As part of TradFest 2024, St. Patrick’s RC Church in Donabate hosted the world premiere of ‘Ocean Child’, a specially commissioned musical composition based on the tragedy of the ill-fated Tayleur, which sunk off the coast of Lambay in 1854 with the loss of nearly 400 lives.
Martin Harte, CEO of Tradfest, and FCC collaborated to bring about this beautiful musical composition by Belfast man Neil Jordan and the famed actor Stephen Rea, also a Belfast man living in our midst, did a wonderful, emotive narration on the story of the ‘Ocean Child’.
Our magnificent old church was the perfect setting for such a sad story to be told. It had the gravitas, beauty and calm that was perfect for such an event. Martin’s team transformed the church with stage setting and lighting to create the perfect atmosphere. Thanks to Fr. Pat and the Parish Office and all who contributed to the occasion.
The links with the community are strong. The Irish for Portrane, Port Reachrann, means the Port of Lambay and some people from the island eventually found their way to the Peninsula. Local lore has it that the rescued Ocean Child was handed by a survivor, possibly a Frenchman, to Jane Dockrell, who swaddled him in her shawl and brought him to her family home near Knockbane, the highest point on the Island. Sometime later, the a pastor from Dublin, persuaded them to part with the child as his grandmother had been located in England. Later in life, Jane Dockrell married Charles Smart and came to live in the Burrow, Portrane where she passed on this story to her descendants.
It is important to remember and thank the people many from Fingal, including Donabate and Portrane, who kept the story alive - authors like Peadar Bates, Edward Bourke and Cormac Lowth; divers like Jerry Byrne, Billy Crowley, Laddie De Jong, Myles Dockrell, Paul Fogarty, Tony Morelli, Tom Shakespeare and Ronnie Warren; and boatmen like Liam Butterly and Simon Hoare. Sadly, some are no longer alive, but some are still with us to tell the tale. Our beautiful church, with its stunning Harry Clarke windows, is always our home for all our religious occasions but it’s also a place to have the very best of historical and heritage events.
