150th Anniversary of Derryveagh evictions by Hugh Doherty

Susie & Rosie Kerr from Melbourne, Australia, standing at the Hearthstone of their Great Grandmother's (Catherine Ward) ancestral wall steads from which she was evicted in 1861 as well as 46 other families. The clergy of the three main denominations in the area all pleaded with the Landlord not to proceed with the evictions but he went ahead regardless and the operation took three days.

In one house a young girl had beautiful long hair and the Bailiff swirled her hair around his arm and led her outside by the hair of her head.

My wife, Mary's Great Grandmother, Biddy McSwyne (Sweeney) was also evicted. She was 11 years old at that time. She was put out of the house with the rest of the family but ran back in only to be caught and thrown out again. The crowbar then was put to the lintel above the door and the house tumbled. Other tenants, were not permitted to give shelter to the evicted under the threat of eviction themselves if they did so. Consequently, those evicted were "left on the waves of the world" and while some were helped by relatives on other estates many had to make the three months sea journey to New South Wales, Australia to start a new life.

On Saturday 27th August 2011, two hundred and fifty people, mostly descendants or relatives, walked from Derryveagh to Churchill in recognition of the courage and dignity of those made homeless and their determination to rear their children.

Informative talks were given by May McClintock, Tom Sweeney and Niall McGinley. It was an emotional day for all concerned but at the end of the walk there was an enjoyable BBQ, music and dance at Wilkins Bar, Churchill.

"The Crap Machine"

After spending nine days in glorious Algorfa, forty minutes from Alicante, temperatures as high as 39o, it was so difficult coming home to the cold, wind and wet of Donegal. I did miss the green grass, the noise on the street, however I enjoyed the chance to get some vitamin D and top up on it for the rest of this year and probably next year.

We arrived at the airport and went to our car hire area, there was quite a lot of people waiting for their cars, I got behind a couple of people who I thought was in a queue to be told that there is no queue...! No they do not queue in Spain..well I never! it is just a case of first come first served. Eventually we got our car, drove out of the airport and put on the good old Sat Nav to be taken through every small village and town before getting to our villa - one and a half hours later, a journey that normally takes forty minutes, you could have cut the tension in the car with a knife!

The girls did not speak, the temperature was reading 34o in the car I would say it was nearly in its 50's by the time we stopped the car. I was in such a rage at the sat nat that I called it "The Crap Machine", so it has stuck, however having said that "The Crap Machine" did take us out of a few predicaments during the rest of our stay.

This is Anfield & Wild Flowers of Inver, by Hugh Doherty

Had a brilliant day out to the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Flower Show at Tatton Park, near the lovely town of Knutsford, Cheshire. This is a four day show and it is just not possible to take it all in, in one day. The attendance was also large which meant that getting around was slow but it was well worthwhile and most enjoyable. It was nice to sit down outside at lunchtime with a sandwich and a pint of 'real' ale to enjoy a live jazz band playing 'Midnight in Moscow'.

Getting back to my reason for being at the show, to look at the show gardens; I was really impressed with, 'This is Anfield', representing the Liverpool Football stadium. The designer, Ann Picot, was inspired by the geometry of the passing moves in a game. In the zig-zag movement she used Daisies (Bellis perennis) to represent the passage of the ball to the goal. Her use of daisies was interesting because in football parlance the term 'Daisy cutter' is used to describe a powerful low shot that just skims above the surface of the pitch and usually ends up in the goal.

Behind 'the goal' is the Kop, the stand, where most ardent and vocal Liverpool supporters are usually to be found. Here she used red flowers to represent supporters' colours and grasses to give the impression of a swaying movement by the crowd. The 'boxwood balls' along the side represent the spare balls used when the match ball goes out into the stand and is slow to return (at least that was my interpretation). It was almost like being at a match.

The lower photo is of an Irish garden, "Wild flowers of Inver", designed by Stephen Dennis. This "Inver" is actually on the Atlantic coast at lovely Broadhaven Bay near Belmullet in County Mayo and not Donegal as I initially thought. As you can see in the picture a 'Bronze harp' was used as a water feature in the centre of the lake and the "strings of the harp" were actually thin jets of water. This was an amazing feature which attracted a lot of attention. The beautiful wild flowers, both native and alien, growing side by side around the lake, represents the influence of the Atlantic ocean which brought 'strangers' to our shores.

The RHS marquee housed leading nurserymen displaying and offering their plants and seeds for sale. Anyone intending to buy that special plant should do so early in the day and leave for collection later as by mid afternoon they may be sold out, as I discovered. Their prices were all "reasonable", from £2.00 upwards and I did buy some seeds which were easily carried.