It was a fine autumn day in Castlewellan Forest Park when Diane Egerton, all the way from Canada, unveiled the blue plaque in honour of Lady Mabel. Diana's own forebears hailed from Co. Fermanagh. The plaque was erected at the entrance to the Arboretum rather than the Castle because the latter is not publicly accessible.

Down District Council and the Lottery Heritage Fund, both of which had sponsored the event were represented, by Cllr. Eamon O'Neill and Professor Patrick Murphy, respectively. The Annesley family was represented by Mrs Elizabeth Annesley.

At the reception held afterwards Cllr O'Neill spoke of the important part that the Annesley family had played in the local community. Professor Murphy placed Lady Mabel in the social and economic context of her time and Victor Price, from the Circle, talked about Lady Mable's time in New Zealand and described how she sparked the first debale about the nature of art in the colums of the local paper by her selection of paintings in London for the Bishop Suter Art Gallery in Nelson, South Island.

Diane Egerton described how she became involved in researching Lady Mabel. For the full text of her remarks, click Here.

Here are some photos of the event.