My brother Frankie  and I were out on the bikes for the first time this year and did a brisk 15 miles along the shores of Lough Neagh near the village of Maghery County Armagh. This public sculpture piece is at Maghery and was commissioned a few years ago as part of a project called “Art in The Wetlands” by the local council. The sculpture consists of two 7ft tall standing, over life-size and interlocking bronze figures holding four 12ft long iroka timber oars, each of which pointing in one direction of the compass. It explores navigation and traditional boats on Lough Neagh.  The artist is Holger Christian Lönze, an established bronze sculptor and artist based near Ballydehob in West Cork.  He trained as a furniture maker before studying architecture in Detmold and lithography and sculpture at Queens University in Belfast. He is a native of Schmallenberg Westphalia in Germany.

Derrytresk GFC was founded in 1903. Never in all the years since has this little club enjoyed such success and attention from the rest of the Gaelic world. What they have experienced as a club and community has been well documented else where but it is sufficient to say here that this experience will never be repeated. I was driving past their Social Club and field on today Saturday 11th February and I spotted a couple of club members Brian Fitzgerald and Conor O’Neill erecting a banner of support for the team. Conor will take to the field in Croke Park on Sunday as part of a team on the verge of making history. Derrytresk is festooned with flags, bunting and banners as well as the road signs and bus stops painted blue. From a dyed in the wool Rahilly can I wish them well on Sunday.

This statue is in the grounds of Saint Patrick’s Primary School Dungannon. It was placed there by the school principal Mary Hampsey to commemorate the lives of two pupils of the school Cian Corrigan and Ryan Pearson. Ryan died in a drowning accident in 2000 while on a family holiday he was only five years old while Cian passed away in May 2009, aged 11 years, from a rare spinal cord tumour. The statue forms the centre piece of a small memorial garden.

This is my friend Michael Herron who I went to St Joseph’s Secondary School Coalisland with in the 1970’s. Michael has a very successful Architect business in Coalisland based at Mamie’s Corner named after Michael’s aunt who ran a grocery shop on that site for many many years. Indeed Michael’s grandfather established the shop back in 1916.  Mamie was an institution in Coalisland and it is only fitting that she has the junction between Main Street and Kings Row named after her. Michael is also a very fine traditional fiddle player and during the mid 1970’s we were members of Coalisland Traditional Music Club. The club was affiliated to The Armagh Pipers Club with Brian and Eithne Valleley teaching traditional instruments at classes in St Patrick’s Hall. We also played for a while in a group called “An Buachaillí” with our friends Donal Quinn from Coalisland (Fiddle & Bones) Pat Quinn from Derrylaughan (Flute) and Una Hurson from Pomeroy (Whistle). I played whistle and bodhrán. I don’t think Una was ever entirely happy with the name of the band translating from the Irish as “The Boys”!  We competed in a number of Fleadh Ceoileanna and Festivals most memorably at the All Ireland Fleadh in Listowel in 1978.

I took this picture a while back at the Belfast Exposed gallery Donegal Street where I’ve received great help from the crew especially Mervyn and Debbie.  Founded in 1983 as a community photography initiative, Belfast Exposed Photography now functions as a gallery for contemporary photography with emphasis on commissioning and publication of new work. It holds a community photography archive and runs an extensive educational outreach network.

The production of socially and politically engaged work and dialogue is the driving force behind all aspects of the Belfast Exposed project. A policy of project origination and publication, the exhibition, screenings and talks programme and provision of photographic facilities and training all fuel this process.

Belfast Exposed has traditionally focused on the development and exhibition of community photography. Through training it continues to encourage local communities to use photography to record and understand their environment. It has compiled an archive of half a million images, a proportion of which are accessible online.

A Lovely couple who were up for the Craic.

Yesterday I was at the rugby international Ireland v Wales at The Aviva Stadium Dublin. This was only the second time at an international game the first being a couple of years ago in Croke Park Ireland v Scotland. We had arranged to meet a few friends at this hotel which is now called the “Sandymount” but which I would have known as “The Mount Herbert” Ten years ago our family celebrated da’s 70th birthday here before a night out at the greyhounds in Shelbourne Park. This statue is at the front of the hotel and has been a recent addition. It’s in the shadow of the new Aviva Stadium which I guess explains the rugby theme of the statue.

The Mount Herbert Hotel, is sited on the old Haig’s Distillery. The hotel consists of 8 interconnected Victorian houses, which were originally constructed in 1866 and built with bricks from the old distillery. For 100 years the buildings were the homes of Dublin aristocracy, with famous residents including Sir Henry Robinson, Vice President of the Irish Local Government Board from 1879 to 1891, and more recently the famous writer Mary Kenny. The hotel was founded in 1955 by a couple from Downpatrick, George Loughran and his wife Rosaleen. On 10 January 2011 the hotel changed its name to the Sandymount Hotel.

There are four gaelic football teams in the parish of Clonoe County Tyrone on the south western shore of Lough Neagh. Clonoe O’Rahilly’s, Derrylaughan Kevin Barry’s. Brocagh Robert Emmett’s and arguably the smallest club Derrytresk Fir An Chnoic.  There are 57 houses in Derrytresk and the football and social club are at the very heart of this community. It’s the oldest club in the area established in 1903. This year has been an historic year with this junior club winning the Tyrone Junior Championship and the Ulster Junior Championship and now after a much publicised semi final which they won they will play Clonbur from Galway in the All Ireland Final.

Our family have a strong connection with the club although I am and always will be a “Rahilly” My brother Tommy’s family have all played  for “The Hill” Tómas and Caolan for the football team and Aisling and Tommy’s wife Margaret with the camogie team. Caolan, who turned 17 last year, will play in Croke Park in the Junior All Ireland Final on Sunday february 12th. It’s an incredible achievement for such a small club. This picture is the chairman of Derrytresk GFC Barney Campbell  giving an interview to reporter Ronan McSherry from the Ulster Herald Newspaper at “The Big Breakfast” in the club where the players serve breakfast to the supporters, friends and family.

I am going to use this birch tree to mark the change in the seasons by taking a photo on the 2nd of each month during this year.

To be a decent wild life photographer one of the qualities you need is patience. This is a quality I lack. Luckily, just as I was leaving Peatlands Park yesterday this little Robin popped up on the fence in front of me and perched still long enough for me to fumble with the camera to get this shot. Some days you get lucky.