Near-biblical flooding won't stop 97-year-old Evelyn going to Mass in Offaly
Spirited 97-year-old Banagher woman Ev (Evelyn) Kennedy wasn’t going to be deterred from Mass by the deluge, which has seen her family marooned for the past month.
The great grandmother, who has been living with her son since the flooding began in December, insisted on attending Mass at the weekend despite being surrounded on all sides by floodwater.
Her daughter, Maura Flannery, explained that Ev, who is very independent, normally lives in the town centre but that a leaking roof forced her to move in to her son’s home.
“It just kind of coincided with the flood and she ended up staying in my brother’s house on the Crank Rd,” said Maura.
“There are three houses of us — myself, my sister, and my brother — and we are all basically marooned for five weeks.”
For more than a month now, Maura and her family have been surrounded by floodwater. All trips in and out of the area have to be made on a tractor which is shared between the three houses.
However, that didn’t deter Ev when she decided she had to attend Mass.
“She is 97, 98 in March, and she decided she was going to Mass on Sunday,” said Maura. “I said, ‘Look it, if she wants to go, let her go’,” Maura said.
In order to take Ev to Mass, a chair was placed on the tractor’s transport box and Ev was wrapped up in warm clothes for the quarter-mile journey through floodwater. She was accompanied by her daughter-in-law Bernie and granddaughter Sara.
She made the final leg of the journey to St Rynagh’s Church in Banagher by car.
Describing Ev as “fantastic”, Maura said her mother is “born and reared Banagher” and has lived all her life in a big house in Banagher town. Although Ev “loves her independence”, Maura believes she is starting to enjoy the company out in her new surroundings.
Maura runs a B&B but has been unable to operate her business during the floods. She has lost a lot of business as a result of the flooding.
“I have all my rooms closed off indefinitely,” she said.
One group recently travelled over from the UK only to find their accommodation inaccessible. The party had left a booking number which couldn’t be reached, but luckily Maura had arranged alternative accommodation when they reached Banagher.
