Balbriggan & District Historical Society have embraced technology to present their Heritage Week talk on The Sack of Balbriggan 1920 by local historian Jim Walsh via Youtube.Jim a retired Librarian and founding member of the Society draws on a lifetime of research and some newly available material to present a fascinating talk which will be of huge interest to history enthusiasts as well as being very accessible to the general public.The talk begins with an introduction giving the local and historical context of the time and continues with the aid of many images, to give a comprehensive account of the Sack of Balbriggan, based on contemporary accounts, military and RIC archives, newspaper coverage, other publications and interviews with family members.The Youtube presentation is interspersed with many images from the time as well as contemporary images from Balbriggan provided by Society Secretary Kilian Harford to give context.The centenary of the Sack of Balbriggan by the Black and Tans in 1920 takes place on September 20th and as part of the Covid-19 restricted Commemoration the Society has a full seminar on the subject planned including a lecture from Diarmaid Ferriter, which will also be made available online.Speaking about this new venture into virtual content a spokesperson for the Society said “While we are very disappointed like everyone else that we haven’t been able to present our usual programme of talks to our loyal members and supporters in Balbriggan arguably these new challenges have presented an opportunity to reach a much bigger audience. We are delighted to be able to connect again with our friends in Balbriggan who we have missed this year and we think the availability of this lecture online will be of huge interest to Balbriggan people abroad as well as locally and nationally.”We would like to thank Eric Campbell for producing the video in such a fantastic professional manner.
