by Peg Prendeville

We have had a very dramatic week in the local area but before i go any further i must apologise to the Langan family, Glenagragra, for omitting to mention Patrick Langan’s daughters Maura and Brid in my notes last week. I do not know what I was thinking – or not thinking at all! Grieving is hard enough without the likes of me adding to it. So I am very sorry for any hurt I caused.

Everybody breathed a huge sigh of relief on Sunday afternoon when word went round that the body of John Michael McSweeney had been found after a week of intensive searching by hundreds of locals. The McSweeney family are hugely grateful to all volunteers, local businesses and clubs who supported them all week. We sympathise with them in their loss but they, now, have the comfort of being able to give John a dignified funeral and burial. May he rest in peace. I has been a hard start to the year.

Sympathies also to Michael O’Shaughnessy, Flean, on the untimely death of his son Gary, aged 41, in a car accident in Co. Kildare last Saturday evening. Sympathies too to Gary’s mother Monica and his brother Robert. May he rest in peace.

The year seems to have started off in a rather dramatic way but we hope for some ease now and a more joyous year ahead.