Dear Editor,

I am writing to thank the many people of your town and neighbouring area for your help and hospitality during our recent visit to Ireland for The Gathering festivities. The 13 members of the Hegarty family, now living in Canada, who attended the five days of events in the village of Conna during the first week of August, were overwhelmed at the generosity and friendliness shown us during our stay. The parade and various

competitions in Conna for The Gathering were a real delight and one member of our party was even chosen to judge a fancy dress contest. We also were able to take part in a rare event as organisers opened up Conna Castle to allow us and the community to take a guided tour of this stony treasure, led by Tom Finn, Gerard O’Mahony and Christy Roche.

In our part of the world, an ancient building is one that is 150 years old so to tour a tower house that is over 600 years old and still in pretty good shape, is quite an amazing experience for us.

In 1994, my wife and I, with the help of Christy Roche, found the 26 acres of land near Conna that my ancestors leased and worked until they left for North America during the Famine. To our astonishment, the cottage that my family had lived in was still there on the farm and when I opened the door, I was the first Hegarty to see inside that building in 142 years. We had a reunion on the farm in 1998 when 15 of us gathered there and then in 2002, a bigger party saw 107 North Americans assemble and enjoy the hospitality of the community.

Every year since 1994, various members of our family from all across the United States and Canada have returned to see the cottage and the farm and for this

latest reunion, there were 13 of us together again. When we discovered the farm, we also began a friendship with the Sheehan family who have owned the property in Coolbaun for many years and who lived for almost two decades in the old Hegarty cottage before building

a new home nearby. We have become such good friends with the Sheehans that it is not an exaggeration for me to say that of the two experiences – finding the family cottage and finding the Sheehans – the discovery of

these wonderful people has proved more important to us than the house itself. An old ancestral home is a wonderful thing to encounter but it doesn’t have a soul and can’t smile on you, hug you and invite you to tea – or, even visit you in Canada which some of the Sheehans have done.

With all our hearts, we extend our gratitude to Bridget Sheehan and her family, especially to her son Denis and his wife Helen, and her son Matt and his wife Pauline, who live near the old cottage, and her daughter Mairead and her husband Jurick Lapot of Fermoy. They have welcomed every single visitor to the cottage for the last 19 years in the same fashion – as though we are long-lost friends and neighbours, which, in a way, weare.

Also, my wife and I, our son Christopher and daughter Sarah, would like to thank Helen Sheehan of Fermoy whose grand association with us began when we first stayed at her B&B in 1994. We have stayed with her on four holidays since then including this latest one. She was also instrumental in our finding the family farm in 1994 and like the Sheehans, has become a true and dear friend.

Over the years, other members of our family have had the pleasure of staying at the B&B of John and Mary Scanlon in Conna and have enjoyed every single visit with them.

Thanks again, Conna and Fermoy. As I have written on my Facebook page, we have just returned from Ireland and to those of you who doubt the existence of Heaven, please believe me, it is real, very green, very happy and the most blessed place on Earth!

Jim Hagarty,

Stratford,

Ontario,

Canada.