We started off today by hopping on a bus to take us to Derry/Londonderry, there is an ENTIRE political narrative to that name that I had no awareness of. We arrived at Holywell Trust and participated in a presentation/workshop with Maureen Hetherington on Peace and Patriarchy. Maureen is the Coordinator of the Junction, a community relations and peace building initiative, includes coordinating Ethical & Shared Remembering with Johnston McMaster and The Liberation from Patriarchy with Cathy Higgins. The presentation and discussion was particularly troubling and disturbing given that Derry/Londonderry, which is a walled city, is also known as ‘The Maiden City,’ because her walls have never been penetrated!

Maureen Hetherington

We headed off to lunch, breaking up into several groups; six of us wound up at Grannie Annie’s which had great food, great company, and an interesting decor!

We then headed to the Museum of Free Derry, where not only did we learn more about Bloody Sunday, but also heard a first hand account of it from John Kelly, whose brother was  murdered that day. Heavy, heavy, heavy.

A two hour bus ride back to Corrymeela, with a detour to the Dark Hedges, famous for being a site where Game of Thrones is filmed, which was AMAZING to some, for the rest of us, ‘meh’ was our reaction.

Supper and then into a debriefing session of the day, many of us are feeling drained. I was delighted to find out that evening worship was Taize, led by Rev. Kiran Wimberley. I headed to the Croi and my soul was restored by the circle of sung prayer.