“Save the Abbey Manor”

“Save the Abbey Manor Hotel” - a “cento” or patchwork poem by Monica Corish, taken from articles in the Observer relating to the Abbey Manor, Dromahair

August 2011:

Tables are set

In the dining room

Waiting

A pervading smell of damp

Extensive water damage

Mushrooms and moss

Grow out of the carpet

Lead removed from the roof

Copper stolen

Water tanks ripped out

The honeymoon suite

Has been vandalised

Faeces

Smeared

All over the bathroom

September 2011

Local woman Bernie Linnane McBride

Has set up a Facebook page.

Three hundred and fifty fans within three days.

We need the Abbey Manor.

Who exactly owns the business?

There will be no more secrets.

September 2014:

There is still no answer on ownership.

Registered letters were sent.

Returned.

The entire process has taken too long.

It is vital that all avenues be pursued.

Council must be proactive in bid to save.

April 2015:

No news.

Silence.

A dripping tap.