Rathmullan residents came together on Father’s Day to specially welcome the 31 bonnie babies who arrived to the area in 2016.
From February to December, 16 boys and 15 girls were born to parents here, and the baby boom called for a special celebration.
Village administrator Katrina Tasker noticed the curious Baby Boom and decided it was time for all the babies to meet each other before they all start growing up as neighbours and schoolmates.
“It was just last year I noticed there was bumps everywhere. Now they’re all here I thought it would be nice to do something to bring them all together. We started getting details in from all the mammies and we decided to do an event on Father’s Day,” Katrina told Donegal Woman.
A ‘Welcome to the World’ vintage tea party was held to celebrate all the new citizens. While the babies were centre of attention, the mammies and daddies all got a special treat too.
Some of the fathers with their babies who were all born in 2016 in Rathmullan. (North West Newspix)
Charlotte Logue with her son Tommy with neighbour Roisin Doherty and daughter Ashley who were two of the 30 babies born from the remote seaside town of Rathmullan in 2016. (North West Newspix)
Charlotte Logue (above, left) is the mum of baby Tommy, who was born on the 14th of July. She spotted an even closer link between the babies of the group.
“I’m from Milford and now living in Rathmullan, so it took us a while to realise how many there were and how many were on our road. There were 6 or 7 of these babies born on our road in the one year,” she told Donegal Woman.
“We’re not even in the town, we’re on a road outside Rathmullan – chat about a boom!”
Little Tommy’s dad, Brian McElwaine, joined the celebrations. “It was really nice for the dads to meet on Father’s Day because they mightn’t have known many of the others very well,” Charlotte said.
Some of the parents who had children in 2016 in the small Donegal town of Rathmullan. (North West Newspix)
During the vintage tea party the mums got a chance to pamper themselves with some Fake Bake tanning products, because despite Rathmullan being a beachside town there is still a lack of sunshine.
Dads were treated to a voucher entitling them to a free pint in one of the local bars, with vouchers donated by the Beachcomber, The White Harte, Big Paddy’s. A quiet moment away from all the little ones may have been just the treat for the men yesterday!
The babies each received a personalised wooden letter with their initials and their birthdates engraved into it, kindly donated by Deirdre Williamson.
A special certificate was handed to the tots to mark them as members of this exclusive group.
6 month old Carter McKinley and his mum Kelly with some of the other parents who had babies in 2016 in the small Donegal town of Rathmullan. (North West Newspix)
Katrina said she has been pondering the dates to figure out why there has been such an influx of newborns to Rathmullan, but admits there is no concrete theory.
“We had five babies born in July and five more in August, which may have been the Christmas effect. You could pin the December babies to Paddy’s Day, but apart from that there were no power cuts or anything that I can think of!” Katrina said.
Some of the parents who had children in 2016 in the small Donegal town of Rathmullan. (North West Newspix)
“One mother has made a good point that the recession could be a factor. Many of the babies were a third child, so maybe the parents were waiting to be financially secure and to have permanent job contracts before expanding their families,” Katrina said.
Future together
Katrina is involved in the Baby and Toddlers club at the Rathmullan & District Resource Centre, where she is looking forward to seeing the youngsters growing up together.
“We’ll probably have some marriages come out of this group! It’s great for the schools and the numbers in the creche. We’ll need a double decker bus for the prom!
“It’s great for Rathmullan. We’ve only got a population of about 550 so it’s a huge boost,” Katrina said
Tags: