Redhills’ farewell to Border Station

The Border station of Redhills is no more. Scores of people from the Redhills community, together with serving and retired members of An Garda Siochana and family members of 10 deceased gardai who served in the village over the years came along to witness the poignant occasion of the station’s closure.
Those present included Richard Morgan and his family. His father, John, arrived in the station in July, 1923.
It is interesting to note that Richard was also accompanied by his nephew John Morgan, who is also a member on An Garda Siochana and is a grandson of the late Garda John Morgan.
Local organisations based in the community supported the financing of the event together with the Garda Social Fund.

History books
Garda Sean Dorris who will now go into the history books as the last serving garda in the station, will from now on be located at Belturbet Garda Station.
Garda Dorris was the MC for the event and told The Anglo Celt that a large crowd of over 300 people assembled at the station at 3pm.
The occasion commenced with music being provided by talented pupils from the local school, together with the principal, Sarah Keenan.
This was followed by a reading by author and ex-resident of the station Shane Connaughton from the manuscript ‘Married Quarters’, which will be a follow-on from ‘Border Station’.
“It is set in the early sixties and there were rumours that the station was closing then. It seemed to be fitting to read the last page of Married Quarters, which is all about the barracks closing and the family leaving for the last time, as the father retires,” said Shane.
The manuscript of ‘Married Quarters” is with Shane’s literary agent in London and it is hoped the book will be published in the next year.

Sadness
The thing that struck Shane most, he said, about the occasion was the tremendous spirit of the people. “I don’t suppose it will ever be defeated, even though they are closing rural Ireland down. So much has changed and the people are still doing things to make life better for themselves,” he said.
When asked if the occasion was tinged with sadness, he said: “I suppose it is to a certain degree, but the people are very resilient, they are very tough, they move on – if this is what is being thrown at us, we’ll take it and move on to something else.”
While Shane was doing the reading, two people from the community, Noel Faulkner and Joe Smith, performed the ritual of removing the garda crest, which was then presented to Garda Dorris and Superintendent Jimmy Coen.
It was then replaced with a civic plaque which commemorates the life of the station in the village.

Service
Supt Coen thanked the people of Redhills for their support of the gardai down through the years. “While the station may be closed, Redhills will still be policed from Belturbet and Cavan. There will be as much resources deployed in the Border area and Redhills, as has been the case previously,” he said.
An ecumenical service was then conducted by Fr Jason Murphy, Rev Stephanie Woods and Rev Tanya Woods. The service included readings by Orna Dorris, Mary Heneghan and Ivy Roberts.
When the formal proceedings were completed, everyone adjourned to Killoughter Hall for refreshments. Music was provided by the Rudden sisters. A framed photograph of the station building in the late 1990s was presented by Deirdre Kelly and Ethel Rudden to each of the families who attended on the day and had a link with past serving members at the station.
When asked if he would describe the event as a “sad occasion”, Garda Dorris said “sad but happy”. “The theme of our ceremony was to commemorate the life and times of the stations presence in the village and all the life it brought to the village – for example, all the families that ended up in Redhills because of the station.”
The event also marked the last working day of the station, serving the community.
The chair of the organising committee Frank Smith said it was a great community occasion and also akin to a Gathering event. He thanked all involved and also wished Garda Dorris the best of luck as he teams up with his colleagues in Belturbet.