Friends’ witness features at Irish Famine event
Friends' contribution to famine relief to feature at Irish Famine event
The programme at the 2016 Irish Famine Summer School and National Famine Conference includes a session on Friends’ contribution to famine relief.
The event takes place at Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, from 14-19 June, and the session on ‘The Quakers and The Famine: Relief, Reform, Release’ will include a presentation by Andrew Newby, Academy of Finland senior research fellow, University of Helsinki. Andrew will speak on ‘Acting in their appropriate and wanted sphere – The Society of Friends and Famine Relief in Ireland and Finland, 1845-1857’.
He told the Friend: ‘I’ve been undertaking a comparison of famines and famine relief in Ireland and Finland between 1845 and 1868. In both cases, the Society of Friends was extremely active in publicising the crises, fundraising, developing local aid networks and implementing both short- and medium-term aid measures.’
Rob Goodbody, of Monkstown Meeting in Dublin, will speak to summer school participants on ‘Jonathan Pim and the land question’ and author Kathleen Villiers-Tuhill will discuss ‘Loyalty and starvation are not compatible’.
