NEXT PUBLIC MEETING OF THE FOXROCK LOCAL HISTORY CLUB
This will be held in the Foxrock Parish Pastoral Centre @ 20:00 on Tuesday 16th October 2017 (Always the 3rd Tuesdays in the month). We start with a short talk of 20 mins or so and then the main talk takes place.
Main Talk:- Leopardstown Park Hospital – 1917-2017
In October 1917 Gertrude Dunning gifted Leopardstown Park, a magnificent country manor set in 100 acres of parkland, to the British Ministry of Pensions. Prompted by the devastation of the First World War, the gift came with a single condition – the house and its grounds were to be used to treat soldiers who had been disabled while serving with the British forces.
As the First World War had dragged on, the sheer number of wounded and disabled soldiers returning to Ireland quickly overwhelmed existing hospitals. Leopardstown Park’s transformation into a hospital was mirrored across the country, with more than 100 voluntary hospitals established between 1914 and 1918 to help meet demand.
Uniquely among these hospitals, however, Leopardstown Park had been gifted in trust to the British government for as long as it was needed to treat war pensioners. Originally a convalescent home for shell-shocked veterans, the hospital provided general medical care and artificial limb maintenance from 1931 onwards. Though financed and managed by the British government, the vast majority of its patients were Irish citizens.
Having solely admitted British forces ex-servicemen for the first six decades of its existence, the hospital opened its doors to the wider Irish public in the 1970s. In the midst of difficult Anglo-Irish diplomatic relations as the violence in Northern Ireland intensified, the Irish and British governments successfully negotiated the transfer of Leopardstown Park Hospital to the Irish Department of Health in 1979. While its patient profile has evolved dramatically in the decades since, Leopardstown Park Hospital has retained its close connection with the British ex-service community.
By Dr. Eoin Kinsella
Short Talk:- Viking influences around us
From placenames to peoples names, grave stones in the area and other items of historic value left by the Vikings, there is a lot the Viking influences in our area. Brian has studied this subject and he always gives a great talk with some new facts and a few surprises.
By Brian Mac Aongusa
Our lectures end with an opportunity to question our speakers, then this is followed by a vote of thanks. Afterwards a cup of tea is served to allow you discuss on the topic with the speaker if you were too shy to ask questions in public. Please note we have to vacate the premises before 22:00.