IMAGE OF THE MONTH, FEBRUARY 2024

NEPTUNUS OCEANI REX Steven C. Smyrl, M.A.G.I., F.S.G., F.I.G.R.S. Some years ago my step-mum gave me some papers from among my late father’s effects, stuff he had been holding on to for years. Among the bundle of papers were my grandparents’ passports dating from the 1950s, recording where they were stationed when my grandfather, James Christie Smyrl, served in the UK’s Royal Air Force. For periods at a time, they called home places like Southern Rhodesia – now Zimbabwe – (1950), Libya (1955), Aden (1966) and Germany (1970). In 2015 my dad told me in detail about his time in … Read More

National Archives of Ireland has Extended its Lunchtime Opening Hours

The National Archives of Ireland has updated its opening hours.  While a lunchtime closure between 1-2pm had been in place since the post-Pandemic reopening, the Reading Room of the National Archives will now remain open over lunchtime on Mondays. This is a most welcome move that will allow researchers to continue their work without having to vacate the reading room.