Bord na Móna launch interactive new website Heartland

May 20, 2011 - PRLog -- Bord na Móna’s new website, www.heartland.ie, brings the history of the company to life and offers an invaluable resource to a wide range of audiences including students and teachers alike. Heartland is an exciting portal into the past, present and future of Bord na Móna, a company that has helped to build communities across Ireland.  It also provides a source of relevant educational information to teachers and students in an interactive and engaging manner.

The seeds of the Heartland initiative were sown in 2009, when Bord na Móna celebrated its 75th anniversary. A Heartland exhibition outlining the history and social impact of Bord na Móna was developed and was officially launched by President McAleese in September 2009. Attendees at the launch included many well-known public figures including Ryan Tubridy, whose grandfather, Todd Andrews is the founding father of the company. The exhibition went on a national road show and was welcomed in a number of locations around the country many of which were within the areas that Bord na Móna is either currently operational or was operational in years gone by.

The Heartland website was subsequently developed to provide a permanent online home for Bord na Móna’s history and heritage.  It includes information about the Heartland exhibition and also features Brown Gold, a book that chronicles the history of the company. The site also seeks to advance the knowledge of those with an active interest in the history and heritage of Bord na Móna and to foster and grow an online community that will help contribute to the future development of the site. For the casual visitor, Heartland showcases the role played by Bord na Móna in the Irish economy since the foundation of the State.

The site also aims to support educators by providing educational information in the student section including fact sheets, quizzes, word searches and much more. The entire site is packed with articles, videos, photos and audio clips which help to make it not only an invaluable resource, but a very engaging one too.  For third-level students, there is a wealth of great reference material including articles that cover almost every aspect of Bord na Móna’s history,  such as extensive insights into the camps set up in the midlands for workers from around the country who came to cut turf. These formed the basis for several communities, villages and towns now thriving in the heart of Ireland.

Heartland.ie covers an extensive period from the early days of the company, right up to the present day and the company’s new vision of Bord na Móna: “A New Contract With Nature”.  Bord na Móna’s current operations include resource recovery, renewable energy and air and waste water treatment and are forging a profitable and sustainable future for the company.

The aim of Heartland is twofold; to showcase Bord na Móna’s history and heritage and to develop and grow a dynamic community.  Visitors to the site can comment on content and contribute information, pictures and videos to the site. Contributors might be current or former Bord na Móna employees or even family and friends of a Bord na Móna employee. They may also be people with a particular knowledge or interest in Bord na Móna. The sign-up process is extremely simple and you can even join the community on the Facebook site. The aim is to grow a vibrant community with a constant flow of information between all parties with a view to Heartland constantly evolving, entertaining and informing.

If you would like to contribute, or know someone who would like to, visit www.heartland.ie or simply log on and enjoy the wealth of audio, video, pictures and educational material at your fingertips.