Get involved in ‘Our Covid Experience Time Capsule’

MEMBERS of the Tallaght community are being invited to submit small items for a time capsule about living through the pandemic, which will be buried in the area next month and reopened in 2080.

The ‘Our Covid Experience Time Capsule’ project is being spearheaded by Tallaght Community Council (TCC) and they want the community to get involved.

TCC are inviting the community, individuals, services, businesses and groups, and those who served on the frontline during the pandemic, to submit small items they’d like to see included in the capsule.

These items should reflect gratitude, sacrifice, loss or service as experienced by the people of Tallaght during the pandemic, from February 2020 to February 2022.

Albert Perris, TCC’s heritage officer, gave The Echo suggestions for items people can submit for inclusion in the time capsule.

“Items such as memorial or Mass cards for loved ones lost during the pandemic; thank you cards received from clients or neighbours, little notes or letters of appreciation, personal memoirs and photographs taken during the period that reflect the national or local experience,” he said.

“Photographs of empty roads or empty supermarket shelves or other small non-perishable mementos may all find their way into the time capsule.”

The time capsule will be buried on Monday, March 14, 2022 and will be re-opened in 2080, marking 60 years after the arrival of Covid-19 in Ireland, and a time when many school children in Tallaght during Covid will be approaching or in retirement.

An oak tree, symbolising clean air, will be planted on the day the capsule is buried, close to the spot to mark the final location of the time capsule.

Liz Kennedy, voluntary chair of TCC, said: “This is your chance to be part of Tallaght history, to help capture what life was like living through a global pandemic in Tallaght.

“Tell us your story, send us a picture of someone you lost to Covid-19, or during it. Or indeed, send us a small item that epitomises living with Covid-19 to place in the capsule.”

The submission window will be open for four weeks and items should be with TCC by Friday, March 11. The drop-off point for items will be announced in The Echo next week.