A PLATFORM FOR crafters...

A new generation is taking traditional craft on a thrilling new journey - and the people behind the work are every bit as fascinating as the things they make.

There is something wonderfully fitting about craft returning to the platforms of Belturbet Railway Station. Once, people stood here waiting to leave, while goods arrived from distant places before being dispersed into the local community. The station was a place of movement, exchange and enormous possibility.

Today, the trains are gone. But the station remains.

On August 23, the old platform will once again come to life as part of Heritage Week, for the launch of ‘Turbet Traders- Arts and Crafts Market’, a new collective bringing together artists, craftspeople and home producers.

More than 30 people are already part of the group, but look beyond the stalls and you discover the real story.

There are tales of migration and memory, retirement and reinvention, family and failure, discovery and unexpected inspiration. Some have spent a lifetime mastering a craft, while others discovered the joy of making later in life. Some are transforming old skills into something new; others are keeping techniques alive that might otherwise disappear.

More colour

For painter and lace maker Peggy Gray, the creative journey began with a childhood dream of becoming a dress designer. As a girl, she sketched elegant women in elaborate dresses before eventually turning to painting.

Her interest led to local art classes and then South West College in Enniskillen, where she spent three years honing her skills. Her talent was recognised when she was named Student of the Year.

For Peggy, art is about more than achievement. It is an escape.

“When I paint, I just get absorbed into it,” she says.

Everything else falls away, leaving the brush, the colour and the image taking shape.

Peggy also learned lace-making from a local woman, including the intricate art of crocheted swan designs. Now she finds herself passing on her own knowledge, teaching children with additional needs how to paint.

“I believe everybody has the ability to paint.”

Discovering the artist

With Una O’Connor, woodcarving arrived late in life - and almost by accident.

Originally from Dublin, Una spent years living in Toronto and Ottawa before moving to the area around a decade ago. It was only after retirement that she began learning from local woodcarver Joey Burns.

“I didn’t know I was capable of doing that,” she admits.

Her carved and painted cockerel is striking, while later pieces have included a Celtic platter and a marker for her sister’s grave.

“Sometimes I start with an idea, and sometimes the idea comes to me,” she says.

Young traditionalist

At just 20, Seán McCann is the youngest member of the group and is taking on the challenge of reviving tinsmithing.

WATCH: Young Cavan Tinsmith talks keeping the craft alive

A student of architectural technology and design at Cavan Institute, Seán became increasingly drawn to traditional craft. A video series about traditional crafts eventually led him to craftsman Tom Roche making a copper lantern. “I’m going to do that,” Seán thought.

So he bought some sheet metal and simply started.

It was not an overnight success. His ninth attempt at making a bucket is still there – a battered monument to persistence and a reminder that finished objects often hide plenty of mistakes.

For Seán, the challenge is compounded by the lack of documentation about Irish tinsmithing. Historically, the craft was closely associated with Traveller communities, including travelling tinsmiths known as ‘Tinkers’, who made and repaired practical household objects.

Seán is now trying to piece some of that knowledge back together through experimentation, trial and error and repetition.

“I’d like to preserve a bit of history,” he says.

Cu-Te

Maura Freehill’s coppersmithing journey is another story of a creative spark waiting years to be rekindled.

Maura first encountered copper work in Dublin in the mid-1990s, while working in a unit supporting people coming off intravenous drugs. An occupational therapist introduced copper work to the patients and Maura decided to try it herself.

She completed the piece she started - then put it away in the attic for years.

Around two years ago, while attending art classes in Ballyconnell, she encountered copper again.

“It awakened something in you,” this interviewer suggests.

“Or reawakened something in me,” replies Maura, now chair of Turbet Traders.

She says crafting can be solitary, but discovering others wrestling with the same problems or finding new solutions is equally powerful.

Generational talent

The crafting collective represents a remarkable range of skills: willow weaving, woodturning, knitting and crochet, tinsmithing, copper art, jewellery, sewing, stained glass, painting, prints, handmade cards, preserves, baked goods, candles and soaps.

Denise Smith inherited her interest in sewing from her grandmother, Edith Sadler, a milliner, while her mother worked in a textile mill in Derbyshire. Her work includes personalised cushions and Christmas decorations.

Tony Prior discovered willow weaving after retirement. A flyer led him to renowned basket maker Tommy O’Brien in Belleek. He learned from O’Brien, supplemented his knowledge with books and kept practising.

Now he teaches others, including secondary-school students who have made their own willow bird feeders. For Tony, willow is part of a tradition stretching back thousands of years.

“It’s lovely to be able to pass on these skills, that people see they’re still there. It’s important they’re not lost.”

All abuzz

Even beekeeping finds a place in this broader definition of craft.

Stephen Shannon has kept bees for around 15 years, developing Holborn Hill Honey from a personal interest into a business.

Beekeeping, he says, means learning how to build hives, market honey, manage diseases and understand the seasons.

“You become a master of a lot of things,” he laughs. “Or at least try to.”

He has collected swarms from gardens and won first prizes for comb honey, while developing a deep knowledge of the natural world and the plants on which bees depend.

Heritage that lives

There is a temptation to imagine heritage as something fixed and untouchable: an old building, photograph or object preserved behind glass.

But for the likes of Maura, who is the group’s chairperson, heritage survives as an object when somebody uses it.

Maura is keen to highlight how people who have arrived in Ireland from elsewhere bring their own artistic traditions, skills and experiences, just as Irish emigrants once carried their culture overseas.

“It is a living mixture of inherited skills, lifelong or rediscovered talents, and new influences,” she tells the Celt.

“It might be one market, but there are many stories.”

The launch of Turbet Traders – Arts and Crafts Market takes place as part of Heritage Week, with the first market held on the same day.

Both events will take place at Belturbet Railway Station [H14 E276] on August 23, from 11am to 5pm. The hope is to hold markets every three months, creating an ongoing opportunity for local and visiting artists, craftspeople and producers to showcase and sell their work.