I have been interested in local history since I was young. In my early 20s, I formed an idea to create a central resource of local history online. With life and professional commitments getting in the way, I never got this off the ground. Now, many years later and living back in Ballymacoda, this idea was reignited and I am committed to making it happen. I have two objectives for this project.
First and foremost the objective of the content on this site will be to preserve stories – some of which have been told in other forms already – and some of which have never been told before.
The second objective is accessibility of this information. As already mentioned, a few of these stories have been told previously in other forms such as books (including the work done by the local Community Council), but this is my attempt to centralize this information and make it accessible to everyone and to future generations.
An ancillary goal I have is to maybe spark some interest in some people who may read the content here – in an age of Facebook, Snapchat etc., it is easy to spend a lot of time online doing nothing at all – time that may be better spent delving into interesting stories about the locality.
If you are interested in contributing content here that will preserve local history, feel free to contact me via email.
Jimmy Collins
jimmy.b.collins@gmail.com
Knockadoon, Ballymacoda
January 2021