BY EMMA CONNOLLY
INNISHANNON’S much-loved annual publication, Candlelight, marks its 40th anniversary this year. And after four decades at the helm of the magazine, best-selling writer Alice Taylor and Mary Nolan O’Brien are stepping down.
The first Candlelight spark flickered on a wet Sunday afternoon in January 1983, remembers Alice. ‘The Holly Bough, published by The Echo, had carried an article by Rev RB Doherty who had been a minister here before my time, but whom my husband Gabriel had often talked about. I remember thinking if he would write for the Holly Bough, he’d surely write for us and when asked, he said he’d be delighted to come on board!’
Alice was also inspired to launch the magazine as a means of preserving local history. ‘When I came to the village in 1961, we had Billy the Blacksmith in the forge, Uncle Jacky in the post office, and Jer Mawe, who had a carpentry shop at the end of the village, and if any immigrant returned or any local wanted to know about their ancestors, they were the source of endless knowledge.
‘Around the parish, also, were people with local knowledge and I felt that with each funeral, bits of local social history was going to the grave with them. It was time to start recording!’ she said.
Over the years the magazine generated funds for local projects including the framing of a local historic map of the village as well as the iconic sculpture of the horse and rider depicting the origins of the village at the western end of the village.
‘The final achievement for Candlelight will be the Charter School children sculpture which will hopefully appear in 2024,’ said Alice who writes about the school’s ‘forgotten children’ in this year’s edition.
‘The people of Innishannon and further afield have always loved the magazine and many say it marks the start of their Christmas,’ she said.
Mary said her involvement in Candlelight over 40 years brought her in contact with a wide variety of people. ‘Many contributed on an annual basis, and I looked forward to getting their contribution each year. The other source of satisfaction was seeing how much it was appreciated by people who lived abroad. It brought a little piece of home into their lives at Christmas,’ she said.
Mary and Alice hope to hand the Candlelight ‘baton’ on to someone who will nurture it as carefully as they did. ‘Is there ever a good time to step down?’ asked Alice. ‘But after 40 years maybe the time is now. We’re just hoping that someone with a great love of Innishannon and a belief in the concept will step forward and carry the torch and that Candlelight will continue to glow in 2024.’
