When Napoleon’s death mask was discovered in Limerick village
Reporter:
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A CASTLECONNELL creative and historical writing competition has unveiled a remarkable story connecting the village to Napoleon’s death mask.
A death mask is a likeness of a person s face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse
Castleconnell is steeped in history and heritage but when organisers asked for historical stories and tales of hidden history in a story competition no one could have foreseen such an amazing true story to be told.
The competition was judged by local resident and one of the most highly respected writers and poets in Ireland, Stephen Murphy. Described as the “new bard of the country” by none other than President Michael D. Higgins, Stephen had the arduous task of sieving through the entries but was satisfied that there was one clear winner, with three other stories claiming the top prizes.
Community spirit shone through pandemic darkness
Updated / Sunday, 3 Jan 2021
07:17
North West Correspondent
There was one day this year when I laughed all the way through the job I was on and couldn t keep the smile off my face for nearly a week afterwards.
It wasn’t even on my own patch. It was my weekend on duty covering the midlands, west and north west. I was thrown a long-shot - was there any way I could track down a pair of newly-weds in their 80s in Offaly and see if would they do an interview? Sure I’ll give it a try , I said, not knowing this would become the highlight of my working year.