This article is from page 16 of the 2012-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
A TOTAL of 32 volunteers worked diligently at the weekend to restore some forgotten West Clare history and adding to the number of tourist attractions on Loop Head.
Among those white washing the Kilbaha Éire sign was Peter Keane from Cross, whose father Corporal Keane was the last man to under take the whitewashing task more than 60 years ago.
Due to the hard and unfunded work of volunteers, the old Éire sign at Kilbaha has been restored to its former glory, and can now be seen by all passengers flying into Shannon.
On Good Friday last year, the venture to bring back the Éire sign began with a few volunteers using rods to mark out the 150 foot by 50 foot sign carved into the grassy shore.
Some inventive local men then took the blade off an old plough and attached it to the back of a tractor so that they could cut away the sod that covered the sign designed and built at the onset of World War II in 1939.
The top layer was removed under the supervision of archaeologist Terry Barry of Trinity College Dublin.
The original flat stone was still in place when the layer of clay was removed, looking almost as good as it did when it was placed there in 1939.
The volunteers then filled in any few gaps in the stone and white washed them.
These Éire signs were cut into the coastline every 10 miles to declare to fighter pilots that they were flying over a neutral country during World War II.
The American pilots requested that each sign be numbered so they knew exactly where they were flying, and the sign in Kilbaha got the number 45.
Volunteer Ailish Connolly said that the group now hope to restore the number 45 and the associated look out post in Kilbaha, before moving on to develop the Carrigaholt sign.
All new work is dependent on Leader funding.
To date, the sign has been restored without any funding.
The leading expert on the subject of protecting Ireland’s neutrality, Dr Michael Kennedy gave all of his services for free as he advised the group on the work.
Diggers, equipment, food and even overnight stays were also donated by local people and businesses.
“The only cost to me was the price of three bags of lime at € 8.99,” laughed Ms Connolly.
The project was under taken as a result of the combined efforts of the Kilballyowen Development Committee and Loophead Tourism.
It will feature on the RTÉ programme Nationwide next Monday, which will be all about West Clare.