Good Luck Lads!

Here's wishing the very best of luck to Gerry, James, Ronan and all the Dromahair Intermediate team taking on Gortletteragh this evening in the County Championship final in Ballinamore. Kick-off is at 5.30.

DDA Meeting & Community Notices

Dromahair Development Association are holding a public meeting on Tuesday night 2nd October at 8pm in the Depot to discuss the proposed footpath from the entrance of the OPW down to the Park. A feasibility study has been completed and the options available to us will be looked at on the night.


DROMAHAIR COMMUNITY NOTICES

Classes in The Depot

September has been a busy month for the Depot with the return of the classes for the new season. 

Karate classes are on Monday and Friday evenings under the instruction of Michael Sweeney. 

Aerobics Classes are back on Monday and Thursday evenings and Sue Mc Gowan gets everyone moving to the beat. Classes are suitable for all, regardless of fitn

ess levels so contact Sue for further details.

B- Sharp music classes are in the Depot on Tuesday evenings with John Farron giving instruction to beginners through improvers to the finished product.

Dromahair AED group held 3 meetings in September to refresh and organize training needs for the surrounding areas. Anyone wishing to become involved with the group should contact Ann Mc Williams or any member of the group. AED working to save lives in our community.

Dromahair Parent and Toddler group is back each Tuesday morning and Sandy Welsh is the contact for anyone wishing to attend or just come along on the day at 11.30am.

Dromahair Active Age group meet in the Depot each Wednesday morning from 10.30am and have numerous activities in place to entertain members so why not come along for the cuppa and a chat and enjoy the activities.

St. Joseph’s National School Killenummery

“It’s The Real Mc Coy”
Have you ever laughed for two hours? If you’d like to then come along and see…..

It’s The Real Mc Coy. A brand new 3- Act Irish comedy that will have you in stitches, written and directed by Tommy Marren (Midwest radio), the follow up to The Banshee of Crokey Hill. The play will be held in Killenummery Hall , Ballinagar on Friday 26th October and Saturday 27th October. Only a few weeks to go and tickets are selling fast. Tickets are available from The Blue Devon, The Club House and Mc Goldrick’s Londis priced at €15 each. Play starts at 8pm. All proceeds on the night to St. Joseph’s National School, Killenummery.

Ready Steady Cook

Ready Steady Cook in aid of “The Chapel of Ease”, Church of Ireland, Lurganboy

Will be held in Community Centre, Manorhamilton on Friday 26th October at 7.30pm. Celebrity chefs Joe Shannon(TV3) and Brian Mc Dermott(UTV) and local chefs Gabriel Mc Sharry and Sylvester Dolan(members of Panel of Chefs of Ireland are taking part and providing the entertainment on the night. With Wine and cheese tasting. Tickets €10 and are available from Jennifer 087- 7708689 Patricia 087- 6990874 or Lily 087- 7954186. 

Dromahair Development Blotto

The Blotto is back in action again for the new season and tickets are available in all local businesses. The Development Association need your support more than ever as they embark on the provision of new Footpath and Lighting down to the community Park. We have had a very busy year with a lot of work done, landscaping at new water treatment plant and at Drumlease corner with the re building of stone wall and putting in lawn. This has tidied up this approach to the village and we thank you for your kind comments, they are encouraging. We also had major clean ups in the village and gave facelift to some of our derelict buildings. We went up 8 points in the National Tidy Towns competition. However it’s not all about points, its about pride in where we live and making it look as good as we can for those of us living here all year round and for visitors. Dromahair Development thank you for your continued support.

S.T.O.P. Suicide - Help is always out there

STOP Suicide is a registered charity which was set up to assist and support individuals who feel suicidal or are in distress, and those bereaved by suicide.

STOP Suicide provides a free 10-week counselling service with fully qualified and Garda-vetted counsellors and psychotherapists. Counselling can take place at the offices of STOP, or at a place suitable convenient.

STOP Suicide also facilitates a bereavement support group on the first Thursday of each month at the Bee Park Resource Centre, Manorhamilton. This group brings people together to share their experiences and to receive help from those who share their pain. All who have been bereaved by suicide are welcome.

STOP Suicide also promotes positive mental health and related issues by visiting (upon request) schools, communities and organisations throughout the North West.

STOP Suicide's services are funded by those who have given their time to fundraise for the charity, which will be well known to residents of Dromahair as an organisation which was set up by local people in response to the loss of their own loved ones to suicide. 

Helping your child stay safe online

Following recent events, The Diary thought it might be useful to give parents some help and advice regarding internet safety for their children. The following guidelines and tips were prepared by Carolin Collins of In-Tandem Web Design. Many thanks Carolin.

Some Basic Guidelines

Become web-savvy yourself! You have to understand the social media environment yourself before you can successfully help to educate your child in Internet safety. In today’s world, you simply need to be a step ahead wherever possible.

Only allow your child access to a computer in a high traffic area in your house.

Know who your child is connecting with online. It’s a good idea to ask your child to go through their online contacts with you every few months. Ask them to explain exactly how they know every single person they are linked up with and ensure that they stick to the “one degree of separation” rule.

Educate your child about the importance of safe passwords, that they should not use the same password for all of their online activity and first and foremost should never share their password with anybody.

Continually dialogue with your child about online safety.

FACEBOOK

There are many positive sides to Facebook and if used properly and safely, it can be a fantastic resource for staying in touch with friends who live far away, being entertained, organising social events and doing educational and work-related research. However, the key here is “used properly and safely”.

Guidelines

If you don’t have your own Facebook account, open one. You don’t need to link up with lots of people or even put up any personal information yourself. But “friend” your child so that you can keep an eye on what is going on in their own account. Make this a condition of their continued use of Facebook (and if your child is of an age that they are asking to open an account soon, make this a condition before saying yes)! You can make a commitment that you will stay silent in the background and don’t embarrass your child by commenting or liking any of their comments.

To most teenagers, having large numbers of “friends” on Facebook makes them feel more popular and they can therefore be quite indiscriminate with who they “friend”. Sit down with your child and ask them to go through their list of Facebook “friends” one-by-one, explaining to you exactly how (or even just if) they know them personally. Ask them to remove any friends that they have never met face-to-face.

Go through your child’s Facebook Privacy Settings with them, taking care to look through every single option and judge what are the most appropriate settings. I would highly recommend that no setting should be set to anything higher than “Friends Only”. If your child has even “just” 200 friends, and each of these has the same, a status update or photo upload by your child could potentially be seen by 40,000+ people! So even though the term “Friends of Friends” might seem like a reasonable connection to allow, on Facebook this can quickly escalate to stellar numbers, especially in teenage circles.

Take a look with your child through the apps they have installed in their account. Assess which are actually still actively being used by the child and delete all others. For those that are still being used, check that any status updates can only be viewed by the account holder or friends at the most.

Get your child to enable the Tagging Approval setting. This can be found in Privacy Settings/Timeline & Tagging.

Also switch off tag suggestions, found at the same location.

In Privacy Settings/Apps, Games & Websites change settings to disallow the use of your child’s data by apps installed by their friends.

Through continuous dialogue, get your child to understand the implications of sharing personal information with the world. Teenagers today are growing up in a world of global sharing and collaboration. This is not a bad thing in itself, it is just a new way of thinking that many of us adults are simply not used to. Learn to separate the positive from the negative and help your child to recognise long-term implications of their online activities. Shutting their online life down is not the solution. Teaching them to operate within it in a responsible and alert manner is the only way forward.

Some Terminology
Facebook Profile v. Facebook Page: People set up Facebook ‘profiles’, businesses/bands/organisations/brands etc. set up Facebook ‘pages’. Both look quite similar except that linking up on an FB page is one-directional (a fan of a business can simply click on a “like” button to show support for that business and agree to receive status updates from them) whereas linking up on a Facebook profile requires agreement from both parties (one person sends a “friend” request to another, and the recipient has to accept it before the two are fully connected and will now begin to receive each other’s status updates).

Timeline: Your Timeline is your main content location. It contains all your stories, your photos and videos, a list of your friends, your favourite activities and interests, and what used to be called your “Wall”. This is where your friends can leave you messages, and you can update the world with anything you feel like sharing.

News Feed: The News Feed is a continuous stream of updates about your friends’ activities on and off Facebook. It appears on your Home page. In addition to updates from friends, it will also show updates from the FB Pages you “like” (eg. special offers or new product announcements from brands, announcements of new album releases from bands and in the case of teenagers quite often jokes, funny images etc. from FB pages that are set up solely for entertainment purposes and don’t represent any actually entities)

Tagging: Users can upload images to Facebook for the purpose of sharing them with their friends. After uploading an image, they can “tag” a friend in the image by clicking on the friend’s face in the photo and typing their name into a field. If that friend also has a FB account, it will now link this image to their account as well (although the friend does not have any editing power over the image) and will appear in their Timeline. Taking this one step further, the image will now also appear in the News Feed of this friend’s friends! UNLESS the person tagged manually removes their tag from the image or specific privacy settings are put in place that require an “approval” step in the first place before a tag can be published. More about that later.

Messaging: Users can send each other direct messages via Facebook. As an alternative to public messages on each other’s Timeline, they are able to hold private conversations whilst both are logged into Facebook. When the “chat” is completed and closed down, there used to be no further record of it. However, now these chats are saved into the Messages functionality

Apps: These are small add-ons that can be installed within Facebook and which give the user some added functionality. For teenagers, apps will probably be mostly in the form of games but can also be used for video chat and to connect their Facebook accounts with other websites and social media sites. Apps are generally not produced by Facebook itself but rather by third-party app developers. There is no vetting of app quality and most apps will request some sort of access to user’s personal details in order to be installed. It is imperative that children understand the implications of allowing apps access to their information without taking a closer look at what is being requested. Often, apps will not only access the user’s own details but also those of their friends as well! Furthermore, many apps require the user to give permission to the app to post status updates in their Timelines on their behalf. This could be required for innocent updates such as game scores but should not be simply accepted as a matter of course.

Fraping: Facebook-Raping … “I got fraped!” This is the term used when another person enters a status update on your child’s account after having gained access to it (probably because your child shared his/her password). Most teenagers find this very funny and fraped comments are often something like “Mary is the most beautiful girl in the world. I really admire her style, she is so intelligent and I simply wish I could be more like her!” Here, the post was probably entered by Mary on her friend’s Facebook account and is quite innocent. However, the potential for harm is obvious.

If you do not have a Facebook account yourself and don’t feel confident enough to set up your own account in order to explore its inner workings, please contact me at carolin@intandem.ie.

ASK.FM

This is a social networking site that has only become prominent in recent months. However, in this short time it has made a serious impact and large numbers of teenagers will have opened an account. “Find out what people want to know about you!“ is its tagline. It currently has around 16 million users worldwide with 20 million questions being asked each day.

Ask.fm is a site dedicated entirely to questions and answers. Users can ask a question or submit answers. The site also allows users to post anonymously or with their name attached to their contribution. The answers can be either in text or video format. Users can check out other user profiles, which include the user’s interests and an area to submit a question directly to the specific user. The user profile also lists the number of answers the user has provided and how many likes they received by the Ask.fm community. Ask.fm is available in numerous languages, including German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Norse, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and many more.

Ask.fm was founded in June of 2010. The application was intended to act as a conversational question and answer tool. Ask.fm would encourage users to interact and hold discussions to help find answers to the user’s questions. The company is based out of Riga, Latvia and currently consists of less than 10 individuals, including CEOs Ilja and Mark Terebin.

Unfortunately, whereas the original intention of the site might have been as an innocent conversational tool, in teenage circles it has quickly established itself as a forum for gossiping, sexual innuendo and in the most serious cases cyber-bullying.

Fortunately, most local teenagers seem to have deleted their ask.fm in light of recent tragic events as a mark of respect and in recognition of the pitfalls of such a site.

Recently, 12-year old Amy spoke with Francis Boylan on Ocean FM about ask.fm, discussing how it works and the dangers associated with the site. It is very worthwhile listening to the interview here: http://soundcloud.com/oceanfm/amy-who-spoke-to-francie

Guidelines

Simple: get your child to shut down their account if they have one.

If you decide to allow them to keep their account, make sure you take a look at their page regularly to see whether there are any posts of concern. However, remember that you will only see questions that have been answered! If your child receives inappropriate questions but does not answer them, they will not appear on the page and you will be none the wiser that there could be a problem.

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA AND GUIDELINES

I have uploaded a PDF file containing a series of guidance sheets for teenagers and parents about all things online. These fact sheets originate from the website http://www.netsmartz.org/ and you can download the document here: http://www.carolincollins.com/info/Online-Tips.pdf

As always, your comments are welcome at dromahairydiary@gmail.com

DARC Meeting

The DARC Committee is holding a public meeting on Friday next 28th @ 9.15 pm in Blue Devon Function Room.  The main item on the Agenda is the transfer of The Park from The Park Trustees on behalf of Dept of Agriculture to DARC.  We encourage as many people as possible from Dromahair, Newtownmanor, Killargue, Killenummery, and Ardvarney to attend to show their support for this important community project.

DARC want to thank all the people of Dromahair, Killargue, Ardvarney, Killenummery and Newtownmanor for the welcome and encouragement they had for all the teams of DARC collectors. We wish to thank all those households that have given such support to this project to date. Representatives will be finalising collection in the areas over the next two weeks. For those people who were to drop envelopes into the Surgery, we ask if that can be done within the next week . Many Thanks once again.

Avril's Kilimanjaro Story

Recently Dromahair's Avril Banks climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of the charity, Aware, which aims to defeat depression, and in memory of her late uncle, Eugene Banks. Here, in her own words, Avril tells us how she did it............

 My Kilimanjaro Experience – “The Lemosho Route”

3^rd September 2012

Climbing Kilimanjaro was not a lifelong dream of mine. In fact, it took me all of one day to decide to do it. After seeing something online about it last February, I decided there and then it was time for me to set myself a challenge. A friend of mine put me in touch with Ian McKeever, who brings groups from Ireland to climb Kilimanjaro, and I asked him a few questions regarding the climb. Before I got off the phone with him I told him to put my name down for the September climb, I paid my deposit and I was ready to start training.

Between February and September I put in quite a bit of training to get me into shape by climbing as many of the local mountains as possible. The toughest being when I met Ian McKeever, and others training for Kilimanjaro, to climb Croagh Patrick on a very cold, wet March morning when we climbed it twice that morning. I put a lot of my fitness down to running with my local Athletic Clubs, North Leitrim AC and Sligo AC.

After a lot of training and fundraising, in aid of AWARE in memory of my late Uncle Eugene, departure date finally arrived. The actual climb itself wasn’t what worried me, it was going on a trip like this without knowing anyone. Arriving at Dublin Airport at 2:30am, on September 3^rd, I spotted a few people wearing hiking boots. Sure enough we were all in the one group.

KLM delivered us safely to Kilimanjaro Airport. After getting our luggage and VISAs sorted, we all met Ian McKeever in arrivals and proceeded to get the hour long bus journey to Arusha. We were staying at the Ilboru Safari Lodge. A very bumpy bus ride once we got off the main road. If you think we have potholes in Ireland, you’ve seen nothing. We just stayed one night there before our climb the next day. A nice comfortable hotel and the toilets were luxury compared to what we would enjoy on the mountain.

Day 1:

After a 2 hour long bumpy bus journey we arrived at Londorossi Gate to get registered for the climb. No turning back now! We had another 40 minute drive before we arrived at our starting point. We met all the porters, guides, medical team etc... We had our own personal porter who carried our main luggage for us. My porter was called Pasco, he had his work cut out for him! There must have been a crew of at least 40. Yes 40 people to look after 19 people. We were greeted with lunch and we met our chef, Tuesday (that was his name). What he can produce in a tent at over 3000m on a gas stove is unbelievable. We then started our climb. Probably one of my favourite days. It was a three hour trek through rain forest. We were on our way to the highest point of Africa, Uhuru Peak, 5895m. As we started to gain height, my legs loosened out and as I started to get to know our group a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

Before we knew it, we could hear the sounds of Mti Mkubwa Camp pierce through the tranquillity of the rain forest. I got my first taste of camping Kili style. The porters had passed us out, carrying our main luggage along with other camping equipment. Pasco was waiting for me to arrive and he brought me to my tent which was all set up and he had all my gear in it already. My tent roomie for the climb was Sarah Doherty, a lovely girl from Donegal and working in Dublin. We became fantastic friends throughout the week and supported and encouraged each other.  At camp we got a basin of warm water to freshen up. We had popcorn and hot drinks waiting for us in the mess tent. This is also where dinner was served. The mess tent is a large tent that was fully kitted out with tables and chairs. Bed early with a hot water bottle and all!

Day 2:

My first night on a Kili Camp site was better than expected. We were awoken by a porter “good morning, how you sleep?” We then got a basin of warm water and a mug of tea. After getting freshened up and ready to go, we got our blood pressure, heart rate and O2 levels checked by Dr. Clemence, William and Ian, which was done every morning. Back to the mess tent for breakfast where we got porridge. It didn’t look very appetising but I ate as much as I could as I knew I’d need it to fuel me for the day and as a very picky eater I was afraid I mightn’t like lunch. I soon became known as Miss Porridge to the porters! As we got prepared for the day ahead, I heard the head porter, Baboon, shouting. He was calling the porters together and led them in song as they did every morning for the rest of the week. It was brilliant and really put us in a great mood for the day ahead.

I personally found Day 2 to be very tough. The trail immediately steepened and narrowed and we left the tranquillity of the rain forest, and onto Kili’s moorland. We stopped in a valley for lunch, rice and chicken, delish! We refilled our platypus and bottles. After lunch we climbed the Shira Plateau. We eventually saw our first sighting of Kibo (Kili’s Peak). I couldn’t stop looking at the sunset on the glorious mountain. It was breathtaking. We arrived at Shira 1 Camp for the night. At this stage we were at 3600m.

Day 3:

Got our usual wake up call, medical check-up, breakfast, song/dance etc.. At this stage I was feeling fine. No altitude problems so far for me, although I heard some of the group were suffering from headaches.  I found day 3 to be one of the easier days. I noticed how slow we were walking. It was frustrating, as you want to walk faster, but the guides know what they are doing. The slower you go the more likely you will have success. The only thing that slowed us down was all the pee breaks.  I was going through 5/6 litres of water a day. We arrived at Shira 2 Camp early that evening so it was nice not to have to sort ourselves out in darkness in a small tent with a head lamp. We got to know some of the porters a bit better as we passed the evening in the mess tent playing cards. We went to bed knowing we had a tough day ahead of us as it is the most important day for acclimatisation.

Day 4:

I woke up feeling like I had a hangover. When getting my blood pressure checked with Dr. Clemy it turned out to be quite high so he gave me a tablet for it. Today we reached a height of 4530m where we stopped for lunch at Lava Tower. At this stage we were having lunch at a height higher than Mt Blanc. We were given the choice to climb Lava Tower or continue to camp. I decided to climb Lava Tower as I felt it would be good for acclimatisation. We made our way back down to our next campsite, Barranco Camp at 3950m. Barranco Camp was the most scenic campsite and my favourite of the camps. Set in a valley among forests of Senecio Kilimanjaro. Looking at the stars every night took my breath away. So clear and they felt so close. I could easily make out the Milky Way.

Day 5:

Barranco Wall towers above Barranco Camp. Technically it was the most difficult part of the climb. It was quite intimidating as I could see other groups gone ahead of us scrambling up. I actually enjoyed it as it was a change from the monotonous walking. It is a near vertical path where in places you have to haul yourself up. Everyone was in great form and very encouraging. It was a great relief to reach the top. From the top of the Barranco Wall we then went down to the Karanga Valley and upwards to Karanga Camp at 4100m, our base for the night. It really is difficult to describe the views. We are high above the clouds and you almost feel as though you could jump and spring across the thick fluffy clouds. A few of us had a late night playing cards, especially when Conor produced a little bottle of whiskey. A great night of laughter with the porters.

Day 6:

Most definitely the most difficult as two days become one. Today we made our way to Barafu Camp from where we would make our summit ascent. I knew the next two days would be the toughest of my life so I had to get in the right frame of mind and remember why I was here! I hadn’t eaten much for the last two days but I really forced myself to eat plenty of porridge as I knew I needed it for fuel and energy. It was the shortest hike of the week. When we arrived at Barafu Camp I really felt the cold. This camp is pretty wild, perched on a high ridge it is an overcrowded jumble of rocks dotted with hundreds of tents. I don’t know how but they slotted my tent in a lovely flat spot surrounded by the rocky landscape. Got a lovely dinner as usual. The plan was to get all our summit gear ready and sleep in most of what we were going to be wearing for the summit. We retired to our tents at about half 5 to get some sleep.

Day 7:

Wakey wakey!! 12:30am we were woken up for breakfast. It was so difficult to drag myself from my cosy sleeping blanket and get up in the middle of the night in freezing temperatures. Our porters really showed their kindness here. My guy made sure I was well wrapped up, tied my boot laces and checked my backpack.  A few bowls of porridge, my pockets full of jellybabies, headtorch, spare batteries, about 7 layers of clothes and I was good to go! By 1:30am we were on the long, cold relentless trek to 5895m. Pole Pole (slowly slowly), one foot in front of the other. The first three hours were so tough and I had my first wave of nausea. It just came out of nowhere. Our guide, Sam, gave me a tablet and I was better within 10 minutes. I was so well wrapped that I hadn’t noticed how cold it was. When I went to take a sip of water my platypus had frozen. Luckily I was prepared with a bottle of water in my bag wrapped in a sock. I could see Stella Point for hours, it looked so close yet we were going so slowly and zig-zagging the whole way up that it felt like we’d never get there. We had a break and watched the sun rise before finally arriving at Stella Point where we were greeted by some porters with a mug of tea. Stella Point is often a place where people are so exhausted that they cannot continue the 45 minutes to the summit. I could see the summit in the distance, there was no way I was stopping now. I was feeling tired but seeing the summit and seeing people coming back down looking so happy and proud of themselves gave me a newfound spring in my step and I was ready to see the challenge through. It was here I thought of the advice one of my heroes, Gerry Duffy (professional speaker, entrepreneur, author, coach, athlete), gave me back in April: “Believe you can and you’re half way there”.

At sea level this walk would have taken 15mins; it took us 45-60mins. I could see the amazing glaciers all around. I really enjoyed this last part as I knew the end was near and I was going to complete the challenge. Finally, we reached Uhuru Peak which means freedom.

The highest point in Africa, the highest free standing mountain in the world at 5895m and I was there!!!

It is almost impossible to describe the feeling reaching the top. I wish it could be bottled. I’ll never forget the feeling of joy, accomplishment and pride. I was there in memory of my uncle Eugene so there were tears, but joyful tears as I know he was there with me.

Making our way back down in a day and a half was very severe. It was relentless and very slippy through the rainforest. I just wanted to get back to the hotel and have a shower and a nap and go for a few drinks with our porters. I left a lot of gear to Pasco and a tip. He was so so grateful.

What I learned from this trip:

·         My personal, mental and physical strength and determination to climb for 8 days and reach the summit;

·         I can say with pride that I have climbed one of the seven summits;

·         The time to reflect on where I am in my life and where I want to be. Believing that anything is possible with a “can do” attitude;

·         How beautiful Kilimanjaro is, as it rises through rain forest to desert and onto glaciers;

·         Pride in raising nearly €6000 for AWARE- helping to defeat depression. Thank you for donating;

·         I made the most wonderful friends on Kilimanjaro and it has given me huge self-confidence that I can go anywhere and do anything I want.

Dedicated to my dear Uncle, Eugene Banks RIP.   I hope you saw me near the sky. xx

Last of the Bird's Eye Views

Here are the last few aerial shots of Dromahair. Thanks again to Trevor McDaid.

Time to Talk

How many times have we heard news journalists describe a community as "devastated" following a tragedy? These past few days in Dromahair I realised what that phrase meant. A pall of sadness and disbelief has hung over our village since last Wednesday evening. What is a deeply personal tragedy for the Pugsley family is also an issue which greatly affects our wider community, and it is an issue which we must address. This cannot be swept back under the carpet only to rear its ugly head again in tragic circumstances for another family.

At the church on Saturday evening Father McTiernan spoke masterfully and passionately about the dangers of cyber-bullying and the challenges which face our young people on the internet. He spoke of the need for parents and children to communicate and deal with issues in a constructive and healthy way. He spoke particularly to teenagers, assuring them that suicide is never the answer, that there is always an alternative, that help is always available if needed. As I listened to his words I looked around the churchyard and saw dozens of young faces, hurt, frightened, confused, distraught. Our children are struggling to make sense of what has happened, as indeed are we. Our job as adults, as parents, is to help them come to terms with the enormity of the loss inflicted on the family of Ciara Pugsley and on her friends, schoolmates and neighbours. More than this though, we need to help them to deal with the issues which face them on a daily basis. Young minds are fragile, impressionable and easily scarred.

Over the weekend I heard many people call for the banning of mobile phones and the internet. This is understandable but it is also unrealistic. The internet is a fact of life and is not going away. It is an enormous source of information, a marvellous vehicle for communication and extremely valuable if used in the right way. What we need to do as parents is to educate ourselves about its workings and its dangers and to equip our children with the tools they need to navigate safely through its social networks.  We need be vigilant, to supervise, control and monitor effectively and to discuss openly, with our children and with each other. We need to question and we need to listen.

I don't know what is the best course of action for us to take to help our young people to recover from this tragedy and to prevent another. I do know that we have to try. As a community we have to pull together for the benefit of our next generation. We owe it to the memory of Ciara Pugsley and to our own beloved children. We simply cannot skirt the issues of cyber-bullying and teenage suicide. The stakes are too high.

Like everybody here in Dromahair I was profoundly shocked and upset by the events of the last few days. I struggle to make sense of this needless loss of a precious young life. I worry about what will happen next. I don't have all the answers. I'm not sure that anyone does. What I do know though is that we will not get any answers unless we ask some tough questions. It's time to talk.

If you have ideas, suggestions or comments, please get in touch at dromahairdiary@gmail.com

The passing of Ciara Pugsley

It was with deep sadness that the Diary learned of the untimely passing of Ciara Pugsley of Killargue, Dromahair.

Our thoughts and heartfelt sympathy at this difficult time are with Ciara's mother, Aggie, and all her family and friends.

Removal is tomorrow, Saturday, to St. Patrick's Church, Dromahair, arriving at 6pm. Funeral mass on Sunday at 1.30pm, followed by burial in Creevelea Abbey cemetery.

May she rest in peace.

Demons Festival AGM

The Dromahair Demons Festival committee is holding its A.G.M. on Thursday 27th September at 9.00pm in the Blue Devon. Come along and show your support for the festival. More volunteers are always needed to help spread the load of organising this fantastic local event.

Drumlease N.S. Parents Association AGM

Drumlease National School Parents Association is holdings its A.G.M. at 8.30p.m. on Tuesday 25th September in the school. This is an opportunity to review the work the Association has done in the past year and to get involved in the plans for the coming year. In these straitened times a strong Parents Association is vital to support our wonderful school and its teachers, for the benefit of all our children. Why not come along and see what we do, and perhaps even join us?

Cinema North West

Our friends at Cinema North West have a packed schedule of events in the coming days. Check out the list below for something to suit all tastes;

Thursday 20th September
The Listening Room

facebook.com/events/320073584756702/    


Friday 21st September
Culture Night      
facebook.com/events/354461064630257/  


Saturday 22nd September
Leitrim Mobile Cinema 10 years on the road    
facebook.com/events/236265436496713/


Sunday 23rd September
Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey Manorhamilton
facebook.com/events/255624094540306/



Wednesday 26th September
Studio North West Paul Donovan Producing Masterclass
facebook.com/events/134967313316720/

For more information about the above events or for details of this year's Adaptation Film Festival featuring the works of the great John Huston, go to www.cinemanorthwest.com

Jewellery-Making Course

Learn to make earrings, necklaces, bracelets including Shamballa style, beading and wirework.
No experience necessary.
6 Week Course costs €120 including ALL MATERIALS.
Starts Wednesday 26th September at Friarstown, Dromahair, 7.30 - 9.30 p.m.
For more details contact Jean 086-8485078

Adult Ceili Dancing

Adult Ceili Dance classes will commence in the Bee Park Centre in Manorhamilton on Monday 1st October. Come along for a bit of fun and exercise while keeping the culture alive. For more details contact Clare on 087-2720068. Spread the word!

Focus on Business: Loves Legacy

Over the years I have learned that what is most important about a dress is the woman who is wearing it  - Yves St. Laurent

Who could argue with this? Especially on the day of a wedding. After all, the whole purpose of the wedding day is the joining of the bride and groom in marriage. For many women however, their wedding dress is one of the most important purchases they will ever make. Making the right decision is therefore crucial. Perhaps this explains the success of Dromahair's couture bridal gown specialist, Loves Legacy. The bridal wear studio was set up in June of last year by Nicola McHugh, with the aim of supplying affordable couture, and has since gone from strength to strength, with customers from all over Ireland.

What sets Loves Legacy apart from other bridal gown suppliers is its exclusive collections from Chanticleer and Terry Fox, although the studio does offer a wide range of designers, including Paloma Blanca. Dresses are custom designed and fitted to suit the bride-to-be and a professional, personalised service is assured. A complete suite of accessories and jewellery is also available.

Loves Legacy also caters for bridesmaids and mothers-of-the-brides.

In addition to bridal wear, the studio also stocks a varied and elegant range of occasion wear suitable for graduations, debs. nights and other formal situations. Communion dresses are also on offer. Loves Legacy is a member of the Wedding Federation of Ireland, so excellent customer service is assured at all times. Opening hours are 10am - 9pm, 7 days, by appointment only.

Nicola and her husband Eamon are originally from the Letterkenny area but settled here in Dromahair seven years ago. This busy lady combines running her business with looking after her six children, aged from 11 years to 5 weeks (no, I don't know how she does it either!) ably assisted by Eamon who, Nicola says, knows more about dresses than any man in Ireland. Nicola likes to use and promote local suppliers where possible, and is happy to recommend Beauty on your Doorstep by Niamh and GRV Productions to her customers.

Loves Legacy, Cashel, Dromahair     071-9134502    info@loveslegacy.ie

For anyone who cares to leave a comment about this article, Nicola at Loves Legacy has very generously offered to donate a piece of jewellery as a prize for what is deemed (by the Editor) to be the best comment.

Come Dine With Me Events

A message from the DARC side

Thanking all the people in Dromahair, Ardvarney, Killargue, Killenummery and Newtownmanor for making all the DARC collectors feel so welcome at their doors and for the support received to date which today stands at €120,000. The collection teams will be working hard to get back to houses within the next two weeks. Envelopes can also be left into Dromahair Primary Care Centre. Many thanks once again to everyone.

Town Trail: Stop No. 1

Stop No. 1 on the Dromahair Town Trail is St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, built in 1889.

The church is built on a rise overlooking the River Bonet. The site was donated by the local landlords, the Lane-Fox family, who also opened the building fund with a subscription of £50. The church was formally dedicated on 9th March 1890, the foundation stone having been laid on St. Patrick's Day 1889. The first mass was celebrated on Christmas Day 1889. The celebrant was Fr. Cormac McSharry, who in 1888 wrote to the Sligo Champion "for more than fifteen years mass has been celebrated in various houses - most of the faithful have to kneel outside. For some time we have the use of a small school-house in which is a little moveable altar". With this letter Fr. McSharry initiated and began fundraising for the building project. He is buried in the church yard adjacent to the front door.  St. Patrick's church was re-dedicated with a centenary mass on 9th March 1990.

Who's the Genius?

Gentle readers, it would appear that we have something of a creative genius in our midst.......

Dromahair Social Directory

At last the Dromahair Social Directory is ready to publish! Click on the tab at the top of the page to have a look.

There are still one or two groups whose details are yet to be included. Without doubt there will also be groups or organisations which have been inadvertently omitted or which the Diary just doesn't know about. There may also be errors in group names or contact details.

If you are part of a group and would like to have your details included, or if you have spotted any errors, please get in touch at dromahairdiary@gmail.com

Social Dancing

Get your dancing shoes dusted and ready for Social Dancing which recommences In Killenummery Community Centre on Sunday night, September 16th at 8pm. Come out and enjoy an old-time waltz, quick-step, jive and many more dances. No partners needed and both men and ladies are encouraged to come. Continuation will depend on attendances. Please come out and support!

Irish Dancing

Irish dancing classes have resumed in the Clubhouse on Tuesday evenings at 6.30. All beginners are welcome. For more information contact Clare on 087-2720068.

Dromahair from Above

Another few fine bird's-eye shots of Dromahair, courtesy of Trevor McDaid.

Leitrim Business Expo

This year's Leitrim Business Expo will take place on Thursday 11th October at the Landmark Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon from 4 - 7 pm. This is a great opportunity for local businesses to showcase their wares and for Leitrim consumers to see what is on offer in their local area. The cost for a stand is €35 and booking closes on 21st September. Admission to the public is free of charge. Further details can be found here.

Dromahair Town Trail

Most of us will have seen the Tourist Trail signs dotted about the village but how many of us have actually followed the Trail?

With apologies to cartographers everywhere...

Stop No. 1            St. Patrick's R.C. Church, built 1889.
Stop No. 2            The Old Mill, with cannon from the Spanish Armada
Stop No. 3            Drumlease House (Millbank House)
Stop No. 4            Church of Ireland School (The Library)
Stop No. 5            Gillmor's Yard
Stop No. 6            Drumlease Church, built 1806
Stop No. 7            Church View (house opposite church)
Stop No. 8a          Dervogilla Bridge
Stop No. 8b          The O'Rourke Banqueting Hall
Stop No. 8c          The Lodge
Stop No. 9            Villiers' Castle
Stop No. 10a        Creevelea Cottage (opposite Dr. Jordan's house)
Stop No. 10b        Craven Lodge (Dr. Jordan's)
Stop No. 11          Abbey Manor Hotel
Stop No. 12          Creevelea Abbey

Over the coming weeks the Diary will publish a little more information about each of the stops on the Trail, so we can all get to know our wonderful village a little better.

Sweeties coming?

While on one of my regular walks (reconnaissance missions) yesterday I noticed quite a number of brown boxes piled up in the old Cheese Etc. shop. Curiosity awakened, I peeped through the window and saw lots of jars of lollipops and assorted goodies. Are we to have a confectionery emporium in the village? Tantalising as this sounds to one with such a sweet tooth, I'm not sure my waistline can handle it.....

The passing of Anthony Judge

It is with sadness that we record the passing of Anthony Judge of Beagh, and late of Finglas, Co. Dublin, beloved partner of Brigitte Christoph, our local vet. Anthony passed away suddenly but peacefully while on holiday with Brigitte's family in Germany last week. His funeral took place in Dublin yesterday.

May he rest in peace.

Come Dine With Me Events

Queen clears boards for Stanford crown

Congratulations to Eibhia Ní Mhuireagain who took first place in the Stanford Inn's Chess Blitz on Saturday. Eibhia beat all comers and won the title without losing a single piece. This amazing feat is rendered all the more remarkable by Eibhia's age - she is just 11 years old. Definitely a young lady to watch for the future. Well done Eibhia!

Good Luck Avril

Good luck to Dromahair's Avril Banks, heading for Africa this weekend where she will climb Mount Kilimanjaro (the White Mountain) in aid of Aware, the charity which aims to defeat depression. You go girl!