ISLANDERS from Derrykerrib along the Fermanagh Border have been recalling the history of their area for publication.

Some remember the days when they had no bridge and depended entirely on cots for bringing food, fuel and even people.

The island community, situated near Wattlebridge, has been in the headlines before as a result of their prolonged and determined campaign to see a new bridge erected at Derrykerrib.

Recently they have bee actively involved in an oral history project called ‘People in Print’, currently running at Fermanagh County Museum.

As part of Fermanagh District Council’s cultural heritage programme, funding has been made available to finance a research assistant, Ms. Sandra Matchett, to carry out oral history work throughout the county.

One Derrykerrib islander is quoted in the history as saying: “We went to school in Wattlebridge, and we had to be cotted out for to get to school. We had no bridge or no road or no nothing, so we had to be cotted out there and left out there in the mornings, come back for us in the afternoon.”