08 May 2013

A Lynders gathering in the year of the gathering

Watching the sea and the beach at the Waterside Hotel before a gathering of Lynders cousins in Donabate this evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

The weather today has been mixed, and I’m in Armagh from tomorrow (Thursday) for three days at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland.

But after work today, I spent a few hours in Donabate, taking a brief walk by the beach and meeting some cousins.

Despite the choppy waters, there was a clear view across to Lambay Island, the Irish Sea and back to Malahide.

With Lynders cousins in Donabate this evening (from left): Marie Bates, Christine Lynders, Peter Lynders, Patrick Comerford, Patsy Lynders

Later there was a gathering in the Waterside Hotel in Donabate of a few Lynders cousins. Christine Lynders, who has moved back to New York after 15 years in California, is on her second visit to Ireland and to the Lynders home territory in Donabate and Portrane.

I have not met some of these cousins for almost 20 years; some I have never met before. Perhaps we need a wider gathering of the full Lynders family in the year of the gathering.

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