Diocesan News
Flood anniversary events in the North West
Separate events were held in the North West, on Wednesday evening (22nd August) to mark the first anniversary of last summer’s flooding, which brought devastation to a number of areas in counties Londonderry and Donegal. Homes were wrecked and roads and bridges swept away by one of the worst downpours in living memory
The Rectory Grounds in Eglinton were packed by people of all ages, on Wednesday evening, as the three main local churches marked the anniversary with a Community Fun Day. Eglinton was one of the communities worst affected.
The Fun Day took place at the exact time the rain began falling a year earlier although this year the weather conditions could hardly have been more different: people milled about in shirt sleeves or summer dresses, eating ice cream and enjoying music from a live band, as smoke from a barbecue wafted across the Rectory grounds. A children’s roundabout was installed in the courtyard, there were bouncy castles on the lawn, and there was face–painting and balloon games for younger children.
The Rector of Faughanvale, the Rev Canon Paul Hoey, and the Minister of Faughanvale Presbyterian Church, the Rev Lindsay Blair, mingled with their guests, although the third of the joint–organisers, Fr Noel McDermott, was unable to be present. Among those who attended were the Deputy Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Alderman Derek Hussey, and Independent Councillor Maurice Devenney.
In a short address, the Deputy Mayor congratulated the local community for their resilience in coming through the past year, in the face of the many difficulties they had been confronted with.
That community resilience and the sense of togetherness with which the villagers had responded to last year’s crisis were the qualities the three local church leaders had sought to celebrate on Wednesday evening.
As that event drew to a close in Eglinton, a few miles away in Londonderry, a year to the day after it, too, had been flooded and almost destroyed, the Parish of Glendermott and Newbuildings’ appropriately–named ‘Another Chance’ outreach centre and charity shop, was beginning to host a Thanksgiving Service and Family Fun Evening for the local community in the Tullyally area.
The event was jointly–organised with the Inner City Trust and Tulllyally Community Centre. The outreach centre is based in the Glendermott Business Park where a number of businesses were extensively damaged. The ‘Another Chance’ shop was flooded to a depth of around three feet and its entire stock destroyed.
Twelve months on, the outreach centre has been redesigned and re–stocked, and volunteers flitted in and out of the premises to feed the parishioners and local residents, some of whose homes had been flooded last summer.
A barbecue was ‘fired up’ in the car park and dozens of sausages and hamburgers prepared while the Service was taking place. The Service was led by the Rector of Glendermott and Newbuildings, the Rev Robert Boyd, assisted by the Rev Arthur Burns and the Rev Nigel Cairns.
Those taking part in the Service gave thanks that – while there had been substantial damage as a result of the flood – no lives had been lost; and the victims of the recent flooding in the Indian state of Kerala were remembered in the prayers.
More photos from the events are available on the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe’s Flickr page.
For further information please contact:
Diocesan Communications Officer, Derry & Raphoe
Mr Paul McFadden
028 7126 2440
07525 826290
press@derryandraphoe.org