Cousins are inspiration for good

Cousins are inspiration for good

21 November 2012

CLARE Steele and Rory McAlinden remain at the heart of family life. Their photographs hang pride of place in their Castlewellan homes, they remain the centre of many a conversation, and new grandchildren are told of the aunt and uncle they have never met.

It has been over five years since the cousins died side by side in Castlewellan Lake after a night out which ended in a boating tragedy.

The death of the teenagers that Easter weekend in April 2007 shocked the local community, with over 1000 mourners attending one of largest funerals the town has ever witnessed.

The pair had been socialising with a group of friends before venturing on to Castlewellan Lake in a canoe, which was later to capsize. Rory was last heard saying he had found his cousin, holding on to her as another member of the party swam ashore for help.

As soon as the 999 call was received by the Coastguard, a full-scale search and rescue operation swung into place, and among the emergency services at the scene were the Mourne Underwater Search Team (MUST) and Neil Powell from the Search and Rescue Dog Association.

The two organisations were previously honoured with £36,000 worth of funding after the Clare Steele and Rory McAlinden Memorial Fund was set up by the families. And as the fund officially closes this week, with a final donation of the remaining £3262.87 to the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, they have been reflecting on how good has continued to come out of the tragedy.

“We thought the Saint Vincent de Paul charity a very worthy cause with the amount of people out of work at the minute,” said Rory’s mum, Veronica McAlinden. “£30,000 went to the divers, who have new diving equipment and £6,000 to Neil Powell, who has a new van.

“The money was raised locally, in the likes of Newcastle, Castlewellan and Annsborough, and the boys, my son Brian and Brian’s uncle, ran the marathon in May. Never even in our wildest dreams did we think we would raise so much, though. The support we got as well was incredible.

“It is hard to believe five years have passed. Good has come out of it, though.”

As well as the money they have raised, Mrs. McAlinden said she believed young people in the area were now more aware of the dangers of messing around near water.

“It was a bit of fun that went wrong,” she said.

“Both the families have been a good support to each other,” Mrs. McAlinden continued. “We are very close we are always going to be. It was my son and my sister’s daughter. We talk about Clare and Rory a lot.

“They were two good footballers and two characters. Gone but definitely not forgotten by family and friends and by me.”

Acknowledging it was “good to get that final closure” with the memorial fund winding down, Mrs. McAlinden said it was now a case of reverting to private grief for the pair, who were close friends as well as cousins.

Before their untimely passing, Rory (18) had been working as an apprentice joiner while Clare (16) was studying for her GCSEs at St. Malachy’s College, Castlewellan.

Clare’s mum, Mary Clare Steele, said the pain had eased a little over the past five years, but explained that it “never goes away”.

“You never really get over it, you learn to live with it,” she said. “You just have to get on.

“We are happy we got to do something worthwhile with the memorial fund, though, it feels good.

“Clare and Rory are looking over everything and are still part of the family. We have their pictures up. We talk about them all the time.

“Some of the grandchildren have never met Clare and Rory and we tell them about them. Years ago after something like this you wouldn’t have talked about it.

“But you feel they are looking down, looking after you, and the money that has been raised will do good for other people.”

Mrs. Steele also echoed her sister’s hope that young people in the area would continue to be aware of the danger of socialising near areas such as Castlewellan Lake.

“A lot of the young people still remember it,” she said. “They were really, really shaken by it.”

One of the guarantors of the Clare Steele and Rory McAlinden Fund, Eamonn O’Neill, praised the families for their fundraising efforts, and local people for their generosity.

“It represents the best in our local community, showing its very impressive charitable nature and the courage and charity of the Steele and McAlinden families,” he said.