A home from home for noel and his friends in alberta

Got a most interesting email this week, all the way from Alberta, Canada, and from the pen of Westmeath emigrant, Noel Devine, who tells us that there’s a lot of young Westmeath people out there - and they’re held in the highest regard.

Noel, who emigrated himself three years ago, having obtained permanent residency status, is well-known here in sporting circles: he won four senior titles with Castlepollard in hurling, and a football championsiip with Finea.

Happily, he gets to come home a few times a year, to keep abreast of affairs with his family and friends.

A civil engineer, Noel is working on the massive Anthony Henday project, which will see 300km of highway constructed, necessitating also the erection of 47 new bridges - one of which spans the river Saskatchewan.  There are a number of Irish on the project alongside Noel, all working hard on what is believed to be one of the largest construction projects going on in the Northern hemisphere at present, Noel says.

He writes:  “I want to in some small way highlight all the young Irish people here in Canada and particularly from Westmeath who have come here to work - household names, particularly from north Westmeath - along with the thousands of other young Irish people who are working here and making a huge impact on Alberta’s economy which is booming in one of the largest oil producing regions on the planet.”

Noel says that the image of the young Irish is one of diligence and commitment.

“We hear stories from 'down under’ and elsewhere in this world about the young Irish abroad,” he says, referring to some of the coverage there’s been about the negative image some emigrants are creating of this country.

Not so in Canada, he says, where the newcomers are merely cementing the reputation their predecessors have built up there of a nation of grafters.

In Edmonton, Noel reveals, there is an Irish centre, established in the 1950s, and recently given a complete overhaul costing around $1m.  And that is the place to be on a Saturday night.

“The numbers of immigrants from the sixties from north Westmeath and from my native Castlepollard is very noticeable - well known North Westmeath names like Fagan, Thornton, Cullen, Murray, Devine, Davis and Masterson, now being joined by numbers of younger generations,” he writes, citing places such as Crookedwood, Castlepollard, Coole, Whitehall, Collinstown and Glenidan as being areas all of which are well-represented in Alberta, and in Edmonton in particular.

That Westmeath influence isn’t going unnoticed, it turns out:

“Martin Doyle, who runs the Irish cultural centre, said to me one night: 'This place is full of Westmeath people!’

“The banter is all about who’s going win the Westmeath championships - particularly hurling, in which I have a great interest as I had the privilege of winning four county titles with 'Pollard.

“Believe you me the Gaels are well represented here with people like the legend, Johnny Murray, the former Westmeath county star.”

Noel is proud of how the Irish are regarded in Canda.

“We hear about the unwanted Irish in Perth and elsewhere - but I can tell you that Irish here work their socks off day and night mostly seven days a week, 16 hours a day - yes 16 - the Canadian legal working day limit - in temperatures in winter that drop to below -45 and in mosquito-plagued summer to +45 deg Celsius.

“The people from Westmeath are flying the Irish flag here.

“I had to write this because we cannot forget the Irish who sacrificed leaving their loved ones and who have come here to work for generations and people should be aware of the Irish presence here in Edmonton, and particularly of the contribution being made by the people from north Westmeath.”