage here.

 

Television Coverage

RTÉ One News bulletin, 19th July, 1pm, starts approx. 12:30 (page opens in new window)
Segment by Pat McGrath, Western Correspondent (interviews with Sorcha, Deirdre McParland from the ESB Archives and Noreen Durken)

 

RTÉ Six One News bulletin, 19th July, 6pm, starts approx. 33:30 (page opens in new window)
Segment by Pat McGrath, Western Correspondent (interviews with Sorcha, Deirdre McParland from the ESB Archives and Noreen Durken)

 

Radio Coverage

RTÉ Radio 1, Morning Ireland, 19th July (page opens in new window)
‘Exhibition showcasing experiences of rural electrification opens in Co Mayo’ (interviews with Sorcha and Deirdre McParland from the ESB Archives, and clips from Ciunas Bunworth, Rose Mac Hugh and Noreen Durken)

 

Midwest Radio, 22nd July (audio to come)
Article featuring Mary Ann Egan and Josephine Scannell (page opens in new window)

 

Culture File, RTÉ Lyric FM, 23rd July, starts approx. 2:08:00 (page opens in new window)
Lorcan Murray’s Classic Drive (featuring an interview with Sorcha and clips from Maureen Gavan and Ciunas Bunworth)

 

Newspaper Coverage

Connaught Telegraph, 19th July (page opens in new window)
‘Mary Robinson launching Turlough exhibition on women’s experiences of rural electrification’

 

Irish Daily Star, 20th July (scanned image opens in new window)
Laura Colgan, ‘Gadgets n Girl Power’

 

Irish Examiner, 21st July (page opens in new window)
Ellie O’Byrne, ‘How electric-powered kitchen appliances revolutionised life for rural Ireland’s women in the 50s’ (interviews with Sorcha and Eileen Aylward)

 

Western People, 22nd July (scanned PDF opens in new window)
Paul O’Malley, ‘New exhibition revisits rural electrification / Ireland’s ‘quiet revolution” (interviews with Sorcha, Ciunas Bunworth, Maura McGuinness, Brigid O’Brien, Deirdre McParland from the ESB Archives, and Noel Campbell, NMI – Country Life)

 

Mayo Advertiser, 26th July (page opens in new window)
‘Former President launches Kitchen Power – Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification’

 

Irish Independent, 2nd August (pageopens in new window)
Kirsty Blake Knox, ”Electric ‘heaven’: How women escaped drudgery of domesticity’ (quotes from Maureen Gavan and Noreen Durken)

 

Web Coverage

ESB Archives blog post, 24th July (page opens in new window)
‘Launch of ‘Kitchen Power’ exhibition’

 

Agriland.ie, 27th July (page opens in new window)
Caroline Allen, ‘Shining a light on women’s experiences of rural electrification’

 

The Journal.ie, 28th July (page opens in new window)
Orla Dwyer,”They can’t believe how we lived’ – How electricity cut down the drudgery of life in rural Ireland’ (interviews with Maura McGuinness and Bridie Tapley)

 

Woman’s Way, 30th July (page opens in new window)
Kitchen Power – Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification

The Kitchen Power exhibition runs until July 2020 at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life.

 

Powering the Nation – new book from Sorcha O’Brien

Posted by ku19205

Powering the Nation

 

I’m delighted to be able to announce the publication of Powering the Nation: Images of the Shannon Scheme and Electricity in Ireland. This book is based on my research on an earlier time period of electricity in Ireland, that of the 1920s and very early 1930s, when the first Irish Government invited Siemens to construct a hydro-electric power station on the banks of the Shannon river in county Clare. The Shannon Scheme, now known as Ardnacrusha, became a symbol of not just electrical power, but of progress and modernity in Ireland, and the book looks at the process of building the station and then at the ways in which this symbol was communicated to the people of Ireland. The visual material analysed runs the gamut of official and unofficial images, from Siemens photographs and a commemorative stamp, to the work of visiting artists and collectible postcards and cigarette cards, all trying to situate this modern project within the cultural landscape of the new Free State, which took its inspiration from the antiquarian and the rural. It looks at the different ways in which different groups of people reconciled these forces of tradition and modernity in their images of the Shannon Scheme, from the workers on the Scheme itself, to the artists of the Metropolitan School of Art.

 

Powering the Nation books

 

The book is published by Irish Academic Press, with support from the ESB, and is available from all good bookshops and from Irish Academic Press’ website.

 

ESB electrical demonstrators

Posted by ku19205

Part of the research for this project focuses on a special category of ESB staff, that of the electrical demonstrators. Mostly young women with domestic science or catering training, they played two roles within the organisation – doing public demonstrations and home visits to new owners of large electrical appliances. The first group of electrical demonstrators were recruited in the early 1950s, and mostly had qualifications in catering from Cathal Brugha Street college, or had trained as domestic science teachers.

 

ESB demonstrators at the Spring Show in the RDS, 1953 (Courtesy of the ESB Archives)

ESB demonstrators at the Spring Show in the RDS, 1953 (Courtesy of the ESB Archives)

ESB demonstrator Eithne Mills demonstrating a chest freezer, 1969 (Courtesy of the ESB Archives)

ESB demonstrator Eithne Mills demonstrating a chest freezer, 1969 (Courtesy of the ESB Archives)

 

I’m really interested in the demonstrators because they played an unusual role in Irish society in the 1950s and 1960s – they were professionals with a lot of knowledge about electrical appliances and household management, but also young women who were able to talk to other women on an informal basis about technical subjects where they might lack confidence. They were seen as less intimidating than the engineers, who were male technical experts, and managed to combine this approachability with a glamour that has been compared to air hostesses.

 

If you were an ESB demonstrator in the 1950s or 1960s, or you know someone who was, please do get in touch, as we’d love to hear from you about the experience of working with the Irish public in this capacity!

 

Sorcha

Clones ICA oral history interviews

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The second round of oral history interviews were carried out by Geraldine O’Connor from Clones ICA. These included members of both Clones and Aghabog ICA guilds, as well as some friends and relatives. The main rural electrification covering Clones town and environs, Smithboro, Newbliss and Drumcall, were electrified between 1959 and 1961, while areas further out such as Tydavnet and Scotshouse had been electrified much earlier (1948 and 1952/53 respectively), and there were strong memories in the area, both of life before the coming of electricity, and of the changes it brought.

 

Electric Irish Homes project participants at Clones ICA meeting, 2017

Electric Irish Homes project participants at Clones ICA meeting, 2017

 

Sorcha travelled to Monaghan in February to meet the participants at a meeting of the Clones ICA, which included a group discussion of the experience of rural electrification in the Border counties (and some excellent cake). Geraldine, an experienced local historian, then carried out twelve interviews over the following weeks, gathering a wealth of memories about rural electrification and the ICA.  These interviews really demonstrate the depth of changes that rural electrification brought to rural Irish women, particularly reducing the back-breaking work of washing by hand and ironing with flat or smoothing irons. The differences in cooking also came up, with participants talking about the different ways of adapting the baking of brown bread in electric ovens.

 

Rosemary Connolly with her collection of irons

Rosemary Connolly with her collection of irons (pre-electric smoothing iron on far right)

 

The history of the ESB was represented by an interview with Dan Kerr, who had worked for the ESB on their demonstration vans in the early 1960s, and shared his insights into selling techniques and merchandise. Some of the history of the ICA was also captured in Mamo McDonald’s interview, as she spoke about her experiences visiting An Grianán for training courses in the 1960s and the support within the ICA for rural electrification. Listen here to Mamo talking about some of the tactics used to convince farmers to install electricity and running water in the farmhouse, as well as the farm.

 

 

This is only a very brief glimpse of the wealth of discussion and memories in these interviews, which form part of the research for the Electric Irish Homes book and exhibition. Our thanks go to Geraldine O’Connor and all of the interviewees from the Clones area for giving their time and memories to the project!