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March 2015

Ancient sea god Manannan Mac Lir has been found It has been reported that the stolen statue of Manannaan Mac Lir been found in Benevenagh forest. Members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, whilst on an exercise, were trekking through Benevenagh forest when they stumbled across the statue.  It appears that there is some damage to the face but the rest seems to be unharmed. Limavady council has already decided to buy a new statue of the mythical deity. This of course poses a conundrum for them: Will we fix it or buy a new one? After having studied the photographs on the Bring back Manannan Mac Lir the Sea God website, this reporter feels that it would be better to buy a new, stronger statue. It is incredible what some people will do to - and with - a statue whilst they are admiring it!

It isn't over yet! Even though the first signs of Spring have appeared even as high up as Benevenagh, it appears that Winter is not over yet. Snow covered most of the valley at the beginning of this month and - as usual in these cases - many schools are closed and traffic is moving along at an unusually civilised pace. Our picture shows this mixture of Spring and Winter quite nicely. You are looking from Benevenagh over Aghanloo towards Dungiven.

The sea god is to be replaced The damaged statue of the ancient Irish sea god mentioned above, has proved to be unrepairable. Limavady council - at their last meeting before being merged into the new super-council - have decided to spend another ten thousand pounds to replace the statue with a new one - a somewhat more sturdy one at that. It will be a few months though before Manannan Mac Lir will gaze over our beautiful valley again. Apparently the councillors were very impressed with the tourist potential of the statue. Is this reporter the only one who thinks that - should the worst come to the worst and the statue must compete with an array of giant wind-turbines - not too many people will want to come and see it?

The Solar Eclipse of 2015 There was a solar eclipse over the Roe Valley on the morning of the 20th this month. Everything went according to the plan laid down by Kepler and his followers some hundreds of years ago. It started around half past eight in the morning. Maximum totality was around half past nine when 93% of the Sun was obscured by the Moon and the magnificent show was over by half past ten. Unfortunately, there was a thick layer of clouds between both the Sun and the Moon on one side and the Roe Valley on the other. So apart from a period of doom and gloom at around half past nine, nobody here saw a thing. So that our readers can see what they have missed, we append a photograph of a similar event. This occurred on the 29th of March 2006. Who would be an astronomer in the Roe Valley?

Beautifying Main Street Work is continuing up and down Main Street at an ever-increasing pace. If they don't slow down soon, the new council - due to take over on the first of April (when else!?) - won't be able to recognize the place any more. The bits that are finished so far look very nice indeed and will hopefully last longer than some similar work carried out in the past.

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