Creeslough: Donegal village prepares for first Christmas since blast

“It’s just an eerieness – a silence that is within everybody.”

It was almost three months ago that everything changed for the village of Creeslough in County Donegal.

Now, residents are preparing to spend their first Christmas without 10 people who were killed in an explosion at a petrol station.

The blast, at the Applegreen service station on 7 October, destroyed the village’s only shop and a section of an apartment block. The cause is still unknown, with an investigation by gardaí (Irish police) continuing.

Christmas can often be a difficult time for those going through grief. For an entire village, this one will be particularly emotional.

“People still do not have the words to describe what has happened to our town,” Marie Duffy, who runs the local community newsletter, told BBC’s Evening Extra programme.

“Even when people talk and even when people meet each other, there’s silence or this understanding with each other.”

According to Marie, the effect goes beyond a physical silence.

The petrol station, with its shop and post office, acted as the main hub of the village so its absence has created a stillness. The road going past the scene reopened just last month.

A new temporary shop opened beside the church – where a few months ago funeral after funeral took place – has brought some business back to the village.

But the silence in each resident, unspoken but acknowledged, remains.

“Things have changed and anybody who has experienced a trauma or anything like what has happened in Creeslough, even a small trauma, can empathise,” she added.

The tragedy brought Creeslough, a small village in the north-west of Ireland with a population of about 400 people, onto the world’s stage, which has presented another mental hurdle for the village’s residents.

“Unfortunately, Creeslough will be forever associated with this explosion,” Ms Duffy said.

“That has been very hard for a lot of us to come to terms with because we were so used to being an anonymous town nobody really knew.”

But the people of Creeslough, despite the unthinkable tragedy that occurred, are doing what they can to mark Christmas.

There have been events – little things, Marie said – that may not have happened in previous years. Such as a Christmas film screening for young people last weekend. Or sports events for kids.

“There’s very much a lot going on for the children because Christmas is obviously a very special time for children. But it’s a different one this year,” she added.

The village turned on its Christmas lights two weeks ago and a new addition has been made to the usual decorations.

“We have a display cabinet on the main street, beside where the crib would usually be, which has ten candles that are lit,” Ms Duffy explained.

Each of the candles represents a life lost in October’s tragedy, with another one lit for those injured.

“I suppose that’s our way of trying to remember those who have been impacted.”

Turning the Christmas lights on was a very important step, Marie said, because “the town has to celebrate Christmas in some small way in order to get to the next grieving process”.

She added: “Anything we can do to support each other, we’re trying our best to do it.”

Over the next nine months, the villagers in Creeslough, and neighbours in surrounding areas, will continue to mark a number of firsts.

These will inevitably include the inquest into the tragic explosion and the one-year anniversary.

But out of the sadness and grief, love prevails.

“Christmas will be very, very difficult for many people,” Ms Duffy said.

“But people will be holding their loved ones closer than they ever have before.

“We are very close and we have always looked out for each other, no matter what has happened. That’s the way it’s always been and hopefully that’s the way it will continue to be.”

Listen to the full interview with Marie Duffy on Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra later on Thursday.