April 2004

Visiting couple's love of Inishowen leads to new personalised calendar

Raymond and Marjorie Wolsely live in County Laois but are regular visitors to Inishowen. Indeed, they are so enamoured of this scenic peninsula that Raymond decided to take twelve of his most loved photographs from the area and make a personalised calendar for their home.

"We love Inishowen and go up about four times a year for five or six days at a time. We always stay at the same place, because on one of our first visits here, we discovered perched on top of a hill over looking Ireland's northernmost point the Highview B & B, which has sweeping vistas of the sea.

The calendar, which the couple only had made for themselves and is not for sale, features twelve lovely photos of beautiful and interesting scenes from walk Inishowen. One of the most outstanding pictures is taken from the old signal tower at Banba's Crown - it's a breathtaking view of the cliffs and sea. Another charming photo features a donkey in a stone shed. All in all, the twelve photos convey in a lively and personal way all that is best about Inishowen.

Like so many other visitors here, Raymond is not without his own local connection. Raymond's mother Elsie McMonagle from Glentogher was one of thirteen children. She married Raymond's father, who was from Castlerock near Portrush. The couple lived in Derry, where Raymond was born and reared. He was well known in the city as a young entrepreneur opening Derry's first carpet showroom in 1958 and first Chinese restaurant in 1962. Raymond was also a founder and the first president of the Derry Chamber of Commerce. In 1970 he emigrated to Perth, Australia, where he invented the instant, disposable barbeque, started an antiques business and opened the first Irish shop in Perth.

In 1995 he and Marjorie retired and came back to Ireland, where they settled in Laois. But they are never too far away. We love the people of Inishowen and the scenery. With the new improvements to the M1 motor, we can be in Inishowen with the Greencastle Ferry in just about three hours. If more people knew this or if there were better signs, there is no doubt so many more people would come up here and fall in love with the place too!

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