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As part of Heritage Week 2023 join the team at non-profit social enterprise Common Knowledge for a free Open Day (12 August) and four-day course (13-16 August) in The Burren, Co Clare.
The School of Lost Skills is a new way for people to celebrate and practice traditional skills and themes that have fallen into decline due to the rise of mass production and global trade.
Common Knowledge Co-Founder Harrison Gardner says: “Join us as we kick off The School of Lost Skills during Heritage Week 2023 with a free open day, featuring discussion and practice of skills linked with building, food, culture and land.”
Open day
On 12 August, Common Knowledge are hosting an open day with free admission.
The day will start with a discussion hosted by Anja Murray with guests Darina Allen, Manchán Magan, Mary Reynolds and Harrison Gardner discussing the danger of losing our ancestral skills and knowledge in these areas. The discussion, hosted in the Octagon Hall, will ask what we can do to change the tides on lost skills, to start flowing back towards knowledge, understanding, empathy and togetherness.
The discussion will be followed by interactive skill-sharing workshops throughout the courtyard including cob making, weaving, fermentation and an Ark workshop with Mary Reynolds.
The School of Lost Skills
The School of Lost Skills four-day course will be a chance to practice a range of skills like basket weaving, stone wall building, fermentation, foraging and more with expert instructors from all over Ireland. Breakfast and lunch are provided each day. The cost of the course is €680 across the four days where participants will gain an introduction and training in:
•Stone carving and stone wall making with Dominic Keogh
•Soap making with Clem Horan
•The art of fermentation with Llewyn Máire
•Cob construction with Alexander O'Brien
•Vernacular architecture with Hugh Kavanagh
•Willow basket making with Kate Burrows
•Storytelling workshop with Aindrias De Stack
•Seed saving and foraging with Ciara Parsons
•Scything and grassland management with Chris Hayes
ReKindle: Festival of lost skills
This open day and course come off the back of Rekindle: Festival of Lost Skills, which took place in Ennistymon this summer. Now in its second year, Rekindle is an intergenerational festival of lost skills celebrating and showcasing the knowledge of older people in our communities that can help us all to live a truly sustainable life. The festival saw more than 500 people meet 18 exhibitors who showcased skills ranging from pen making, Aran knitting, rope making, boat building, basket making and also included a farrier who brought his anvil to display blacksmithing skills.
Immerse yourself in nature
Common Knowledge has now moved into a new home with 50 acres to grow, experiment and explore. The new site is located near The Burren, Cliffs of Moher and the Wild Atlantic Way. People can now stay on-site in their range of lodge or courtyard accommodation, as well as hire the space for their own events.
For more information visit: www.ourcommonknowledge.org
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