SH, On Fenian Street- by Randall Stephen Hall

SH. On Fenian Street.  As Gaeilge.
By Randall Stephen Hall.
To celebrate the Publishing of the 6th edition, of
THE GIANT’S CAUSEWAY Story Book
Now in its 29th year of Discovery

So there we were, Ann and I back in 2008. Unpacking our Skoda on Fenian Street, to deliver books and a multi-lingual DVD  about the Giant’s Causeway, to AIS, via Foras na Gaeilge, in Dublin.

How did that happen to me? A North Belfast Presbyterian, with roots in Coleraine, Boghill, Ballymoney and Kilraughts?

Well, we need to go back to Lough Mask in Mayo, in 1995, to the beginning of my story. We were on holiday in Mayo area.  Ann and the girls with Barney, our first cat at the  cattery.

Each day we’d go out to visit the likes of Cong, home of The Quiet Man, stone circles,  Aillwee Bear Caves and the Cliffs of Moher.

Then in the evenings I’d settle down to some drawing, working on Finn MacCool and the Giant’s Causeway. Visualising how the characters and pages might take shape. I would come to bed later
and the next day we’d go out on more adventures.

The holiday passed well. So by the time we got home I had fleshed out my idea for the Causeway book in rough form.

Then, I was very lucky. I got a good order for books from Frank Holden, who ran the Causeway for Moyle District Council. Frank was very supportive of the book ideas as he always wanted to promote the Giant and Finn McCool. I spent a year, on and off, to complete all aspects of the writing and artwork.

In July 1996 the Giant’s Causeway book came out and Frank was pleased. I was too. It had been a hard winter as we were getting work done to our old 1899 house in Whitehead.

I was intensely focused on this work. Not knowing where it would lead me with regard to our shared languages in Northern Ireland.

A few years later in 1999 I extended my ideas, to produce a multi lingual DVD to be sold at the Causeway, in English, Irish, Ulster Scots and Scots Gaidhlig. Quite a task and way ahead of its time.  And it still is, to this day.

The Giant’s Causeway
The English Version
https://youtu.be/RnN5HQe1Fvk?si=gEBgMQp3BpXWiJhP

It took from 1999 to 2005 to get the Giant’s Causeway DVD out and sold by the National Trust, on site.  It was well received by them.  

All the way through the process the major funder was Foras na Gaelige. There were few other takers for funding in the North.

The Giant’s Causeway.
The Irish Version.
https://youtu.be/KOCjt6uxF6s?si=zqQyf1yGbmUXr_sa

Why was I doing this? Well, because I grew up in Belfast and witnessed many things as a child, a teenager and an adult, I knew that one of the stories we all shared in the North was that of the Giant’s Causeway.  Along with the fact that the story was a tangible link with Scotland and how the languages were all linked to each other by trade, cultural exchange, blood, marriage, familiy and the sea, watched over by Manannan Mac Lir, our Irish Neptune.

Eventually after 6 years of work the Giant’s Causeway DVD was released and made available at the Causeway by the National Trust. It sold steadily and was supported there at one of the most successful shops in the British Isles, managed by Margaret Dunlop.

So, there was English, Irish, Ulster Scots and Scots Gaidhlig in the one educational product, being sold to the public at the Causeway between 2005 and 2011, with no issue. So what’s the issue now?

In 2011 the new Causeway site was opened but, sadly, the new interpretation and their animated story softly avoided our shared languages, even Hiberno English,  and downscaled what they were doing for Finn as a potential educator and peace maker.

Setting aside commerce for a moment. I began the Causeway Book project for reasons of cultural progress, to inform and to entertain our shared community, that lives here in Ulster and beyond.

But what can we do now regarding  language and interpretation at the Giant’s Causeway? I’m offering help and suggestions as i’m qualified to do so.

There are many changes coming, both here and in the world.
Why turn our faces away from Finn McCool and actually encourage aducation around him and his mythological connections with Scotland through language and especially our local voices.

We are missing a trick by not celebrating our own languages at the Giant’s Causeway. Enriching the sound of ourselves, our sense of a shared belonging and all that potential for the future.

Randall Stephen Hall
www.randallstephenhallsongs.com
email: randall.stephen.hall@gmail.com
Plus www.randallstephenhall.com
You Tube, Sound Cloud and Facebook