On March 12th 2000, some of the 3,000+ volunteers, working
under the auspices of Galway Corporation (now council) Parks department
and its superintendent the recently appointed Stephen Walsh with a
multi-sectoral committee, created a wonderful oak grove on the first day that Terryland Forest Park opened. Twenty oak saplings were planted in a circle surrounding a single oak sapling, giving recognition to the Celtic pagan druids and early Christians, especially Saint Brigid of Kildare (Cill Dara, Irish for 'church of oak') fame, who worshiped amongst nature and gave due respect to the largest of our native tree species. The ancient ones often knew more than modern society gives them credit for. For they understood the significance of trees and plants in maintaining life on the planet which science is helping us to rediscover in the last century or so.
Over the decades, we have held community family picnics, school classes and festivals in this wonderful circle of life.
Yesterday a small team of Tuatha volunteers working in the park laid the foundations for a circle of giant toadstools that will form a Fairy Ring to serve as an enchanting forest-themed Outdoor Classroom for the benefit of visiting schools and other groups.
A circle of fungi is a beautiful natural phenomena in nature that is the surface representation of a network of small threads, called mycelium, that form part of what we now refer to as the Wood Wide Web, a mutually beneficial underground communications and resource-sharing system connecting the trees of a forest.
In mythology these mushroom circles were known as Fairy Rings where the 'little people' merrily danced in the woods under the moonlight. WB Yeats mentions this in his poem The Stolen Child:
"...We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight..."
The concrete toadstools were made by our good friend, the highly talented Michael McDonnell of Cumann na bhFear. Their installation and painting will be done over the next few weeks by the Tuatha volunteers supported by the Just 3 programme of the University of Galway as part of the Galway National Park City initiative.
The first phase of this exciting new creation will be readied later this month in time for the Galway Science and Technology Festival.
Finally, new volunteers are always welcome every Saturday to help us continue to develop the park as an Outdoor Classroom, a heritage hub and as a biodiversity sanctuary.
Rendezvous on Saturday is 10am at An Nead (Irish = The Nest) at the Sandy Road entrance to the Terryland Forest Park. Google map coordinates are
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gc334KY6JoBt6Fw96
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