4 days ago
Happy holidays on the bog
Sir, –Ella McSweeney's article on the recreation of our disappearing bogs I found informative and awe inspiring ('
Ireland's remaining bogs can have a second tale – of creation rather than extraction.'
)
Our annual family day on the bog was similar to the holly day when the family gathered holly to decorate our home for Christmas – key days in the family calendar.
In Ella's article there are many interesting facts about our 10,000 year old bogs. I recall our family's annual day in the bog where we spent the day on my father's favourite patch of bog which he had purchased years earlier. We learned how turf was harvested or saved as it was called – just enough for family use.
The big event of the day was the tea and sandwiches – eaten as the smoke from our very own turf fire billowed around us.
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So special are those memories that I can almost see them up against the background of white bog cotton waving gently or furiously in the breeze depending on the weather pertaining on the day – a strange and eerie picture perhaps but historical nevertheless.
It is a special moment reading of the progress which is being made in reviving these stretches of wilderness by the dedication of many who silently work on various projects of renewal of our bogs.
It is an ongoing process of patience and work – going well beyond our own lifetime, as Ella points out. – Yours, etc,
MARY RIGNEY,
Kilgobbon,
Dublin 18.
