Second and third visits to Drumkeeran were made during the summer of 2014 to discuss with Father Gerard Alwill my ideas for a video installation. My plan was that half of the project would be filmed in Drumkeeran – where my mother grew up and attended Mass – while the other half of the project would be filmed in Crawley, West Sussex (near Gatwick Airport), where I grew up and attended Mass as a child.
The meetings with Father Alwill eventually led to being introduced to a number of people who attended the same church that my mother would have gone to, and some of whom knew my mother and her family, the McGoldricks. My grandfather, J. J. Goldrick, is buried in the churchyard. We found the grave during one of our visits.
Eventually, a number of the parishioners agreed to contribute to the project. This led to a video shoot that took place on Saturday 20 September 2014 at St Brigid’s Church in Drumkeeran.
Working with cameraman Eddie Knight, Production Co-ordinator Nicola Joy and writer Mark C. Hewitt, I spent a day directing the filming of the congregation as they recited the Our Father, led by Father Alwill. The footage is now in the process of being edited.
Click here to see the photos of the shoot that Father Alwill took for the parish website »
Mark and myself will go back to Drumkeeran in April 2015 to conduct a series of interviews with the participating parishioners that will also become part of the installation.
Congregation 