Sallyanne Clarke’s
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
WHISPERING Hope is the name of a book by Stephen O’Riordan. It tells the heartbreaking true stories of Magdalene survivors who were incarcerated in the laundries in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies.
These ladies, Nancy Costello, Kathleen Legg, Diane Croghan, Marie Slattery, Marina Gumbold and Sue Leonard are between the ages of 55 and 80 and describe their horrific treatment in these institutions. They suffered harrowing physical and psychological abuse in these State-run places at the hands of religious sisters that were supposed to care for and nurture them.
I didn’t realise orphans and ‘troublesome’ children were placed in Magdalene Laundries and these places were referred to as ‘training schools’. They reveal the shame and the secrecy that surrounded these awful institutions, and the threat of being sent to the ‘asylum’ was always hanging over them.
Stephen O’Riordan is a documentary maker and in 2011 founded the Magdalene Survivors Together charity.
They were able to move forward by joining forces to fight for justice for the ‘Forgotten Maggies’. These five ladies, together with Stephen, have come together to tell of their experiences at the hands of the Catholic Church, which was more powerful than the State in those days. To think that the State paid religious orders to take care of their charges, and no one thought to investigate. Religious institutions were beyond reproach in those days.
It’s not an easy read, but these courageous women want to ensure their side of this dark history is never forgotten, and more importantly that it never happens again.
Through this process, friendships have been forged.
They feel now they have been able to tell their story, that a weight has been lifted.
Justice for these ladies is still being sought, but this book has been therapeutic for them, as well as telling the true happenings behind these once very high walls.
Highly recommended as a gift or stocking filler, it’s available for €9.99 in bookshops.
ON a very different note, when we have new team members starting in l’Ecrivain and they’re so focussed on what they’re doing they forget to smile, the first thing I ask them is if they have their own teeth — then they smile! That’s all I want them to do.
Good teeth are so important and I always try to look after mine. I’ve had lots of surgeries lately and the only thing I’ve done with my teeth is have them cleaned.
This week, I finally had the time and inclination to have fillings replaced that have been bothering me for a long time. I’m delighted. My teeth are far from perfect — but they’re mine.
These women want to ensure this dark history never happens again