International Friendships
‘Learning from Each Other’ – since 1994
When Shimna opened in 1994, one of the first phone calls we received was from Californian James Haughian. James’ family came from Mourne, and had emigrated to California, his mother giving birth to James on arrival. In 1994, he was floating about in San Francisco Bay fishing for stripey sea bass, enjoying retirement from the US Airforce and eager to support Integrated education. He proposed a deal, whereby Shimna could have the use of the wonderful stone cottage he had inherited from his Aunt Catherine just below Wee Binnian. Catherine had lived alone in the cottage until age 88, happy without electricity, mains water or stairs to the upper floor to which she climbed up a ladder. In return, Shimna would keep an eye on the cottage and see to any repairs. The happy result was many years of expeditions to the cottage, both to access the mountains and to hone craft maintenance skills.
Our early Parent Council included a number of parents with craft skills, and they set to making the cottage more liveable for softer souls than Catherine Haughian. Their first triumph was to build a staircase so that the upstairs bedrooms could be safely used. Generations of Duke of Edinburgh’s/President’s Award groups began their expedition with a night by the fire in the cottage, toasting marshmallows and dealing with ghosts.
Over time, the additional maintenance required offered an ideal opportunity for the Public Services Diploma students to volunteer. Supported by facilities manager Robbie Mulholland, they did excellent work sweeping out, mending locks, painting walls, sweeping the chimney and chopping away the long grass close to the walls which risked causing damp.
Local artist and volunteer in Shimna’s art department Martin McParland was entranced by the cottage and undertook to replace rotting window frames and refresh the paintwork. In a previous existence, the cottage had provided a base for art classes taught by Shimna parent Heather Cirefice, so the artistic connection was very welcome.
After one particular stormy winter, more heavy duty, skilled attention was required, and parent Mark Poland stepped in with his building skills and love of vernacular buildings. He replaced lost tiles and gutters, mended broken doors and window frames and repainted exterior doors and windows. Martin’s taste had been pastel, blues and greens, but in his turn, Mark chose to return the cottage to more traditional black and red.
When Kevin came to retire, one of his last acts was a last visit to Haughian House to wave farewell to James.
