Tóchar Community Stories – People, Land, Nature & Belonging – workshops

Tóchar Midlands Wetland Restoration is excited to announce our cultural custodianship and heritage of wetlands strand, called Tóchar Community Stories. Over the next two years, we will be engaging in a collaborative storytelling process to tell the authentic stories of our relationships with the boggy and wet landscapes which are so much part of our identity.

Tóchar Community Stories, will be reaching out to meet communities, landowners and anyone with an interest in wetlands over the coming months. Shirley Clerkin, Tóchar project manager says “Our project, which is part of the just transition, recognises that change is afoot in how landscapes are managed, used and valued in the midlands. This is part of a societal transformation on a journey to climate neutrality. All journeys require preparation, and a taking stock of the point of departure and as such Tóchar Stories will partner with communities, in the peatland and wetland regions of the midlands, to empower their voice in the social and energy transition.”

Helen Shaw, curator of the Tóchar Community Stories says “Nature restoration and decarbonisation is part of a social transition, where land use is aligned with community well-being and belonging. A tóchar is an Irish word for a pathway through the bog and represents our shared journey and relationship with the land over hundreds of years. Tóchar Community Stories wants to trace that journey, our past, present and envisioned future, and ensure those living in the region have a voice in co-designing the transition for the benefit of nature, land and community.”

Helen will be running creative community workshops from early 2025 to connect communities with the project. If you would like to know more or be involved in a Tóchar Community Stories storytelling workshop in 2025, and live in the Just Transition Region – Kildare, Galway, Roscommon, Laois, Longford, Offaly, Tipperary and Westmeath (counties, and surrounding areas, that had a dependency and relationship with the peat extraction industry) contact Helen and Dara on tocharstories@gmail.com

Join Helen and the Community Stories at our conversation on Blue Sky

We’d love to hear from you.