Several of her forebears were sailors; perhaps the sea is in her blood! Her gran, as a child, saw RMS Titanic when her father took her to the sea trials, a sight never forgotten. They travelled to Belfast from Dun Laoghaire by train.

For the centenary year Angela decided to commemorate those who sailed for New York on that magnificent, doomed liner by painting a picture of Titanic at Southampton Dock, based on Fr Browne's famous Titanic photographs and writing this poem.

The Titanic

In Lahardane in Mayo fourteen people left one day
And took a train in Castlebar which sent them on their way
To board a ship in Queenstown to cross the ocean wide
Only three of those poor people ever reached the other side.
The Captain stood upon the bridge aboard his ship Titanic
He looked around, he saw no ice, there was no need to panic
Maintain course and heading, do not reduce the speed
I've crossed this ocean many times and there is no need.

The stokers in the boiler rooms were working round the clock
They had kept the fires burning since they left Southampton dock
The fumes, the dirt, the heat and the sweat upon their backs
Was only ever seen as smoke rising from the stacks.

Click here for the full text of Angela's poem.