FALLEN LEAVES

Bridget Goulding, a retired medical secretary, lives in Kilmurry, Co. Cork.  Her first book, Kilmurry Fields, published in 2016, is currently out of print.  With a keen interest in history, archaeology, and genealogy, she is also passionate about nature and her native place. Bridget was involved for many years in the Kilmurry Historical & Archaeological Association.   She is very proud of playing a part in the planning, fundraising, and building of a state-of-the-art new museum in her native village, replacing the original museum which opened in 1965.  Today, Independence Museum Kilmurry has gained a firm foothold in relating the transition from British rule to the making of a Republic, in which Cork played such a crucial role.  Growing up in mid-Cork, an area frequented by Michael Collins, Eamon De Valera, Sean O'Hegarty, Erskine Childers et al and just a short distance from Bealnablath, history pulsates throughout the Kilmurry area. With a grandmother in Cumann na mBan and her three brothers, Volunteers, there grew a need to know more about their involvement.  Over a decade of research, several other stories emerged about ancestors.  From discovering a grandfather had been 'sentenced' to five years in an industrial school and the lows of suicide, to the highs of a West Cork tower-house and a Cork Lord Mayor, Fallen Leaves became a personal journey of discovery and, unexpectedly, an overwhelming love for people she never knew.