Mourne Local Studies Group marks 40 years with celebration of local history

THE first meeting of the Winter programme of Mourne Local Studies Group was an

evening of celebration.

At the commencement of the evening Mrs Valerie Stevenson and in his absence Mr Sean McManus were awarded Honorary membership in recognition of their many years of service to the group.

This was followed by a celebration of the 40 th Anniversary of the group. A panel discussion involving 3 people with long associations with the group Dr Fred Hammond, Mrs Valerie Stevenson and Mr Chris Cunningham looked back to the group’s beginnings in 1986.

Fred traced the group’s origins to evening classes organised through Queen’s University in 1985, following a request from Hugh Irvine.

The classes developed into local studies as participants began pursuing their own research. With encouragement from Robert McKnight and those attending, a formal group was formed the following year. Tom Porter became chairman, with Charlie Cunningham as vice-chairman, Sean Keating as treasurer and Hugh Irvine as secretary.

The choice of “local studies” reflected a broad interest in Mourne, encompassing more than history alone. Valerie, who had completed a degree in modern history, joined after a personal invitation from Hugh, her former history teacher.

In the early days, Fred carried the group’s archives in his car boot, bringing them into research meetings at the technical college each time they met.

The result of the groups research was the group’s journal, 12 Miles of Mourne, whose first volume was launched in December 1986. For Fred, the publication of the journal answered a straightforward question: what should happen to the research people had gathered? “So, the option was to write it down,” he said. Further journals followed over the years and now 10 volumes have been produced.

Producing the early journals involved cutting out text and pictures and pasting them into page layouts, a painstaking process later transformed by computers and scanning.

Fred paid tribute to Tom Porter and Catherine Hudson for securing sponsorship and taking copies around local shops. Catherine Hudsons’s commitment to preserving local history was a recurring theme of the evening. Valerie recalled how the group and the museum in Newry turned to her for help with enquiries.

She also assisted visitors tracing family connections, doing her utmost to find answers among the information she had gathered.

Unfortunately Catherine , a long term member of the group and her sister Dymphna passed away earlier this year. Group members have been helping to sort material from the Hudson home for a collection in the Newry and Mourne Museum, alongside plans to preserve fixtures and fittings from her father’s chemist shop.

This will join the impressive Hugh Irvine collection already available in the museum which contains a stagging number of photos and information on the local genealogy.

Chris’s father was the founding vice-chairman Charlie Cunningham who took him along when he was young to meet local people and listen to their stories.

Charlie collected everything from the names of farm implements to old expressions, folklore and family nicknames.

When someone died and others wondered why they had never shared their knowledge, his response was simple: “Did anybody ever ask them?” Charlie made it his business to ask and Chris clearly remembered his father’s insistence that meeting people and hearing their accounts mattered.

Even hearing a few words exchanged between neighbours could open up another line of research. Much of Charlie’s collected material remains in the family home, and enquiries about his research continue to arrive.

There were also accounts of group outings notably one occasion when the group’s bus broke down and they had to wait for a replacement and on another occasion when the bus departed without Sean Keating and had to return for him.

For Valerie the talks and trips allow a camaraderie and friendships to be built up within the group.

When asked how they saw the future of the group Valerie suggested the collating of short, carefully researched material for schools and to collect memories “by talking to folks and then go home and write it down”.

Following on from the panel discussions local poet Wendy Graham Hanna read a “Tapestry of Mourne” which she had specially written for the occasion celebrating Mourne’s people and places.

Then the panellists were invited to cut the 40 th Anniversary Cake and were presented with souvenirs of the evening including a copy of “My boyhood days around Kilkeel” an old poem from the 1900’s by local man Redmond Doran who worked on the local fishing boats.

All members present were presented with a 40 th Anniversary mug and enjoyed supper following the event.

The message from the evening was clear- the next chapter of Mourne history depends on people continuing to ask questions, listening carefully and preserving all they learn.

Mourne Local Studies group meet on the first Tuesday of each month in Mourne Gospel Fellowship Church. The next meeting on 3 rd November 2026 is entitled “The SS Connemara and Retriever Disaster of November 1916” by James McAreavey.

Non members are welcome for a fee of £5.