Remembering the victims of the Titanic disaster

THIS weekend, April 9 and 10, 35 people from the Lahardane area of Mayo are heading down to Cork to be part of the Cobh (Queenstown) Titanic Celebrations.

They bring with them music, dance and stories from Mayo to Cork city, in celebration of the 14 young emigrants who passed this way some 99 years ago on their way to board the Titanic. Some of the 35 travelling from Lahardane are direct relatives of those 14 emigrants from Addergoole, 11 of whom drowned when Titanic sank. We would love to meet up with any fellow Mayo or west of Ireland people living in Cork.

Tonight we will have a traditional Séisiún in the Corner House Pub in Cork City at 9pm, where our musicians and dancers celebrate and remember the thousands of emigrants from the west of Ireland who travelled this route to a new life abroad.

On Sunday, April 10, at the invitation of Cobh Tourism, adults and children from the Lahardane locality in Co Mayo will participate in the Cobh Titanic Memorial Service. All those who boarded at Queenstown and died when the ship sank are recalled at this annual commemoration in Cobh, Titanic’s last port of call. A Titanic Parade is followed by a special prayer and wreath laying service and then a wreath with the names of all 79 victims who boarded from Cobh is taken out to sea. Of special note this year will the remembrance of the eleven passengers from Addergoole Parish in Mayo who lost their lives. Children from our parish will participate in the Cobh Titanic commemoration and read the names of those 11 Mayo victims during the service.

For more Information on the unique connection of a tiny Mayo village (Lahardane) to the Titanic, see www.mayo-titanic.com

Dr Paul Nolan

Addergoole Titanic Society

The Dispensary

Lahardane

Co Mayo