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You are > Home > Historic industry given new lease of life in Erris
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Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Historic industry given new lease of life in Erris
By Orla Hearns
Erris is renowned for many things including its outstanding tradition in exquisite hand crafts like lace making, crochet, needlework and knitting.
On Friday, November 25 last, people travelled from all over the country and the UK to celebrate this great heritage at the official launch of Fis Muingi-Iorras in the Broadhaven Bay Hotel in Belmullet.
Fis Muingi-Iorras is a recently established voluntary committee whose aim is to save Muings Lace School for the Erris community.
This campaign has been spearheaded by local woman, Helen Moreau, Barnatra, who has undertaken significant research of the history of the lace school and other such schools in the Erris area over the last century. Her aunt worked at Muings.
It and other lace schools in the Erris area played a major role in the economic history of that community during times of great hardship in the early part of the 20th century and right up until its closure in 1999.
At first the schools concentrated on the production of exquisite hand made crochet lace and their product was all the rage in international fashion capitals of London, Paris and New York.
The schools diversified as times and fashions changed and became mainly involved in machined Aran knitwear.
Last September Helen circulated a petition in Erris calling for the preservation of Muings Lace School. This met with overwhelming support. Since then the current owners of the school, Udaras na Gaeltachta, have been successfully lobbied to withdraw the lace school building from the property market.
Fis Muingi Iorras has drafted a formal proposal that Muings Lace School be acquired, restored and adapted for the creation of a small heritage centre/folk museum.
It is a detailed proposal and one that is strongly supported by local communities as was evident at the committee’s official launch.
It was a wonderful night of celebration and recollection as several generations of lace school employees and their families came together.
Vintage and contemporary examples of some of Erris’ finest handcrafted crochet, needlework and knitwear were on display together with old photographs of the the Erris Lace Schools over the last century.
And the new generation was included in this special event too. Third year students from local secondary schools, St Brendan’s and the Convent of Mercy were invited along and displayed some of their own handy work as proof that they are carrying on the Erris tradition in the crafting of beautiful patchwork quilts, baby blankets, Aran jumpers, hand woven table runners and embroidery.
Established in 1914, the Muings Lace School on the North Coast Road has been idle and disused since the early 90s. Although it has grown somewhat ramshackle in its appearance it holds a very dear place in the hearts of local people.
Molly Connell (85), Foxpoint, Barnatra, was at the Fis Muingi Iorras launch night. She worked at Muings Lace School for about 15 years around the 1950s. She said she was delighted to hear about the campaign to save the building.
“I would not like to see the school go. It was the only employment around here for a long time to keep a house going. The women of this area were very talented at the lace making. My neighbours used to knit jumpers for Amercia. God help us, they earned their money but the lace school kept many a door open around here,” she remarked.
Sile Wilson, Corclough West, is a member of Fis Muingi Iorras:
“I just heard about the committee on the radio and I wanted to get involved. It is so important that that part of our culture is kept alive,” she remarked.
Like countless other families in the Erris region, Sile’s family has had an association with Muings Lace School over several generations.
“I only worked there for four years but there were six girls in our family (the Carolans) and five of us went to the lace school. My aunt, Bridie Monaghan, worked there and my grandmother, Maria Carolan worked in the Geesala, Muings and Belmullet lace schools. She used to make the crochet gloves,” Sile explained.
Sile’s late grand aunt, Ellie Gibbons, also worked at the lace schools. Her work was renowned and highly sought after in the U.S.A. Her daughter in law, Beatrice Gibbons, attended the Fis Muingi Iorras launch with exquisite samples of Ella’s lace work on blouses, collars and head bands. Other exhibits on the night included stunningly intricate lace wedding and communion dresses made by Sarah Walsh, who is now in her 90s. Fis Muingi Iorras would like to thank all those who provided items for exhibit at the launch night particularly crochet teacher, Mary Bradley, who supplied samples of work currently being produced by womens groups under her tutelage in Ballycroy. The committee is also very grateful to the many local businesses who provided wonderful prizes for a raffle on the night.
Rosa Meehan, Curator at the National Museun of Country Life addressed the launch and Fr Francie Judge was the M.C. And there was music and song too with performances from local and guest traditional musicians and set dancers.
Helen Moreau said she was delighted with the success of the launch: “It was really wonderful, despite the terrible weather. We really admired all those who attended, many of whom were elderly ladies who had worked in the school in the 40s and 50s and made the effort to come to this event with their families. It was wonderful to see them together in such a happy setting.
“We had a wonderful display of Irish crochet lace, textiles and knitting and of crafts from the local secondary schools. It was really great to see that the crafts are being kept alive.”
Fis Muingi Iorras are now putting the final touches to an application for a feasibility study for the proposed restoration of Muings Lace School. They will also be approaching various bodies for funding.
“What we need now is a lot of community support,” Helen remarked. “We would really welcome more people on our committee. We would like to get suggestions and ideas from the local community. Our vision is that this proposed folk museum and heritage centre will have a strong community involvement. We want this project to be alive and active.
“At the moment the committee is trying to educate itself and we have organised a number of day trips. We are a hard working, hands on committee and are open to learning and improving our knowledge. We need more people to get involved with this project for fund raising activities,” she concluded. For more information on Fis Muingi Iorras please contact Helen Moreau at (097) 94033 or (086) 3038465.
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