East Mayo community launches its biggest ever parish magazine despite Covid challenges
THE 2020 edition of Annagh magazine has gone sale in the local region and, once again, it's appearance has been largely welcomed.
At the end of a most exceptional years not only here in Ballyhaunis, but throughout the whole world, putting a parish magazine together has proved a much more demanding effort than in any of the previous years of publication.
Having said that, however, the hard working and dedicated editorial team have this year gone to even greater lengths to ensure that the much loved Annagh, now in its 43rd year, would somehow make it in time for the Christmas celebrations.
And done it in time it certainly has been! Unable to hold meeetings due to the pandemic, extra effort had to be made to keep in contact with each other, within Covid-19 guidelines, to ensure that extra material was gathered, collated and edited in preparation for publication.
Running to 208 pages, this is the biggest issue since the magazine was first published in 1978, and contains over 90 submissions from established and new contributers, along with over 400 photographs from past and present.
It features the usual mix of articles, reports, photos and poems that has made Annagh so popular with Ballyhaunis people at home and abroad over the past 40 years.
The cover features two stunning photographs of Ballyhaunis scenes taken from unusual angles, one of St. Patrick's Church taken from Beach Park (The Fair Green) and the other of the Garden of Remembrance and Bridge Street, taken by Adam Kaczmarek.
The magazine opens with a thoughtful foreword by Fr. Stephen Farragher, P.P., summing up the effects of Covid-19 on all our lives in recent months and offering words of hope for the future. Events in the town and parish are thoroughly documented in Mike Byrne's Review of the Year 2020.
Reminiscing
Annagh 2020 includes welcome offrings from regular contributors Eamon Murren, Frank Greally, Murt Hunt, Robert Kelly, Anthony Jordan and Fintan Lynch.
Amongst those reminiscing on times past are Pauline Curley, Sr. Mary T. Ruane, Willie Broderick, Pat Doyle, Michael Griffin (Manchester) and Christina Johnston.
The story of Dr. Tommie and Angela Joyce, from the pen of their son Martin, will revive happy memories of the Joyce family through the 1950s, '60s and '70s.
There is an abundance of poems in this year's Annagh from established and first-time contributors, including Gerry Carney, Martin Fitzmaurice, Michael Griffin, Anne Hughes-Irwin, Murt Hunt, Christina Johnston, Maureen Higgins and Nessa Ruane Dalton.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has dominated life in recent times, and this is reflected in the contents of Annagh 2020.
People adapted to life during lockdown in different ways, as documented by various local individuals and groups, such as the Quarantine Queens who produced a recipe book which raised much-needed funds for Cancer Care West, as well as the undertaking of a virtual Walk to New York to raise funds for the refurbished Parochial/Community Hall, the Clare Court cocooning project, one man's return to greenhouse cultivation, and a young family's impressive fitness regime.
Library services during lockdown are detailed, and much-needed advice on how to get through the Christmas season and keep a healthy state of mind is also offered.
Other events of the past year are also recorded in Annagh 2020, such as the closure of Caulfield's Shop on Upper Main Street, the reunion of the Hannon family, formerly of Abbey Street, and the remarkable story of the chance meeting of two people with strong Ballyhaunis connections in an elevator in Denver, Colorado.
These and many other wonderful articles and features are included between the pages of the parish magazine. A little sample of these will be included in next week's Ballyhaunis notes.
Hopefully, the magazine's earlier than usual (by about one week) appearance will allow overseas readers to get their Annagh in good time, given the anticipated delays in postal deliveries over the Christmas period.
The Annagh Magazine Society would like to thank all contributors of articles, photographs, and their generous patrons, all of whom helped to bring the publication to fruition once again this year.