Emotional homecoming for families from ‘up the country’
THERE was an emotional homecoming for families from ‘up the country’ who returned to their roots last weekend for the Maharees Heritage Autumn Reunion.
Members of seven of the nine families from the Maharees who availed of the Land Commission resettlement scheme in the 1940s and 1960s came to join with the local community to reminisce and re-establish a sense of belonging. “Most of the original people who left were unable to attend the event due to advanced age, but there was a huge turnout of sons and daughters, with families travelling from up the country and over from England said Maharees Heritage Group Chairperson Sean Spillane.
Amongst the events organised by the committee were simple gatherings that allowed people to sit together and share stories. “Full of nostalgia – a really lovely weekend,” is how organising committee member Mary Hussey described it.
Meanwhile, there was a capacity crowd at a talk by local historian Martin Lynch who outlined the sometimes harsh realities of life in the Maharees in the 1930s and 1940s as families struggled to make ends meet.
During the 1940s and again in the 1960s the Land Commission offered families on the west coast the opportunity to move into small farms of 20 – 40 acres in Meath, Kildare and Wicklow under the Land Resettlement Programme. Those who moved surrendered the title to whatever land they had at home and a few extra acres were added to the farms of those who remained. According to Seán Spillane, those who moved from Kerry and elsewhere weren’t always welcomed in the new lands in the east and some found it difficult to settle. They also missed the sea and the mountains as the fertile lands of Meath and Kildare lacked the dramatic beauty of West Kerry
“It wasn’t always easy for people as they struggled to deal with loneliness, lack of familiarity and settling into a new community,” said Seán. In some cases the newcomers also had to deal with negative reactions from their new neighbours who resented the migrants.
As part of the weekend’s activities Fr. Gene O’Donnell, who was home on holiday from St. José, celebrated an open air mass on Sunday and in his homily described the circumstances that migrants have found themselves in throughout the ages. His words struck a chord and were warmly - and at times emotionally - received by the congregation.
Following the mass, Irene O’Connor of the Green Room Bar, and a daughter of one of the families who migrated in the 1940s to Kildare, unveiled a plaque and stone seat erected to commemorate the families.
The families, and their date of leaving, as inscribed on the plaque are: Timothy Kennedy, Fahamore, 1942; Thomas Courtney, Cutteen, 1942; James Boland, Fahamore, 1943; Patrick Lynch, Fahamore, 1943; Sean Moriarty, Maherabeg, 1945; Con O’Connor, Magherabeg, 1946; Thomas Courtney, Fahamore, 1946; Stephen Courtney, Kilshanig, 1946; Michael O’Leary, Fahamore, 1966.