Putting the heart back into Christmas

If you look to the skies tonight around Manorhamilton, you see something strange and wonderful.

A heart made up of lights will be visible on Benbo mountain. Love Leitrim's heart is back again on the mountain overlooking Manorhamilton every evening from 4.15-8.15pm. Love Leitrim are an antifracking group who want to promote Leitrim's quality of life.

The giant heart towering was first  launched on Saturday November 28th last year. The heart with an impressive 120 metres in circumference and 100 feet in height can be seen for miles in the rural area. It sits on the peak of Benbo, a mountain range on the border of Leitrim and Fermanagh, two of the counties at risk from fracking, one in the North of Ireland, one in the South.  

Artist Darragh Wilkins created the short-term installation with anti-fracking group Love Leitrim as part of an Artist in the Community scheme, a partnership that also involved Leitrim County Council.  In a truly community effort campaigners were delighted that farmers from a number of different sites had offered land but a commonage on Benbo mountain won the day as the site for the project.