As we reach the end of the Decade of Centenaries, CONOR McGUIRE reflects on Mayo’s journey since political independence.

I was sitting at my desk, the rain pattering the window, when the headlines flashed - the second of Ireland's most storied voices, Shane McGowan, had passed away, mere months after Sinéad O'Connor drew her final breath.

The Butterfly Garden in Swinford is a special place. It’s a community project that has the aim of creating a space where all baby loss is acknowledged and a place where bereaved families and the general public can visit to reflect and remember.

At present, I’m researching and writing a chapter for a book to be published in America this year (2024). The book is the third in a series entitled, Heroes.

These days between Christmas and New Year are the best. All the hullabaloo of Christmas itself is over and things take on a slightly calmer feel. These can be properly lazy days. We should lean into them.

As 2023 draws to a close, Ballina itself is at a crossroads. Behind it lies the turbulent few years weathering the storms of the Covid pandemic and its lingering economic impacts.

December is not likely to top the polls when it comes to people choosing their favourite month. Not even the inclusion of Christmas would get it elected.

Christmas is, well, Christmas. It demands our attention. It insists that we defer – even if only once a year – to liturgies, religious and personal, that we sense we need to remember and repeat. Practices that have become hallowed by time.

My father was born in December and 97 years later, he died in December. When I reflect back over his long life, December is therefore the month of the year that I most associate him with.

Lourda McHugh is a woman driven by the deeply personal experience of breast cancer to make real changes for those who find themselves in the same position today.