‘Old photographs are the coronavirus way of céilí-ing’

The manager of the most northerly community centre in Ireland has encouraged local people to have a rummage around in their attics for a new reminiscence project.

Malin Head’s Ali Farren explained he set up the ‘Malin Head Memories’ Facebook page to help people “céilí during the coronavirus crisis” by sharing old photographs.

The irrepressible Ali added: “We are all ‘incubating’ at the minute and people have time on their hands, so I set up the ‘Malin Head Memories’ Facebook page. I got the idea because from Malin’s ‘Memories of Malin’ page and Culdaff’s ‘Our Culdaff’ page.

“We have already got more than 400 people sharing photographs, old photographs ideally. It has turned to be a brilliant bit of craic and we are seeing priceless photographs, which would normally have been sitting in an attic and risked be destroyed or lost. So, people are on ‘Malin Head Memories’ sharing photographs and sharing memories.

“Over the years, Malin Head was also a popular holiday destination. Families have been coming back for years and we would love to see their photographs too. I am after putting up photographs taken in the 1960s by Dave Phillips from Edinburgh.

“We would also love to hear from people who used to live in Malin Head but have now left Ireland and are maybe living in the US or England. If they have photographs, they could share that would be brilliant as well,” said Ali.

Ali said the ‘Malin Head Memories’ reminiscence project had received very positive feed back “from people who are now spending hours of their day now going through photograph albums.”

He added: “These re-discovered photographs are memories that belong to the whole community. Memories are being shared that probably would not have seen the light of day but for the ‘stay at home’ restrictions. It is the coronavirus way of céilí-ing with our neighbours.”

Reflecting on life up North during the lockdown, Ali revealed he spends a little time each morning getting Mass up on the iPad for his mum and dad.

He said: “I go to their window and my father and mother, who never had an iPad in their lives, hand it out to me and I clean it and set up Fr John Farren’s Mass from Iskaheen and hand it to them. They then go and have breakfast and have Mass. Fr John is fantastic. He is doing brilliant. I have a pile of people in Malin Head tuning in.”

With a chuckle, Ali said people in Malin Head were also passing the time by doing work the planned to do “10 years ago but never got around to.”

He added: “My brother is building a polytunnel and houses are being cleaned to within an inch of their lives.”