Margaret’s legacy will live long in Loughglynn

Christmas. That season when we remember a birth that happened over 2000 years ago, and all this time later we still celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The following day we also remember a man who died, Stephen who we’re told was the first Christian martyr.

St Stephen’s Day is an important day in Ireland, in places around Ireland people abstain from meat to mark it! In Roscommon it’s also the feast of our patron St. Coman.

We celebrate it in song and dance through traditions like the wren boys, sadly, a thing of the past here in West Roscommon. “Trick or treating” has taken the place of getting into disguise and going out singing, playing a tune, or doing some other activity to “get the price of burying the wran”! Innocent times maybe, but sadly like lots of our traditions on their way out.

The last week of 2023 saw two particular people pass on to the next life, one of them John McDermott from Roscommon was of course a former Roscommon footballer and a very active political campaigner, running for election and acting as chairman of the hospital action committee, a very sincere man who put others first and wanted the best for the community including good medical facilities.

The other, Margaret Creaton of Creaton’s Bar and Shop in Loughglynn passed away early on St Stephen’s Day in her 94th year. Some of you may remember that I mentioned her 90th birthday here way back in Covid times when she celebrated that landmark birthday in May of 2020.

There was a lovely drive by celebration where the parish turned out and drove by the shop and Margaret and members of her family returned the waves as people saluted her on her landmark birthday. At the time I remarked that it was a lovely simple act that would long be remembered whenever we reminisced about that happened over that dreadful Covid period.

St Stephen’s Day 2023 was a strange one in Loughglynn. Anybody with an interest in sport was looking to Limerick racecourse at half one that day as a son of the village, Thomas Gilligan, had a horse running in the big race, aptly named Loughglynn. Like every Christmas wish it came true, yes Loughglynn won well in the novice hurdle and was even top billing on the RTÉ sports news that evening.

The whole parish had backed Loughglynn and for a while there were smiles but the real followers of horses saw another horse running that day in England, a horse named Margaret's Legacy. It was running at a quarter to two and a few people decided it was fate and backed Margaret’s Legacy.

When I was thinking about Mrs Creaton and the horse Margaret’s Legacy, I thought to myself she’s left a serious one behind. She arrived in Loughglynn as a sixteen-year-old from Ahascragh to work in Creaton’s, which was then a busy shop and bar. She married Denis and firmly established herself in the community, her husband died in 1976 and she was a widow for almost 50 years, running a thriving shop, bar and agri supplies business with her son James. The rest of the family also helped, of course.

She was the quintessential Irish granny, proud of all her grandchildren and smiling when they were around, and the same grandchildren had so much time for her. Like all grannies she had special days, her eldest grandson, Denis won an All-Ireland handball title this year, she was proud. I remember sitting near her in Croke Park as another grandson, also named Denis, was playing in the primrose and blue of Roscommon. The granddaughters too brought her joy and so too did the next generation of great grandchildren.

In 2021 we did a fundraiser for our GAA Club; we raffled a campervan. Before we launched the draw, we decided that we needed to create a buzz to get people talking before the tickets went on sale, so we made a little twenty minute you tube video with people doing little pieces to the camera talking about the draw. Margaret and her granddaughter Hannah did a brilliant sketch, where Margaret suggested they would fill up the tank with diesel for the winner. When the draw was over and the camper was collected Margaret met the winner, filled the tank, went for a spin with the winning family and a few others from the locality. Nice and simple.

One would expect nothing less. She wasn’t one for trumpet blasts, just a nice friendly smile. My youngest brother tells stories of bars of chocolate as he went to catch the school bus in the morning. Passing the shop Mrs Creaton would often give him a bar and a smile. He’s not alone with the memory.

For the record Margaret’s Legacy won and no doubt Margaret’s legacy will remain a constant in the village and the area for a long time to come.