Cashel: Our Playground

Continuing on from our successful Memoir Project in 2023, ‘Cashel: Our Playground’ will gather more stories of life in Cashel, with particular focus on memories of play – a subject that came up again and again in people’s memories of the town.

We are delighted to work with Rebecca Lenehan again this year, whose experience giving writing workshops has encouraged and drawn out the memoir stories from local writers.
Together with actor and sound recorder Eoin Gleeson, who has captured audio recordings of almost every memoir piece, Rebecca has collected an interesting array of snapshots of life in Cashel – from playing Cowboys and Indians on the Bishop’s Walk to freely running along the ramparts of The Rock.

Cashel Arts Festival is also delighted to welcome Mark Fitzell who adds a visual element to the project. Working with archive photos and the people of Cashel, he has captured a moving record of play on Cashel’s streets.

With an MA in English Literature and an MPhil in Medieval Literature from Cambridge University, Rebecca Lenehan has written articles for The Independent, was the researcher for a book on Graham Greene and worked for a publishing company in Cambridge. She writes regularly for the Irish Country Living section of the Irish Farmers Journal. She also writes poetry and prose at every opportunity. Rebecca has coordinated many arts projects, including a memoir project and Artisans of Cashel for Cashel Arts Festival as well as Elders of Clonmel for Clonmel Applefest in 2023 and a follow-up book in 2024.