Mission Blog #47

Blackrock Castle, Cork

Blackrock Castle is a great spot to begin a walk along the paths by the water; the Lee River becoming wider as it leads to Mahon Bay and then south towards Cobh and out to the North Atlantic.

Dark clouds don't dissuade the locals and their guests from a day out for sailing.

There are about 5 miles of walking/cycling paths, play parks, and benches for taking a wee rest here in Blackrock. 

We stopped down the way for a gelato and noticed a couple sitting - the man was wearing a Banff National Park t-shirt so we had to talk to them. Tina was also wearing a Banff t-shirt. Turns out he has never been to Banff but wants to. He is from Spain. We had a nice chat about Canada and Spain and all the beautiful places like Ireland.

Midleton is a satellite town to Cork of 13,000 citizens about 16km's east of Cork City. In 1180 advancing Normans led by Barry Fitz Gerald established an abbey at a weir on the river. 

The town gained the name Midleton or "Middle Town" as the main town midway between Cork and Youghal (where Sir Walter Raleigh was credited with planting the first potatoes in Europe).

Midleton is home to the Old Midleton Distillery - which boasts the world's largest pot still - a copper vessel of 140,000 litres that operated until 1975.

Very good friends of ours from Dundalk (Noeleen and Brendan) contacted us ahead of a vacation they were taking to the south. We arranged to meet for pizza at a restaurant in Midleton near where they were staying. Noeleen remains the most dedicated missionary meal provider we've ever met.

Interesting fact - a film company was using Noeleen's flat as a 'location' for some detective show, hence why they left for a few days to get away. It was very nice to catch up with them and hear about everything and everyone in our former home of Dundalk.

Some local art in Midleton.

This photo, taken at Cork Lough, is just to prove that we do have sunshine once in awhile here in Cork. We hurriedly put on our walking togs so we could get out and capture it all...first time in our mission when I've donned my shorts and sandals.

Ballincollig Regional Park, Gunpowder Trails

Ballincollig Regional Park - the trail system and park here cover an area previously utilised for the manufacture of gunpowder. Known as the 'gunpowder trails', they have created a wonderful park including paved walking/cycling paths, unpaved but marked trails through the forest, sports fields, and children's play park.

Ballincollig Royal Gunpowder Mills was one of three mills that manufactured gunpowder for the British Government. The mills first opened in 1794. They closed permanently in 1903 and later Cork County Council bought the mill grounds and developed a public park.

The Cork Branch will be having a picnic/BBQ on September 2nd. The Regional Park was decided to be the venue and we volunteered to check it out further. As part of the picnic we thought it would be good form to volunteer for some litter pick up at the park. We spoke with the Tidy Towns folks and we met with Pat Clarke at the park to do a walk-around and see where we could help. The main trails are well taken care of by county employees, but as you leave the trails, there are areas of litter.

As we walked along I asked Pat about his family, where he's from, etc. And that flowed into talking about where I'm from and that I have a wee bit of Irish ancestry, located mostly in Northern Ireland. Then we began to talk about family history and I learned that Pat is a member of the Cork Genealogical Society, which he informed me (which we knew) meets monthly in the family history library of our Church building. It was a wonderful conversation about the thing that we can all agree is so important - our family. While we were walking I was able to pull up my Family Tree app on my phone and show Pat the online resources, part of FamilySearch. He was impressed by that, he was.

Pat spent about 45 minutes with us talking about the park, the trails, and listening to me talk about what we do as missionaries here in Cork. We'll meet again on our picnic day.

Fitzgerald Park, Cork Public Museum

Fitzgerald Park...where we hadn't been before. There was a wonderful museum that really covered all the history of Cork including Vikings, bronze age, etc.

The museum building is a converted Georgian house built in 1845 by the Beamish brewing family. The house and gardens were purchased to become part of the 44 acre site of the 1902 Cork International Exhibition. The house hosted dignitaries and royalty such as Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

From the Lord Mayor of Cork, a few of his ornaments of power...

Sport is celebrated here in Cork...those aren't short hockey sticks, but are ancient hurling sticks, or hurls. In Ireland hurling is as big as hockey is in Canada. We will often see young and old alike in open park space whacking a sliotar (ball) back and forth. Cork has alot of pride in their teams, going way back. When the ladies play they call it camogie.

The park is about 12 acres and contains a pond, the Museum, a sculpture trail, bandstand, cafe and a large children's play area (shown here).

The pond, with seating areas all around. The day was grey but warm.

The variety of trees we see is a contrast from home. This is a chestnut tree, but there are oak, maple, cedar, various firs, and even a 'tulip tree'. 

We love some of the odd-shaped trees just doing their own thing.

Daley's Bridge, or 'the Shakey Bridge', is a pedestrian suspension bridge built over the Lee River. One of the local parent's in the park called it the 'wobbly bridge' when asking his son if he wanted to go over it. It's made primarily of wrought iron so it isn't a flimsy suspension bridge, but it will move if you run or jump on it.

It's easy to see how this end of the island created by the two forks of the Lee, could flood occasionally. On the left is the island. The Daley Bridge joins Fitzgerald Park and Sunday's Well area of Cork on the north.

The other side of the River Lee has beautiful homes with amazing, lush gardens.

In church today, we again had our new friends, the Roths, attending. Christel said that they went to two previous churches in Cork in recent weeks, and the children did not like them at all. But they absolutely love coming to our Cork Branch. We understand why - everyone is so welcoming, and are enthusiastic in their faith. The young missionaries have begun teaching the lessons and they continue to absorb the simple doctrines of the restored gospel. 

We heard each of the youth in the Branch talk in church today about their experience at the 'For The Strength of Youth Conference' in England this week. From 14 to 18 years old, all having a transformative experience - attending devotionals, doing service, doing skits, having talent show, attending a dance & banquet, and bearing testimonies to each other of what they felt this week. 

What a day, and we look forward to another week doing our small part in inviting all to come unto Jesus Christ. Tomorrow we visit an elderly couple in Bantry who travel 1hr 20 minutes to Church in Cork, faithfully.  We'll be their first visitors. We look forward to visiting and ministering to them, and hearing of their journeys - of hearing the gospel message, and then moving here from South Africa. 

Our hearts are heavy for those in Omagh, Northern Ireland, who ponder the loss of 30 or so of their citizens (including one member of the church) 25 yrs ago in a random bombing. We also unite our prayers for those people in Lahaina, Hawaii who have lost so much in recent wildfires; and also in British Columbia, and Alberta. The Church is organising aid in Hawaii, and many will rally to help re-build. We mourn with those who mourn.

We are grateful for the blessing of serving this mission in beautiful Ireland. This is the work of gathering Israel, we testify.

Thank you for your interest and support.

   Elder Eric & Sister Tina McMurray

   Scotland-Ireland Mission