Calling former staff, customers, guests and friends of the Londonderry Arms Hotel in Carnlough, Co Antrim.
Sadly this landmark hotel is on the market after 75 years in the kind and gentle hands of the O’Neill family and on behalf of the family, Marnie and Denise O’Neill are planning a ‘thank you’ night of memories, songs and tales which promise to come from all round the world.
Marnie explained: “I believe that we should celebrate those years from the time my parents arrived in the blizzard of February 1947. My mother told of how they had to dig their way through snow drifts to the front door, she said it marked a sense of adventure in their new home and new life together.”
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And what a life.
Moira and her husband Frank continued to develop the history of the 19th century coaching inn which had been built by the Marchioness of Londonderry and which at one time was owned by Winston Churchill; paintings, antiques and mementos have been gathered from those early years to the present day, and displayed in a unique atmosphere of open fires and gracious living.
But sadly times have changed for this family run hotel. Mrs O’Neill was widowed in 1993 but continued with the business and was believed to be the oldest hotelier in Northern Ireland when she passed away in 2017 at the age of 94.
One of her eight children, her son Frankie, took over the running of the hotel and on his death his wife Denise continued the demanding business through civil unrest, the Covid pandemic, Brexit and the cost of living crisis.
Now it will pass into other hands, hopefully to treat the Londonderry Arms with the same dignity it is used too.
The Gathering of Memories will be held on Friday February 23 from 7.30- 9.30pm and the respected storyteller Liz Weir will guide the audience through the evening.
“I’m the facilitator,” she tells me, although I think of this fascinating woman as the weaver of dreams.
Any ghosts expected on the night? “There may well be, a building such as this has many secrets,” she says. “We’ll be sitting at the fire in the Churchill Room and although people don’t think they have a story worth telling, I’ll encourage them to look back and share unique recollections. Stephen O’Hara is a superb scribe and he will be recording all that goes on.”
We should celebrate those years from the time my parents arrived in the blizzard of February 1947. My mother told of how they had to dig their way through snow drifts to the front door, she said it marked a sense of adventure in their new home and new life together
— Marnie O'Neill
Liz knows the Londonderry Arms well and has a special interest as in her youth she was a 16-year-old chamber maid. “I think there’s a book at the end of this,” she says. “And even if people can’t get along on Friday night I’d like them to send in their stories either by email or in a letter to Marnie at the hotel address.”
It’s difficult enough to give up a home you love but for the O’Neill family, giving up the place they have nurtured from Moira and Frank’s time, and through their children to their grandchildren, is a wrench.
They will never be forgotten, not only as the heart of the village but also to so many local people travelling the north coast and visitors from around the world who have stopped and spent time with the O’Neills, the Irish Sea at the front door and the majestic Glens of Antrim at the back door.
As Marnie says: “We need to record our history which is rich and rare so, please, get in touch and help build the memories.”
