Tickets: Free. Each walk will accommodate a maximum of 30 people, places must be pre booked with the Ranelagh Arts Festival Office, 26 Ranelagh.

Walking tours of Ranelagh, led by local history enthusiasts Honor O Brolcháin, Bryan O'Sullivan and Sally Corcoran always attract great interest at the festival. Each walk lasts about one hour, giving a fascinating insight into the history of the area and an opportunity to learn about social aspects of life through the ages in Ranelagh. Honor's walk at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday, will start at Sandford Church (top of Marlborough Road). All other walks will start at the Angle (Triangle) in Ranelagh.

After the Montgolfier brothers launched the first air balloon in France in 1783, balloon fever swept across the major cities of Europe. The events brought thousands to the streets to watch with astonishment this daring and dangerous trespass in the realms of the gods.

In Dublin, a scientist-cum-showman named Richard Crosbie took up the challenge and experimented with unmanned balloon flights throughout 1784. He was a Wicklow man, descended from a north Kerry landlord family, and had spent some riotous years as a student in Trinity College. In January 1785, in a blaze of publicity, he became the first Irishman to fly when he launched a successful balloon flight from Ranelagh Gardens. He went on to organise two more flights from Dublin and one from Limerick, after which he seems to slip out of the public eye.

Bryan MacMahon tells the amazing story of Richard Crosbie (and his fellow balloon-atics) with a wide range of illustrations from the period.

Bryan MacMahon was, until recently, a teacher in Cabinteely Community School. He is from north Kerry, and has an interest in its history, as well as that of Stillorgan where he now lives. He has published The Story of Ballyheigue (1994) and Eccentric Archbishop: Richard Whately of Redesdale (2005). He gives regular talks to local history societies and has contributed recent articles to The Irish Sword, History Ireland and The Kerry Magazine.

John Bagnell Bury was a distinguished Trinity scholar and lived at 1 Dartmouth Place. His history of Greece has been used as a textbook in schools all over the world. Ronan Sheehan, locally born lawyer and writer, has contributed to Ranelagh Arts Festival literary events over the last number of years. We await eagerly his 2009 contribution, which promises to be most fascinating and continues Ranelagh Arts Festival engagement with local history. A lover of all things classical, himself (both Latin and Greek, Ronan is the founder of the European Centre for Latin, based in Ranelagh.

Nicola Gordon-Bowe is one of Irelands most distinguished art historians particularly on the period that is generally known as The Celtic Revival. Those of us who, last year, were fascinated and 'educated' by her marvellous' Bicycle Tour of The Churches' will not want to miss this year's lecture. She is Director of the MA course in the History of Design and the Applied Arts at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin. She has written and lectured widely on late 19th and 20th century decorative arts. Publications include Harry Clarke - his Graphic Art(1983) and The Life and work of Harry Clarke(1989).