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August 2011

The Largy ploughman poet Many local readers will remember - or have heard of - Samuel Connor who was born on a farm in Largy and had many poems about the Roe Valley published in the Coleraine Chronicle and other local papers. Samuel emigrated to Canada, but sill sent his poems home to be published. The nephew of this very poet visited the News Browser the other day and we thought that readers might like to look at two photographs he shared with us. Samual Connor is buried in Brampton, Canada and his gravestone can be seen on the far right. On the right is his nephew - another Samuel Connor who went to Canada as a young man - playing a commemorative farewell.

The gravestone of Samuel Connor

Late Summer on Benevenagh We thought we would celebrate the time of year with this little wildflower,  growing up on Benevenagh.  Knowledgeable readers will know that it is a harebell (Campanula rotundifolia) and for some reason harebells are doing particularly well this year. The name of course comes from an anti-social habit of the local hare population who like to ring the things all night long. Readers interested in other wildflowers growing on Benevenagh could do worse than scan our wildflowers on Benevenagh pages.

The nearly local train The Coleraine/Londonderry train link is in the news these days. Nobody worries about the train not stopping at Limavady junction, but apparently the money has run out to upgrade the line. A rare shot of the train crossing the Ballykelly runway is shown on the right. This reporter has always wondered why this train, when it reaches the straight stretch through Myroe to the Roe bridge, always travels so slowly. One assumed some stray cattle had wandered onto the rails, but it turns out that the condition of the line is so poor, that trains have to slow to a crawl for safety reasons. Maybe it is just as well that the train doesn't stop at the junction!

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