Seating Matters founder Martina Tierney brings a life in poems to Draperstown

The memories of a rural childhood in Draperstown, the closeness of family life, the tenderness of love and the ache of loss run through The Oak Tree, a new poetry collection by Martina Tierney, occupational therapist, author and Clinical Director of Seating Matters.

Published by Oakleaf Press, the collection will be launched at The Community Hub in Draperstown on Wednesday, December 9, at 7pm. Readers can pre-order the book through Oakleaf Press and collect it at the launch.

For Martina, the poems begin with the places and people that made her: a large family, familiar faces, old homes and the ordinary details of a childhood in rural Ireland. They move through the years that followed, reflecting on love, family, grief and the happiness her grandchildren bring. There is warmth and humour here, alongside sadness, and the recognition that a small detail can open the door to a memory we thought we had put away.

The book’s title carries a particular meaning. An oak is rooted in the ground around it, but it also bears the marks of time and weather. In Martina’s poems, memories work in much the same way: each one becomes part of a life, and part of the story a family carries forward.

Anne McDonald, an award-winning poet and poetry editor, describes the collection as touching on ‘the extraordinary found in the everyday’. She praises it as an honest record of growing up in the North of Ireland, rooted in landscape, neighbourliness and the ties between generations.

Martina is already known to many people through her work in occupational therapy and the family business she helped build with her husband, James. She saw first-hand how the wrong chair could affect a person’s comfort, posture, safety and ability to take part in daily life. When she struggled to find suitable seating for patients with complex needs, she began developing specialist chairs to meet those needs.

James, an engineer, brought his practical and technical knowledge to the work. Together, they began designing chairs shaped by both clinical experience and engineering. What began with bespoke solutions for individual patients grew into Seating Matters, a Derry-based company supplying specialist therapeutic seating to healthcare providers around the world.

That story reflects a life guided by close attention: to how a person sits, to what a patient needs, and to the small moments that make a day meaningful. The Oak Tree turns that same attentiveness towards family life and memory. The scale is different, but the instinct is familiar: to notice what matters, and to give it care.

Alongside this new collection, Martina has written books connected with her professional life. The Stairway of My Life is a memoir following her journey from childhood on a farm to creating an international business. The Power of OT reflects on the role and value of occupational therapy. She is also the author of The Clinician’s Seating Handbook, a guide used by students, clinicians and carers working with specialist seating.

Oakleaf Press founder Jane Buckley said: ‘I’m delighted that Martina has entrusted Oakleaf Press with The Oak Tree. I know how much life sits behind these poems. They bring back the people, places and small details that shape us, and they do so with honesty, affection and a lovely warmth.

‘Martina has spent so much of her working life thinking about how people live, what supports them and what helps them feel part of the world around them. There is a quiet connection between that care and the poems in this book. I hope readers will recognise something of their own family, their own memories, in these pages.’

Oakleaf Press works with authors to bring their books to readers, providing editorial, design and production support and publishing selected titles under the Oakleaf imprint. Based in Derry, the independent press is proud to support writers whose stories, knowledge and creativity deserve to find a wider audience.

The launch of The Oak Tree will take place at The Community Hub, Draperstown, on Wednesday, December 9, commencing at 7pm. Books can be pre-ordered through the Oakleaf Press website for collection on the night.