18th September 08Ireland:
Just a bit of a catch up to our blog. Some of you will have known that we decided in late July to attend our family reunion in August and to also accept the invitation from folks in Dublin to spend a month or so amongst them. We had no idea how this would come about, but God enabled it all to come together amazingly.
The few weeks leading up to going were quite busy and on departure day after a full- on-day Rachel, Kevin and I set off at midnight and travelled to Ireland via Singapore and London arriving many many hours later feeling very very weary – by the time we fell into bed again we had been up for 50 hours. It was fairly uneventful travelling, just long and not all that comfortable, but that is the nature of flying in the economy section of the plane.
We were so warmly welcomed and cared for wonderfully by our hosts in Dublin it was fantastic – the first couple of days we had lovely mild weather and had opportunity to recover and rest under their roof before we set off in our hire car to drive North West across this beautiful country to Sligo where the Barton Smith Family Reunion was to take place.
We were informed on our arrival that the B & B we had booked had cancelled their bookings due to illness. A neighbour of one of the cousins had offered to look after us for the weekend. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but were delighted to meet a charming retired doctor and his wife who really treated us like royalty. We had a most beautiful and comfortable room with private bathroom and an amazing view over the harbour. Rach also had a room with a view. Mary, the lady of the house, cooked us a full Irish breakfast each morning and was always ready to have a cuppa and a chat – it was just amazing hospitality and to be on the receiving end was a blessing.
We were quite excited at the idea of meeting many rellies again and to meet new ones who would be attending from all over the world. All in all there were 100 plus “Barton Smiths” who met together over the entire weekend.
To say we really enjoyed ourselves is a bit of an understatement. It was just a thrill to meet and talk, and talk and talk some more. We began the proceedings by a walk around the town of Sligo on the Friday afternoon; followed in the evening by the best BBQ we have ever been to, held in another cousin’s house where many of us began to meet each other for the first time.
The following day we began at the Radisson Hotel for morning tea, then lunch, then dinner, then a local pub for some live Irish music. There was opportunity all day to mix and talk – I think the most used phrase of the day would have been “hi, I’m such and such, who are you and where do you fit in”. It was certainly not a time to be shy, otherwise opportunities to meet some very interesting people would have been missed. The printout of the Family Tree extended about 12 metres along one wall and allowed us to check where we fitted in to this large family.
On the Sunday morning we all set off to attend a service at St John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Sligo. In the back of the building were the gravestones of the forebears of the Barton Smith Clan. We were welcomed warmly at the church service and just prior to the service the minister walked into the church and was heard to say ‘oh I say, looks like ‘rent-a-crowd’ are here today’ well knowing that we would all be there. He was a lovely man and had some good things to say.
After inspecting other family graves outside, we got into our private bus with Kevin’s cousin who acted as tour guide for the afternoon. We drove to a very old Irish house – Lissadelle House, (where another cousin used to work) which belonged to a family by the name of Gore Booths. We had a delightful lunch in “the stables” and then toured through the house. If only the walls could have told us a few stories as well as our official guide. Then we checked a few other sights on our way back and we finished off the evening at another Irish Pub/Café with our very own “fiddler” finally saying all our farewells around midnight
The following Wednesday “The Sligo Champion” newspaper ran a full page article about the Reunion
click here if you are interested to see the newspaper article.
This occasion was also to celebrate the 220th Anniversary of the Barton Smith Business which operates right in the heart of Sligo. It is quite unreal for us Aussies to think about this because the “Barton Smith Business” was established the same year that Captain Cook arrived in Australia!
It was a wonderfully rich reunion and we really appreciated the amount of work and time and energy put in by so many of our family, but particularly Barry who was really responsible for instigating the whole thing – it was really a result of him checking out his own family history a few years back for his own family, which led him to write an amazing fact filled book which we discovered linked us all together. So Barry, if you are reading this – we think you are pretty terrific and we are so pleased to know we are distant cousins - thank you from us.
30th August 2008When all was done we left Sligo and headed South West to a place called “The Burren” in County Clare. We met up with about a dozen of the folks we know from Dublin who were having a couple of days ‘break ’together exploring the beauty of the area. . We all stayed in the same hotel and had a lot of fun with them. Rach and friend Sarah joined us as well. There are some pretty amazing things to see in this part of the country, and we thoroughly enjoyed a few days there. We thought it was wet last year when we were here, but this year it is even wetter.! It has rained every day for the last two weeks but have to say we have seen the sun as well. You can be walking down a street in the sun and suddenly there will be heavy rain while the sun is shining and you can get soaked to the skin in a few seconds! It had to happen to me for me to believe it!
After leaving “The Burren” and departing company with the folks, we headed even further south to places like “The Ring of Kerry”, “Killarney” and many many little villages along the way. Our trusty GPS helped us find our way around really well. The Irish roads are always a challenge in that they are incredibly and unbelievably narrow. However, most Irish drivers are very patient and courteous and with roads so narrow, if there is an oncoming car, you have to slow to a crawl and breathe in to enable both cars to squeeze past each other, usually giving each other a wave at the same time. Trucks and buses are something else!!
We saw once again why Ireland is called the Emerald Isle and were awestruck by the rugged beauty, the ever changing terrain and the ever changing weather! After a few days exploring down south, we headed back to Dublin.
2nd September, 2008Kevin and I are now staying in Ashford which is about 35 minutes drive directly South of Dublin. Rach and friend Sarah are staying with other folks closer in around Dublin. In fact, just a couple of kms away from well known people who live in Dublin, such as Bono, and Enya!
Kev and I stayed in this area last year amongst these folks and it is a great joy to be here again. There has already been much talking and much “sharing of what God is doing”.
