What’s On Guide
With over 60 events happening each month, you are sure to have fun in county Laois! From internationally recognised festivals such as Electric Picnic, to ancient celebrations in the Slieve Bloom Mountains there is something for everyone.
Laois hosts a multitude of events and festivals from hilarious comedy shows to reconnecting with nature it’s all waiting to be discovered in our What’s On Guide!
Earl Grey Scheme & The Famine Orphans
24th May @ 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Free
Between 1849 and 1853 over four thousand orphan girls aged between 14 and 18 years were shipped to Australia from workhouses throughout Ireland as part of the Earl Grey Scheme. Thirty-seven girls from the Mountmellick Workhouse and twenty-eight girls from the Abbeyleix Workhouse are listed as travelling under this scheme. This seminar brings together academics, researchers and writers to discuss the Earl Grey Scheme and its impact on Ireland, Australia and especially on the lives of the orphan girls and their descendants. It will look at a selection of local projects designed to commemorate the lives of the orphan girls including the Famine Box Project of Arbour Hill prisoners and a short film on the Story of Bridget Dwyer, an orphan girl from Celbridge Workhouse.