I'm writing this in the Parish Hall in Kilbrittain in West Cork, where a local woman, Ann Corcoran has been missing now for over two weeks. She's a widow, who lives alone not far from here, with just her two dogs for company. She was last seen on the 18th of January, and spoke to a friend on the phone on the 19th, but nothing since.
This entry, however, is not really to do with the why's or the wherefore's of the case.
I just have to comment on the wonderful community effort that's going on here as the search continues.
The papers, radio and TV are taken up with details of the search.. It involves Civil Defence, Search & Rescue personnel, Gardai and dozens of locals, some of whom have taken time off to be here and play their part. Their task is tough and grim, and they deserve much praise.
However, as they walk the fields, search ditches and thickets, trawl the rivers and streams and explore outhouses across a wide and difficult terrain, there's another crew, going without thanks, and even without much recognition, who are keeping this operation, literally, fed and watered.
About ten local women are ever present here in the well-kept little parish hall. The Burko Boiler is on overtime. Huge pots of home-made soup, full of tasty goodness and hand cut ingredients, are simmering on a stove. Thick, generous wedges of ham and beef sit alongside pans and pans of thickly buttered bread. Every unused Christmas tin of buscuits for miles has been purloined, and whoever is baking those little buns will find a place at the Right Hand of the Lord Himself.
The crew must be kept fed. Their strengh must be kept up. Their morale, no matter how bleak the scene, must be maintained. Before they go out, and when they come back, they must have their bellies filled and their hands warmed on a hot mug.
As well as the crew working long hours here at the Parish Hall, there's yet another layer to this operation. As I sit in the corner of the hall, at a table given to myself and my colleagues to work on, I'm watching delivery after delivery.. fresh supplies.
I met a family friend here yesterday. She lives a mile or two out the road to Ballinspittle. She and a neighbour had spent the previous evening making sandwiches and baking. "We all have to do our bit, don't we?", she said, as if it was the most natural thing in the World.
But, for these people, living in a tiny village a few miles from Bandon, and just over half an hours drive from busy and bustling Cork City, it is just that.
In a time when so many simple values have been lost, and when possessions and material goods have become our new Gods and our status symbols, the simple, straightforward decency of this community will, for me at least, be a lasting memory of my few days working here.
Like us all, I hope Ann Corcoran is found alive, and sadly, like us all, my hopes of that are failing every day, but I will never forget how her Community, despite it's worry and sadness, came up trumps when the chips were down.
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