January 2025

We wish all our Members and their families a very happy and healthy New Year. The first meeting of 2025 will take place on Wednesday, 15th January in the Family Centre at Holy Rosary Church, Greystones, beginning with a minute’s silence to remember the untimely passing of our esteemed chairman Jim Smith.

Our speaker on the evening will be John Martin, the title of his talk being “From rocky commons to fashionable suburb – the transformation of Dalkey in the 19th Century”.

John is a town planner who worked in various local authorities, an Bord Pleanála and the Department of the Environment. Following his retirement in 2011, he wrote the Historic Town Atlas of Dungarvan, published by the Royal Irish Academy in 2020. Since then, he has been researching the local history of Dalkey, where he has lived for over 40 years.

His talk will describe how Dalkey was transformed from a sleepy village to a relatively prosperous township between 1800 and 1900. Township status was granted in 1863, leading to the provision of public lighting, the Vartrey water supply and housing for the working class.

The meeting will begin at 7.30 and there will be a small charge of €3 per person to defray the costs of the venue, and we hope to see many of you on the night.

Talks and Visits

Our Talks (normally) take place in the Family Centre next door to the Holy Rosary Church in Greystones. Talks normally begin at 7.30pm . A small charge is made to cover the cost of hiring a room.

Our Visits (normally) occur on Sundays throughout summer. Start times vary.

 The Society's 2025 Programme

See below for our programme's dates, and keep an eye on this page for more details when they emerge.