WHILE email and social media have led to a decline in the number of Christmas cards being sent in recent years, the tradition is being carried on with immense care and detail by Omagh man Declan Forde.
Declan hand colours 100 Christmas cards to send to his friends and family all over the world each year, often drawing upon inspiration from events and memories of his past, many celebrating the lives of people from rural Tyrone and Down.
This year the storyteller and artist is hoping to raise money for young people born with Aids in Thailand by sharing the cards he has written and handmade over the past 25 years in a unique book and accompanying CD.
Declan Forde’s Christmas Cards features a book of 25 poems and a CD with two original songs and 23 poems spoken to musical backgrounds. All profits from its sale go to The Little Birds Project, an offshoot of the Mercy Centre orphanage in Bangkok.
Despite medical advances in the treatment of HIV there is still much social prejudice and Little Birds helps the young adults who leave the orphanage integrate into Thai society.
“I've seen first-hand the work that they do. It’s based in one of the worst slums in the world and it's very humbling,” says Declan, who visited the project three years ago with his friend, banjo player Mick Moloney, who encouraged him to publish the book and writes its foreword.
“Art could not serve a higher purpose than to help the poorest of the poor,” says Dr Moloney, who was a member of The Johnstons folk group with Paul Brady in the 60s and 70s, before moving to the US where he lectures at New York University.
“Declan has single handedly revived the art of the monologue," he adds, a "unique verbal genre [that] was once a central part of the culture of just about every townland in Ireland".
“I've been involved in storytelling here since the 90s. IMaybe it comes from teaching because sometimes you have to entertain a class to teach,” laughs Declan, a regular performer at festivals such as Fiddlers Green in Rostrevor and the Bard of Armagh contest.
The 64-year-old former art and drama teacher describes his work as “poems-with-chords”.
“Much of the accompanying music would be folk orientated, but are chosen to suit individual poems,” explains Declan.
The backing music has been provided by Seamus and Enda McGlone and Tom Sweeney, a nephew of the late Tommy Makem.
“The poems are all tinged with memories and realism and I think that is why they appeal,” adds Declan.
Declan Forde’s Christmas Cards Book and CD (priced £10) is available online at Declanforde.ie and from Boneyard Records, Omagh and Spar Mullaghmore and Gortin Road.
