Speaker at Bruff festival this weekend will celebrate Limerick links

THIS year marks 30 years since the death of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, the mother of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and the fourth annual autumn school in her name will feature her granddaughter.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend will speak at the event in Bruff in the Thomas Fitzgerald Centre from October 24-26, over the bank holiday weekend.

Bruff and surrounding areas celebrate their links with the Fitzgerald Kennedy political dynasty through the well-established Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Autumn School.

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Three of Rose’s grandparents came from Bruff and the Lough Gur areas and they emigrated to Boston in the 1850’s.

The director of the school, Declan Hehir said that as well as celebrating ancestral links to the family, the autumn schools also tells the “story of other trailblazing Irish women, from County Limerick and elsewhere, whose achievements have often been neglected.”

The organisers have also put together a detailed programme for Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who was the first-born grandchild of Rose, including viewing ancestral family records in the local catholic church, walking to the site of an ancestral family home, and to the graveyard where her forebears are buried.

She will speak at the opening session of the Autumn School on Friday, October 24.

Other highlights include a session on the 1998 Good Friday agreement, with a particular focus on the role of women in the peace process, a session on the impact of America on Irish female identity and a folklore project at Lough Gur, which will also feature a marking band performance.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is due to attend a special Mass on Sunday morning at Patrickswell Church, Lough Gur, and this will be followed by a Fitzgerald community breakfast in the nearby Honey Fitz Theatre.

The weekend will wrap up with a concert in the Thomas Fitzgerald Centre on Sunday evening.