Introduction
Every year since 1968 Cumann Merriman has run a Summer and a Winter School to commemorate Brian Merriman and his work and in addition, to promote interest in every aspect of Irish culture, such as the Irish language, Irish history, literature and music.
Winter Schools
Although it undoubtedly attracts a lively bilingual fringe, the Winter School is run solely through Irish, with particular emphasis on the language and related matters. For this reason, web pages for the Winter School are only published in Irish.
The School runs for a weekend and is packed with lectures, seminars, a club, a booklaunch, singing, dancing and plenty of oppertunities for converstion and conviviality — all guaranteed to nourish mind, soul and body!
A number of scholarships are usually available to full‑time students to help them attend the Winter School. An article is available on this website about the Merriman Winter School.
If you would like to look up main points of previous Cumann Merriman Winter Schools in English, such as themes, locations and publications, you can go to the Winter School history overview page.
Summer Schools
The Summer School is a bilingual one. Everyone is welcome and although English is the main language, a number of seminars and lectures are given in Irish. It runs for a full week, with stimulation of mind and soul at its heart — be it in the form of debate, lecture, walking, singing, a workshop, dance or a tóisín of revivifying tincture! An article is available on this website about the Cumann Merriman Summer School.
If you would like to look up main points of previous Cumann Merriman Summer Schools such as themes and locations, you can go to the Summer School history overview page.
Summer Schools’ Archive
You can also browse through more detailed records of individual Summer Schools:
- Merriman Summer School 2010
- Description to follow…
- Merriman Summer School 2009
- Every generation has decisions to take about its future, its priorities, its place in the world. For this generation of political leaders, policy makers and citizens these decisions appear more complex than they have done for a long time. The quickly assumed certainty of the so‑called Celtic Tiger period has given way to a worrying uncertainty about tomorrow. What are the challenges we face?
- Merriman Summer School 2008
- The Merriman Summer School returns its first venue in Ennis, County Clare. Under discussion this year are our cultural heritage and societal mores, with particular focus on the history and society of Clare and Thomond.
- Merriman Summer School 2007
- This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the founding of Cumann Merriman. At a time of rapid social and economic change in Ireland, this year’s Summer School examines some of the changes that have taken place here in that time, the lessons we have learnt from the past and what kind of a future we dream of for the island.
- Merriman Summer School 2006
- This year’s Cumann Merriman Summer School will be held in Lisdoonvarna from the 19th – 26th August. The theme is Michael Cusack and His Time, an examination of the life and legacy left by one of Clare’s great scholars a century after his death.
- Merriman Summer School 2005
- The bicentenial celebrations will be continued at the 2005 Summer School in Lisdoonvarna from the 20 – 27 August. The focus will remain on Merriman and Cúirt an Mheán Oíche, which poses as many questions now as it did two hundred years ago.
- Merriman Summer School 2004
- The theme of the 2004 Summer School, held between the 21 – 28 August in Ennistymon, was Orthodoxies and Heresies: The New Ireland and its Sacred Cows. The School explored the challenges and contradictions facing the new Ireland in coming to grips with itself and where it has come from.
- Merriman Summer School 2003
- Recording Ireland, was this year’s theme. It may be understood in many ways: the imaginative representations of artists, the less subjective work of journalists, historians and ethnographers, or the hybrid forms of travel writers and essayists. Such "recordings" were the subject of discussion at the Merriman Summer School 2003, which was held in Ennistymon between 17 – 24 August.
- Merriman Summer School 2002
- The Irish experience of emigration and imigration provided a platform for lively discussion at the Summer School held in Ennistymon between 17 – 24 August this year. Lectures on the Irish in Britain, Europe, the United States and Australia complemented talks on imigrant testimonies.Multiculturalism in Ireland, and its consequences, was also debated.
- Merriman Summer School 2001
- Knowledge is becoming a more important and explicit part of our national life, whether it is discovered in scientific research or in a tribunal of enquiry. The knowledge now being presented to us is such that it may have a profound effect on our sensitivities and our lives, as well as impacting on politics and the economy. This was the basis for the 2001 Summer School, which was held between 18 – 24 August in Lisdoonvarna.
- Merriman Summer School 2000
- The end of a milennium carries with it a great sense of closure. For this last School of the first Milennium we have chosen the theme of Five Territories: These Islands at the turn of the Millennium. Where do they stand? What lies before them? The School will be held in Lisdoonvarna between 10 – 26 August.
- Merriman Summer School 1999
- Summary of the 1999 Summer School.
Bicentennial Celebrations
The bicentenary of the death of Brian Merriman was marked in 2005 by many celebrations across Galway, Limerick and Clare held in commemoration of the event.
A list of these special events, including Cumann Merriman’s very own Summer and Winter Schools, along with further information about Merriman bicentenary celebrations is available in the 2005 events section of this site.
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