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Family trapped in freak snow drift
08.04.10
by Linda McGrory
A SCOTTISH family who got stranded in a freak 6ft
snow drift in Inishowen have issued a heartfelt
thanks to all the local people who helped them.
Jim Gillen from Balloch, near Glasgow, was visiting
the Moville area over the Easter bank holiday with
his wife, his sister, and four young children
including one who has a disability.
While admitting they never come to Co Donegal for
the weather, they were nevertheless stunned to
encounter "four seasons in an hour" while on a day
trip to The Glen, between Kinnego Bay and
Greencastle, on Easter Sunday.
Jim, whose father was originally from Moville,
explained: "On Easter Sunday, my sister and I took
our four children for a drive out the Glen Road. We
stopped to look at the spring lambs on the way,
before letting the kids loose on Kinnego Bay.
"Having had Spring and nearly Summer in the space of
an hour, we took the road over the hill into
Greencastle only to drive into four to six feet snow
drifts.
"We ended up stuck at the top of the mountain, with
four young kids, one of whom has a disability and
can't walk too far. And as is always the case in
these situations, our mobile phones had no
reception." |
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Jim and his sister
battled in vain to free their car for around 20
minutes when a silver 4x4 pulled up.
"The driver told me he was in a hurry to take his
daughter to an appointment and couldn't stop, but
would try to get us some help. He took off in the
direction he came from, and I have to say that I
thought I wouldn't see him again. |
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"Although the
hailstones were now coming down fairly heavily, we
decided the best option was to try to walk to the
next house and ask to use a phone there," added Jim.
That house, belonging to the Duncan family, was
about fifteen minutes walk away. |
"Mr and Mrs Duncan
couldn't have been more helpful." After ringing a
number of local taxi numbers, Mrs Duncan proceeded
to phone all the local farmers she knew to try and
get the family some assistance.
"She managed to speak to a Harry McDaid who turned
up with his tractor and pulled our car out of the
snow drift. When we got back to the car with the
tractor, my new friend with the silver Suzuki - I'm
afraid I didn't get his name - had returned with his
son and a couple of shovels and had started to dig
our car out," he added.
Jim contacted InishowenNews.com on his return to
Scotland to pass on his thanks to everyone who
assisted them that day.
"I'm sure there are any number of stories like this
happening every day in and around Inishowen, but it
really renewed my faith in human nature that three
separate and unrelated families would put themselves
out to help a group of complete strangers.
"Moville doesn't need good weather to attract
visitors when its people are as kind and generous as
those we were lucky enough to meet in our hour of
need," added Jim. |
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