In some of the photographs in this series you will see a small teddy bear. A charity and a man whose son died by suicide have teamed up to place teddy bears with messages of hope on every major bridge in Cork city. The project aims to raise awareness of help that is available.

Volunteers from Cork Penny Dinners placed the bears, solar lights and messages of hope on 30 bridges spanning the north and south channels of the River Lee and on trees along the Marina, downstream of the city. Caitriona Twomey of Cork Penny Dinners explained that the initiative was the brainchild of Pieta House volunteer Mick Ryan, from Bunclody in Co Wexford, who lost his son Sean Paul (22) to suicide.

“Basically it involved putting up a teddy bear on each of the bridges, together with a solar light that shines in the darkness and a message, ‘Your family and friends love you’ along with a helpline number from the HSE and another from Pieta House that people can text,” she said.


Even though my A7RIV camera was delivered at the end of 2019 I had little opportunity to use until late in 2020. This camera has been replaced by the A7RV which is a lot more expensive and it is supposed to be much better but I decided that I will not get one as I am more than happy with my current camera.


The repaired and restored Daly’s Bridge in Cork, known locally as the shakey bridge, reopened in December 2020 its shake intact. However, I did not get to photograph it until August 2021.

Experts who oversaw the work on the last remaining suspension pedestrian bridge of its age and type in Ireland were very pleased to announce that they had been able to retain the heritage structure’s famous shake.

They used accelerometers to measure the frequency of the shake before work on the structure started in late 2019 and measured the shake of the restored bridge, which includes new cables made in Italy, to ensure it vibrates at exactly the same rate.

The refurbishment and conservation works, which cost over €1.7m, were deemed necessary to address serious corrosion and extensive damage to the 1927 suspension pedestrian bridge which links the Mardyke to Sunday’s Well and Shanakiel in Cork City.