Garrán Cuimhneacháin 1916 Official Opening of Remembrance Grove in the Demesne NewcastlE West

Duncan Stewart in joyful mood at the Horse Chestnut seat with those in attendance. George Daly Garrán Cuimhneacháin 1916 Official Opening of Remembrance Grove in the Demesne Ncw

Duncan Stewart in joyful mood at the Horse Chestnut seat with those in attendance.
George Daly Garrán Cuimhneacháin 1916 Official Opening of Remembrance Grove in the Demesne Ncw

Architect and environmental campaigner Duncan Stewart was the invited speaker at the opening of Garrán Cuimhneacháin 1916 in the Demesne on Saturday last.

Tournafulla man, Dan Curtin, played some beautiful airs on the fiddle and Carmel MacDomhnaill recited ‘I See His Blood Upon The Rose’ by Joseph Mary Plunkett.

The organizers, Mike Mac Domhnaill and Jim Mac Namara, thanked the County Council for facilitating the project and for their help at every stage. Seven tree species, ‘Nobles of the Wood’, are assigned to the Proclamation signatories and there is a carved seat, sculpted from a fallen horse chestnut.

The Ogham tree symbols are there to remind us of the early Irish alphabet. And there is a seanfhocal with each tree. The grove is close to the entrance, on one’s right after the soccer field. Buailigí isteach ann.

 

Wake up call on Climate Change!

This was the main theme of the country’s leading environmentalist Duncan Stewart at the launch of the “Nobles of the Wood” Grove – Garran Cuimhneacháin Éirí Amach 1916.

Speaking to a large group of children and adults, the Grove, he said was a most appropriate way to honour the quest for freedom. The Proclamation of a century ago was a most forward looking document for its time. In seeking ownership of Ireland by the people of Ireland, equality and religious freedom, it was a model which could have transformed us as a caring people in so many more ways.

Now however we are the worst in Europe per head of population, in terms of our carbon emissions. Our reliance on imported fossil fuels, our loss of woodlands and focus on beef farming have put the targets of containing temperature rise beyond any possibility of achievement. The immediate consequences will be massive fines, but more significantly an increasingly unstable climate, with flooding, storms and more tidal waves. These effects will be felt most by the poorest in our own land, as well as in countries that are least equipped to deal with the hunger and disease that are the inevitable consequences of our present course.

The quest for freedom without a quality environment, he said, was meaningless. To the children who enjoyed the freedom of the open space in the wood, he said, you are the future and you deserve to have it handed on to you, without destruction in the interest of the few. Calling for a New Proclamation of 2016, Mr Stewart said we needed to spell out what ownership of Ireland means. Our land, air, water and woodland are community resources and should not be held by individuals or institutions while our people become homeless. Our laws and policies in agriculture could draw inspiration from the Brehon code which guarded the community against the private cutting of a Noble Oak tree, by a penalty of two milk cows.

This, Mr Stewart said was the year for reflection and re-imagining the next century and for all of us there was a responsibility as well as an urgency to act, guard and nourish the gift of freedom and not take the precious earth for granted. Commending the Nobles of the Wood Grove and the work in the Demesne with its woodland and wilderness habitats, this he regarded as a town amenity which any community could be justly proud of. Ending his presentation with the poem by Patrick Pearse “The Wayfarer” Mr Stewart said his hope was that the park would inspire and stimulate people of all ages towards valuing the diversity and beauty of the world.