The launch of the Lumper Schools Project (LSP) took place at Scoil Santain Tallaght, on the 11th April 2018.
Those in attendance included Dublin South West TD’s Sean Crowe and Paul Murphy, Muinteoir Pol (Scoil Santain), Promhide Eamon O’Deagha (Scoil Santain), Michael Blanch from Committee for the Commemoration for Irish Famine Victims (CCIFV) and students Ciara, Zac, Aobha and Ciara . Tallaght Gaelscoil, Scoil Santain was the first school to receive the lumper potatoes and the program is now available to schools nationwide. The LSP is sponsored by The Glens of Antrim Potato’s. Michael McKillop resurrected the Lumper from near extinction. The Lumper potato is a living artefact history teacher that resonates with schoolchildren and teachers alike.
Schools can collect their Lumper packs and booklet from Workhouses, Heritage Centres, Famine Ship Museums, Epic Ireland and other locations. From the centre to the seas, North, South, East and West. As with the “Famine” it knew no borders or boundaries, didn’t discriminate, Orange or Green, young or old man or woman. This universality of the “Famine” An Gorta Mor unites the Country and connects the Irish family at home and abroad Walking in the footsteps of history connecting the past with the present through the children and the Lumper.
Schools throughout Ireland will have an opportunity to sow Lumper potatoes this spring as a way of remembering the victims of the famine of the 1840s. The Committee for the Commemoration for Irish Famine Victims (CCIFV) have teamed up with Glens of Antrim Potatoes to make seed potatoes available to all schools in Ireland. One of the iconic symbols of the Great Famine in Ireland is the Lumper potato, the very variety upon which so many Irish people depended. Its destruction by blight from 1845 onwards led directly to the outbreak of the Famine. The potatoes should require very little care, and the process of planting, tending and hopefully eating the crop will be an interesting way to help pupils to commemorate and remember the victims of An Gorta Mór, and those who suffer in famine and hunger today.
How to get your Lumpers; For your school to receive a free pack of seed Lumper potatoes, it is best if the principal teacher or a nominee would send an email to lumpersp@gmail.com, with your contact phone number and an email address.
When planting time arrives, the free packs of Lumper seed potatoes can be collected from a school’s most convenient collection point.
Tallaght Collection Point; CCIFV headquarters, 53 Raheen Close, Tallaght, Dublin.
