Marella steps up her anti-mining campaign

This is Marella Fyffe who lives in County Tyrone, and is profiled this week in the Ulster Herald, writes Brian Byrne. She is your editor's cousin, and as the daughter of the late Tom and Carmel Byrne she was raised in Kilcullen. I have a great deal of love and respect for her.

Earlier this year she found that a gold-mining company was planning work near her home and has led a campaign by local people to stop it. This is the first post in the latest stage of the campaign, a blog dedicated to the cause, which she has circulated on Facebook.

It is self explanatory. It is worth reading, because it is a situation that needs people like her to be who they are. For the sake of their own communities, and for the sake of the world we live in. And for the sake of our children and grandchildren who inherit what we do.

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I have lived in Glenhordial for 31 years, the attraction was a small hill farm for sale, she writes. When I got there to view it there were three hares running about in grounds of the derelict farm, it seemed somehow auspicious. The peacefulness and serenity of the place was striking. I knew I had come home.

Over the years I have walked, run, camped and cycled in the Sperrins. With my children I have walked up the Killyclogher burn looking for damsel flies and otters. We have camped by the stream, built dams, made mud pies, lit fires, toasted marshmallows and at the end of the day, sat and watched the moon rise up over the top of Mullaghcarn. In a world that does not care these mountains are really our holy/home lands.

So you might well understand when I discovered mineral drilling rigs less than a mile from our home I was utterly shocked.

Those drilling rigs belong to Dalradian, the Canadian goldmining company seeking to build a mine processing plant using the hazardous chemical cyanide near Greencastle.

I could not believe this would happen here and I knew I had to speak out.

NIMBYISM! I hear the voices cry and thank goodness for the power of it! Because if we as local people don’t speak out when our health, homes and livelihoods are at risk, who then takes up the mantle of stewardship?

I am the first to acknowledge the pressing need for jobs and the importance of creating employment for our young folk. When I ask people why would they support extractive industries there is really only one answer - job creation.

But imagine if the money currently spent facilitating the mining industry is used instead for the Sperrins augmenting and creating sustainable livelihoods in the Agri/ Tourism/Health and Arts sectors.

That money would not be used for:

• PSNI explosives escort - totalling almost £440,000.
• Inward investment agencies such as Invest NI for extractive industries promotion.
• Future public enquiries re: inevitable environmental catastrophes.
• NHS for associated extractive mining illnesses amongst local population.
• Roads, water and electricity infrastructure.

Instead, we would be future proofing our wonderful Sperrins area for generations going forward. Building and strengthening our communities by supporting our entrepreneurs, ushering in a time of creativity innovation and change. Nurturing an existing way of life without repleting our natural resources.

I am a stand for the possibility of a community of stewardship for the Sperrins to remain and prosper as a sanctuary of peace and tranquility in an increasingly crazy world.

I am a stand for all those who farm, fish and run small agri/tourism business to continue to flourish from generation to generation.

I am a stand for the health and well being of every generation coming behind us, that they too will flourish and thrive, confident of the quality of the very air they breath and the water they drink.

I am the kind of person who stands for such things in the world regardless of whether they are realised or not.

I will be working consistently, relentlessly and implacably towards making this possible and when tough times come, as they surely will, I will focus on my commitment of creating a different narrative for the Sperrins and will handle the circumstances that come along with this. You can count on me for this.

Visualise the following:
It’s 100 years into the future. You are a teenager, a grandmother in a car, a visitor, a farmer, a walker, a child. You are out and about enjoying the Sperrins. You are driving up the Glenelly Valley, you are chasing sheep on the hills above Glenhordial, you are cycling on the ladies view trail up the Gortin glens, you are an artist on the Green Road capturing the beauty of the present moment.

You stop for a moment, admire the view and take a breath of air. You are struck by the profound serenity, beauty, peace and tranquility of the area. You have that ‘a-ha’ moment as you feel a surge of gratefulness wash over you. For a moment, you pause and give thanks to your ancestors who had the foresight to make this happen

My question to you is: Are we the ancestors going to be the architects of this future?

What will we choose?

If you have read all the way to here THANK YOU and I have a request if you could share this piece far and wide on a geographical basis particularly in Canada and the USA this helps to beat the algorithm that keep it being passed around amongst the same folk. Sharing it worldwide will create a tipping point that forces mining companies and our governments to sit up and consider that desecration of our sacred places is not the way forward.

Thanks.

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