Exhibition

Lest We Forget

Every Thursday eight on the dot Week after week We down tools and clapped Clapped ‘til our hands got sore While rainbows full of empty promises Appeared in windows Up and down streets A of show of appreciation for an NHS staff. We did not winter out with you When you shivered on the picket line In the January cold Blowing ungloved hands To keep warm. Cocooned in our cars We tooted our horns And sped on our way Those with power refused to bend No crock of gold At rainbows end.

Day after day you held the front line When the invisible black ball with the red sticky spikes Snuck into our lives Heroes of the end NHS The chorus rang out We denied your humanity Heroes don’t cry Their flesh doesn’t crawl When they clasp the hand Of a dying man Or panic rise At the crescendo of noise From bleeping machines And sucking tubes. Twelve hours in a space suit You struggle to breathe Your children are waiting You are afraid to go home Your eyes fill with water You brush them aside Cos you are a hero And heroes don’t cry. The snowdrops bloomed early in 2021 Their pure white blossom Pushing from the dark earth Their symbol of hope Transcends into our hope That when this darkness passes (as pass it will) We will never let you Winter out alone again.

May Morris

Handymen in a Time of Covid

These days, they wear masks, their tools hang out from belts as they stand back to explain what they’re going to do. They’ll eat no offered food, bring their tae in flasks to be gulped in the van. I can’t settle ’til they’ve gone, sanitise everything they’ve touched, even though they’ve left me in a better place than before they came.

Trish Bennett

If I Won the Lottery During Covid

I’d hire a private jet to pick me up at St. Angelos and fly me to the Scottish Highlands to watch the Annual Men in Kilts Pole Throwing Competition. While there, I’d compete in the Over 50s Frustrated Housewife Armwrestling Tournament. My opponent — a chain-smoking Glaswegian called Brenda, an arm on her like Popeye on spinach.

Trish Bennett.

Making It Through

Other things filled the emptiness of lockdown; there was love and appreciation I dreamed of my grandchildren walking through the gate I met my grandchildren on the Diamond in Enniskillen and I could have eaten them

My granddaughter was nine weeks old when I met her We touched hands against the glass We sat on either side of the doors and spoke on the phone. She wore headphones because she couldn’t hold the phone for that long We talked on the iPad

I learnt to go out and sit in the garden rather than go out and ‘do’ the garden Life slowed down and the important things stayed I couldn’t hear through the glass I missed all the music but then I listened to the birds singing I faced a cancer diagnosis without the support of my family I just longed to hold my daughter’s hand and listen to her chatting with nothing between us I managed…just! In times of fear and hardship I have always turned to prayer. I missed going to sit in a church and praying I had a stroke and my world was shrinking. Over the lockdowns my world nearly disappeared My neighbours looked out for me I felt despair in the second lockdown Groceries and kindness were set on my doorstep It’s hard to laugh out loud on your own Are you there? Please unmute yourself I didn’t realise that I depended on so many people for just the simple things in life I got a food parcel and it was beautifully wrapped My husband came home early from work and my day just brightened We took a boat down the river with a flask and sandwiches. Our old love grew stronger during the long lockdown months Frustration

It gave me a chance to think and reminisce I had time to take stock of my life I started outdoor swimming; I swam with the tides and waves.

A Crystal in the Time of Covid

With this crystal I would buy nine long months with my mother good health for all my family peace of mind and knowledge to let go a cruise with my family, stopping off at new places

a lifetime of love for each of my children my freedom so I could have my life back a helicopter because that is the travel of the future

a last conversation with my mother the sound of the waves from the Indian ocean a dance in Belturbet to Brendan Boyer sing the Hucklebuck platform shoes from Corrigan’s shop

the morning after a dance a mineral in the Astoria a jive in Glenfarne my red dress which swirled out at the side courage for the future an end to this virus.

The word ‘crystal ’ comes from the Greek for ice. In the frozen state of lockdown we used this amethyst crystal as a way of allowing our imaginations to take flight.Time as we knew it dropped away - we travelled across countries, continents, timezones. We travelled into the past and dreamed ourselves into safe futures.

Exhibition

The Hanging Gardens of Drumhaw

As the Spring of 2020 arrived, so did the end of normality.

Seamus Heaney penned ‘If we winter this one out we can summer anywhere’

The year progressed and as each changing season emerged, perhaps we began to experience the beauty of nature. Daily exercise and walks were our only outside experience. We revelled in the beauty on our doorstep. Looked with new eyes at our locality. Found new joy in the garden. The day centred on that hour of freedom, when we could escape the safety of indoors and breathe in the cherished outside air. Mother Nature played her trump card and showed us that life could be fully experienced in the beauty around us. The spectrum of colour that nature has prepared brings a smile to our lips and a reminder that we have what we need, right here on our doorstep.

This piece represents the seasons we were locked in, isolating or shielding.

The Good Room

Life is full of unpredictability. Although we follow routines – we wake up, we get dressed, we have breakfast and the day unfolds in the general format of what we normally do, occasionally we experience a break in our daily sequences.

In the Spring of 2020 routines stopped. The way our day normally unfolded stopped. As the months progressed, the World also stopped.

We reacted. We retreated to a safe space. We wrapped ourselves up inside our homes. We sat waiting for news, for guidance and for symptoms. Our home became our window to the world. We sat down in the rooms inside our homes and we listened. We listened for rules. We listened for advice. We listened for ways to cope.

And while we sat in our rooms and waited we slowly began to reconnect to each other. We saw the worth in our family, friends and communities. We respected conversations more. We became aware that the needs of others were perhaps our responsibility too. Within this piece of work, The Good Room is filled with items that reflect this and bring us comfort.

When we are born we are wrapped in a blanket. When we need to rest we sit down. We use words to bring comfort to one another. We store our memories and possessions in a safe place.

The sofa represents a place of comfort, displaying cushions that express what we hold dear.

The chair is a comfort seat, displaying blankets to bring about a feeling of being safely wrapped up.

The glass cabinet holds our treasured memories.

The walls are filled with crocheted pieces that reflect the beauty of nature.

The Good Room is a response to how we reacted to the pandemic.

The Wash Stand

Hands. Face. Space.

Three simple rules to keep us safe.

Washing our hands as often as possible became our new way of keeping safe. What a simple thing to do. We could save ourselves and others by simply washing our hands more often.

And as we cleansed the germs from our hands, we also cleansed ourselves of myths about life.

The things we had previously strived for seemed to ebb away from us and in return, a simplified life appeared.

Status was washed away.

Our air became cleaner.

We stood still for longer and began to see more clearly the worth of our family and friends. We began to see that each person, each home and each job was of equal measure.

We looked to family, to our close-knit communities and to our carers with newfound love and respect.

The simple wash cloth reflects the things we hold dear and the renewed respect we have for each other.

With Gratitude

This project was created by individuals and community group participants from Fermanagh. Without their creativity, patience, partnership and practice this work would not have been possible. In the first instance, thank you to all the participants. Community groups involved include Wark Hall Belleek, B-Friend Hub Fermanagh, Westend Community Centre, Courthouse Community Centre Newtownbutler, Teemore Women’s Group, Donagh Development Group, Fresh Focus Day Centre, Cherish Sure Start., Drumhaw Fold and the Ballinamallard Strorytelling Group. Champions within these organisations include Betty Johnston, Rita O’Loughlin, Lorna Davison, Majella McDonald, Mary Burke, Pauline O’Reilly, Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Mandy Graham.

Rural Housing Association received support for this project from The Princes Countryside Fund. Fermanagh and Omagh District Council supported the launch of the project in conjunction with Culture Night 2021. Community Arts Partnership received support from the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland through the Community Arts, Culture and Heritage Fund as well as Department for Communities. Principle funders for Community Arts Partnership include Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council.

We would like to extend a special thanks to the facilitators of the project: Teresa Kane (storytelling and creative writing); Anne McCann (Crochet and crafts arts); Belfast Exposed, Mervyn Smith and Lisa McQuaid (photography). Fermanagh Community Transport delivered 110 craft kits throughout the County. Professional photographers who took doorstep portraits of participants include Lisa McQuaid, Katrina Taggart and Neil Patterson. Thank you to Brian Mc Anespy, Ruth Boyd from the Craft Market, Karin Eyben, Kieran Maguire and David Lowe from the Men’s Shed Enniskillen, Nigel Glover from Action Mental Health New Horizons. Marilyn Quinn from Fermanagh House as well as Jason, Fiona and Hayley. Steven Tunley from Community Arts Partnership designed this publication.

Cottage image: Laura from Fresh Focus Day Centre