Lord Mayor's column: Concept of lifelong learning set to sweep city in festival

The sweep of lifelong learning

ON ANY given day in Cork, the Atlantic light sweeps through its streets, laneways, parks, and estates, shining a light on life and society.

Just like the idea of a sweeping and shining light, the concept of lifelong learning also sweeps into life and society in Cork.

It is an everyday occurrence, but the annual Cork Lifelong Learning Festival does place an added focus.

This year, there are over 400 events between April 10 and 17.

I am a lifelong learner.

On reflection, I have been very fortunate since I was a teenager, over 30 years ago, to find a topic which continues to lead me on an epic adventure over three decades i.e. Cork and its story.

When I was 16-years-old, I began to develop my interest in Cork history — mainly due to supportive teachers and enthusiastic parents who were proud Corkonians and imbued civic pride.

I found a topic that intrigued me and that spoke to my general and strong interests in history, geography, and the civic-ness of the city in school.

Finding an interest

I found a topic that resonated with my soul, so to speak. I found a topic which developed my exploration of my city and myself, and developed a sense of belonging and connection to my city, at grassroots level, a sense of love or topophilia for my city.

I found a topic which developed my self-confidence. I found a topic which I have enjoyed being curious with, writing up and curating different projects around.

In recent years, I have travelled further and further into the county of Cork, into its coastline and river valleys, more and more exploring backroads that sometimes lead to somewhere and sometimes nowhere.

A few years ago, I wrote up a newspaper series on historic sites along the River Lee valley.

My intention was to write perhaps 25 articles or 25 weeks of articles on the Lee’s journey from Gougane Barra to the weir at the Lee Fields.

A total of 320 articles later, or over six years later, I crossed the weir at the Lee Fields. I was stuck in the valley for six years of research.

For the most part, every week I would disappear on my scooter motorcycle into the valley — going down backroads, knocking on doors, interviewing local people, tracking down lost monuments. The people I met were soul-filled people, with so much to say and reflect upon.

The River Lee project led me to chase a PhD, to develop more walking tours with more themes, to write on. Indeed, my lifelong learning led me to run for Cork City Council and has led me to being Lord Mayor of Cork. So, one never knows where your interests might bring you.

However, let me say, for all my work on my special mastermind topic on Cork and its story, I continue to scratch the topic — a city and its story is, after all, a bottomless pit to dig out.

My excavation work is still ongoing. However, I remain a curious person and a life-long learner.

Multi-layered and life-affirming

Lifelong learning is too simple of a phrase or verb of state of mind.

It is truly multi-layered and life-affirming — it can range from supportive teachers to creating a sense of belonging. It’s about a sense of connection to society, a connection to democracy, a type of ownership at grassroots level.

It is about curiosity breeding curiosity, to paths that lead to somewhere and paths that lead to nowhere. Lifelong learning is journey-filled, inwardly and outwardly reflective, to the idea of being soul-filled and being part of the world.

Those same threads and many more threads weave through the 2024 Cork Lifelong Festival brochure.

The people’s festival

At its heart, the Cork Lifelong Learning festival is for everyone — a people’s festival, whose energy is owned, curated, and forged from the ground up by communities.

It is where ideas of togetherness, connection building, and opportunity exploring are ever-present.

There are many guardians of lifelong learning in our city, but the same guardians also underpin the very essence of what makes this beautiful city tick — community and togetherness.

I wish to recognise and commend all of my fellow citizens who work to make the festival happen, by hosting events, encouraging participants to attend, by connecting with people, and inspiring them to discover the huge range of learning activities available all year-round in our city.

The settings can be diverse. Sometimes it is pursued in formal educational settings, and sometimes in a corner of a suburban hall.

Experiences and ideas are exchanged, conversations and excitement flow, and more often than not are interrupted by the pots of tea consumed, and then flow again.

Indeed, the more one looks for the concept of lifelong learning in our city, the more visible it becomes.

It bubbles metaphorically beneath the rich, active community layer of our historic city. It is part of the sense of identity and sense of positive spirit the city possesses and consistently pursues.

Investigate, participate, andcelebrate

The festival brings many ideas and events together. One can pursue a taster of hundreds of events.

For me, the festival brochure is not just a list of dates and details — but an ode to life in the city itself. It encourages all of us to live up to the festival motto – to “investigate, participate, and celebrate” in one of most engaging and fun weeks of the year in Cork!

In particular, I wish to thank one individual who is leaving the festival this year and moving to nearby “fields” of interest — that of Siubhán McCarthy, the festival director.

A sincere thanks on behalf of the people of Cork for all that you do you bring — your creativity, your steadfast energy, and your dedication.

International recognition

The Cork Lifelong Festival is one that we all can be proud of.

It is recognised and admired the world over, and it has inspired many other cities to follow Cork’s trailblazing efforts.

The strong Learning City “eco-system” between ETB, MTU, UCC, NAPD, and the HSE in Cork has led to international recognition by Unesco. Cork features again as a keynote in the 2023 International Conference on Learning Cities in Shanghai, which celebrated 10 years of the Global Network of Learning Cities.

This Unesco recognition is built on achieving a Learning City Award in 2015, and on the city’s selection as host of the third International Learning City Conference in 2017. On that note, I wish to extend a warm welcome to representatives from many of these cities who will join us during festival week this year.

So here’s to Cork Lifelong Learning Festival Week, April 10-17.

I even look forward to hosting my historical walking tours during the week.