Name: The Marriage Course (online)
Start: 2026-01-06T00:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-01-06T23:59:59+01:00
Location: Online

Poignant stories from upcoming Ahoghill Remembrance Exhibition shared on airwaves

Monday November 3rd 2025

A poignant Remembrance Exhibition being hosted by St Colmanell’s Parish Church, Ahoghill, over six days from this Thursday featured on BBC Radio Ulster at the weekend.

The church will be open from Thursday November 6 daily until Tuesday November 11. As well as a variety of poppy displays, wall hangings and floral displays, there will be the stories of local people and unsung heroes told in imaginative ways, including secret trench diaries, various wartime items and much more.

Some of those involved in putting together the exhibition, including parishioners who are sharing personal memorabilia and stories, featured in ‘Your Place and Mine,’ first broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster on Saturday morning, November 1, and available online HERE – report begins 39 minutes into the programme.

We hear about a number of wartime radios which will be available to view, including a Dutch resistance radio hidden inside a biscuit or toffee tin, and a rudimentary radio used inside a Prisoner of War camp – with German headphones!

One parishioner shares the diary of her great grandfather, written in the trenches with a pencil he sharpened with his teeth, and a separate display tells the story of three generations of one family who served in war.

And there is the tale of Paddy the Pigeon from Carnlough who was parachuted behind enemy lines, where he picked up a message and flew home in four hours and 50 minutes, being awarded a Dicken Medal for the best recorded time for a pigeon returning from Normandy. [These medals were instituted in 1943 to honour the work of animals in World War Two].

Reflecting on the connection between remembrance and faith in the radio interview, the rector of Ahoghill and Portglenone, the Rev Dennis Christie, says:

“When we… think about what these individuals had to have gone through, we are quick to think they must have felt so fearful, and maybe lonely at times, and there is no doubt that many of them will have turned to God. It really makes you think what they went through and who they leaned on in those darkest moments.

“Nearly every generation has a story about it that can be shared and sometimes they stay within families. Exhibitions like this bring them together and… they can be celebrated as well as mourned.”

The ‘Your Place and Mine’ feature is a fascinating listen and the exhibition will be well worth a visit. Opening hours below.