Creeslough community thank Donegal Association from ‘the bottom of their hearts’ for special award

The people of Creeslough have been presented with the Donegal Person of the Year award 2022 by the Donegal Association Dublin at the Bonnington Hotel.

The ten victims of the explosion in Creeslough, Co Donegal in October were remembered in a ceremony on Saturday night. And in a fitting break with tradition, instead of one person being presented with a trophy, 12 members of the Creeslough Development group on behalf of the community were presented with the notes of a specially commissioned piece of music along with the customary award scroll.

Speaking to the assembled guests at the Gala award dinner after receiving the award a representative from Creeslough said the community would like to thank from “the bottom of their hearts” the Donegal Association for their support and for organising the event. The representative added that the community were very appreciative of the support they received from all over the world for the tragedy that struck them.

[ ‘I am still alive but my life is different now’ - survivor of Creeslough explosion says his ‘heart is broken’ ]

President Elaine Caffrey earlier noted that the association was originally founded in response to another disaster, the Arranmore tragedy in which 19 people drowned off the Donegal coast in 1935.

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Internationally renowned fiddle player Matt McGranaghan, who composed the commissioned piece of music, ‘Olldáimh’, also performed it on the night along with pianist Denise Roper.

Explaining how the piece was composed he said, “On that fateful day I, like so many other people from Donegal, wanted to be in my home county with my family, friends and community”.

He said that he came to realise that there were four affinities which people drew on for comfort and healing during such times of loss, namely a sense of one’s individual self, a sense of belonging to one’s people, one’s place, and a sense of belief in one’s faith, whether religious or otherwise.

With the help of Irish language experts he discovered that there were four Irish words that represented these four affinities namely ‘anam’, ‘fialas’, ‘dúchas’ and ‘dóchas’ all of which are encapsulated by the word ‘olldáimh’.

The piece begins with ten specific notes which correspond to the letters of the place name Creeslough and thus represent the place itself.

Towards the end of the piece there are ten notes which are played with a silence in between each representing the ten people who lost their lives in Creeslough.

The hauntingly evocative piece was performed along to a video of times past in Creeslough together with some panoramic sights located nearby and received a standing ovation from the 360 guests.

[ ‘Where words fail us, music steps in’: Concert held in memory of Creeslough explosion victims ]

Caffrey said she “could not thank enough” McGranaghan and Roper for their performance and that “it was rare that a piece of music leaves you speechless”.

The assembled guests observed a moment’s silence to remember the people who on October 7th, 2022 lost their lives in Creeslough who were James O’Flaherty (48), Jessica Gallagher (24), Martin McGill (49), Catherine O Donnell (39) and her son James Monaghan (13), Hugh Kelly (59), Martina Martin (49), Robert Garwe (50), Shauna Flanagan Garwe (5) and Leona Harper (14).

Caffrey also thanked the previous recipient of the award, entertainer Noel Monaghan for his trojan work in promoting Donegal.