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A MEMORIAL TO Irish polar explorer Ernest Shackleton will travel more than 11,000 kilometres to Dundee to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth.
The wooden cross from Shackleton’s Hope Point memorial will soon be on display at Discovery Point museum in Dundee, where the Royal Research Ship (RRS) Discovery, which first carried Shackleton to Antarctica in 1901, is kept.
Shackleton was born in Kilkea, Ireland, in 1874 and died in January 1922, aged 47, after suffering a heart attack on board his expedition ship, the Quest, in South Georgia, a UK overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
Crew members of the Shackleton-Rowett expedition erected a memorial at Hope Point, near to his final resting place in Grytviken Cemetery.
The Hope Cross was constructed at nearby Grytviken whaling station by crew members unable to attend the funeral of their expedition leader, whom they called The Boss.
The memorial cairn and cross allowed them to pay their respects, placing a signed group photograph between the rocks.
Crafted from wood salvaged from a nearby whaling station, the cross stood at Hope Point for nearly 100 years, before the decision was made in 2018 to remove it and replace it with a replica to preserve it.
Earlier this year, the cross – measuring almost three metres tall and weighing approximately 30 kilogrammes – was loaded aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough, to begin the 11,000 kilometre journey and is expected to arrive in Dundee in August, where a service is expected to be held to commemorate its arrival at the home of the RRS Discovery.
Bringing the memorial cross to Dundee is a collaboration between the Dundee Heritage Trust (DHT) the South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI).
The DHT is appealing to fundraise £10,000 for the care of the cross at Discovery Point.
Laura Willis, chief executive of the islands’ government, said: “This unique object embodies the spirit of exploration and endurance that has defined these islands since their discovery almost 300 years ago, through generations of whalers, adventurers, ecologists and conservationists that continue to push the frontiers of knowledge of the sub-polar regions to the present day.
“We hope that its display to a wider audience will inspire visitors, enthusiasts and future generations to contemplate and appreciate the enduring legacy of one of the world’s greatest explorers, as well as the indomitable strength of human spirit.”
Alison Neil, CEO of the SGHT, said: “When the original Hope Cross was replaced on South Georgia back in 2021, the opportunity arose to share it with the public beyond the sub-Antarctic island’s 15,000 annual visitors.
“We at SGHT and the South Georgia Museum are thrilled that the Hope Cross can be cared for as part of the Discovery Point collection in Dundee, with all of its links to Sir Ernest Shackleton.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for many people to encounter the cross and be inspired by the love and loyalty to ‘The Boss’ that caused it to be created and erected by his crew in his memory.
“We’re grateful to GSGSSI, DHT and to BAS for helping to preserve this iconic piece of Shackleton’s legacy, and hope that the public take this chance to see the cross and support its preservation.”
Emma Halford-Forbes, heritage and exhibitions director at DHT said: “We’re pleased to welcome the Hope Cross to Dundee this year and display it to a UK audience for the first time.
“Looking forwards, we have exciting plans for a capital redevelopment of Discovery Point, including a new permanent polar exhibition, Drawn to the Pole.
“Our plan is to display the Hope Cross as part of this new gallery, to make it accessible to a wider audience and create a respectful and reflective opportunity to pause and remember not just Shackleton, but all past Antarctic explorers.”
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Absolutely disgraceful treatment of people under going life saving treatment, Simon Harris should be ashamed of his policies targeting those with so much worry and ill health.
@Honeybee: They’ll soon be sending in the security firms from the North to collect
@Honeybee: they could just pay?
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: have you not heard? Everything should be free. Everything.
@Honeybee: so if you have cancer you don’t have to pay your bills? No evidence of these non-payers enaging with the HSE and claiming hardship which would get a sympathetic ear. Debt collector letters are only issued where people don’t engage but cue the usual clueless outraged here
@Seamus G: I have no problem paying for my chemo. I had 6 weeks of it but when I was on week 4 I got a call from the debt collector so please don’t think cancer patients don’t want to pay but believe me when you have chemo once a week and radiation 5 days a week paying a bill comes way down on the list of stuff to do. All we ask is a little understanding and give us time to pay the bill before we get calls from the debt collector.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: , @ Chin feeyin – People who are being treated for cancer generally have to stop work, especially for Chemo, where are they supposed to find the money to pay for life saving treatment when there is no money coming in from work?
Surely at the very lest these bills should be held back until AFTER the person is able to return to work and earn the money to pay for there life saving treatments – 2 absolute gobshytes, who in your rush to ridicule, completely forget to be human, Fair play lads.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: They have. Their taxes built the hospitals and pay medical personnel, cleaners, administrators and doormen alike. Under a humane form of government, such as one with a socialist aspect, private medicine is optional, since that is not funded by taxes but here, you are likely to get treated by the same medical professionals whether you go with a medical card or private. It’s called eating everyone’s cake.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: You obviously don’t pay attention if someone is receiving chemo most likely they are not working and are very ill adding a cost to that beyond caring. Please don’t make thoughtless statements
I honestly thought cancer care was free in ireland. Im ashamed its not.
@Jonathan Kerr: no hospital treatments are free there is a day rate you pay upto a max of 800 euro per year and they bill you quick once you’re out even if you’re not working.
I’ve even been charged for half a day for a colonoscopy.
You can write it off against the lower rate of tax so you get a bit back that way.
@Jonathan Kerr: it’s abhorrent that state funded hospitals can constitutionally chase fees from citizens. these hospitals are fully owned and operated by the state (with the horrid “ethos” that parisitically infects schools as well), and as such, in lieu of universal health, get their act together to manage themselves on state funds, and be explicitly barred from debt collection.
@ed w: yes, but Medical Card holders pay nothing.
https://www.irishtimes.com/…/medical-cards-what-do-they-give-you-and-how-do-you…
Sep 12, 2017 – The number of medical card holders has grown rapidly in recent years, up from about 1.2 million in 2012 to 1.6 million as of July 2017.
Nearly two million if you add in GP-only cards.
@Gulliver Foyle: what a clueless comment
@ed w: Mary harney with ff brought in this stealth tax it was originally sold as a deterrent to stop drunks coming to a&e should never have being extended to cancer as it causes are prevalent in the environment and hereditary .
@Gerard Heery: actually she didn’t. She brought in the A&E charge of €100. Hospital charges have been there since the 1970 Health Act.
Sadly I went through this during my early days of chemotherapy and can attest to the fact that the added stress was unrelenting. These debt collectors chased me as I waited weeks for the approval of a medical card. Nothing would stop them, phone calls and texts almost daily. I understand they have a role to play in securing monies for the HSE but the lack of compassion and understanding was frightening. To me just another example of the lack of joined up thinking in our Government Services.
@Howard Myers: 100% head up and push over the line with the chemo ,keep pushing for the card that’s what you do in-between sessions of chemo ,let them know your not going away best of Luck and health to you.
@Howard Myers: Sounds nightmarish. Hope you’re doing better now and obtained your card?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Doing OK getting the best of treatment from the world class staff at St. James’s Hospital. Yes got the card………eventually.
Re: Debt Collection agency
Debt collection agencies have no powers in Ireland. They cannot take a person to court, they have to refer back to the creditor if the debtor does not pay up after their approaches. They cannot put stuff on the ICB or affect credit ratings. They are basically a big loud barking dog with no teeth.
If you get a phone call from a debt collection agency, tell them to clear off and hang up immediately. Bin or burn any postal correspondence from them. Do not engage in any way with them. If they harass you call the Gardai.
Better off asking Michael Martin is this what FF supports, because FG survives because FF supports them
This has always been the HSE and Health Boards of Old way of sending out bills
@William Bryan: While it’s disgraceful, and arguably immoral, to hound anyone seriously ill, it’s worth noting that there are also other serious illnesses besides cancer.
I seem to remember Averil Power represented the Asthma Society of Ireland not so long ago, perhaps she could also have a word for those with chronic respiratory conditions forced to pay similar fees.
Re: Debt Collection agency
Debt collection agencies have no powers here. Ignore all verbal and postal correspondence with them. If they harass you call the Gardai.
We can leave the door wide open for alleged asylum seekers, mostly economic migrants put them up in hotels up and down the country and then, on the other hand, hound our own citizens at probably the most distressing times in their lives .absolute thundering disgrace .the government continue to get the priorities all wrong.
@Anthony Gallagher: Agree , When the government used taxpayers money to bail out the banks, pay the bondholders who gambled and lost, allowing the banks to be exempt from paying tax on their profits. Creating a health system the ensures you pay or die. Every worker contributes to the health service, everybody should be entitled to treatment.
Nothing new with this incompetent government…
@dublinsnap: This government is far from incompetent when it comes to looking after FG’s prime interests. Ordinary people have to take “personal responsibility” and “pay their way”. That’s neoliberalism.
In the meantime it’s Free profits for Vulture funds and banks.
Cancer patients don’t automatically get a medical card??
@niamh ryan: medical cards are means tested.
@Chin Feeyin: I always assumed certain illnesses would be exempt
@niamh ryan: MC is means tested.
Absolutely disgraceful i had 3 heart attacks in 2006 was in intensive care for more than a week. When i was allowed to go home, I received a bill for my stay and a few days later the threatening letters started to appear. Not right for this to happen no compassion
In recovery now,and back at work tg,and think i should pay the few quid i owe,they the system got me back working 6 weeks after a transplant,only because im able to pay it now,the people who cant cant,let us be thankful for the service we have,couldn’t fault it.(stem cell)
Since FFG, this country has been run by elitist parasites for elitist parasites.
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