Write a commentNext Saturday will see Newry host the annual National Famine Commemoration ceremony to remember and reflect on the Irish famine.
The event is to remember the millions of men, women and children who died during ‘The Great Hunger’ of 1845 will be held in the north of Ireland.
To mark the commemoration, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has organised a series of events culminating in an official ceremony at The Albert Basin, beside Newry Canal on Saturday 26 September.
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Naomi Bailie says, “Newry Mourne and Down Council is honoured to take a lead role in hosting the National Famine Commemoration. I sincerely hope our programme of events will serve as a fitting reminder of the devastation and loss experienced by millions of people in the years of the Great Irish Famine 1845-49 and beyond. No county was left unscathed when the potato crop failed and, for many of those who fled in search of a new life, their journeys began from the ports of Newry and Warrenpoint.”
Records show that in 1847 The Lady Caroline ‘a fine ship found in Bread-Stuffs, water and fuel’ sailed from Warrenpoint to Canada. The emigration office reported that neither sickness nor death occurred on board this vessel during the voyage and that the passengers were landed in cleanly condition and a healthy state’.
Others were less fortunate. Two years later, ‘The Hannah’ sailed from Newry but was shipwrecked on an iceberg in The Gulf of St Lawrence. When he realised there was no hope of saving the ship, it’s understood the captain ordered the ship's carpenter to hammer shut the after hatch, trapping the passengers below, but another seaman wrenched it open. Forty-nine people were reported to have perished that day but many of its passengers were miraculously rescued by another famine ship, The Barque Nicaragua, under the command of Captain William Marshall.
Councillor Baillie continued, “This programme of events has been put together to explore further the social, cultural, linguistic, economic and political legacy of the famine. We are privileged to have contributions by renowned authors, historians, artists and musicians. Our local school children and students will have opportunities to engage with the human stories of the famine and respond creatively”.
A special plaque will be unveiled in Warrenpoint on Sunday 27 September to commemorate those who suffered on the island of Ireland during the Great Famine.
The Annual Famine Commemoration will culminate in a wreath-laying ceremony and a minute’s silence in remembrance of those who were lost through death and emigration.
The first commemoration event took place in Dublin in 2008 in recognition of the fact that the Great Famine affected all parts of the island. The location of the annual Commemoration has rotated in sequence between the four provinces since the first Commemoration took place in Dublin in 2008. In 2011 it was held in Ulster (Clones, Co.Monaghan) but this is the first time the event will be hosted in Northern Ireland.
The commemoration programme of events runs until 1 October 2015 and you can get a programme at the Sean Hollywood Arts Centre or throughout the city.
Pre-event interviews with historians, schools, musicians, actors and academics taking part in the commemorative programme can be arranged on request.
Other Events
Sports Clubs have been invited to hold Minute’s silence during week end of Annual famine Commemorations
The Council has written to local sports clubs inviting them to observe a minute’s silence at events taking place during the weekend commencing Friday 25 September in memory of all those who suffered loss during the Famine; loss of life, loss of family, loss of home and loss of country. It will be a very special and dignified tribute to those who died during the Great Famine and the Council is asking the local community to reflect on the tragedy of the Famine and its resonance with world events today.
Community Choirs
A 122 member collaboration of local community choirs will perform as part of the ceremony to commemorate the Great Famine in Ireland.
The choirs have been rehearsing together for several months in the Sean Hollywood Arts Centre, Newry, on a repertoire which includes “An Irish Blessing”, “County Down”, and “You Raise Me Up”.
Newry Community Choir, Cloughmore Male Voice Choir, Gaudeamus, members of Kaleidoscope, and Accolade Choirs will join forces and raise their voices as one in what promises to be one of the ceremony’s highlights.
Conducted by Dominic Wadsworth and Nikolai and Vessie Ivanova from Accolade, the Famine Commemoration Choirs’ contribution has been made possible through the daunting creative process of bringing the choirs together each week to rehearse. Not having worked together before, Dominic, Vessie and Nikolai, had to work as a team to arrange the songs in a way which would allow each of the choirs’ talented singers to perform to their respective strengths.
School Children
Pupils from local Primary and Secondary schools will play an important role in commemorating the Great Irish Famine side by side with Diplomats and Honorary Consuls representing countries across the world. Primary School children will form a guard of honour for foreign diplomats as they arrive in Newry for the Commemoration ceremony. Ambassadors to Ireland from across the world as well as Honorary Consuls to the North of Ireland will also lay wreaths as a mark of respect to the many who perished or left these shores as a consequence of the Great Famine.
Pupils from local secondary schools will also play a key role in presenting wreaths which will be laid by senior Government and Council representatives, from both sides of the border.
John Mitchel and the Legacy of the Irish Famine Conference
An International Conference, being held in the Canal Court hotel, Newry from Wednesday 23 September to Friday 25 September, is among a programme of events leading up to the Annual Famine Commemoration.
The conference, which is organised by local historian, Anthony Russell, is sponsored by Newry,Mourne and Down District Council, and will feature over twenty academics and writers from Ireland, Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia. The Conference will consider the causes, impact and legacy of the Great Famine, especially in Ulster. Topics, related to the theme, ‘John Mitchel and the Legacy of the Great Famine’, will be as varied as famine folklore, famine medicine, and emigration.
A special feature on Thursday 24 September is seven speakers, with seven slides, on seven topics, each in seven minutes. Also on Thursday there will be a discursive walk to John Mitchel’s grave.
The conference entertainment will include a courtroom drama, written by Larry McArdle, ‘The Trial and Trials of Trevelyan’. The evidence for and against will be presented and the audience, being the jury, will decide on Trevelyan’s guilt or innocence.
Local Churches
The Annual Famine Commemoration will mark a tragic period in Irish history and will reflect on the impact the Great Famine had on the people of these islands and further afield. The remembrance of those who died or had to leave these shores is an important element in fostering an appreciation of the impact the famine has had and continues to have in modern Ireland today. Local Church leaders, represented by Canon Brown and Rev Barry will attend the Commemoration and will deliver a prayer and short reading in a solemn reflection of the poignancy of this period of history.
