Time capsule full of memories buried on hospital grounds
A TIME capsule, containing a varied collection of items to act as a snapshot of the lived experiences of people in Tallaght during the pandemic, was buried in the grounds of Tallaght University Hospital this week.
On Monday, representatives from the community, including members of Tallaght Community Council (TCC), who spearheaded the project, were on hand for the burial of the time capsule.
The capsule contained 296 individual items submitted by 48 different people and groups from right across Tallaght, including input from local school children, staff from The Square Shopping Centre, and a local COPD support group, among others.
After processing the submissions, volunteer PRO with TCC, Tara De Buitlear said: “The wide range of items will capture how individuals and groups felt through the global pandemic.
“It captures the highs, lows and shows a resilience and ability to adapt to continue to connect safely as a community.
“We sincerely thank all those who took the time to participate and share their personal feelings and items to help capture the mood of our community during Covid-19.”
It will be reopened in 2080, 60 years on from the beginning of the pandemic, at a time when many who were schoolchildren in Tallaght during Covid will be approaching or in retirement.
The items in the capsule reflect gratitude, sacrifice, loss and service, as experienced by the people of Tallaght during the pandemic, from February 2020 to February 2022.
Speaking at the burial of the time capsule, TCC’s heritage officer, Albert Perris, said: “We gather here today to bury Tallaght’s Covid-19 time capsule to mark an extraordinary period in our community’s history, a global pandemic.
“It was a time when most people in our community were asked to stay at home, but many were called on to do extraordinary things.
“At the time of greatest fear and greatest uncertainty, many in our community were asked to step-up and to put the needs of the wider community ahead of individual welfare and safety.
“We thank all those in our community who worked on the frontline – hospital cleaners, nurses, doctors, administrators, technicians, the Gardai, the ambulance service, Dublin Fire Brigade.
“As well as those in the transport and retail sector for their service and for their sacrifices.”
The structure of the time capsule itself was designed and fabricated by learners from the DDLETB’s Tallaght Training Centre.
The community-created project is firmly rooted in Tallaght, and as such will be left in the grounds of Tallaght University Hospital until it’s unsealed in 2080.
Commenting at the burial of the Covid-19 capsule, Lucy Nugent, chief executive of Tallaght University Hospital said: “It was a huge honour for the hospital to be invited to host the community capsule on our campus and be its custodian for the next few decades.
“We are in Tallaght for nearly 25 years and so many of our staff moved from across the country and indeed the world and have made Tallaght their home, as an organisation we are part of the community and so are our staff.
“We are fortunate to have always received so much support from the local community and never more so during the pandemic and all the challenges it has presented and indeed continues to present.”
