Derry Journal Editorial: Creeslough - You are in our thoughts and prayers

On a rainy winter’s day earlier this year I turned up in the village to bed down in one of the cosy wooden cabins at Wild Atlantic Camp, directly opposite the Applegreen service station and shop complex. This was home for the night.

Earlier we’d gone up to Fanad Lighthouse, and stopped off at a few beauty spots along the road back. Creeslough is the gateway to so many places, with Ards Forest Park and Priory, Marble Hill beach, Lough Salt, Doe Castle, Muckish and Dunfanaghy all close by. Creeslough itself is up there among those attractions with a charm all of its own.

Leaving the comfort of the little wooden haven we went over to the Applegreen store and stocked up on provisions, and later stopped off for a few pints at McNulty’s pub in the town before ending the night in Rose’s bar. The atmosphere was brilliant, the friendly welcome and good natured banter second to none. No-one is a stranger for long in Creeslough. Their hearts, as the song goes, really are as big as mountains. And that’s what makes what has happened to this close-knit, kind community so devastating.

This awful tragedy has touched us all, as evidenced by the many vigils held. It is to be hoped that this is coming as some solace to community forever changed, but one whose compassion as they hold each other up through their grief has been noted across the world.