niall quinn presenting a sunderland jersey signed by ... · gratulate cllr. john fahey, killenaule,...

Niall Quinn presenting a Sunderland jersey signed by himself, Roy Keane and the rest of the squad, to AliceLeahy, co-founder of Trust. The jersey was auctioned at the Frank Purcell Memorial Golf Classic barbecue. Also

in the photograph is Vincent Murphy (left).

The Presleys photographed in McCarthy's Hotel, Fethard, on Tuesday 2nd January 2007 L to R: Michael Lockwood, Lisa Marie Presley and Priscilla Presley.

FETHARD & KILLUSTY NEWSLETTER

2007

Dedicated to our friends and relationsliving away from home

Copyright © 2007

Published by the Fethard & Killusty Emigrants’ NewsletterISSN 1393-2721

WWW.FETHARD.COM

Layout and design by Joe Kenny, Rocklow Road, FethardPrinted by Modern Printers Kilkenny

Cover: National Heritage Day in Fethard

All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in anyform or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or anyinformation storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

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FETHARD & KILLUSTY NEWSLETTER 2007

Table of contentsAbymill Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

An unusual find at Watergate! . . . . . . . . .124

Badgers Over 30’s Soccer . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Christmas Greetings from the Abbey . . . . .8

Church of Ireland News . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Community Employment Scheme . . . . . .161

Conor Maher remembered by a friend . . .37

Country Market’s 60th Birthday . . . . . . .148

Deaths in the parish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

Do You Remember . . . 1980 . . . . . . . . . . .45

Donal wins photographic competition . .179

Donations Received 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . .180

Expanding Fethard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Fethard & District Day Care Centre . . . .177

Fethard & District Rugby Club . . . . . . . . .71

Fethard & Killusty Community Council .166

Fethard & Killusty Community Games . . .41

Fethard and District Credit Union . . . . . .135

Fethard Ballroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

Fethard Bridge Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128

Fethard Community Sportsfield . . . . . . . .70

Fethard Flower Show and Fête 1912 . . . . .84

Fethard GAA Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Fethard Historical Society . . . . . . . . . . . .110

Fethard ICA celebrating 80 years . . . . . .146

Fethard Knitting Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

Fethard Ladies Football Club . . . . . . . . . .39

Fethard Legion of Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Fethard Scout Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118

Fethard Senior Citizens Club . . . . . . . . . .41

First Irishman at the Dutch Open . . . . . . .31

First Steps Playgroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

From Black’s Bridge to Leahy’s Bridge . .14

Irish Girl Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

John Joe’s Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Killerk Land Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

Killusty National School . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

Killusty Pony Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Killusty Soccer Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

Marriages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162

Nano Nagle National School . . . . . . . . . . .97

Newsletter Contact Details . . . . . . . . . . .172

Our dear departed 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Our Town Walls for all to enjoy . . . . . . .129

Parish Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Patrician Presentation Secondary School 136

Playing for Life — Tanzania . . . . . . . . . .165

Red Hills Farmers’ Market . . . . . . . . . . .158

Sheepdog Trials in Killusty . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Soldiers Were We . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151

Spirits in the Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

St. Patrick’s Boys’ National School . . . . .94

Table of contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

The late Catherine Quinn . . . . . . . . . . . .174

The Life and Times of Canon Patten . . . . .76

Traditional Gardener at Crampscastle . . .175

What’s the Forecast? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

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2007 FETHARD & KILLUSTY NEWSLETTER

Expanding Fethard by Joe Kenny (editor)

In the past twelve months here inFethard one of the most noticeable

intrusions in our dormant, quiet lives isthe huge building activity in andaround the town. It wasn’t so manyyears ago that we were looking forcouncil houses to be built in Fethardand were lucky to get five built in atwo-year cycle. Well, for better orworse, things have changed in sleepyold Fethard. We have new housingdevelopments built or being built atStrylea, Killenaule Road, Abbey Roadand Congress Terrace with more evenlarger developments planned for theRocklow Road and Jesuit’s Walk/Congress Terrace areas. While aninflux of new people is always welcomein any town it is particularly importantthat proper planning, with community

involvement, should pave the way.In the past, county councils

throughout the country have createdhousing estates that have notenhanced towns or benefited the peo-ple living in them as the majority ofresidents aspire to leave at the firstpossible opportunity. How long doesit take to learn from mistakes?

From attending community-drivenmeetings with county council officialsit appears they are duty bound tobuild houses, however and whereverthey get the land, and then house fam-ilies from waiting lists throughout thecounty. In doing their ‘duty’ they arealso ‘forced’ to ignore the wishes ofcommunities that have spent genera-tions providing schools, communitycentres, theatres, halls, sport centres

Fethard from the air on 28th August 2007 showing some of the many new developments underway.

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and various voluntary services andorganisations necessary to provide forcommunity living. While many peo-ple have come to live in Fethard andhave been very proactive in their com-munity involvement, it is our experi-ence that this figure is getting less andless. Unfortunately, in the case ofcouncil housing lists, our communityhas no involvement whatsoever inwho comes to live in our town andshare our community facilities. Notalone have we no involvement, but weare not even entitled to know, for legalreasons, if we have re-housed sexoffenders, drug dealers, or murderersliving among us. Until this matter isaddressed, what community wouldwant council housing estates built intheir town?

On the positive side, many of thecurrent building developments are

readdressing the 3 to 1 imbalance ofsocial housing to private housing thathas occurred in Fethard over the pastfew years. We also notice an increasein new businesses starting up in town,which is always welcome. Overallthings are looking up and our goodrelationship with local elected council-lors has helped in no end to have ourwishes listened to at county councillevel. I take this opportunity to con-gratulate Cllr. John Fahey, Killenaule,on his election this year as Chairmanof South Tipperary County Council.Since first elected to South TipperaryCounty Council, John has attendedour monthly Community Councilmeetings and various other communi-ty meetings in Fethard, to keep wellinformed of the work and wishes ofthe community.

Fethard received a tremendous

New housing developments between Barrack Street (left) and Burke Street (right).

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boost this year with Fethard’s affilia-tion to the Irish Walled TownNetwork, spearheaded by TimRobinson, Watergate, and the involve-ment and support of the HeritageCouncil of Ireland.

Since August 1986, when Mr JohnBradley M.A. (Director of the UrbanArchaeology Survey) speaking at “TheNorman Festival Weekend” was firstheard say, “Fethard is without anydoubt the most important smallmedieval town in Ireland. Its preserva-tion and its proper development as ahistoric town is a matter of nationalimportance”, we have been fighting anuphill battle to convince officialdom ofthe uniqueness of Fethard’s TownWalls. This year, we have finallyachieved these objectives through thework of the Historical Society and theformation of a local steering commit-tee for the Fethard Town WallConservation and Management Plan,

which is currently underway. TheHeritage Council’s Planning andDevelopment Officer, Alison Harvey,has played a great role in securing sig-nificant funding for Fethard, whichwill secure the proper conservation ofFethard Town Wall and recognition forFethard’s tourist potential at nationaland international level. Alison, a keensupporter of Fethard’s Town Wall, wasalso instrumental in forming the IrishWalled Towns Network to whichFethard is affiliated.

As we look forward to anotherChristmas and New Year we can onlybe optimistic and pray the path we’reon is the correct one. We wish ouremigrants and readers at home andabroad, a very Happy Christmas andprosperous New Year. Who knows,with house prices dropping every dayhere, some of you may even considermoving back home again . . . Fethard’sstill a great old place to live! �

New housing development at Congress Terrace (Fethard Ballroom on left)

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Killenaule Road housing developments. In the top right corner of the photograph (above) is the new EquineHospital and below it is Calvary Cemetery, lower down is Dawn Foods factory and the new Ard Alainn estate.

On the left hand side from top down is the new Friar’s Field estate, Woodvale Walk and Strylea.

Killenaule Road housing developments looking back towards Fethard. On the left from bottom up is Dawn Foodsfactory and the new Ard Alainn estate. On the right hand side from top down is Canon Hayes Park, Kilnockin

View, Slievenamon Close, Strylea, Woodvale Walk and Friar’s Field (on bottom edge)

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New housing development on Abbey Road. Fethard town is to the left of photograph.

Above is the site for the new council houses above St. Patrick’s Place and adjacent to Strylea lane (left). Public housing schemes in Fethard (Woodvale Walk, Fr. Tirry Park, Canon Hayes Court, Slievenamon Close,Barrack Street and Kilnockin View) provide one hundred and eighty-one houses. In contrast private housing

schemes consist of approx. forty-six houses completed (Strylea, Cedar Grove, Cois Falla, Abbey Close) and approx.thirty-three under construction (Killenaule and Cashel roads).

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Christmas Greetings from the Abbey

Once again it gives me greatpleasure, through the pages of

the Fethard & Killusty Newsletter, tosend greetings to all both home andaway on behalf of the Canon andmyself. May this greeting find youwell and happy wherever you are. Wesend special good wishes to theunwell: may the Lord be close to youas you journey under the shadow ofthe Cross.

The year that is now drawing to aclose has had its moments of happi-ness and also its occasions of sadness

but the sense of belonging has alwaysbrought us through. To all our readerswe wish you every happiness andpeace for this Christmas and NewYear. May the experience of the seasonfill you with hope and joy that willtruly help you to experience Christ forthe year ahead.

We are truly grateful to the peopleof Fethard and Killusty for their faithand support over the past year. Maythe Lord in his goodness protect youalways. �

Fr. T.F. Breen P.P. and Canon J. Power

Parish Greetings

Photographed at this year’s Corpus Christi Procession to the Augustinian Abbey grounds on 10th June are L to R: Canon James Power, Fr. Timmy Walsh OSA, Fr. Peter Haughey OSA, Tom Butler, Kathleen Kenny, Fr.

Tom Breen P.P., Gus Maher and Fr. John Meagher OSA.

The Augustinians in the Abbeysend warm greetings to all our

exiles. At Christmas you will be think-ing of Fethard, and we will rememberyou, and hope that some of you willbe able to make at least a flying visit

home.March 16th last was a special day

for those in the Abbey; it marked the50th anniversary of the priestly ordi-nation of Fr Timmy Walsh. A native ofBallylanders, he entered the

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Augustinian order in 1950 and wasordained in Rome on 16th March1957. His first appointment was tomissions in northern Nigeria where hespent twenty years. He went back for afurther eight years after a spell in aparish in California run by the IrishAugustinians. When he returned toIreland, he ministered in Limerick,Dungarvan and Ballyhaunis beforebeing appointed to Fethard in 2001.We join the many who congratulatedhim on his Golden Jubilee, and praythat he will be blessed in his ministryhere.

Fr Robert Prevost, the American-born Prior General of the AugustinianOrder, visited some of the Irish prior-

ies after Easter. We were glad that hespent a night in Fethard at the start ofMay and concelebrated Mass with thecommunity. He was impressed by theage of the Abbey church — not manyof the Order's churches could boast,as Fethard can, of having walls thatwere part of the original buildingwhich dates from 700 years ago.

I am joined by Frs Gerry Horan,John Meagher and Timmy Walsh inpraying that Christmas will be a timeof rich blessings for all of you and themembers of your families, and that in2008 you will enjoy good health, hap-piness and peace of mind. �

Peter Haughey O.S.A.

Corpus Christi Procession making its way through Burke Street to the Augustinian Abbey grounds on 10th June

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Church of Ireland News

On Monday 6th November2006 a funeral service was held

in Holy Trinity Church for Jean MaryTara Bricknell. She was very wellknown in the Fethard area, and a sup-porter of Holy Trinity Church. On22nd December 2006 the AnnualCarol Service was held, it was wellattended and the collection went toMeals on Wheels.

On 12th January 2007 the ReverendBarbara Yvonne Fryday was installedas Rector of Clonmel, Cahir andFethard. The Service took place at OldSaint Mary's Church, Clonmel.

On Sunday 17th June a ConfidentialArt Sale was organised by Mrs JudyButler and her daughter Jenny. To date

this was the best fundraising eventever held for Holy Trinity. The eventattracted a large attendance and wasblessed with sunshine. Nellie Shortallformally opened the doors at 3pm andcustomers quickly viewed the artworks by many well-known artistsand amateurs alike that were donatedand sold at the one price of €25 each.The ‘anonymous’ works were signedon the back so buyers had to trusttheir judgement and purchase theirpieces without knowing who the artistwas. Everyone was very happy withtheir pieces and some were pleasantlysurprised to find they had purchased avaluable painting for €25.

A marquee was erected on the

Helping at the Confidential Art Sale at Holy Trinity Church of Ireland Fethard were L to R: Jenny Butler, Judy Butler, Ernest Bates and Anne Baily.

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grounds where a delicious cream teawas provided by Thelma Griffith andfriends. The day concluded with theauction of a framed print by PeterCurling. Mr Christopher Horsmanwas in control of bidding and finallyagreed to sell to the highest offer of€500 from Brian Palmer. A wonderful

day and a novel fundraising idea rais-ing a total just short of €10,000.

On 14th September Jill Lawlordaughter of Mr and Mrs R. Lawlor,Rathkenty, Lisronagh, married JamesNolan. We wish the young couple along and happy life together. �

Photographed at the Confidential Art Sale at Holy Trinity Church of Ireland Fethard were L to R: DianaWatson, Eve Goodbody, Tim Goodbody and Harry Ponsonby

Photographed at the Confidential Art Sale at Holy Trinity Church of Ireland Fethard were L to R: ChrissieCummins, Monica Moriarty, Mary Cummins, Ann Tillyer and Fiona Cummins.

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Christopher Horsman auctioning the hunt print by Peter Curling which sold for €500 to Brian Palmer.

Photographed at the Confidential Art Sale at Holy Trinity Church of Ireland Fethard were L to R: MarianneShortall, Nellie Shortall, who opened the event, John Shortall and Anne Heverin.

L to R: Holly Moore, Caroline Stokes, Matilda Magner, Tadhg Magner and Zoë Stokes.

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Fethard Legion of Mary

The Legion of Mary extendsgreetings to all readers. We wish

you a pleasant, peaceful Christmasand New Year. We express apprecia-tion to all who have helped us thispast year, and we are pleased thatthere are those among you who availof the opportunity to take papers orbooks that are provided.

Since last year many of our loyalfriends and relatives have been calledto their eternal reward. We pray forthose left behind as well as for thesouls of their departed.

You may wish to know what theLegion of Mary is doing nowadays.

Well, the Legion is still in existence,but badly in need of members. We doremind you to pray the Rosary. This isstressed during May and October. Letus encourage one another to pray theRosary and attend daily Mass, topractice reverence and respect inChurch and to tune in to ETWN reli-gious channel on Sky 769.

We pay tribute to all who helped tolay the foundations for the faithfulpractice of our religion. Now it is upto us to continue this work, as wethank God for all the helps and bless-ings of our lives. �

Your Fethard Legionnaires of Mary.

Group photographed at the old Fethard Tennis Court in Burke Street in the 1950s. Back L to R: Tossie Stapleton,Paddy Tierney, Johnny O'Flynn, Fr. Lambe, Dermot Rice, Louis O'Donnell. Front L to R: Ann O'Sullivan,

Bridget Fahey, Noreen Ward, Rita Tierney, Marie Rice, Alice Mulcahy and Marie McCarthy.

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The title refers to about amile and a half stretch of

the former railway trackbetween the two road bridgesknown as Black’s Bridge andLeahy’s Bridge, on theFarranaleen to Fethard sectionof the old Thurles-Clonmelbranch line. Although it is nowexactly forty years since the linewas finally closed, faint traces ofit can still be seen on theground here and there. The twohump-back bridges that weknew as Black’s Bridge andLeahy’s Bridge remain the prin-cipal reminders of the now van-ished railway along that part ofthe countryside. Black’s Bridgeis now redundant as theFethard-Moyglass road by-passes it. The road, however,still passes over Leahy’s Bridge,which has the typical twist atthe top of it to suit the directionthat railway line had.

It was the ‘Black’s Bridge by-pass’ that got me thinking againabout the old railway line alongthere and how much it featuredin our lives as we were growingup in Rathcoole. Black’s Bridgewas near the top end of ourfarm. It was there that the rail-way and the road converged,and from there the two ran sideby side for about a half mile inthe direction of Fethard. Thismeant that the trains ran practi-

From Black’s Bridge to Leahy’s Bridge

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cally along the edge of our farm.When we were saving hay in one or

other of the fields alongside the road— fields such as the Hill Field, theRoad Field, the Paddock, the Kiln Field— the passenger train coming downfrom Thurles, and passing by usaround quarter to one, was a welcomesignal that the dinnertime wasapproaching. Hunger would be begin-ning to gnaw at us by that time, withall the manual work we were doing,‘piking’ the hay. Ignoring the train, myfather, who was well skilled at workingthe horse-drawn tumbler rake, wouldkeep bringing in more supplies of hayto the pike sites. Someone wouldfinally call out to Dan, our old bache-lor cousin, who was forking up to oneof us on a pike, “What’s the time,Dan?” Sticking the pitchfork in theground, Dan would take out thewatch from his waistcoat pocket — henever shed the waistcoat, even on thehottest day — and declare that it was“One-a-clock, and five minutes alongwith it”, or some such precise time.We slid down from the pikes, andtraipsed home across the sun-filledfields to the dinner, generally of home-cured bacon, cabbage and potatoes,followed by stewed rhubarb and cus-tard.

A goods train coming up the linefrom Clonmel and passing by ourfields around half past five was anoth-er important time signal — that it wastime that some of us left the meadowto hunt in the cows for milking. Therewere no volunteers for this task com-ing at a time when tiredness was set-

ting in, and the prospect of beginningthe hand-milking was far from invit-ing. My father would nominate two ofus for the task, and the hay-savingwent on for another three-quarters ofan hour or so. The milking crewwould then be augmented, and theother tasks, such as feeding the calvesand pigs, would be done. There mightbe time for a quick dip in one of thepools of the Clashawley behind thehouse, which would refresh us as wellas wash away hay seed and driedsweat. After that there was no need togive us a second call for the ‘supper’.

There was little traffic along theroad in the 1940s when we were grow-ing up, and this gave the trains, espe-cially the steam trains, that went upand down extra prominence. Duringthe war years and for a while after-wards there was only bicycle andhorse, pony and ass traffic going by.Parson Grey, who lived in the former,creeper-clad rectory in Magorban andwho was the last rector of MagorbanChurch and parish, passed downalmost daily in a trap drawn by astout, slow-moving pony. We used towonder how the pony fitted betweenthe shafts. With him in the trap werehis wife and another lady. Theyseemed to take ages passing by, andgave only hesitant responses to ourwaving to them.

Another regular passer-by was TerDonnell in his ass and cart. Ter livedin a roadside cottage in Ballyvaden,about a half mile from Farranaleen sta-tion, with his brother Mick. Ter’sprogress to Fethard was even slower

than Parson Grey’s, and both ass anddriver appeared to be in a daydreamcoming along the road. When Terwould see us working in the meadow,he would rouse himself, and give theass a few smacks of the stick to pres-ent a purposeful appearance passingus by. Ter gave us a moment of hilarityone day as he passed our meadow. Hestood up to convey all the moreurgency to the ass, and in the forwardthrust the board across the sideboardsof the cart that served as his seatslipped back. When Ter went to sitdown again he fell backwards in thecart, his two legs swinging up into theair.

Although as youngsters we oftenstood on the road at the top of Black’sBridge, which had a more acute turnat its top than Leahy’s Bridge, we gaveno attention to the fine craftsmanship

that went into the bridge, or theimmense amount of physical workinvolved in building up the earthenmound to carry the road over the rail-way — all done by men and horse andcarts. Albert Maher in his Signalman’sMemories relates that 280 menworked on the completion of theextension of the railway line alongthere in 1878 by the Southern RailwayCompany.

Black’s Bridge was originally knownas Blackmore’s Bridge, and I suspectthat it took on its shortened form astime went on. It was named after theBlackmore family that had a leaseholdof Rathcoole farm for practically all ofthe 19th century. Henry Blackmorewas the lessee in the early part of thecentury, and then it passed to his sonCharles. The farm was larger than it istoday, and included all of Rathcoole

Ter Daniels buying bread from Mrs Skehan at the Country Market in the ICA Hall Fethard May 1948. In the background is Mrs Ahearn.

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townland and probably the townlandof Farranaleen as well. Albert Maherstates that it was originally intended toname the railway station atFarranaleen as Rathcoole, and he alsostates that it was proposed to con-struct a branch line to Cashel fromthat station, as well as another onefrom there to the SlieveardaghColleries. Those proposals were aban-doned, however, as priority was givento completion of the Thurles-Clonmelline along the Clashawley valley, com-plete with its bridges and stations.

A former feature of Black’s Bridgewas the long narrow pond on theFethard side of it. It occupied the spacebetween the railway line and the wireand concrete post fence. Limestone forthe construction of the bridge wasprobably quarried at that spot, and thedeep quarry hole filled up with waterto form a permanent pond. The areaall around is well known for its

springs. Conspicuous on the fenceside of the pond was a small whiteiron celtic cross, commemorating afourteen year old boy who was sotragically drowned there on 14February 1940. He was DickMcCarthy of Buffana.

This little memorial cross has beenre-erected at the now by-passed andredundant bridge. As I looked at itrecently it recalled one of my ownmemories of that immensely sadevent. Young Dick was assisting aneighbour, Mick Ryall, in the drovingof cattle to Fethard fair. It was earlymorning and still dark on that fatefulFebruary day, and apparently Micksent Dick ahead before Black’s Bridgeto keep the cattle from going into anyopen entrances. Dick came aroundBlack’s Bridge by the field on theCarrigeen side, and intending to crossthe railway track he jumped from thewire fence of the railway into a deep

The memorial to Richard McCarthy at the now by-passed Black’s Bridge. Two of his older brothers, Patrick andMichael, became members of the Patrician Brothers, and Patrick went on to become Provincial of the Order.

Michael died in 1979, and Patrick in 1993.

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pond between the track and the fence.He must not have been aware that thepond was there, or mistook it for theroad. His cries for help were unheard,and it was some time before the awfultragedy was discovered.

I recall the impact the news had onus when it arrived at the nationalschool. Vividly embedded in mymemory is seeing Mrs McCarthy, thedistraught mother all dressed in black,arriving in her pony and trap in theschoolyard, maybe the following day.It was playtime, and we all came to astandstill when we realised who wasarriving. Silence reigned. It was apoignant moment. Brother Columban,who was out in the yard with us, wentover quickly to the trap with out-stretched arms, calling out, as far as Iremember, “My poor woman, mypoor woman”. I could sense some-thing of the heartfelt sympathy he waspouring out. Supporting her he direct-ed her into a classroom. No doubt hegave her some measure of comforting,for he was a big-hearted, sensitiveman.

We often walked stretches of thatrailway line, hopping from one sleeperto another. After Black’s Bridge therailway crossed over the entrance tothe house we knew as Mattie Maher’s,now owned by Denis Walsh, ofRathcoole Sand and Gravel. Thehouse there was originally a herds-man’s house going with Rathcoolefarm, and Mattie Maher was the lastof the herdsmen to occupy it. Thatwas in the 1910s and early 1920s.Before that it was occupied by a fami-

ly named Dorney. Quarrying for thegravel that was there in such quantitiesunder the nearby fields was little donein those times, and there were no signsof the extensive ponds that later devel-oped there through the quarryingoperations.

The next entrance the railwaycrossed was that going intoMcCarthy’s farm, owned formerly bythe late Dick McCarthy, of BurkeStreet, and now by his son Michael.This crossing was beside what weknew as Jerry Ryan’s cottage, nowowned by owned by his daughterTeresa, and her husband Sean Kelly.At that point the space between roadand railway was widening, and theone acre plot going with the cottagestretched between the railway and theroad on either side of the house. Jerrywas an engine driver, and drove theengine for the threshing set of theO’Keeffe’s of Horse and Jockey, popu-larly called Keeffe’s of the Jockey.

Not far below Jerry Ryan’s was anangled iron post beside the track with14 on its two faces. This was one ofthe mileposts along the line indictingthe distance from Thurles Junction —14 miles in this case.

Next came the railway crossing overthe entrance to O’Connell’s ofRathvin, (or Rathavin as it is in theOrdnance Survey maps), now ownedby John Halley. There were two rail-way gates there with a sign on themwhich read ‘GS & WR Notice. Anyperson leaving this gate open is liableto penalty of forty shillings’. Theopening and closing of the two gates

each time they were going out theirdriveway must have been a nuisancefor the O’Connell family, especially inthe days of the pony and trap. Thegates had timber styles at one side ofthem.

The O’Connell family was associat-ed with Rathvin for generations.Phillip O’Connell occupied the farmwhen the railway was being putthrough in 1878. In our time growingup it was owned by his grandson,Edward O’Connell, known to all sim-ply as Ned Connell. There was a bigapple orchard below Ned’s housebounded on the lower side by the rail-way fence. The sight of red applesripening in August was more than anylad could resist. Even though we hadplenty of apple trees ourselves, wemade an odd raid on Connell’sorchard. The approach through theoutward-leaning railway fence was theobvious strategy. I remember two ofus stealthily approaching the tree withthe reddest apples one evening when asudden barrage of barking froze us in

our tracks. Ned had his crossestsheepdog tied to a tree. The barkingbrought Ned on the scene shouting inour general direction, but by then wehad scaled the railway fence and layhidden like undercover agents in thehigh rank grass of the sloped bankbeside the track. We got only a fewwindfalls.

After passing Neville’s bush-cov-ered fort and the line of fine beechtrees that was along by Rocklow, therailway passed over the BallyboughRoad, which swung sharply down theinclining ground in an S-bend to gounder the stone bridge. The farm-house, now derelict, above the bridgewas owned by Pat Byrne when wewere going to school. In the late 1910sand early 1920s Jack Walsh and familylived there. He later bought Carrigeenfarm, with its late 16th century tower-house and extensive pond, formerlyowned by the Dunne family. Jack’swife Bridget was the well-knownbone-setter.

The Walsh family was inBallybough in the course of the War ofIndependence and the Civil War. Itwas in the Civil War period of 1922-23that the Thurles-Clonmel railway linewas targeted, and eight bridges wereblown up, including the one atBallybough. Jimmy Walsh made theblowing up of that bridge the subjectof one of his poems in a little collec-tion entitled Arkle and Other Poems,which he published in 1977 in Englandwhere he spent most of his life.Ballybough Bridge, the first poem inthis modest collection, runs thus:

One of the notices attached to all the gates on railwaycrossings between Black’s Bridge and Leahy’s Bridge

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Silently they came with guns that night,And a knock on the window gave us all a fright.

“Wake up, wake up, get out of bed:“Open your doors and windows”, they said.

“The railway bridge we want to blow:In a little while you’ll hear it go”.

The hour was late so the fire was lit.Then quietly there we all did sit.To such men we paid little heed;For I was very young indeed.In actual fact I was but five,

And to understand it all I did not strive.In a little while the bang did go,

The house fair shook, but stood it so.“Holy Mary!” — Mother went,

And a few more prayers to the angels sent.Now all was quiet, so back to bed,

No more we heard for the boyos fled.Next morning we saw the bridge was broke.

As an army officer to Father spoke.Two bombs he said that there had been,

But one had failed, as he had seen.“Lucky people,” he did say,

“That your house is there today.”If perchance you wish to know,

The name of the bridge was Ballybough.

After Ballybough Bridge the railwayline curved gently towards theRocklow road to cross under it atLeahy’s Bridge. We pronounced the

name as Lahy. We went over thebridge every school day in the ponyand trap in the early 1940s. I recall thatthe slogan “Up Duffy”, painted inwhite on the wall face at the top of thebridge, had become rather faded bythat time. It was a faint echo of theBlueshirt days. The bridge took itspopular name from Tommy Leahy,whose house, now owned by AlphieBrett, is on the Rocklow side of it.Tommy was a small, quiet man, whohad joined the British army as a youngman and saw action in World War I,especially in the notorious and ill-fated Gallipoli campaign. He used tocome to till our kitchen garden for mymother every springtime. I oftenregretted that I not get him to tell mesome of his war experiences.

After Leahy’s Bridge the railwaycurved again to cross over theClashawley at Breen’s Bridge beforeheading for Fethard station. We oftenswam in the deep hole under theBreen’s Bridge. It was in 1967 that thelast train, a goods train, passed alongthat way. It was the last time a trainwas heard going between Black’sBridge and Leahy’s Bridge. �

by Willie Hayes

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The now ivy-coveredrailway bridge atBallybough that wasrebuilt following thebombing of it in 1922by the anti-TreatyRepublicans towardsthe end of the CivilWar


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Red City Knackers — Winners of First Prize in 1989 Fethard Festival Parade. Derry O'Dwyer with Billy thedonkey and on cart. Back L to R (standing): Dermot Burke, Kevin Burke, Michael O'Dwyer. Middle L to R:

Mark O'Dwyer, Emmet Burke, Mary Conway, Glen Burke, Carmel O'Dwyer. Front: Leeann Burke.

Michael Whyte's birthday party October 1978. Back L to R: Declan Morrissey, Vincent Murphy, MichaelWhyte, Vincent Slattery, Stanley Murphy, Pat Whyte, Deirdre Norris. Front L to R Brendan Morrissey,

Ted Connolly, Michael Slattery, Do O'Sullivan and Aishling Norris.

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Fethard GAA Club

On Sunday 4th November 2007,our senior footballers’ year on

the playing field came to an end with avery poor performance in the countysenior football final. This was our firsttime reaching a senior football countyfinal in 6 years and it was our seconddefeat this year to Moyle Rovers, hav-ing already lost the south final. Whileit was great to qualify for both finals,the manner in losing them leaves a lotto be desired and one would have toask where the future lies for this cur-rent team.

The brighter side of 2007 was thesuccess of our Minor B teams havingwon both south titles. The Minor Bhurlers gave us great enjoyment inwinning the title when they beatCarrick Swans in the final, 6-13 to 3-11, and eventually losing toToomevara by 2-10 to 2-4 in the coun-

ty semifinal. Our Minor B footballers came back

from the dead in the south final torecord a 2-14 to 2-9 win overBallyporeen and then went on to beatNewport by 1-9 to 1-6 in the countysemifinal played in Templemore. Theteam went on to meetUpperchurch/Drombane in the countyfinal played in Boherlahan on 27thOctober and were lucky to survive ona score line of 1-6 each to earn a sec-ond chance in a replay on 11thNovember 2007 at the same venue.Unfortunately, we were not goodenough on the day in a game thatcould have been saved with a little bitof luck. After missing a penalty andtwo very scorable frees in front ofgoal, the game finished on a scoreline,Fethard 0-8, Upperchurch 1-10.Overall Upperchurch / Drombane

Fethard Minor football team who drew 1-6 to 1-6 with Upperchurch / Drombane in the County Minor 'B'Football Final played in Boherlahan on 27th October. Back L to R: Tom O'Connell, Christopher Sheehan, Cathal

Gorey, Aaron Donovan, Declan Doyle, Adrian Lawrence, J.P. McGrath, Michael Fleming, Eoin Condon,Ciarán O'Connell, Ciarán Ryan. Front L to R: Eoin Healy, Ben Walsh, Johnny Fleming, Alan O'Connor,

James Kelly, Eoin O'Connell, Gavin Fitzgerald, Dean Tobin and Daniel Hickey.

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proved to be a well-balanced opposi-tion in both size, power and footballover the 120 minutes.

The Club Officers elected for thecurrent year were: Chairman MichaelO’Dwyer; Secretary Mary Godfrey;Joint Treasurers Noel Byrne & NickyO’Shea; and PRO Noel Byrne. Wetake this opportunity to thank spon-sors, players, supporters, selectors andthe committee for all their wonderfulwork in keeping the club on the road.May 2008 bring us further success onthe playing fields.

South Board HistoryThe launch of ‘The South Board

History 1907–2007’ took place on 7thOctober in GAA Centre, Clonmel.Our ‘Ard Stiurithoir’ (DirectorGeneral GAA), Liam Mulvihill, on hisfirst official visit to the South Board asDirector General since his appoint-ment in 1979 and his stepping down

from this position on 2007, launchedthe book. This excellent book of histo-ry, Gaelic culture and club records,will retail at €40 and is available inFethard at Newport’s, Main Street, orfrom Noel Byrne (book committeemember), and has something in it foreveryone who has a love of Gaelic cul-ture and beyond. It was great to see afine turnout and appropriate that theDirector General of the GAA was wel-comed to our division by our ownMiceál McCormack (South BoardChairman 2007).

The book was excellently producedby Michael O’Meara and his commit-tee and is available in hard-back edi-tion featuring 800 pages, 250 photos(present and past), 220 profiles ofsouth players and mentors over thepast 100 years, and some excellent sto-ries of times gone bye in upholdingthe running of our championship. Thebook committee apologise for any

Fethard South Minor B Hurling Champions 2007. Back L to R: P.J. Aherne (selector), Michael Carroll (selec-tor), Gavin Fitzgerald, Alan O’Connor, Thomas O’Connell, Jerome Ahearne, Jack O’Sullivan, Aaron

O’Donovan, Declan Doyle, Christopher Sheehan, J.P. McGrath, Cathal Gorey, Joe Fogarty, Dean Tobin. Front Lto R: Eoin O’Connell, Mathew Fitzgerald, Ciarán O’Connell, James Kelly, Johnny Fleming, Kevin Hayes,

Shamie O’Keeffe. Seated in front are Kieran Ryan and Adrian Lawrence.

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omissions or mistakes. This bookwould make an excellent Christmaspresent for anyone interested in GAAover the 100 years.

Deceased Officers rememberedAt the South Board Centenary

Celebrations on Saturday 13thJanuary 2007, all deceased officers ofthe board were honoured and amedallion presentation was made tofamily members who were present onthe day. Nearly 150 people were pres-ent and Fethard had seven recipients:Dan P. Walsh who was Club Secretaryin 1912–1913 and also held Treasurerof South Board in 1912, and now theD.P. Walsh Cup perpetuates his mem-ory; Ned Kenrick served as Secretaryof the South Board in 1909 and 1910and also served as Secretary of theFethard Club between 1911 and 1913;school teacher Tom Keating served asVice Chairman of the Board in 1932and 1933, and served as Secretary of

the Fethard Club form 1928 to 1930.Tom was a highly respected refereeand a brother of John Keating whowas South Board Chairman in 1956,was Club Chairman from 1937 to1950, and again in 1953 and 1954. NedO’Shea of Bloody Sunday fame,served as Vice Chairman of the SouthBoard from 1912 to 1915 and in 1916became the fifth South BoardChairman, a position he held until1922. He was also Chairman of theFethard Club from 1919 to 1924 beforeemigrating to USA in 1925. His broth-er, Sean O’Shea, was the seventhChairman of South Board from 1928to 1936 (died in office), and was alsoChairman of Fethard Club from 1919to 1924 and from 1927 to 1936. Hewas also Secretary of Fethard Clubfrom 1920 to 1927 and the SouthSenior Football Championship Trophyis named in his honour. DickCummins (Jnr) was Life President ofthe South Board from 2003 to his

Fethard Senior Football 2007 Back L to R: Miceál Spillane, Edmond Sheehan, Stephen O’Donnell, John PLooby, Connie O’Flynn, Aiden Fitzgerald, Paul Fitzgerald, Tommy Gahan, J P McGrath, Cian Maher, Eoin

Doyle, Glen Burke, Benny Hahessy. Front L to R: Michael Dillon, Willie Morrissey, Adrian Lawrence, DeanTobin, Kenneth O’Donnell, Brian Coen, Ian Kenrick, Michael Aherne, Shane Walsh, Conor McCarthy,

Christopher Sheehan, Damien Byrne and Shane Aylward. Missing from photo is Jamie McCormack.

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Fethard GAA members photographed at the grave of John Keating in Calvary Cemetery Fethard where he washonoured by the South Board as part of the Centenary Celebrations in South Tipperary. L to R: Joe Ahearn,

Sean Moloney, Tony Newport, Dick Fitzgerald, Liam Connolly, Percy O'Flynn and Austin Godfrey.

Photographed at Redcity Cemetery where Ned Kenrick and John O'Shea were honoured by the South Board . L toR: Sean Moloney, Tony Newport and Jimmy McInerney.

Group photographed at the grave of Dick Cummins in Fethard Parish Church graveyard where Dick was hon-oured by the South Board. L to R: Michael O'Dwyer (Chairman Fethard GAA Club), Kay O'Dwyer, Miceál

McCormack (Chairman South Board GAA), Fr Tom Breen P.P. and Michael O'Dwyer (Dublin).

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GAA South Board Members and Fethard club members at the grave of John O'Shea in Redcity Cemetery

GAA South Board Members and Fethard club members at the grave of Ned Kenrick in Redcity Cemetery

GAA South Board Members and Fethard club members at the grave of John Keating in Calvary Cemetery

GAA South Board and Fethard club members at the grave of Dick Cummins in Parish Church Graveyard

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passing in 2005. Dick was also hon-oured with the Sean Na Ghael awardin 2003 for his services to the GAA.He served as Chairman of the FethardClub from 1981 to 1984.

To all those who kept the flag flyingfor 100 years we are truly grateful andlook forward with optimism to whatthe next 100 will bring.

The South Board Commemorationvisitations on 27th May 2007 toFethard Cemeteries went off very well.Our thanks to Jimmy O’Shea, DenisBurke, Gussy Fitzgerald and MiceálMcCormack for their orations at thegravesides; to all the South Board offi-cials for their presence; and to thefamilies of the deceased honoured fortheir kind words of thanks and appre-ciation. Go ndeana Dia trocaire orthu.

Liam ConnollyIt was with great

sadness we learned ofthe passing of one ofFethard’s finest Gaels,Liam Connolly. Liamspanned a playingcareer of 25 years with

club and county from 1951 to 1976 asa dual player. No other person in theclub won such honours in senior hurl-ing — All Ireland 1958, 1961 and 1962(sub). Liam also won Munster medalsin 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, IntermediateAll Ireland and Munster Medals in1966, and won a Minor All Irelandtitle in 1953 with Munster in thatgrade in 1953 and 1954.

In football Liam wore the countysenior jersey for 11 years from 1956 to

1967 without success. He also repre-sented his club at minor in 1954, a featunrivalled by any other person in theFethard club.

For his Fethard club Liam holdsSenior County Football titles for 1954and 1957, when he won his first title atage eighteen. He won South SeniorTitles in 1954, 1955, 1957, 1969, 1976,spanning 22 years between his firstand last, and also won Tipperary ManCup Medals during that period.

Having had the privilege of winningtwo South titles with him I can saythat Liam was a gentleman at all timeswith tremendous commitment andadvice. In junior football he was amember of the Killusty 1956 Southand County winning team. He held aunique record when he won Southminor hurling and football titles in1952 with Fethard as a 16 year old,and another minor South footballmedal in 1951 as a 15 year old.

Hurling was his great love and heholds a south senior medal with NaPiarsaig 1957 and a Group B Southtitle in 1956 with Padraigh Pearses. Hewas part of the Coolmoyne Junior ASouth winners of 1959, and later in lifewas honoured with a Hall of Fame in1994, and a Cumann na Sean GhaelAward in 2006.

Liam will be sadly missed for hisguidance on the field and his ability toread the game. His presence will alsobe a void on the sideline. To his familywe offer our sincere condolences atthis time.

Go ndeana Dia trocaire orthu.

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Mick Ahearn

The parish wasshocked at the untime-ly passing on 10thAugust 2007 of MickAhearne at a relativelyyoung age. His workand commitment to

many organizations within the parishwill be sorely missed. He gave freelyof his time to the Fethard GAA Cluband served as Club Chairman 2002–2004. It was a pleasure to work andserve under his guidance to his wifeMonica, sons P J, Gerry, Michael andfamily we offer our sincere condo-lence.

John O’RiordanOur sincere sympathy to the

O’Riordan family(Kerry Street andBarrack Street) on thedeath of John inAmerica. John playedwith Fethard in the

1950s, winning a south and countysenior football medal in 1954.

Joe O’DwyerOur sincere sympathy to the

O’Dwyer family (St. Patrick’s Place)on the passing of Joe atthe great age of 97. Joewas a man who playedfor the club winninghonours at senior foot-ball in 1942, both south

and county, and was also the last sur-vivor of the Killusty junior side of1932. Go ndeana Dia trocaire orthu.

Killusty 1956 Junior Football Team

Fethard GAA Club hosted a mostenjoyable social evening in the FethardArms on Friday 30th March 2007. Theevening was organised to honour themembers of the Killusty JuniorFootball Team, winners of the 1956South and County Tipperary JuniorFootball Championships, and to pres-ent the 2005 South Tipperary SeniorFootball Championship medals andthe 2006 South Tipperary Intermediatemedals to the respective Fethard win-ning teams. Club chairman MichaelO’Dwyer first welcomed each andeveryone with a special Cead MileFailte for the guests of honour, SouthTipperary Chairman, MiceálMcCormack, Secretary Sean Nugentand Jimmy Ryan, Carrick, recipient ofthe South Tipperary player of the pastaward 2006.

Jimmy O’Shea, a member of the ’56team, was a most capable MC for thepresentation of a beautiful memento ofthe occasion to the 1956 veterans. Allof those in attendance looked fitenough to go out and play nextSunday. Four members of the panelwere unable to attend, and especiallyremembered were the six members ofthe panel, Mick Byrne, MickO’Riordan, Ned Sheehan, BrianO’Donnell, Gus Danaher and TomMcCormack, who are no longer withus. It was an evening of remembering,matches won and lost, and worthyopponents of the day. More than oneof the old timers remarked, “what apity we do not have more such nightswhen old friends could meet and

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recall past glories”.Very welcome refreshments were

provided by the ladies of the club. Theevening concluded with a terrific sing-song, many of the guests contributing,and local talented accordionist JoanO’Brien at her brilliant best.

St Augustine’s 1982 Team Reunion St. Augustine’s, South Senior

Hurling Champions 1982, were hon-oured at a function in Hotel Minellaon 26th October 2007. A presentationof a framed photo was made to mem-bers of the team, from Fethard andKilsheelan, honoured and present onthe night. The Fethard recipients were:Stephen McCormack, Davy

Morrissey, Pakie Harrington, MauriceHarrington, A.B. Kennedy, DavyFitzgerald, Liam McCarthy, NoelByrne, Jim McGrath and selectorMichael Keane. Unable to be presenton the night were James Downes andJoe Ahearne (selector). With PaddyFinnucane of Tipp FM radio lookingafter MC duties for the evening, agreat night of chat and music was hadby all.

We would like to thank the organis-ing committee of Noel Byrne, MichaelKeane, Gussy Fitzgerald – Fethard’srepresentatives on the committee – fora wonderful event that was muchappreciated by all those present. �

St. Augustine’s Senior Hurling Team (Kilsheelan and Fethard), South Tipperary Champions 1982. Back L to R: Joe Ahearn (selector), John Kehoe, Noel Byrne, Matt Cahill, Jim McGrath, Maurice Harrington,Davy Fitzgerald, Gerry Kehoe, Stephen McCormack, Jim Kehoe, Cyril Robinson, William Robinson, Michael

Kehoe, Liam Stokes, John Donovan (selector). Front L to R: Liam McCarthy, Peter Moore, James Downes, A.B.Kennedy, Pat Larkin (captain), Sean Nugent, Pat O’Neill, Davy Morrissey, Pakie Harrington, John Larkin,

Liam Corcoran, Michael Keane (selector). Mascot in front is Liam Robinson. Inserts L to R: John Keyes (selector), Ray Reidy (selector), Brian McNally and Dick Strang.

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Killusty Junior Team 1956 South and County ChampionsBack L to R: Gerald Mackey, Brian O'Donnell, Jim Williams, Johnny Ferris, Tony Newport, Jack Prout, MickByrne, Vincent Allen, Tom Ryan and Dick Allen. Middle Row L to R: Nicholas O'Shea, Gus Danaher, Liam

Connolly, Sean Connolly, Jimmy O'Shea, Alfie Brett, Gus Neville, Mick O'Riordan. Front L to R: NedSheehan, Liam O'Flaherty, Tom McCormack, Seamus Hackett and Sean Moloney.

Tipperary Football Team 1927Back L to R: J Ryan, E Connolly, J Phelan, M Spillane, M Gunne, E Cummins, E O'Shea. Middle L to R:

P Dwyer (sec), M Cleer, W Rouse, P Landy, T Armitage, P McGrath, P Dwane, Jack Quane (trainer). Front L to R: S Grant, W Barrett (jnr), Billy Barrett (capt), J O'Connor (jnr) and J O'Connor (vice capt).

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History was made this year asDan Morrissey (photographed

on right) was the first Irishman to rep-resent the country at the Dutch OpenSheepdog Trials held in July. The pres-tigious event is one of the highlightson the continental sheepdog calendarwith ninety-six of the top dogs fromeleven countries competing. The com-petition was decided over two dayswith each dog competing twice eachday. Dan and his dog ‘Gem’ showedgreat consistency and despite stiffcompetition took home the honoursfor Ireland securing a very crediblefourth place overall. �

First Irishman at the Dutch Open

It was a busy year on the sheepdogcalendar as Ireland hosted the

Supreme International SheepdogTrials in Burnchurch, CountyKilkenny, in September.

On the local front the KillustySheepdog Trials were held once againthis year in glorious October sunshine— climate change has its benefits! Fivecompetitions were held over two dayscovering novice, intermediate, doublesand an open competition on bothdays.

The novice competition provedinteresting with the young dogsdemonstrating what they had learnedor not as the case may be! The compe-tition was won by Wexford’s Bill Sealewith ‘Ben’, second place went toTipperary-man John O’Brien with

‘Shan’, third to Kilkenny’s RichardButler with ‘Glen’ and fourth to localman Dom O’Driscoll with ‘Jack’.

The intermediate competition waswon by Dan Morrissey with hisyoung blue dog, ‘Toss’. Martin Walshtook second place with ‘Nell’ andthird place went to Norman Deaconwith ‘Jim’.

There was an extra edge to the dou-bles competition as competitorsfought it out to win the new MauriceO’Connell Doubles Trophy. It was alocal derby with the trophy going toKilcash man Martin Walsh with ‘Cap’and ‘Vic’ and Dan Morrissey takingsecond place with ‘Gem’ and ‘Flash’.Third place went to Cork man TomQuirke with ‘Spot’ and ‘Nell’.

The local trend continued in

Sheepdog Trials in Killusty

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Saturday’s Open Competition withDan Morrissey taking the first andsecond places with ‘Toss’ and ‘Flash’.Third place went to Bill Seale with‘Ben’, fourth to Tom Quirke with‘Spot’, fifth to Dan Morrissey with‘Kim’ and sixth place to JimMcConnell with ‘Nan’.

Sunday’s Open Competition for thePaddy Morrissey Cup was keenlycontested by competitors from all overthe country. The cup was retainedlocally this year as Martin Walsh fromKilcash continued his winning streakwith ‘Cap’. Second went to ToddyLambe with ‘Sam’, third to JohnBrennan with ‘Cap’, fourth to BrianCasey with ‘Ben’, fifth to Bill Seale

with ‘Rose’ and sixth to Denis O’Brienwith ‘Jim’.

The organisers would like to thankall those who helped in making theevent a success, to the sponsors,judges and of course, the competitorsand their dogs for providing a mostenjoyable two days of excellent tri-alling.

In other news, Dan Morrissey hav-ing served three busy years asChairman of the Irish SheepdogSociety, during which time Irelandhosted both the World and theSupreme International SheepdogTrials, was recently elected asPresident of the Irish SheepdogSociety. �

Killusty South Junior Football Champions 1932. Back L to R: Ned 'Buz' Lawrence, Connie Ryan, PaddyKeating, trainer (hat), Mick Hayes, Bill Nagle, Dan Davis (hat), Eddie Walsh, Jim Lee, Dick Hayes and Jim

Pollard (president). Middle: George Williams, Paddy Maher, Frank Byrne, Mick or Tom Maher, MickeyHolohan, Billy Ahessy and Pat Sheehan. Front: Jimmy Davis (boy), Joe Lee, Mick Byrne, Jack 'Sprig' Nagle,Ned 'Cab' Holohan, Mick Condon, Paddy Ahearne and James Byrne. Boy in the front is Johnny Sheehan.

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Earlier this year the committeedecided that any show in its 44th

year and held on 7/7/07 would have tobe lucky with the weather, and so ittranspired. One short sharp showershowed us what we were missing aswe went about the business of judgingponies. Claremore was looking superbas no one had taken a vehicle onto thefield for a week. The setting-up hadbeen done by an army of volunteersand the rings were a credit to theirwork. The rain both before and afterthis year’s show was of deluge pro-portions and only a scorching windon the Friday and a fine day on showday made it possible to go ahead. Thelandowner showed great courage inpersevering and was rewarded. As theseason went on, 14 major shows werecancelled including Tullamore (not tobe rescheduled) and Clonmel Showon 1st July, while held, was a washout.

The FitzGerald family have beencoming to Killusty since its inceptionbut although they had won the WelshChampionship in the past the In-handCup had eluded them until this year.Rosie FitzGerald’s Zulu Warrior wonthe 2&3-year-old Hunter Pony Class togo forward to the Championshipwhich he also won. Jenny O’Driscoll’sAmesbury Bumble Bee, the yearlingShow Pony winner, was a goodreserve champion while Ann Grimes’Lambay for Fun took the Tansy TaranCup for the best filly in theChampionship. Mary Hayden’sTullocussane Maybelle won the LydonHouse Cup for the Best Local in theChampionship for the second year insuccession.

Isobel Reynolds’ RoodlebatsSinnitta ,whose name appears on theRidden Show Pony ChampionshipCup several times, has now staked her

Killusty Pony Show

L to R: Thomas O'Connell, Killenaule; Jim O'Connell, Silverfort; and Mattie Ryan, Buffana, watching theKillusty Pony Show in 1980

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claim for a mention on the BroodmareChampionship Cup. PatrickGeoghegan’s Dangan Patricka, alsoknown for her efforts in the riddenrings, has graduated to the paddocksand was a worthy Reserve. The WelshChampionship for the cup in memoryof Gus Keane was won this year byMary Moore’s Rookery Sugar Mousewith Liz Freeman’s MoelgarneddBendith in reserve. The ButlerConnemara Championship went to R.Fallon’s Cashelbay Prince withDangan Patricka again in reserve.

The Coolmore Stud Killusty ShowPony Championship went to MissClaire Wall’s Glenhuntley Hoity-Toitywith Majella Scully’s BroteifiVivacious in reserve although num-bers in this division continue to disap-point. The Side Saddle Champion wasJill Poole’s Whitehouse Chorister withDavid J. Byrne’s Brookvale Skylark in

reserve. Numbers for the miniChampionship certainly did not disap-point and from nearly 100 entries inthe various classes Sean Scallan’sMillay Margarite came from the OpenLead-Rein Hunter Pony to pip ShaneMcNamara’s Upacott Xotica for thechampionship. The LismortaghStables Open Show HunterChampionship went to BasilBrindley’s Lovely Ludlow with SarahCollen’s Inspector Morse in reserve ina repeat of last year’s championship.The GAIN Novice Show HunterChampionship went to S. Garrigan’sPenni Farthing with Orla HayesLismakeera Shadowlands in reserve.Local ponies may not have been quiteso prominent in the lists this year butin the Novice Working HunterChampionship they truly came intotheir own. Yvonne Casey’s Snowbellewas pulled in champion ahead of

Ann Lalor leading children Jill and Liz Lalor to the Fancy Dress competition at Killusty Pony Show in 1986

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Barbara Murphy’s Master Mozart,both with addresses in the Parish ofFethard and Killusty. The OpenWorking Championship and theCaptain Curtin Cup went to AnnStanley’s great old campaigner BobMarley with Inspector Morse again inreserve. The IntermediateChampionship went to WhitehouseChorister to add to his side-saddlehonours with Julie Brindley-O’Brien’sBeechfield Bircari Breezer in reserve.Bob Marley came out on top again inthe Performance Working HunterChampionship with Sarah Collen’sArdfry Rivendell in Reserve. To roundoff the day, Avril Breen won the TateCroome Carroll Memorial EquitationChampionship with Patricia Ryan inreserve. She went on to be ReserveChampion at Peterborough Show.

Without the help of the many vol-

unteers Killusty could not happen andit is all credit to them that yet anothergreat day was had in the valley ofSlievenamon. They are looking for-ward in anticipation to the 45th Showon the first Saturday in July as always.Our sponsors, as ever, came uptrumps. Classes were sponsored in thenames of long-term supportersMichael Coffey and Paddy and AnnMaher who are no longer with us butwere remembered fondly on the day.

Since the Show, Killusty has lostanother long-term supporter. SarahMiller, who took the minutes at thefirst ever Killusty Show, was due toreceive a presentation for her help andsupport over the 44 years as judge andadviser but due to illness was unableto attend the Show. She died peace-fully in early September. �

Emily (Croom-Carroll) Graafland and daughter Emily 'Tempe' at the 1986 Killusty Pony Show Fancy Dress

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Badgers Over 30’s Soccer

What a year it has been. Let usbegin with the weather. This

year was the wettest on record withthe country experiencing over fiftydays in which it rained some part ofeach day. Yet by some miracle everyWednesday night at eight it clearedaway and the sun shone down provid-ing perfect playing conditions. Thisyear I don't think we had to cancelone game because of inclement weath-er. In fact all the rain provided a fan-tastic playing surface of lush greengrass and a nice spongy soft turf.

One of the big events of the year

was a visit to John and MonicaBermingham's farm retreat of ‘Croc anÓir’, Mullinahone. The Berminghamsprovide self-catering accommodationand workshops for groups of up to 20or more. But on the night in questionit was a game of soccer away fromhome with an international flavour. Agroup of Polish visitors took part in afriendly game with the Badgers andafterwards there was great celebrationwith food and wine of plenty. Musicwas provided by ‘Wahoo’ and therewas no end to the talent with MickTillyer giving a spectacular perform-

Badgers Soccer Team Front L to R: John Bermingham, Seanie Bermingham, Liam Meagher, Bryan Steedman,Mick Tyllier, Liam Harrington, Michael Ryan, John McClain, Kevin O'Dwyer. Middle Row L to R: Colm

McGrath, Mikolaj Kwasek, Dominik Grydziuszko, Philip Furnell, Tom Hogan (referee), Pat O'Donnell, KevinRyan. Back L to R: Mateusz Machulski, Richard Thompson, Owen Roach, Noel O'Dwyer, Andy Donovan.

37


ance that was on par with the likes ofDean Martin or any of the rat pack.John McClain brought the housedown with his very authenticProclaimers number while BryanSteedman gave us all a good laughwith ‘Stand by Your Man’. Over all itwas a fantastic night enjoyed by all,thanks again to John, Monica andSeanie.

Coming into the new premiershipseason the talk is of new players’transfers and new sponsor and changeof management. Well, the Badgers willnot be out done there either. Thanksto the ‘Magic’ Michael Ryan who is aman of action on and off the pitch, wehave new jerseys sponsored by Philipand Ann Butler of Butlers Sports Bar,Main Street. Thanks to the Butlers’generosity two sets of jerseys werepurchased with crest and sponsors

name. The choice of colours was acontentious issue but in the end it wasour new chairman and assistant secre-tary (see below) who made the finalchoice. So you would be forgiven ifyou thought that it was Fethard play-ing Ballingarry every Wed night as wedon our maroon and blue.

At the AGM, which took place on30th March this year a new committeewas elected which comprises of:Owen Roche (Chairman), BryanSteedman (Treasurer), Colm McGrath(Secretary) with Kevin Ryan (assistantSecretary, to take full post next year).Andy Donovan volunteered to takeon the secretary's job in 2010, we lookforward to it.

Congratulations to all on their elec-tion to office and to all our memberswe wish a fit, happy, healthy and funyear ahead. �

Many of us in Fethard shed atear while listening to John

Fitzgerald pay a final trib-ute to the late ConorMaher at his funeral Massheld in Holy TrinityChurch on Sunday 22ndSeptember 2007. John washis employer in Clonmeland Conor worked in hisauctioneering firm,Dougan & Fitzgerald, fornine years. John remindedus of Conor’s good waydealing with people, his interest inFethard Ballroom, his love for Fethard,

and why he wouldn’t choose to liveelsewhere.

It started with playingcards in the Fr. TirryCommunity Centre,where Conor was wel-comed at an early age byMichael O’Dwyer. At theage of eleven he was afamiliar face at the cardgames, volunteering toserve teas and biscuits atbreak time. During thisperiod Conor created life-

long friendships with a generation ofpeople far beyond his years.

Conor Maher remembered by a friend

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From the early nineties, Fethard &Killusty Community Council set aboutpurchasing and renovating the oldballroom, which had been derelict foryears and was put up for sale. Conorwas introduced to the FethardMayoral fundraising project at the ageof sixteen by candidate DavidO’Donnell. Canvassing the country-side with David, Conor and the teamsucceeded in raising nine thousandpounds as part of the MayoralElection. From this point on, Conorbecame involved in other voluntaryactivities in the town, including hiswork with Fr. Ben O’Brien OSA, who

ran the local lotto to raise funs for therestoration of the Abbey Church. In1997 Fethard Ballroom was in financialdifficulty and Conor was once againout canvassing support for theSunday night dances which werebeing established and have sincebecome the mainstay of the hall’ssocial and financial success.

Conor touched many in Fethard andbeyond with his out-going personality,his ever-present smile, and alwayshelping others when he could. Conor,you will be greatly missed and alwaysremembered by your friends inFethard. �

Easter Sunday night, 19th April 1995, saw the Fethard Mayoral Election come to a close when DavidO’Donnell, Coleman, was elected as the new Mayor of Fethard. The two other candidates, Paddy Hickey andMick Ahearne, were gracious in defeat saying, “The better man won!”. David is pictured above with his cam-

paign crew and country singing star, Trudy Lawlor, who played for the ecstatic large crowd at the dance which fol-lowed the election. Proceeds of the Mayoral Election went towards the Ballroom Renovation Fund.

Back L to R: Patricia Byrne, Derry O'Dwyer, Ann O'Dwyer, Chris O'Dwyer, Sheila O'Donnell, Pat Byrne.Front L to R: David O'Donnell, Trudy Lawlor and Conor Maher.

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Fethard Ladies Football Club com-menced this year with our under-

age players. We had some very goodgames in our under-12 age group witha mixture of under-10s used to makeup the team. We hope next year will bebetter. Our under-14 team reached thecounty semifinal against Aherlow whowere much stronger and finished easywinners in the end.

We held a very successful under-10blitz in Fethard in August where welost one and won one game. Wewould like to thank Mark Tynan ofMT Construction for presenting theclub with a set of jerseys for underagelevel and all who presented medals

and refreshments on the day. The junior team had great success

winning the Junior C League finalagainst Boherlahan. We went on toplay Mullinahone in the championshipwho eventually were easy winners.

We found it very hard to get 15players in the end as some of ourminor players do not want to play on.This is a great pity after providingtraining and coaching for them.

Special thanks to coaches MarieHolohan (underage) and Dinny Burke(juniors) for all the time they gave tothe club and to anyone who helpedthe club in any way. �

Fethard Ladies Football Club

Fethard under-10 ladies football team who played in the blitz in Fethard on 15th September 2007.

Photographed at training L to R: Áine Proudfoot, Aileen Butler, Annie Prout and Alana Coady.


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Photographed at training are L to R: Jane Kenny, Áine Phelan, Jean Anglim, Emma Hayes and Hanna Daly.

Fethard Ladies Football Coaches L to R: Michael Ryan, Denis Burke and Joe Keane.

Photographed at training are L to R: Jade Pattison, Laura Ryan, Áine Phelan and Amy Pollard.


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Fethard Senior Citizens Club istwenty-five years old this year

and going as good as ever. As usualour meetings are held on the firstTuesday of the month in the TirryCommunity Centre where all presentare served with tea, sandwiches andcakes, followed by a guest speaker,music or bingo. Last December wehad Mass for our senior citizens in theAugustinian Abbey Church afterwhich everybody boarded the bus forthe Anner Hotel in Thurles where weheld our Christmas Party. A veryenjoyable day was had by all.

Our Easter outing was to Kilkennywhere we had ample time for shop-ping and then on to the SpringhillCourt Hotel for dinner. Of course, theladies were resplendent dressed intheir Easter Bonnets which were dis-

played and judged by the hotel staff.Our summer outing was to Kinsale

where we had refreshments at theTrident Hotel. Later we headed backtowards home to the FairwaysRestaurant at Slievenamon Golf Clubfor dinner.

In August we went on our annualtrip to Tramore and all were delightedwith the lovely summer afternoon,again finishing up at The Fairways fordinner.

Preparations are now underway forthis year’s Christmas Party and wetake this opportunity to thank allthose who helped us in any way, eitherfinancially or otherwise, to keep ourclub going.

A very Happy and PeacefulChristmas to all our friends at homeand abroad. �

Fethard Senior Citizens Club

This year brought further successto the Fethard and Killusty area.

The same hard-working committeeorganised various events in the areacommencing with Art and Model-making where the following childrenwon medals at area level: Girls U-8:Roisín McDonnell, Carly Tobin,Chelsea Kenny and Aoife Sheehan.U-10: Ciara Hayes, Aine Proudfootand Sadie McGrath. U-12: LeahO’Donnell, Jennifer Rice and AobhO’Shea. U-14: Nicole Looby,Aoibhlinn Delany and Lucy Butler. U-16: Laura Rice. Boys U-8: Conor

Harrington, Conor Clancy, JackPollard and Darragh Lynch. U-10: TimHurley, Connie Coen and HarryButler. U-12: Charlie Manton, ColinGrant and Kevin Shine. U-14: CathalHurley, Gerry Horan and MattieHolohan.

The County Final of the ArtCompetition took place in FethardBallroom and we achieved a doublegold when Róisín McDonnell, daugh-ter of former competitor Pat, won theU-8 event and Laura Rice,Everardsgrange, completed a hat-trickqualifying for the National Finals in

Fethard & Killusty Community Games

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Mosney for the third time. LeahO’Donnell won silver and NicoleLooby won bronze.

The U-14 Quiz was contested inThurles and the Fethard team com-prised of Jane Holohan, Faye Manton,Deirdre Dwyer and Mary-Jane Kearney.Radika Jannickova, Kevin Hayes andCiara Tillyer were our representatives atthe Swimming Championships inNenagh where Radika won gold andKevin won silver.

In Judo Aobh and Pádraig O’Shea,Kate Delahunty, Lorraine Feery andGary Bradshaw all won county titles.They travelled to Tralee for theMunster finals where Gary and

Pádraig won gold and Aobh and Katewon silver medals. Gary and Pádraigboth won silver medals at HSECommunity Games National Finals inMosney.

In Athletics the following childrenqualified for the County finals inNenagh. U-8 60m: Laura Butler,Rebecca Kenny, Darragh Lynch andMark Heffernan. U-8 80m: IsobelKennedy, Aisling Gorey, Eric Fogartyand Jack Ward. U-10 100m: AnnieProut, Nicola Thompson, JackGleeson and Luke Grant. U-10 200m:Megan Hayes, Chloe Burke, DeanDorney and Matthew Lynch. U-12100m: Hannah Tobin, Kate Quigley,

Fethard girls Under-16 Volleyball team who received their HSE Community Games Certificates and brought theTommy Butler Shield back to Fethard once more are pictured in University of Limerick. Back L to R: Igor

Naginsky (referee from Ukraine), Kelly Coady, Kelly Fox, Gráinne Horan, Katie Coen, Anthony Fitzsimons,Chairman of Munster Council who presented certificates and shield. Front L to R: Aisha Tobin, Sarah

O’Meara, Kelly Fogarty, Jean Anglim and Jane Kenny.

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David Heffernan and DarrenNeedham. U-12 600m: Karen Hayesand Clodagh Bradshaw. U-14 100m:Aine Phelan and Shannon O’Brien. U-16 100m: Kevin Hayes. U-16 1500m:Adam O’Donnell and Eoin Prout.This was a very successful event forFethard’s com-petitors as theycame home fromthe county finalswith three goldmedals —Darragh Lynch,Coolmore; EricFogarty, BarrackStreet; and AdamO ’ D o n n e l l ,Redcity; — allwinning theirevents to qualifyfor the Nationalfinals. MarkHeffernan wonsilver, beingdefeated by thenarrowest of mar-gins by team mateDarragh Lynch.

In the team events both Mini andTag Rugby teams were defeated in thecounty finals and in volleyball, bothboys and girls teams qualified forMosney where they were awardedcertificates having finished in fourthplace. Well done and thank you toDamien Byrne, Killusty, who under-took the task of coaching and lookingafter these teams. Boys Team: DarrenThompson, Dean Sharpe, GarrethLawrence, Tony Myler, Andrew

Maher and Damien Morrissey. GirlsTeam: Gráinne Horan, Kelly Coady,Sarah O’Meara, Kelly Fox, Jane Kenny,Aisha Tobin, Jean Anglim, FionaCrotty and Kelly Fogarty.

Aobh O’Shea was presentation girlon the first weekend while Helena

O’Shea andPatricia Bradshawboth acted asJudo officials andsupervisors forthe county. A big‘Thank You’ andvery well done toall.

We advise thatskittles is a newevent on the pro-gramme for 2008.Anybody whowould like to getinvolved in thissport can contactthe CommunityGames Office(Phone: 05231906) for further

information.Due to changes at headquarters

there will be three National Finals in2008, one in May and two in Augustand an extra Munster Final in March,so all events will be earlier next year.Anybody interested in any event orwho would like to join the committeeplease make contact with theCommunity Games Office. We wouldlike to take this opportunity to wish aHappy Christmas and ProsperousNew Year to all our readers. �

Róisín McDonnell at the Community Games Art & Model Making County Finals.


County Athletics Finals of the Community Games at CBS Nenagh on 27th May 2007. L to R: Darragh Lynchwinner of the U-8 60m race, and Eric Fogarty winner of the U-8 80m race. Both qualified for Mosney.

Winners of the 1500m race at the County Athletics Finals receiving medals. L to R: Joe Keane (vice-chairmanTipperary Community Games), 2nd Ciarán Purcell (Gortnahoe), 1st Adam O'Donnell (Fethard), 3rd John

Crowe (Tipp Town) and Peggy Colville (PRO Tipperary Community Games).


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Do You Remember . . . 1980

The summer of 1980 was a dread-ful one. Rain, rain, rain, with no

end in sight. Hay making and harvest-ing had been most difficult, makingthe task of the farmer nigh to impossi-ble. By September the Clashawley hadsuch a depth of water as had not beenknown in living memory. And thisyear was a different age in other ways.There were still enough nuns in theconvent to make the holding of aseven-thirty Mass in their chapel. AndMrs Joe O'Connor of The Green wasstill tapping her way briskly down tothe Abbey to ring the bell for eighto'clock Mass which she had done dayin day out for years. Cars and trailersstill converged on the creamery in TheValley with their tankers of milk.Sherrards Engineering were still oper-ating on the Rosegreen Road; Whyte'sGarage still gave a service on the MainStreet; the Forge Tavern and JohnO'Shea’s Lounge were still offering

their social services. Yes, the rain felland the sun shone on little everydayactions and on shops and publicplaces that are no longer a part ofFethard life.

In this year the County Council hadcompleted the first stage of the planfor the development and landscapingof the Clashawley river bank betweenthe Convent bridge and WatergateStreet bridge. This, and the later workof 'The Friends of Fethard' led on tothe lovely vista of today and to thestartlingly beautiful photograph whichgraces the 2007 Coolmore Stud cata-logue which has gone around theworld. And in all of this we should notforget the Fethard TownCommissioners who were first electedin the 1840s, were much enhanced andbroadened by the Local Governmentact of 1898, and continued to functiondown to the mid 1930s. They too, withlittle money, gave their best for the

Fethard from Cashel Road taken from a postcard published in the 1960s

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town. All patriots and lovers of theirtown.

The big event of 1980 was also arenewal. This was the renovation ofthe old Tirry Social Club into theTirry Community Centre and newCommunity Hall. The lovely oldGeorgian building had begun lifeabout 1800 as a Protestant school andolder readers will recall the place asthe Tirry Club and as the local library.By the late 1970s the building hadbeen abandonedand had begun todecay. So that whenthe CommunityCouncil took overthe structure as partof its 'town renewal'projects the mem-bers placed a consid-erable burden ontheir shoulders, a burden that was tobecome in total £20,000 (a consider-able sum of money in 1980, perhapssomewhere between a quarter and ahalf a million euro in today's money)before it was finished. The festivals,the walks, the furniture auctions, thesale of produce all helped to reducethis burden. The County Council paidthe sum of £2,366 for the installationof various amenities. And those menand women of courage were: FatherJohn Stapleton of Clonakenny nearRoscrea who was then curate inFethard and national president ofMuintir na Tire; Father John was alsopresident and driving force of the localCommunity Council; the chairman ofthe Council was Jerry Skehan and his

vice-chairs were occupied by MrsAnnie O'Brien and Jimmy McInerney;the secretary was Peter Colville; thetreasurers were John White andAustin O'Flynn; and the committeewere, Tommy Butler, Percy O'Donnell,Michael Ahearn, Sean Spillane, MrsNellie Donovan, Mrs Carol Kenny,Timothy Slattery, Brother JamesMoran, Vincent Doocey, PaddyBroderick, Gabriel Horan and MichaelO'Dwyer. The drive and public com-

mitment of each ofthose people shouldbe remembered intime to come.

The work on theold building beganabout 1978 and therestoration wasunder the generaldirection of Michael

Stringer, an architect then living atTullamaine. The work was part of theAnCO youth training project, whichsupplied and paid the labour, thoughthe Community Council choose andpurchased all the materials being usedand paid for them. As well, many localpeople helped in the clearing of thehalf-acre site on which the buildingstood. When the building was takenover by the Council (who will write adetailed account of this project whichis the warp and woof of local history)it was in such a bad condition that theupper story had to be demolished.What should not be forgotten is thatmembers of the Council had to beavailable week in week out to makedecisions and to fetch and carry.

Old Tirry Social Club, Barrack Street.

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Incidentally, all the new doors andpartitions in the building were madeby local man Billy Kenny.

A wonderful voluntary project, butthen Fethard people have had for solong a commitment to voluntary workand local government in its best sense.

The centre was officially opened onMonday 29 September and the cere-mony was performed by TomásRoseingrave, National Director ofMuintir na Tire, and the blessing wasby Father Philip Noonan, late parishpriest of Fethard. As noted, the centrebore the name of Father William Tirry,a member of the Augustinian order,who was hanged at Clonmel on 12November 1654 because he refused toabandon his Fethard people in dark

and turbulent times. Soon after it wasopened the six-roomed centre wasestimated to have had a value of£100,000. When the centre opened JimAllen was appointed as the new care-taker.

Another notable event in the yearwas that Fethard served as the venuefor the county senior and minor finals,which were held on 31 August. Aheadof the event much work was beingundertaken on the sportsfield. Thiswas the showpiece of the GAA year inthe county and quite a coup for thelocal club to be given the honour offielding such events; and the task ofrefereeing was given to local man JoeKeane. The minor game was betweenArravale Rovers and Ballylooby and

Tomás Roseingrave from Muintir na Tire cutting the tape at the official opening 29 September 1980. Also inthe picture are Jerry Skehan, Chairman of the Community Council, Fr John Stapleton C.C. and Austy O'Flynn

who took over as chairman of the Community Council after the AGM held in November of the same year.

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the senior contest had Galtee Roverspitted against a Loughmore/Castleineyside. The local club made every effortto have the sportsfield immaculate onwhat was a special occasion. Extrasideline seating was put in and a bandwas on hand to lead the pre-matchparade. And a special souvenir pro-gramme had been produced for theday. How many are still to be hadtoday? One of them would enhanceany Fethard man's collection of localmemorabilia. As well, a stand wasprovided for the press and commenta-tors which was much appreciated bythe sports scribblers. The stewardingand traffic control on the day gainedmuch favourable comment.Incidentally, Galtee Rovers were win-ners by a point on that beautiful sum-mer's day. Perhaps this is a good pointto record that the sportsfield was pur-chased sometime in the early 1950s (Ithink); it had been on lease for yearspreviously. The purchase was accom-plished in hard times and during the

period when the 'Big Five' ran the localclub: Richie Fitzgerald, TommyHogan, John Keating, Tim Tierney,and Brother Albert Small.

Fethard deserved their big day. Inthe eighty-seven finals held between1887 and 1980 Fethard were seniorfootball champions on fifteen occa-sions.

The Fethard football team startedout well, being the south championsfrom the previous year. On Sunday 27April they faced Moyle Rovers, butwithout two of their leading players,A.B. Kennedy and Pierce Dillon.Though on that day Fethard won byone point the reporter noted that theysquandered many chances for furtherscores and he was of the opinion thatthe final score should have been adraw so as to reflect the level of playon both sides. The Fethard team were,Michael Kenrick, Joe Allen, DavyFitzgerald, Pakie Harrington, PaddyKenrick, Joe Keane, Paschal Hanrahan,Michael O'Riordan, Dave Williams,

Match officials before the County Football final played in Fethard on 31st August 1980. L to R: Jim Keane, Maurice Harrington, Larry Maher, Loughmore team captain, Joe Keane (referee), Galtee

Rovers team captain, Michael Keane, Martin Cuddihy and Tom Kearney.

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Michael Healy, Michael Downes, NoelSharpe, Joe Keane, MauriceHarrington and Richie Hayes who wassubstituted by Noel Byrne. But onSunday 18 May Fethard were beatenby one point by Galtee Rovers, whowere described as worthy winners.Though the senior team had done wellFethard did have a very active andrecently formed under-fourteen foot-ball club which was under the guid-ance of Brother James Moran. Theclub had as its chairman NedSheehan, Brother James was its secre-tary, and Mrs Margaret Hackett andMrs. Sheehan were its treasurers. Thisencouraging of young people auguredwell for the future of Gaelic football inthe town. The football club did notforget its social side. On Friday night29 February it held its annual dinnerdance in Clonmel.

After many years of silence the old

cry of 'Come on Coolmoyne' washeard again on the sportsfield. A hurl-ing team, selected in the main fromthat area, beat a Clonoulty/Rossmoreside by two points in a challenge gamewhich was held on Sunday evening 22June. Many old-time Coolmoynehurlers and supporters must have feltthe sun on their backs as they stoodand watched such a victory.Incidentally, hurling in Coolmoyneprobably owes its foundation to thefamed Denis Walsh of Tobberadorawho came to live in the area; and tohis two sons Denis and Eddie.Coolmoyne teams continued to playunder that name up to about 1960.

In hurling Fethard had united withKilsheelan to form St. Augustine’sclub. This combination was perform-ing well and by mid-June was headingtowards winning the semi-final place.On Sunday 15 June they beat Eire Óg

Fethard Football team, South Champions 1980, Front L to R: Joe Keane, A.B. Kennedy, Noel Sharpe, JohnKeane, Paddy Kenrick, Michael 'Buddy' Fitzgerald, Philly O'Connell, Pakie Harrington, Michael Healy. Back

L. to R: Danny Kane, Noel Byrne, Pascal Hanrahan, Maurice Harrington, Waltie Moloney, Joe Allen,Michael Downes, Richie Hayes, Michael O'Riordan, Dinny Burke, Davy Williams.

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by one point under wet and demand-ing conditions. In a hard-fought fameSt. Augustine’s were described aslucky. The local team were StephenMcCormack, Dick Prendergast, LiamMcCarthy, Dave Fitzgerald, Pat Larkin,Sean Nugent, Pat O'Neill, PakieHarrington, Mick O'Riordan, CyrilRobinson, Dick Strang, A.B. Kennedy,John Kehoe, Noel Byrne, MichaelHealy, and the sub was W. Walsh. Buton Sunday 6 July St. Augustine’s losttheir bid for the senior hurling cham-pionship when they were beaten bynine points by Carrick Davins, a gamethat was played in appalling condi-tions.

Towards the end of 1980 the southGAA Board announced its sportsstars and its hurler of the past. The lat-ter category was won by Pat O'Keeffeof Kiltinan. Pat O'Keeffe had gracedthe playing fields of south Tipperaryfor well over twenty years, though hewas never lucky enough to win an All-

Ireland with his county. Sadly, this isthe case with many a good hurler andfootballer. Pat began his sportingcareer with Coolmoyne, but he thenmoved to Solohead/Arravale Roverswith whom he won south junior hon-ours in 1926 when he was twenty-eight. In the late 1920s he played withjunior and senior sides and won aMunster junior medal. He was playingwith the Killenaule team that wonsouth titles in 1931 and 1932. In 1934he was playing with Moyglass (in the1930s other great Moyglass men well-known in Fethard were: Pat and TerGuiry, Mick Hayes, Dick Hayes andJohn Tynan). In 1937 and 1938 he wasa member of Fethard's senior champi-onship teams. And in 1942 he playeda leading role in Coolmoyne's juniortriumph. Pat generally played at lefthalf-back, but he was a man whocould fit in elsewhere on the field andat the end of his hurling life he playedin goal. In short, Pat played hurling

Group of Fethard supporters at the South Final in 1980 included Joe ‘Duffy’ Barrett, Eamon Butler, TimmyO'Riordan, Dick Fitzgerald, Mick Keane, Michael Fitzgerald, David Kane, Danny Kane, Sean Moloney, Derek

Walsh, Alfie Brett, the two children in front are Johnny Barrett's son and Michael Fitzgerald's son William.

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skilfully and enthusiastically in theyears between 1918 and 1940 and wasa dedicated supporter of GAA games.Pat was also an athlete of note and inhis day was Munster pole vault cham-pion. He had, as well, considerablemerit as a greyhound trainer. PatO'Keeffe was presented with hisaward at the Board's annual socialheld at the GAA Centre, Clonmel, onWednesday 10 December.

But in the Fethard of 1980 othersports held their places. Fethard had,for example, two athletic clubs: St.Patrick's Athletic Club, which incorpo-rated the national B.L.E and B.L.O.E.systems (which had affiliated in thisyear); and the Fethard Athletic Club.Among the St. Patrick's officers wereJohn Looby, Tommy Butler andBrother James Moran. The trainer forthe club was Brother Raymond. TheFethard Athletic Club had DickCummins, Steven McCormack, PatRyan and Tom McCormack.

On Sunday 2 March the Munstercross-country championships wereheld at Tulla, Co. Clare. St. Patrick'sparticipated in what was the last cross-country fixture of the season. TheFethard Club did well on the day insome team events. In the under-elevens the winners were locals ReginaFoley, A. Fox, A. Flannery and J.O'Dwyer. And in the boys’ under sev-enteen event the winning side were PatHeffernan, J. Hickey, J. Croke and J.Quinn. A number of boys under nineyears had a good day. County trackand field events were held at Nenaghon Sunday 20 April in extremely poorweather. Among the locals who didwell were Pat Heffernan who camesecond in the 5,000 metres, and KayO'Riordan who won the high jump.However, better performances wereexpected on Sunday 27 April whenthe competitors met on the all-weathertrack of the Presentation Convent,Thurles, at 2.30pm, especially from

Photograph taken at AGM of St. Patricks Athletic BLOE Club 1980. Front L to R: Frances Burke (Treasurer),Tom Butler (Secretary), John Looby (Chairman), Maureen Guiry (Vice Chairperson), Bro Raymond (Trainer).

Back L to R: Chris Looby, ?, Margaret Hackett, ?, Diana Stokes, ?, Jenny Fogarty, Mrs O'Riordan, AnneConnolly, Mary Looby, Johnny Carey, Breda Walsh, ?, William Guiry, Lolo Trehy and Dr. Paddy Stokes.

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Willie Guiry of Fethard who had beenperforming well in training. The juve-nile athletes from St. Patrick's per-formed well at a meeting held atLimerick on Saturday and Sunday 28and 29 June in the Munster and All-Ireland track and field events. Veryworthy of mention were JacquelineStokes and Kay O'Riordan of Fethardand Pat Heffernan of Ballyvaden.

Thirteen-year-old Jacqueline Stokeswas one of eight girls who representedIreland in the Celtic InternationalWomen's Athletics held at Coalbridgenear Glasgow on Sunday 3 August.Jacqueline, a member of theFethard/Clerihan BLOE club, emergedas a winner in the high jump and thelong jump. She came second in therelay race. This event had attractedathletes from the UK and Ireland, buthad the drawback of being held in

miserable weather conditions. All ofwhich made her wins the more memo-rable. In the Dublin City Marathonheld on the October Bank Holiday PatHeffernan turned in a fine perform-ance when, out of about 2,000 starters,he came 28th at a time of two hoursand thirty-seven minutes. A trulygreat performance from the seventeen-year-old. Another local man who didwell in the Marathon was Pakie Ryanof Curraghtarsna. He came in at a verycreditable 228th place. Pakie had beena runner in the 1950s with theBallynonty Club.

The new cross-country season forSt. Patrick's opened on Sunday 5October on the lands of Mr TommyButler of Coolenure with a large cardof events and an attendance of about200 athletes from Munster and southLeinster. The meeting comprised both

Group of young NACA athletes photographed at a social in the Fethard Arms in 1980. Back L to R: AliceRyan, Rena Sheehan, Vera Sheehan. Middle L to R: Sharon Connors, Georgina Mathews, Ann Bradshaw,

Lorraine McCormack, Cathy O'Donnell, Brendan Morrissey, Declan Morrissey. Front L to R: CorinaMorrissey, Maureen Connors, Darren Bradshaw, Adrian Bradshaw and ? Lawrence

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juniors and seniors. The course on theday was described as being in excel-lent condition and the fine dry daymade the four-mile cross-country runa splendid one. About sixty runnersstarted out in that event and the dryday and excellent conditions meantthat a fast pace was set. It was won bya runner from Grange A.C.

Hardly had the New Year settled inwhen the Fethard Athletic Club heldan international cross-country event atMichael Smyth's Airfield atCoolbawn. The meet began at 2.30pmon 6 January with teams from Ireland,Poland, France, Belgium, Italy andPortugal (though none from the UK).In all there were about 300 competi-tors. The teams arrived in Fethard onthe Saturday afternoon and weregiven an official welcome by the RásMumhan officers in the Fethard Arms.This was followed by an evening of

music and beer. During their three-daystay in the town a mayoral receptionwas held in Clonmel as was a visit tothe County Council, but it was amongthe people of Fethard that the teamsspent what was for them a wonderfulweekend. The course at Coolbawnwas five laps on a 2,000 metre courseand was extremely testing as the daywas wet. The event was won by anIrish runner in almost thirty-four min-utes. For the same club JimmyMcCarthy had a distinguished year. Inthe veterans’ section of the Rás nahEireann held at Dunleer, Co. Louth,on Sunday 20 January he finished firstin the over-50s category. But thenJimmy had been winning honourssince 1939 when he won an under-eighteen tennis championship. And inhis day he won a Munster singles bad-minton title and a Munster juniorfootball medal. Jimmy also gained var-

Photographed at NACA Social L to R: Jimmy McCarthy, Dick Cummins and Paddy McCormack

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ious tennis honours. At MountPleasant near Dundalk in February he,together with Tom Nugent of Clerihanand Tom Lawrence of Clonmel, wonthe over-45s cross-county team cham-pionships. And throughout 1980Jimmy was still winning trophies.

And Fethard enjoyed the benefits ofother sports. In January the FethardOpen Coursing Club cele-brated twenty-five years ofexistence, and marked theoccasion by honouring itsfounders: P.J. Henehan,Jack Kenrick, WilliamByrne, and JamesHeffernan. On 20 Januarya large contingent of fansand participants travelledto Fethard from theBlackrock (Cork) coursingclub to mark the anniver-sary. In ideal coursingweather there was anabundance of hares whichgave a most enjoyable dayto visitors and locals. Thatday the perpetual 'TommyRyan' cup was won bylocal man MichaelFlanagan. The Club officers for theseason were, Tim O'Riordan, chair-man, John O'Donovan, secretary, andMichael Keane, treasurer. Huntingwith beagles was also popular and inlate January the Maryboro Farmers'Beagles paid their annual visit to thetown where they had a good Sundayafternoon of hunting. In February theMunster handball championshipswere being held in the Fethard ball

court during which John Woodlock,representing Tipperary, beat the Kerrycontestant in the minor singles. And inthe county junior singles semi-finalWillie O'Donnell beat Noel Ryanfrom Ballypatrick. The same WillieO'Donnel later qualified for the finalsof the Munster games. As the NewYear opened Killusty were doing well

in soccer. Their first win ofthe year placed them atthe top of the FirstDivision; among theirscorers on that occasionwere Noel Sharpe andKevin Ryan. But as theseason advanced theybegan to slip to the bot-tom of the Division.Badminton, too, had itsplace in the life of Fethard.The local club had beenshaky over the previousfew years, but with aninflux of new members in1980 it seemed to be firm-ly back on its feet. At theannual general meetingheld on 6 October theofficers elected were, Tony

Newport, president, Gemma Kenny,secretary/treasurer, and CatherineNewport, assistant secretary/treasurer.

Keeping up an old tradition theTipperary Foxhounds held their open-ing meet in Fethard on Monday 9November. However, a small field ofonly fifty mounted followers turnedout on the day. It was the smallestopening meet over the previous twen-ty years. Some very enjoyable hunting

Pat Heffernan competing in the World Cross-Country Race held in

Fethard in 1980

was had in the Rocklow area. Thepublished photo does not show thehounds rushing eagerly under thearch at Sparagoleith, rather the pho-tographer choose the railway bridgeon the Rocklow Road about a mile outof Fethard for his scene which showedthe Master, Michael Higgins and theFirst-Whip Michael Flanagan with thehounds as they came over the narrowbridge. On St. Stephen's Day thehounds had the internationallyfamous equestrian artist Peter Curlingriding out with them. Peter Curlingwill be well-known to those who liketheir Christmas cards with a 'horsey'flavour. The Hunt held its dance in theCountry Club ballroom on Friday 28November and the music was sup-plied by the wonderful dance band ofthe late Mick Delahunty.

On Sunday 13 April the Ponsonbyfamily opened their lands at Grovewhere a one-day jumping and horse-dressage event was held. The jumpingcourse was described as excellent, buttesting; and a number of young ridersparticipated in the events. Among thewinners were Desmond O'Connor ofKnockelly, Gillian Maher ofBallybough, and Jacqueline Stokes ofFethard. And the nearby Killusty PonyShow was held on 12 July. There was abig turnout on a day which was great-ly marred by heavy rain.

And fishermen, too, had their daysof sport. The Fethard/Killusty anglers'summer competition was held onSaturday 5 July. Cly Mullins was anoverall winner having both the heavi-est catch and the heaviest trout.

Others who did well on that day wereJack O'Donnell, Jim Ryan, JohnMartin and Tom Sayers.

As well as sport the town also keptup its tradition of a summer festival.The Festival, which was organised bythe Fethard Community Council withthe hope that whatever profits weremade would be used to pay for thefinal touches to the new CommunityHall in Barrack Street. It ran fromMonday 23 June to Sunday 29 Juneand opened with a gala concert in theCountry Club on the Monday night atwhich the Fethard Players performedan amusing revue to the great delightof all present. This was the 'Tavern inthe Town' which was devised by BillyMcLellan with music direction fromDon Byard of Fethard, and producedby Michael O'Donoghue of Clonmel.Among those who trod the boardsthat night were old stalwarts, NedMaher, Jackie White, Sean Hanrahanand Jimmy O'Shea. On Tuesday nightthe ICA sponsored a cookery demon-stration. In the GAA field onWednesday evening Bansha playedCashel in senior football, and at thesame time a tug-o-war with eight com-petitions was taking place. And thesesports continued on Thursday night.On Friday night the summer festivaldance was held at which a festivalqueen, Mary Morrissey of Tullamaine,was chosen; and a turkey supper wasprovided by the ladies’ committee.And throughout the week a pokerclassic had been running in theCountry Club. The highlight ofSunday was the fancy-dress parade

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Billy Treacy and his son Liam taking part in the Fethard Festival Parade 1980

Fethard Festival 1980 L to R: Gerry Aherne, P.J. Aherne, Patricia Morrissey and Pamela Morrissey

L to R: Barry Connolly, John Ward, Edmund O’Neill, Ted Connolly, Jimpy Connolly and Michael Whyte.

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and for this the organisers were offer-ing £100 prize to the best individualand best group on display.Incidentally, the first carnival inFethard goes back to the mid 1920s. Itwas established to raise funds for thebuilding, in 1926, of a parochial house(which is still in use) forFather John Russell whoserved as parish priestfrom December 1924 toApril 1930. The high-lights of that first carni-val was the fancy-dressparade and the 'SodalityBand' led by TomHickey. The 1980 paradestarted out from KerryStreet at 2.0pm and wasled by the TemplemoreBrass band. From thereit made its way to theGAA field where anumber of side events were laid on.Among these were a bonny babycompetition which was won by babyJanice Carroll the daughter of Mr andMrs Jim Carroll of St. Patrick's Place,Fethard. And bigger children wereentertained by O'Sullivan'sAmusements which had set up in thefield.

As well as their enjoyable contribu-tion to the summer Festival theFethard Players also presented a three-act comedy, 'The Late ChristopherBean' by the British playwright EmlynWilliams, from Wednesday 26 Marchto Sunday 30 March. The venue wasthe Town Hall and the admission was£1. As always the production was

under the very sure hand of AustinO'Flynn; and the actors were, JimmyO'Shea, Rita O'Connor, AngelaDillon, Carmel Rice, MarionMulligan, Billy McLellan, PaddyKenrick, Catherine Newport, and JoeKenny. And keeping up the tradition

of other years theyplayed to a full houseeach night. A specialperformance was givenfor the senior citizens ofFethard during the runof the play. At the endof the show all whoattended were given anice tea which had beenprovided by Sister Peterfrom the PresentationConvent and friends.The Players society hadas its officers, AustinO'Flynn, president,

Jimmy O'Shea, chairman, PaddyKenrick, secretary, and Angela Dillon,treasurer.

But people, too, made an impres-sion on that year. At the annual gener-al meeting of the South TipperaryCounty Council held on Mondaynight 30 June Councillor JohnHolohan of Ballinard was electedchairman. John farmed at Ballinard. In1967 he had been approached to puthis name forward as a Fine Gael repre-sentative in the County Council.However, in that year he did not gar-nish enough votes to be elected; sevenyears later he was elected withoutreaching the quota, but when hebecame known and his work admired

Janice Carroll, daughter of Jim and MaryCarroll, St. Patrick's Place, winner in the

Fethard Festival Baby Show 1980

he was elected on the first count in1979. In this last election he received1,455 votes when the quota was 1,270.This was, I think, the highest first-pref-erence vote given to a County Councilcandidate up to 1980. This vote wellshowed that people admired hisimpartial efforts on their behalf. Andwe should remember that Johnworked well for his people in difficultfinancial times. For example, in1975/76 the roads grants for southTipperary was cut by 50 per cent; andaround the same period Killusty hadgreat need of a footpath which it wasestimated would cost £1,200 to com-plete, yet all that the county engineercould lay his hands on for the task

was £400. In 1980, also, John's broth-er, Father Patrick of the Holy GhostFathers, was appointed president ofRockwell College. Father Patrick hadbeen educated at Rockwell and later atUCD and Rome. He spent thirteenyears in Nigeria and returned toRockwell in 1971 where he served asdean until his appointment as presi-dent.

Another individual who, rather thanmoving into the limelight, slipped qui-etly out of it, was Patrick Lynch whoretired as principal teacher atMoyglass. He came first to the littlevillage in 1944 and in his thirty-sixyears of educating the children fromthe area he never spared himself. He

Moyglass School pupils photographed with Mr Patrick Lynch on the occasion of his retirement from teaching in1980. Also included in photograph is Mrs Eileen Horan who took over as Principal.

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John and Dympna O'Donovan with Raymond,Adrian and baby Maura at Fethard Festival 1980.

Mary Morrissey, Tullamaine, who was electedFestival Queen at Fethard Festival in 1980.

Pauline Morrissey with pupils from the Danny Ryan School of Music’s accordion band taking part in theFethard Festival Parade in 1980. Standing L to R: Pauline Morrissey, Catherine Fleming, Marina Gorey,

Bernie Power, Catherine Morrissey, Elaine Woodlock, Tom Power, Ann Bradshaw. Sitting L to R: Myles Tobin,Michael Power, Joan Fleming, Fiona Butler, Aisling Horan and Marie Horan.

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Fethard Festival 1980 L to R: Denise Maher, Josie O'Dwyer and Edwina Newport

Fethard Festival 1980 L to R: Assumpta Coffey,Claire Coffey and Ailish Kenny

Fethard Festival 1980 L to R: Roseanne Flanaganand Elaine Gleeson

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was the first teacher in the district whoprepared his pupils for CountyCouncil scholarships year after yearuntil that offer ceased. His encourage-ment and drive had enabled many astudent to find a worthwhile niche inlife.

Along the fringes of the educationsystem in Fethard the PatricianBrothers Past Pupils Union was stillactive. Its president was Tommy Careyof The Green and the chairman wasJohn Whyte of Main Street. The com-mittee were: Brother John, BrotherJames, Michael O'Sullivan, Grove,Jimmy McInerney, Burke Street, PaddyLonergan, The Square, Joe Hayes,Rathcoole, Timmy O'Connor, MainStreet, Joe Kenny, The Green, and PatWhite, Derryluskin. The patron wasthe late Father Philip Noonan. Theannual dinner-dance was held in theClonmel Arms Hotel on 14 March

and a concert in the Country Clubballroom on Friday 9 November. InJuly the new president had the task ofpresenting a trophy to a young stu-dent, John Croke, who was chosen asthe best student of the year. TommyCarey made the presentation in thepresence of Brother John, the schoolprincipal, and Mr Timmy O'Connor,the well-known and very respectedteacher. And due to the fund-raisingefforts of the union books to a valueof £480 had been purchased for theschool library.

In church matters the great event ofthis year was the presentation of thesite of the old Coffey store and bakery,through the generosity of Mrs PaulineCoffey of Burke Street, to theAugustinian Fathers. The old bakeryand shop had closed in 1936 and themill was forced to close in the 1940s.The site had been part of the old pre-

Past Pupil of the Year 1980 L to R: Bro James, Paddy Broderick, Deborah Conway, Vincent Doocey, TommyCarey (President Patrician Brothers Past Pupils Union), Michael Dalton, John Croke (Pupil of the Year), Bro

John, Timmy O'Connor, Dick Prendergast, Paddy Maher and Michael O'Gorman.

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Reformation friary and so its 'coming-home' to its old owners was an eventof note. A partial restoration andcleaning of the plot was immediatelycarried out which revealed the westernaspect of the original friary house. Italso exposed to view what was oncethe cloistered front garden and theoriginal doorway of the friary, datingback to the 1300s. The upper structureof the old store was made safe by hav-ing its floor covered with asphalt.However, as we advance into thetwenty-first century we can but won-der as to the future of this ancient andhistoric structure. For all who have aninterest in the history of IrelandFethard, with its visible proof of thathistorical past, has been a place tovisit. One such visitor was CanonWilliam Carrigan, the eminent histori-an, who shyly and quietly came toFethard in 1894 in his pony and trap toenjoy its medieval aspects. He wasentertained by the Augustinian Fathers.He was but one of the many who cameover the past one hundred years. In1980 the Old Waterford Society cameand were enlightened on the local his-tory by Father Sean O'Doherty, thenpresident of the KilkennyArchaeological Society, and now parishpriest of Durrow where CanonCarrigan served his final ministry.

Elsewhere in religion some 200 peo-ple walked in pilgrimage to the HolyYear Cross on Slievenamon onSunday 10 August. The group wereled by Father Cunningham who wasthen a curate in Fethard.

But Fethard also had a number of

secular societies which throughout theyear conferred much social benefit onthe local community. Macra na Feirmebrought together the young people ofthe rural community. On Saturday 15March they fielded a team which par-ticipated in a debating contest held inthe Drangan Community centre. Theteam on the night were Tom Delany,Gay O'Connell, John Heffernan, andLiam O'Connor; they defeatedCarrick-on-Suir and then went on todebate with Drangan in the south finalwhich was held at Boherlahan Hall onSunday 30 March. To mark the thirti-eth anniversary of the local club athree-act play was produced andstaged. This was John B. Keane's'Many Young Men of Twenty'.Generally, the club's repertoire hadbeen one-act plays so this was aninnovation. The producer was PaddyMaher who had previously won twoawards in the south Tipperary Macradrama competitions. The play ran inthe Town Hall from Friday 19December to Sunday 21 December. Inthe cast were, L. O'Connell, S.Kennedy, J. Aylward, A. O'Connell, S.O'Dea, N. Fahy, S. Delahunty, P.Quinn, L. Heffernan, P. Fahy, F.McGivern, A. Harrington, J. O'Meara,T. O'Connell, C. Harrington and T.Phelan.

Another such of long standing wasthe Council of the Blind. At its annualgeneral meeting of the southTipperary branch of the NationalCouncil of the Blind held in May well-justified tributes were paid to somewonderful south Tipperary people

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The Fethard Padraig Mac Piarais Commemoration Committee erected a plaque to the 1916 martyr on 9thNovember, 1980. The plaque was unveiled by Fr. Philip Noonan P.P. (left) also included is Austin O’Flynn.

Group at Commemoration L to R: Jack Purtill, Tom Neill, Pat Whyte (back), Carrie Acheson (Mayor ofClonmel), Michael Crean (back), Jack Wall, Chris Mackey, Fr. Philip Noonan P.P.

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who devoted much of their spare timeto helping the blind. The great friendof the blind who came to Ireland fromYorkshire was Dr. Thomas Armitageof Noan near Ballinure whose grave isto be found in Magorban Church. Hisgood work was continued by his onlydaughter Doris Armitage, by OliveHughes of Fethard and by Mrs DollyO'Keeffe of Fethard (a short accountand a photo of them appeared in the2006 Newsletter). Those four, whowere honoured and remembered atthe 1980 meeting of the Council, hadselflessly laboured to support and helpblind people when state aid was nomore than basic.

But in another case a state institu-tion (a hospital in this case) was ofgreat help. All of us have at one timeor another gone out without a care toenjoy ourselves on a warm summer'sday. In August a young man from theCoolmore area went to Tramore toenjoy the day, the sea and the beach.While swimming he got into difficul-ties in the sea, had a narrow escapefrom drowning and when he wastaken from the water did not recoverconsciousness for about a quarter ofan hour. He spent four days inArdkeen Hospital where with goodcare he made a full recovery.

And mention of Olive Hughesbrings to mind the local guild of theICA which at their January meetingelected their officers for the comingyear. The new president was MrsBreda Smyth of Milestown with MissPhyllis O'Connell as vice-president.The treasurer was Mrs Phyllis Wyatt

of Jossestown, Lisronagh, and the sec-retary was Mrs Bitsy Carrigan ofClonacody. In this year the mainachievement of the guild, apart fromeducating and entertaining the mem-bers with monthly talks, was the re-roofing of the ICA Hall which wasaccomplished through the wonderfulefforts of the members. The resultmeant that the Hall, which had beenpurchased second-hand sometime inthe 1950s, would be good for manyyears to come. In December the ICAsponsored their annual Christmasparty which was held at the FethardArms. The older people of Fethardwere entertained to a lovely meal andafterwards to a variety of entertain-ments. Traditional music was playedby John Shortall and Phil Shee andthis was coupled with recitations andballads. There were also games andcontests which had been invented andsupervised by Mrs Cecilia Byrne. Theladies who made that night such awonderful success were, AnnieO’Brien, Mrs Alice Quinn, Sister Peter,Mrs Ann Lucy, Mrs Ann Lynch, MrsDonovan, Ann O'Riordan, Mrs KathyAylward, Mrs Margaret Keane, MrsWalsh, Mrs Nora O'Riordan, MrsMorrissey, Mrs Biddy Trehy, MrsAggie Barrett and Mrs Maher.

In this year the country market wasstill a popular venue on Friday morn-ings for anyone seeking fresh produce.The market opened at 9.30am in themorning to sell vegetables, flowers,plants, eggs, cakes, butter, cream andgoat's milk. Every Friday morning therush for the stalls was strenuous, but

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the treasurer (Ned Maher) and themen and women (the producers) sell-ing the produce were endlessly patientand had a kind work for everyone.The country markets first began inFethard in 1947 and it was the first ofits kind in the direct selling betweenthe producer and the user. The wholeconcept of direct selling was innova-tive in those years and many looked atit suspiciously. For the country marketin 1980 the big event was the comingto Fethard of a television team to do a'shoot' on a morning of selling. I don'tknow if the end result ever appearedon TV.

Throughout the year the localMeals-on-Wheels delivered some2,808 meals from the Social Servicecentre; and the average number of

houses served on each delivery runwas eighteen. This service was offeredto those who, for one reason or anoth-er, had difficulty in preparing a hotmain meal for themselves. In June thesociety was presented with a cookerby the Clonmel Rotary Club, a presentwhich probably much appreciated bythe hard-working cooking ladies. Theofficers of the Meals society were, Dr.J.B. Maher, Main Street, president,Sister Agatha, Presentation Convent,secretary, and Mr Tim Slattery, AlliedIrish Banks, treasurer.

Another organisation that was stillactive and still beneficial to the peopleof Fethard was the Credit Unionwhich in this year was in its eleventhyear of existence. Not alone was itsmembership firm but it was increas-

Clonmel Rotary Club presenting a cooker to Fethard Meals-on-Wheels in 1980. L to R: Tim Slattery (AlliedIrish Banks, treasurer Meals-on-Wheels), Paddy Lonergan (Clonmel Rotary Club), Ned Maher, Phyllis

O'Connell, Aggie Barrett and Sr. Agatha (Secretary Meals-on-Wheels).

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ing. The chairman was Sean Henehanwith Tommy Carey in the vice-chair.The secretary was Angela Dillon andthe treasurer Sean O'Callaghan. Andthe annual reunion of Fethard peoplewith their friends and relatives inEngland took place on Friday 3October. The organising locally of theevent was in the hands of TommyCarey, The Green, and ChristyWilliams, Killusty.

The Pioneer Total AbstinenceAssociation was still active in thetown. In 1980 it carried out a census ofmembers and former members whostill observed abstinence. It was dis-covered that the branch had fiveGolden Jubilarians, fifty-two SilverJubilarians, forty full Pioneers and fif-teen Probationers. In October a rallywas held at Holy Cross and forty-twomembers travelled there for the occa-sion. One of the Golden Jubilarians,Mrs T. O'Flynn, of Derryluskan, car-ried the Fethard banner on that day.

Incidentally, the president of the localbranch was Mr Paddy Whyte of MainStreet who had served the PioneerCouncil for some forty years.

And the town had its Bridge Clubwhich ended its 1979/80 season inMay, and the new season began inSeptember with several new membersjoining. As the new season opened themembers had the comfort of a roomin the newly opened TirryCommunity Centre. At the end of theold season the president's prize waswon by Brother John and Mrs KittyHayes.

A small flavour of what prices werein 1980 can be gleaned from the saleof a house on the Cashel road justoutside the town. The family, whowere moving to Melbourne, placedtheir bungalow, which was finished toa very high standard and stood onone-and-a-half acres of land on themarket. It fetched £38,000 (some-where between €45,000 and €50,000 in

Fethard Bridge Club members playing in the Tirry Centre 1980L to R: Kathleen Harrison, Sean Henehan, Moira McInerney and Dick Gorey.

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modern terms). How prices have rock-eted since.

But for many life was ending; theirallotted span closing. Just as the oldyear of 1979 ended we read of theunexpected death of Father Thomas A.Cooke who was a well-known curatein Fethard between 1955 and 1969.Father Thomas was born atKnockaney, Co. Limerick in 1921 andwas educated at St. Patrick's College,Thurles and later at the Irish Collegein Rome where he was ordained apriest in 1943, at a time when Europewas gripped in terrible war. At the endof that war he returned to Irelandwhere he spent until 1947 on loan tothe diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. Heserved as curate in New Inn from 1947to 1954 and in Kilbehenny from 1954to 1955. In 1969 he was appointed asparish priest of Clerihan and in 1977he transferred from there to being

parish priest of Cappamore, Co.Limerick. Another remembered priestwas Father Thomas Hand, OSA,whose death occurred in August atBallyhaunis, Co. Mayo. FatherThomas was long after his time inFethard recalled as a fine preacher. InJuly the death occurred in England ofMr Joe Leahy who in former timeslived on the Rocklow Road. Joe wasinvolved in the old Fethard RugbyClub of the 1930s and was popularlyknown as 'The Gunner'. He served asoccasional player and managed itsequipment. Who, someday, will giveus an account of old clubs and forgot-ten organisations? In September DenisShine of Monroe died. Without doubtthere are readers of this who will recallthat Denis was one of the founders ofFethard's dance-band, 'The TwilightSerenaders'. He was a talented musi-cian who specialised on the banjo and

Pat O’Shea, born in 1888, was Fethard’s oldest citizen in 1980. Pat is photographed above with his wifeKathleen (Farrell) whom he married in 1924. They had four daughters Joanna, Mary, Nellie and Peggy.

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mandolin. The band is deserving ofsome account of its days and perhapsa photo or two. A connection with oldFethard passed away when MinnieMaher of Coolbawn died. She was thelast of those who worked at GroveHouse with the legendary RichardBurke. Minnie, who was a cook there,was buried in Moyglass cemetery. On2 November Dr. Patrick O'Donnell,the former Archbishop of Brisbane,died and was buried in his cathedralof St. Stephen in downtown Brisbane.He was a little short of his eighty-thirdbirthday being born in Fethard on 2February 1897. He was the youngestof sixteen children of ThomasO'Donnell, draper, Main Street (nowO'Sullivan's Pharmacy) and JohannaSheehan, The Quarry, Thurles. Dr.Patrick never forgot the town where hewas born and the school, long sincerazed, where he received his early edu-cation. Perhaps it's a good time torecall that Dr. O'Donnell was not theonly native son to be ordained anArchbishop. The parish was the birth-

place of three Archbishops of Cashel,James Butler, Thomas Bray and PatrickEverard, and Archbishop John J.Cantwell of Los Angeles was bornhere.

And the year, as always, ends withChristmas and the Christmas holiday.In 1980 midnight Masses were stillbeing celebrated and had large atten-dances in both the Abbey and theparish church. The Abbey had its cribin its lovely medieval setting. On theSaturday night before Christmas Daya group of adult carol singers touredthe town bringing joy and entertain-ment to all and sundry; what moneythey collected went to the local St.Vincent de Paul society. And on St.Stephen's Day it was noticed thatthere had been a great increase in thenumber of wren boys and the qualityof the performance given by some ofthe senior groups was very good. Andfor many the year of 1980 came to anend in Fethard with song and goodcheer. �

— Michael O’Donnell

Large group of children at the Killusty Field Day held in 1980

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'Tavern in The Town' rehearsal in Country Club Ballroom 1980. Front: Marian Gilpin, Ned Maher, BillyKenny, Mattie Bradshaw, Paddy Kenrick, Michael McCarthy, Jimmy O'Shea & Brendan Kenny. Middle: Ann

Woodlock, Kathleen Bradshaw, Eddie Sheehan, Catherine Newport, Gemma Kenny, Angela Dillon, RitaO'Connor, Geraldine McCarthy. Back: Frances Morrissey and Mary Morrissey.

'Tavern in The Town' rehearsal in Country Club Ballroom 1980. L to R: Ned Maher, Jackie White, Sean Hanrahan, Eddie Sheehan and Jimmy O'Shea.

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Fethard Community Sportsfield

Fethard Community Sportsfield isgoing from strength to strength.

There is a huge demand on the pitch,which is being used each evening ofthe week and all weekends.

Groups using the facility are:Fethard Athletic Club, Fethard andDistrict Rugby Club, Juvenile GAAClub, Badgers Soccer Club andCommunity Games. It has also beenused for coaching courses. To datefloodlighting has been erected on thepitch and the Athletic Club have theirown sprint, throwing and long jumparea. Demand has grown so much thatthe group have been given the use ofthe adjacent area by Mr John Halley,MRCVS, who has a magnificentequine surgery next door. Plans arecurrently being made to erect a club-house, which will include changingrooms, showers, meeting room andgym. Capital grant aid will be appliedfor in respect for funding and hopeful-

ly the application will be successful. Earlier this year Jimmy O’Sullivan

and Paul Kavanagh mooted the idea ofa major draw to secure funding fordeveloping the club. A finance com-mittee was formed consisting of mem-bers of the field committee, and repre-sentatives of clubs using the facility.This draw was a great success and thecommittee would like to express theirsincere thanks to the people of Fethardand Killusty and indeed neighbouringareas who put their heart into this ven-ture. Proceeds from the draw were inthe region of €78,000. There was€20,000 in prize money won by thefollowing: First prize €10,000 toFrances Harrington, Railstown; 2ndprize €5,000 to Michael Hayes,Coolmore; Third Prize €2,500 toAnthony Hayes Burke Street. Fiveprizes of €500 each went to MichaelConway St. Patricks Place; DavidTierney, Ballydoyle; Fethard Branch of

Committee members organising ticket sales for the community field clubhouse draw. L to R: Paul Kavanagh,Valerie Colville, Mary Kelly, Gerard Manton, Pat O'Donnell, Niall O'Connell, Sean Devaney and JimmyO'Sullivan. Also on the committee were: John Hurley, Joe Burke, Colm McGrath, Fintan Rice, Jerome Casey,

Peggy Colville and Suzanna Manton.

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IFA, c/o David Tierney Bannixtown;Ellen Morrissey, Barrack Street; andLucy, Sally, Harry and Katie Butler,Kilknockin.

The field was also sanctioned thesum of €40,000 from South TipperaryCounty Council Amenities Grant inrespect of the development.

There is a lot of work to be done butthere is wonderful community spirit

here and we hope to have a lot ofprogress made by this time next year.Thanks to everybody who spent a lotof time selling tickets, those who pur-chased tickets, especially to JimmyO’Sullivan, Paul Kavanagh, SeanDevaney, and everybody else whohelped in any way.

Wishing everybody a holy andHappy Christmas. �

Members of the Fethard Community Sportsfield draw committee photographed at the open draw for €20,000.L to R: Valerie Colville, Fintan Rice, Jerome Casey, Suzanna Manton, Sean Devaney and Peggy Colville.

Fethard & District Rugby Club

The annual general meeting ofFethard Rugby Club was held

on Tuesday 22nd May 2007 in theTirry Community Centre. The club isnow a limited company and thisaffords protection to all involved inthe promotion and playing of rugby inthe area. The outgoing officers, MrJimmy O’Sullivan, President; Mr PaulKavanagh, Chairman; Ms PollyMurphy, Secretary; Ms ValerieColville Connolly, Treasurer; Ms MaryKelly, Youth Officer; Mr Liam Hayes

PRO were returned unopposed.The chairman thanked all those

involved, the players, the parents andparticularly the coaches for theirunselfish service throughout the year,sacrificing 2–3 nights weekly plus agame or two every weekend. He alsothanked the secretary for her tirelesscommitment to the club throughoutthe year. Paul also paid tribute toValerie for the professional manner inwhich she organised the finances ofthe club.

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The secretary in her comprehensivereport paid tribute to all the parentsfor their support, particularly for pro-viding the transport to all the matches,and for their great support in organis-ing the end of season barbecue. Shealso thanked the Community FieldCommittee for their support and helpthroughout the season and Mr JohnHally for allowing the club use of hisfield during the season.

The treasurer’s report showed thatthe club cost € 18,000 to run last yearbut due to the successful fundraisersand parents taking the responsibilityof organising the transport we areshowing a credit balance of €7,500 butin a ‘Scrooge’ like fashion she warnedthat this was needed to upgrade thelighting and install temporary show-ers. Mr Jerome Casey on behalf of thefield committee stated that plans werebeing advanced to make a planningapplication and an application for

Sports Lottery funding, but that it willprobably be late 2008 before buildingcommences.

The meeting also decided that theprotocol for the allocation of interna-tional / inter-provincial tickets will beas follows: (a) the coaches in recogni-tion of their unselfish work will havefirst call on the tickets; (b) the remain-der will be allocated on a rotationalbasis to paid-up adult members by theChairman and Treasurer; (c) a list ofall those who receive tickets will becirculated to members prior to theAGM each year.

First Munster CupSunday 22 April 2007 — Oh what a

day, when Fethard Juvenile RugbyClub won their first Munster title inCarrick. Our under 14-team, cap-tained by Daniel Hickey, produced ascintillating display to bring home theunder-14 East Munster Cup.

Fethard Rugby Club’s under-14 team who won the under-14 East Munster Cup beating Kilfeacle in the finalplayed at Carrick on Sunday 22nd April. Back L to R: Paul Ronan (coach), Jack Brett, William Croke, AaronConran, Colm Shanahan, Thomas Nolan, Alan Casey, Robert Hall, Daniel Hickey (captain), Ciarán Power,

Michael John Murphy, Timmy O'Donovan, Declan Fanning, Craig Dorney, Frankie O'Donovan, PaulKavanagh (coach). Front L to R: Conor McGuire, Shane Power, Ciarán Hayes, Stephen McGuire, Danny

Gerard, Conor Kavanagh, Joe Morgan, Colin Meagher, Kevin Hall and Stephen Tierney.

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Our gallant band of young menstarted nervously and gave an easyball to Kilfeacle who punished themwith a well taken penalty in the firsthalf to leave the score at 3 points to nilin favour of Kilfeacle at half time. Allthe parents, mentors and supporterswere on tenterhooks, as stout Kilfeacledefence had kept our team scorelessfor the first half, despite having thebulk of the possession and playing thebest rugby.

The half-time talk from the coacheswas direct and inspirational, withyoung Paul Ronan giving one of themost concise and motivational halftime talks ever heard. The captainbrought them into a huddle and theplayers prepared themselves for thebattle of the second half and again lis-tening to them as they roared out,“Fethard, Fethard, Fethard”, one couldnot but feel that something special wasgoing to follow.

From the start of the second halfwhen Kieran Power claimed the kickoff and took route one, to gain fiftyyards with all the forwards in support,Fethard showed its intent. DanielHickey, who produced another bestpersonal performance, began to playthe corners and with Colm Shanahanplayed the best rugby of his career. Heconspired with Michael John Murphyand Robert Hall to win a line out onKilfeacle’s 25 and with a quick ballfrom Conor Kavanagh, who againexcelled at scrum half, released KieranPower for the first and only try of thegame. Daniel’s conversion attemptwent wide off the post.

The Fethard team were now firingon all cylinders and the attacking runsfrom the backs was amazing to see.Thomas Nolan, Ciarán Power andAaron Conran broke the defensiveline so many times it lifted the entireteam. The Kilfeacle side resorted tokicking out of defence, but our youngfull back Joe Morgan handled every-thing they threw at him with the matu-rity of a professional.

The forwards at this stage weredominating the bigger Kilfeacle packand Robert Hall and Michael JohnMurphy were now winning all the lineouts and any one they missed,‘Bomber’ Shanahan contrived to win itback for Fethard. This pressure fromFethard yielded a penalty whichDaniel Hickey converted to leave thescore at eight points to three.

From the kick off Kilfeacle attackedwith purpose which was very welldefended by Fethard, but at a cost, asevery parent present groaned withanxiety, as two of our stars, ThomasNolan and young FrankieO’Donovan, lay prostrate on the field.Thank God both young men were finewith Thomas continuing and almostbreaking way for a try on the restart,gaining all of 50 yards. Frankie, havingplayed very well, had to retire with anegg size bump on his forehead, butwithin minutes, this brave young manwas cheering on his team mates as heheld an ice-pack to his bump.Frankie’s spirit epitomizes the spirit,purpose, commitment and dedicationshown by these young men all season.

The victorious team were paraded

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through Fethard and arrived back at theCommunity Field at 3.30pm for the endof season barbecue, where our clubpresident Jimmy O’Sullivan welcomedthem back and their coach and our clubchairman, Paul Kavanagh, thankedthem for their sportsmanship and thesense of pride he felt for their success.

God smiled on us as the threatenedrain never came and with the music

blaring out from our DJ Jack Kenny,the games played were great craic andthe food tasted so sweet, with loadsfor everyone. A big thanks to all theparents who donated so much food;to Conor Murray for sponsoring thebeautiful burgers; and to all the cookson the day led by super chef GerManton and that turned head grillchef, Tony Fitzgerald. �

Jack Kenny and Mark Sullivan providing the disco for the Fethard Rugby Club 'End of Season Party'.

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Fethard Rugby Club 'End of Season Party'

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The Life and Times of Canon Patten

The only one of my grandparentsthat I never met is the one who

is best remembered by all those withwhom he came into contact. He wasCanon Cecil Patten, Church of Irelandrector of Fethard from 1904 to 1942.He served almost his entire ministry inthe town, dying in office. He loved hisrectory, with its wonderful view over-looking Slievenamon, he loved HolyTrinity Church and he loved the peo-ple and town of Fethard. Long gone, itseems, are the days when the clergytook on a job for life, without thoughtof promotion. That my grandfather’sservice in Fethard is still remembered,65 years after his death, and over 100years since it began, was broughthome vividly to my wife and me whenwe called by in July of this year (2007).We drove up the Rectory (The GlebeHouse) drive, wanting to take a photo

of my mother’s childhood home andwere met by the new owners, Larryand Rosena Kenny. We were given areal Irish welcome and stayed thenight. I promised that one day I woulddig into the Patten family archives(actually two cardboard boxes) andwrite a few lines about my grandfa-ther, hence this piece. Larry took us fora quick tour of Fethard the followingmorning and we met people who stillhave clear and happy memories ofCanon Patten, not least Hannie Leahy,who had worked for him all thoseyears ago.

Richard Cecil Patten (RCP) was bornin Dublin in 1872, one of five childrenborn to William Patten and Agnes(née Kirkwood). I have found out a lit-tle about his forbears. If you happenupon that marvellous book,‘Woodbrook’ by David Thomson, you

Canon Patten's grandson, Richard Welch, and his wife Janet, photographed in Fethard on 27th July 2007

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will learn a lot about the Kirkwoods ofConnacht, from which stock Agnescame. Mention is made in the book ofRCP’s great-grandfather, WilliamKirkwood, who, in the rebellion of1798, took up arms against GeneralHumbert and his French force duringthat brief invasion. The invaders hadearly success and were joined bymany downtrod-den and hungryIrish peasants.William was cap-tured and putunder housearrest but escapedin order to findhis wife, who hadfled in terror.Having brokenthe terms of his‘bail’ he was awanted man. Inthe end, the intervention of the bishopsaved his skin.

There is some interesting history onthe Patten side too. In 1791, RCP’scousin, Jane Patten, had marriedThomas Addis Emmet, a foundingmember of the United Irishmen. Forhis part in that same rebellion of 1798he was exiled to Scotland and eventu-ally left for America where he becameAttorney General for New York. SoRCP had family ties on both sides in aconflict. Of course, there is nothingnew here; in any study of history coin-cidences of this sort abound. And JanePatten’s brother-in-law was none otherthan the renowned Robert Emmet,hanged and beheaded in September

1803 for High Treason following theabortive uprising of that year. It wasRobert’s speech from the dock, hisdeath sentence having been pro-nounced, that is said to have inspiredChurchill’s wartime masterpiece – “Weshall fight them on the beaches . . . Weshall never surrender!” Robert Emmetwas telling the court that he would

never have sup-ported the Frenchas invaders, onlyas saviours – “[ifthey come asinvaders youshould] meetthem on thebeach with asword in onehand . . . immo-late them in theirboats . . . disputeevery inch of

ground . . . raze every house . . . burnevery blade of grass . . .” It is stirringstuff indeed.

Canon Patten had another worthykinsman in one James Patten, his great,great uncle. As Surgeon James Pattenhe saved the life of Captain Cook onthe second of his three round-the-world voyages. In early 1774 Cookwas stricken with a life-threateningintestinal complaint. At first heignored it but eventually was so ill heallowed James to ministrate. Stomachplasters and hot baths were employedto good effect and a nourishing soupmade from dog-meat aided convales-cence. Cook later acknowledged thatJames’ round-the-clock efforts had

Cecil and Ida Patten

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undoubtedly saved his life. Whatwould the map of the world look liketoday if Cook had perished then?

Cecil Patten had graduated fromTrinity College Dublin when he wasordained deacon in 1898. A year laterhe was priested and after a curacy wasbriefly incumbent at Mogorban,whence he was poached by Fethard.When he was offered the job he wroteto the bishop twice on the matter,wondering whether it was right tomove after so short a time atMogorban. I have letters from hisfriends encouraging him to take thejob. “It is a very nice parish indeed. Ifever a man was called to fill a place,you can surely consider you havebeen. You have not sought them, theyhave sought you,” wrote one friend.His predecessor, The Rev. Basil Chastelde Boinville (now there’s a fine sur-name) wrote, “My very dear friend, Ineed hardly say how much I would

like to know that my dear old churchwas in your charge and that ourhappy house was being occupied byour good friend.” I suspect the depart-ing rector had told his churchwardensto snap up his friend Cecil if they pos-sibly could.

Little is known of Canon Patten’searly life. He was brought up in theDublin area and money was alwaystight. His father, William, is believed tohave committed suicide whilst hismother, Agnes, was a restless anddemanding woman. I am told she con-tinued in this vein until her death in1914, making life difficult for herdaughters-in-law and scaring the witsout of her grandchildren.

The Reverend Cecil Patten wasdetermined that his own family lifewould be happier. He was married,amidst much celebration, in St. Mary’schurch, Clonmel in April 1906 to IdaFitzgerald Grimley (1877-1966) from

Rectory House in the 1920s

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Queensland, Australia, whose motherwas a Phelan, originally fromClonmel. Presents were sent from allcorners of the globe and, as was thecustom at the time, a full list was givenin the Clonmel Chronicle. Woe betideany skinflints who gave less than thegoing rate for their station in society!Most presents were items of silver.Fethard Hockey Club gave a silversalver for instance, but his sister Daisy,in Canada sent a bearskin rug. It isastonishing to think that, with the timeinvolved in long-distance travel inthose days, after Daisy left Ireland in1900, I believe they met only oncemore in their lives, when she came toEurope in the 1930’s.

To mark the centenary of the wed-ding, Cecil and Ida’s descendantsarranged a party in April 2006 that

was attended by 20 direct descendantsand their families, a grand party ofalmost 50.

In the early days, in spite of thesplendid list of wedding presents,there was little money to go round. Atthat time it was pot luck as to whetheryour parish provided a good ‘living’.Fethard’s was, emphatically, not such aparish. Indeed as late as 1938 hisincome was only £335 per annum andone was supposed to run a largehouse with several staff on that. Notthat Canon Patten ever grumbledabout his lot. I can remember mymother ticking me off one day for say-ing that something was unfair. Shesaid how her father would never allowthat to be said in the house. He waswell aware that his family’s lot wasvastly better than that of so many of

Staff who worked in Canon Patten's Garden at the Rectory c1937. Back L to R.: Mattie Tynan, Bob Hally,Danny Mullins, Dick Allen, Tom Walsh, Jack Hally, Connie Fitzgerald. Front L.to R.: Mick Boughe, Pat

Butler, Paddy Daniel, Jimmy Hally, Christy Allen, Jim Halley (Senior) and Jimmy Slattery.

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those in the locality. For my mother,however, as a child, it must haveseemed a little harsh. She will havemixed with children from landedAnglo-Irish families who wanted fornothing. Financial hardships weresuch that, on at least two occasions thefamily moved out of the Rectory inorder to let it and later they took inpaying guests.

A year after the wedding my aunt,Ruth (Duthie) was born. In 1913 cameWilliam and in 1921, my motherPatience (Welch).

Life continued on a regular patternthrough the decades. But they weremomentous decades in Irish history.The civil war brought strife to thelocality with the murder of severalprotestants and the flight of manysuch families who were given an hourto clear out before their houses weretorched. On one occasion Holy Trinitychurch was taken over by the republi-

cans and my aunt recalled a servicewhere prayers were punctuated byshots being fired from the churchtower. During the same period a ladwith a gun stood threatening at therectory door. My grandmother, asomewhat fearsome, tall woman isreported who have said to the would-be attacker “Come on now, [Jimmy],put that gun down and step inside andhave a cup of tea.” The matter endedthere!

All through the troubles, andthroughout his ministry, there is nodoubt that Canon Patten was a manway ahead of his time in terms ofdeveloping and understandingbetween the different branches of theChristian faith. His ecumenical out-look was a beacon for the develop-ment of better relations between thecatholic and protestant communities.For many young people today it willbe hard to imagine what a great,

Canon Patten’s gardens in the 1920s

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almost intractable divide existedacross society in Ireland in thosetimes. His own brother in Belfast hadhad difficulties because he had mar-ried a catholic and life in a mixed mar-riage was proving fraught.

Canon Patten sought to improve hisfamily’s lot by growing as much foodfor the family as he could. Self-taught,he became an expert gardener, notonly in the kitchen garden but alsowhen it came to flowers. Before long itoccurred to him that he could developthis passion of his to the great benefitof the unemployed of Fethard and tohundreds of hungry families acrossIreland. He set up Patten’s Gardensand gradually built up a staff of 18full-time, permanent gardeners, withmore taken on in high season. Hetaught them gardening skills and sev-eral moved on to full time jobs in hor-

ticulture. Not only did he provide theopportunity for people to beautifytheir gardens with all sorts of beddingand other flowering plants, includingalpines, he also sold brassicas in their100s. An advert in 1921 states‘Quarter Million Cabbage plants forsale. Per 100 1s 6d, 1000 12s.6d.’These were wrapped in wet newspaperand sent by train all over Ireland. Hewas providing work at home and theopportunity to grow food for count-less thousands of families, many ofthem poor and hungry. Fethard stationwas not only kept busy with his bun-dles of plants, he saw to it that it was afloral masterpiece and regularly wonbest-kept station awards.

He didn’t stop at gardening. He wasinvolved in the whole of town life. Hehelped to lay out the first golf courseand played himself. Is that where my

Rectory staff on steps Back L to R: Kitty Owens, Margaret Browne. Phyllis O’Connell. Front L to R: Mary Clancy and Hannie Leahy

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sons get it from, I wonder? They allplay off low handicaps - I am prettyhopeless! He was highly involvedwith the setting up of the milk depot.It is hard to imagine it, but there was acrying need for a reliable supply ofgood, clean milk. The relief of thepoor was a priority throughout his lifeand his favourite charity was the St.Vincent de Paul Society. He neverturned away a beggar.

Amidst all these other activities hewas a much loved parish priest. Hewould visit the sick on a daily basis,travelling by his push-bike – he neverowned a car. His sermons werethoughtful and thought-provoking,and short! I have one, written for theSunday following the death ofGeneral Kellett in 1931. It is touching

and full of comfort for the bereaved.In spite of his innate humility hebecame a canon in 1923, rural dean in1927 and chancellor of CashelCathedral in 1935.

When Canon Patten himself diedthere was an enormous outpouring ofgrief from the whole town, irrespectiveof creed. My mother proudly told methat his coffin was carried by sixcatholics, large numbers of whomattended. On his gravestone is thesimple inscription ‘For God Loveth aCheerful Giver’. A fine and apt epi-taph. I wish I had known him. �

— by Richard Welch

[I am indebted to Kieran McGovern of Dublin for theinformation on Surgeon James Patten and for providing

the family link to the Emmet family.]

Pictured at the Harvest Festival held in Holy Trinity Church of Ireland, Fethard on 6th October 1991 are L to R:Kate Charmant, Richard Welch, Meg Owen, Ruth Duthie and Dr. Robert McCarthy.

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Fethard Flower Show and Fête — Thursday 31st July 1913

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Fethard Flower Show and Fête 1912Annual Report for 1912

The Show was held, by kind per-mission of Col. and Mrs Cooke,

at Kiltinane Castle, on Thursday, 1stAugust 1912.

In spite of the bad weather experi-enced up to the day before the Show,the entries showed a very gratifyingincrease, numbering upwards of 700,whereas there cannot have been morethan 200 at our first Show.

The attendance also showed amarked increase, as the gate moneyamounted to nearly £47, as against£23 the year before. It was estimatedthat over 3,000 persons were present.

For the £10 Sweet Pea Prize therewere 48 entries, representing themajority of the counties in Ireland.Unfortunately, owing to the havocwrought by the terrible weather of thepreceding days, only 23 exhibits wereactually staged. With anything likepropitious weather at our next Show,the Sweet Pea display should be evenbetter worth seeing.

The balance brought forward thisyear, we regret to say, is not as large asthe previous one, but we have now acomplete set of staging trestles,besides other equipment, which willeffect a saving in future Shows. Asagainst this, however, we shall have to

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face in the future a considerable outlayon tent hire. It is hoped, therefore, thatthe supporters of our Show will notrelax their generosity.

It is hoped to make efficient provi-sion this year for the protection offruit, cakes and sewing, so that thepublic will not be able to touch theexhibits.

The Sports which were organisedand carried to a successful conclusionby a special committee — the secretari-al duties of which were in the ener-getic and capable hands of Mr J.Moran — were a great attraction andsource of pleasure to the public. Therewere 80 entries for the different events,many of which resulted in exciting fin-ishes.

The entries for the DancingCompetitions were not as numerousas might be expected. Should there besufficient entries at next Show specialprizes will be given, open only tothose who have not previously wonprizes at public competitions.

It is felt that apology is due to thepublic for the somewhat crudearrangement of the Show, which wasdue to the fact that the preceding daywas the wettest day experienced formany years, necessitating the post-ponement of a great deal of the prepa-ration till the morning of the Show.

The Committee wish to expresstheir grateful thanks to Col. and Mrs.Cooke for the use of their picturesquegrounds, and they regret that more

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than usual damage must have beendone owing to the inclemency of theweather.

In conclusion, the Committee wishto sincerely thank the Judges for theirservices, and all the ladies and gentle-men who, by their help, contributedso greatly to the success of the Show.

The Committee have great pleasurein announcing that Mr Richard Burke,M.F.H., has most kindly granted theuse of his convenient and spaciousgrounds at Grove for next Show,which will be held on Thursday, 31stJuly 31.

Mr. and Mrs C. R. Barton, Marlfield.Mrs. Baker, Bank House, Fethard.Mr. Richard Broke, M.F.H.Rev. Father Burke, C.C., Lisronagh.Mr. Tobias Burke, Donoughmore,

Lisronagh.Mrs. Buggy, Fethard.Rev. Father Byrne. P.P., Clerihan.Mrs. Carroll and Mr. Clement J. Carroll,

Rocklow.Mr. P. Carroll, Thorney Bridge.Mrs. Church, Knockeevan.Colonel and Mrs. Cooke, Kiltinane

Castle.Rev. and Mrs. A. Cooke. Mogorban

Rectory.Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Croome, Annesfort.Mr. Edmond Cummins, Brookhill.Mr. Edward Cuthbert, Derryluskan.Mrs. M. Coffey, Abbey Ville.Mrs. P. Coffey, Fethard.Mr. Thomas Fennelly, Prospect Hill.Col. and Mrs. Hussey de Burgh,

Mobarnane.Dr. Heffernan, Killenaule.Mr. Heffernan, D'Arcy's Cross.Col. and Mrs. Heffernan, Barrettstown.Mr. and Mrs. J.C. Higgins, Ardsallagh.Mrs. Hughes, Annesgift.Mrs. Hughes, Ballyrichard, Drangan.Rev. Father Humphries, PP., Killenaule.Col. and Mrs. Kellett, of Clonacody.Mr. P. M. Lindsay, Garronkyle.Mr. and Mrs. G. Lysaght, Kilbury.

Miss Landers, Fethard.Mrs. Lonergan, Fethard.Mr. and Mrs. C. Morel, Tullamaine

Castle.The Misses Murphy, Coolmore.Mrs. R. McCarthy, Hotel, Fethard.Mrs. J.G. O'Brien, Lakefield.Rev. Father O'Brien, P.P., Drangan.Dr. and Mrs. O'Connell, Fethard.Mr. Richard O'Connell, Rathvin.Mr. Michael O'Donnell, Bannoxtown.Mr. Con O'Neill, Lisronagh House.Mr. Andrew O'Shea, Courthouse,

Clonmel.Mrs. Patten, Fethard.Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Pennefather, Rathcoole.Mr. Michael Purcell, Fortwilliam,

Lisronagh.Mr. M. Quirke, Drangan.Mr. Frank Quinlan, Coleman, Lisronagh.The Very Rev. Archdeacon Ryan, P.P.,

Fethard.Mr. Darby Scully, Silverfort.Mr. J. and Miss Shirley, Derryluskan

Cross.Mr. P. Stokes, Thorney Bridge.Mrs. Schofield, Fethard.Mrs. Tennant and the Misses Tennant,

Ballinard Castle.Mr. W. Toppin, Fethard.Mr. and Mrs. R.D. Triphook, The Lilacs.Mr. Michael Walsh, Newtown.Mr. R. M. O'Hanrahan, Fethard.

General Committee 1913

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It is earnestly hoped that all theMembers of the General Committeewill do all they can to interest the

Cottagers and Farmers living nearthem in the Show, and that they willtry and induce them to exhibit. �

Shopping in Fethard in 1913

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It was another busy year in KillustyNational School. Once again we

have had a year full of variety, helpingus to implement our vision for KillustyNational School, that each childwould be developed intellectually,socially, spiritually, physically andmorally. We had a coffee morning inSeptember in aid of the HospiceMovement. €330 was raised for thisworthy cause. During the first term,we had many extra-curricular activi-ties. We enjoyed Irish dancing andfootball matches, we attended dramat-ic productions of ‘Setanta’ and ‘Santaand his Magic Sleigh’. In Decemberwe had a Carol Service in the SacredHeart Church with many parents inattendance. Our Christmas Choir sangat both masses in Sacred HeartChurch, Killusty.

In January 2007, our swimmingcommenced. Children, from first to

sixth class, enjoyed these swimmingsessions for ten weeks. In January,also, Marie and Ann-Marie, membersof the staff of Clonmel Library, cameto visit our school. Everyone, pupilsand teachers alike, enjoyed a story-filled morning. Our visitors enjoyedthe visit so much that they invited usto visit them in Clonmel, which we didin March.

After Easter, in the third term, thejunior classes enjoyed ‘Cinderella’ inthe White Memorial Theatre. The sen-ior classes played three matches withCill Cais, Kilvemnon and Mohober ina sporting fashion. Our school wasthe venue this year for the annualSports Day. The pupils of CloneenNational School and KilvemnonNational School joined us andenjoyed a fabulous day filled withnon-competitive games. Once againour Management Board and parents

Killusty National School Frances Harrington (Principal)

Pupils working on the Heraldry Project at Killusty National School for Heritage Day Parade which took place in Fethard on 26th August

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did us proud. The refreshments sup-plied by them were second to none.Our visitors were very complimentaryabout the beautiful food supplied. Wehad very educational visits during thisterm by a fire-fighter from ClonmelFire Department and from GerryTobin from ENFO. We also had thebenefit of the expertise of local artistPat Looby. All the children, under herguidance, and with the fabulous helpof Lory Kenny, prepared their shieldsfor the Medieval Heraldic Parade,which took place in Fethard, duringNational Heritage Week in August.

We all travelled to WaterfordInstitute of Technology for our schooltrip, where we had a day filled withactivities, which ranged from BouncyCastles to Bungee Jumping. The chil-

dren enjoyed a wonderful day andonce again the coordinators in theinstitute were very impressed with ourwell-behaved and lovely manneredpupils. To finish the term we enjoyed‘Kool School’, an outdoor activity ses-sion, with Karen and Nikki. Our threejunior infants for September had theirfirst day in school June 19th. It was abusy year, academically and otherwise.

The highlight of the year was onceagain that beautiful summer Sundayin June, when our seven second classpupils made their First HolyCommunion. It was a very special dayin the lives of those children and asalways a very special day in the livesof the school community. OurSummer holidays commenced in June.Another year over. �

Shannon Hickey , Killusty National School, presenting a cheque for €250, the proceeds of a coffee morning, toSinaida Jansen, South Tipperary Hospice, on behalf of the people of Killusty. Also included with the pupils areMs Frances Harrington (Principal), Catriona Morrissey (Teacher), Tracy Wallace (Special Needs Assistant),

Ann Darcy (Office Staff) and Jim Bond (South Tipperary Hospice).

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Following a very busy year wetake this opportunity to wish Ms

Carmel Lonergan well on her travelsover the next year and best wishesalso go to Ms Aisling Ryan on hermarriage to Paul Fanning. We welcomeSarah O’Sullivan, Carmel Maher andMary Hickey to our staff.

We had a very full and satisfyingyear and came second in the FethardElectoral Area Tidy Schools'Competition. Thanks to Willie Ryanand Helena Delany for their hardwork. Success was experienced in thelocal Credit Union Quiz with theschool winning both the Junior and

St. Patrick’s Boys’ National School

Heraldry Project at St Patrick's Boys National School for Heritage Day Parade in Fethard on 26th August.

St. Patrick's Boys School pupils photographed with Irish rugby stars, Alan Quinlan and Ronan O'Gara, whopaid a surprise visit to our final rugby training session in June.

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Senior sections.The school was also awarded the

‘Discover Primary Science School ofExcellence Award’. This involved avisit to the Young Scientists' Exhibitionin the RDS, a guided tour of thewoodlands at Kilsheelan, a classroomvisit by Gerard Tobin of ENFOIreland, numerous school-based sci-ence experiments and projects includ-ing the building of bridges and boots.We would like to thank the parentswho attended and participated in ourScience Open Day. We were presentedwith this science award in theSpringhill Hotel in Kilkenny.

Willie Ryan and Eileen Fitzgeraldcontinued to train the boys in GAAskills and the under-13 hurling teamreached the quarter finals of the

County Cumann na mBunscol compe-tition and went on to win the ‘Lift andStrike’ competition. Mark Andrewstook rugby training every Thursdayafter school and our final training ses-sion was interrupted by the surprisevisit of none other than Ireland’srugby stars, Alan Quinlan and RonanO'Gara!

Our Parents' Association was veryactive and supportive during the yearand our thanks go to them on the fan-tastic success of their Race Nightwhich raised €10,000 to supplementschool funds and enabled us to buy anew set of jerseys for the school.

We wish last year's 6th class well intheir new schools as we look forwardto another challenging and fulfillingyear. Best wishes to all. �

Pupils pictured at the Discover Primary Science Awards in Kilkenny

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St. Patrick's Boys School Parents' Association and Board of Management with the proceeds of their Race Nightfundraiser for school renovations. L to R: Theresa Hurley. Mandy Quigley, Majella Hayden, Patricia Treacy,

Liza Ward, Fr. Tom Breen P.P., Fiona Lawrence, Suzanna Manton and Caroline Brastock.

Photographed at the Race Night in McCarthy's Hotel in aid of St. Patrick's Boys National School are L to R:Liza Ward, Áine Doocey, Fiona Lawrence, Patricia Treacy and Mandy Quigley.

Photographed at the Race Night in McCarthy's Hotel in aid of St. Patrick's Boys National School are L to R:John Delany, Percy Butler, Paddy Wallace, Fr. Tom Breen P.P. and Eddie Croke.

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Staff members at Nano NagleNational School for the current

year are: Sr. Maureen Power(Principal) 5th Class, Mrs MaureenMaher (Vice-Principal) 1st & 2ndClasses, Mrs Rita Kenny, 6th Class,Ms Denise Kelly, 3rd & 4th Classes, Sr.Winnie Kirwan, Senior Infants, MrsMargaret Gleeson, Junior Infants, MrsMary Hanrahan, Learning SupportTeacher, Mrs Aoife Moore, LearningSupport Teacher, Mrs Peg McGarry,Resource Teacher, Ms Lorraine deLacy, High Support Unit, Ms Ann-Marie Harty, Special Needs Assistant,Mrs Mary Morrissey, Special NeedsAssistant, Mrs Anne D’Arcy,Secretary and Mr Willie Ryan,Caretaker. We offer our warmest wel-come to our new teacher Ms DeniseKelly who replaces Ms Elaine Brady.Elaine made a wonderful contributionto our staff team during her tenure atNano Nagle. She has left us for for-eign shores and we all wish her the

very best on her travels. We wouldlike to take this opportunity to extendour congratulations to Mrs AoifeMoore, née Gleeson on the wonderfuloccasion of her marriage in June ofthis year.

Our Parents’ Association is involvedin various events throughout the year:the annual cake sale in October, tablequiz, the sponsored walk and our ever-popular Fun Sports Day in June. Theirannual table quiz took place in TheWell, Burke Street on Thursday 15thNovember. We thank the associationand very much appreciate all theirefforts on our behalf. The generoussupport of our parents is a major fac-tor in the success of all our undertak-ings and so we would like to take thisopportunity to thank them for theircontinued support and co-operation.

The revised curriculum has nowbeen fully implemented and will beenhanced this year through schooldevelopment planning days.

Nano Nagle National School

Heraldry Project at Nano Nagle National School for Heritage Day Parade in Fethard on 26th August.

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Confirmation will take place in HolyTrinity Parish church in 2008 and wethink of our 5th and 6th classes asthey prepare for this sacrament.Sixteen 2nd Class pupils will maketheir First Holy Communion in May2008.

Our pupils are going swimmingagain this year and athletics has alsofigured prominently during the firstterm with our pupils competing inThurles. Ceilí dancing will resumenext term. Mark Edwards, I.R.F.U.introduced our pupils to Tag Rugbyand the girls really enjoyed their forayinto this new sport. Our thanks to thelocal rugby club for facilitating Mark’svisit.

Throughout the school year thechildren participate in a number oflocal and national art, photographicand writing competitions and we arepleased to report that they have had

considerable success in their endeav-ours. The older pupils have made anumber of visits to Clonmel Library,and the County Museum and we alsohave the facility of the travellinglibrary coming to our school. Localhistory also figures strongly on ourcurriculum with tours of the TownWall supplemented by visits to theFethard Folk Museum, both Churchesof the Holy Trinity and, of course, theAugustinian Abbey.

Promoting environmental aware-ness also continues with ongoingrecycling of cans, mobile phones andcomputer ink cartridges, the promo-tion of a litter-free environment andthe ‘planting-up’ of the courtyard. Thegrove of trees planted just below theplayground has matured and is now agreat resource for the school as it con-tains a wide variety of trees, with aspecial emphasis on the native species.

Pupils from Nano Nagle National School photographed on their outing to Cahir Farmers' Market as part oftheir prizewinning ‘Live Simply that others may Simply Live’ school project.

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Mr. Liam Burke, naturalist, has takenall the classes in turn on “nature”walks around the school and teachersand pupils alike have enjoyed theexperience. Liam has also taken thesenior classes further a field toGlengarrra Woods during the monthof October. The sun came out for usand a fantastic day was enjoyed by all.

Our Christmas Show took place on13th, 15th & 17th December 2006 inthe Abymill Theatre. This was one ofthe most enjoyable of our school ven-

tures. ‘Christmas Eve in the Toy Shop’was ably performed by Junior Infants.‘Born In Bethlehem’ featured beautifulsinging from Senior Infants and ‘TheNight before Christmas’ performed by1st & 2nd Classes, was a highly enter-taining musical based on the poem ofthe same name. The Senior Classesexcelled in ‘The Snow Queen’ a chill-ing tale of Gerda’s journey to rescueher foster brother from the wickedSnow Queen.

Our sixth class took part in

Junior Infants Class at Nano Nagle National School. Back L to R: Cathal O'Mahoney (Tullamaine), RyanWalsh (Kilnockin), Ethan Coen (Knockelly Road), Jennifer Phelan (Jossestown), Ciarán Moroney (Tullamaine),

Matthew Burke (Sladagh Cross), Mrs Margaret Gleeson (teacher). Third Row L to R: Richard Robinson(Watergate), Josh Nevin (Killerk), Annica O'Connor (Northgate House), Jamie Webster (Barrack Street), KaylinO'Donnell (Kilconnell), Rachel O'Loughnan (Grawn). Second Row L to R: Eve McArthur (Coolmoyne), DavidCowlard (St. Patrick's Place), Shane Neville (Kilnockin), Kiefer Burke (Woodvale Walk), Ryan Butler (WoodvaleWalk), Alison Conway (Tullamaine), Patrick Shine (Killusty). Front L to R: Molly Curran (Kilnockin View),

Miceál Quinlan (Tullamaine), Oleg Novikova (Lakefield), Haley Kane (Abbey Court), Michael Conway(Kilnockin View) and Nell Spillane (Tullamaine). Missing is Michael O’Reilly (Barrack Street).

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Challenge to Change, an excitinglearning opportunity developed by thePresentation Sisters. Their project enti-tled ‘Live Simply that others maySimply Live’ raised their awareness ofa range of issues: slavery, war and con-flict, the use of the world’s resourcesand our responsibility as stewards ofthe Earth. Our students visited TraasFarm and country markets in Fethardand Cahir where they received a warmwelcome from all involved. They pre-sented their project on completion inKilkenny and were wonderful ambas-sadors for the school. They will bemissed and we wish them every suc-cess at second-level.

Our school tours took place asusual in June with the Junior andSenior Infants going to a puppet showin Clonmel followed by a picnic in

Mulcahy Park while the rest of thepupils enjoyed an Outdoor ActivityDay in Roscrea College. Our 3rd and4th classes also travelled to Kilkennywhere they visited Kilkenny Castle

A great time was had by all!As we write this article for the

newsletter our pupils are once againtaking part in ‘Operation ChristmasChild’. Each child fills a shoebox withitems suitable for either a boy or a girl(toys, educational supplies, toiletries,sweets, small items of clothing). Theseshoeboxes will be sent to children inArmenia, Belarus, Croatia, Lesotho,Mozambique, Nepal, Romania,Swaziland or Ukraine. It is a wonder-ful opportunity for us to reflect onhow very fortunate we are here inIreland and, in some small way, toshare some of that good fortune with

Fifth and Sixth Class Pupils from Nano Nagle National School photographed on their outing to Fethard FolkMuseum. The pupils were delighted with the variety of interesting items on display from dolls to hearses and in

particular the guided tour by Margaret Mullins.

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children in need overseas. Each yearour pupils, and by default their par-ents, amaze us with their generosityand the children’s joy in giving servesto remind us all of the true meaning ofChristmas.

As we prepare for Christmas 2007,we send seasonal greetings to all whoread this newsletter, especially thosewho may find themselves far fromhome; Beannacht Dé Oraibh agusNollaig Shona Dhíbh go léir. �

Happy Children in Nano Nagle School, Fethard, supporting Operation Christmas Child, bringing Christmas joy to many less fortunate children around the world.

This year’s Sixth Class at Nano Nagle National School. Back L to R: Svetlana Novikova, Emma Walsh, TaraHoran, Jade Pattison, Emma Hayes, Emma Morrissey, Leah O'Donnell, Christina Myler. Front L to R:

Danielle Sheehan, Karen Hayes, Shannon Garrett, Robyn Tobin, Aobh O'Shea and Áine Phelan.

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Killerk Land Division

The popular ditty of the timecould be used to sum up the

feeling of the people of Redcity,Market Hill, and Killerk during thelate 1950s. What had whetted theirappetites and stirred their emotions toa fever pitch previously reserved forperhaps the Tipp Hurling team in anAll-Ireland or indeed the Fethard‘Blues’ in a South Final? To understandfully, we should go back to the begin-ning.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Dickens could well have been writ-ing about the 50s in Ireland. It wouldbe hard for those reared on the CelticTiger to appreciate the conditionswhich generally prevailed at that time.Almost all economic activity was agri-culture based, therefore land wasimportant. Land provided all thenecessities of life; vegetables could begrown, cows could be grazed and pro-vide milk, butter and an offspring eachyear. The latter could be raised andsold for cash, which could then beused to buy tea, sugar and flour. Pigsand hens could be raised to providemeat and eggs. The land supplied allthe needs. It was indeed everything.

Rural Electrification, which hadbegun over 20 years previously, hadnot yet reached us. Consequently, themodern conveniences such as TV,

radio (the odd house had battery set),washing machine, dryer etc were miss-ing. Cooking was achieved by solidfuel cooker or open fire. Lighting wasby oil lamp and candle. No one in ourarea had central heating facilities, orindeed a phone. A visit to the CapitolCinema, Fethard, once a week wasconsidered a real treat. Fifty thousandof our young people left each year, noton holidays to Spain or the Canariesas at present, but to ply their wares inplaces such as Kilburn or on the‘Streets of Baltimore’. The ‘craic’ mayhave been ‘good in Crickelwood’ butthe concrete jungle can be a cold for-bidding substitute for the green hillsof home. It may as well have been the19th century.

But were people unhappy with theirlot, not a bit of it, the people aroundme growing up never seemed to be ina hurry, never seemed to be depressed,and were always ready to help outwhen called upon. Despite the eco-nomic gloom they were content inRedcity, Market Hill and Killerk in1955, even though Tipp had not comeout of Munster since ‘51, but wonderof wonders, a Tipp minor footballteam (which contained 5 locals) wasbeating all before it, even Kerry (pow-ered by a young midfielder calledMick O’Connell) in a replayedMunster Final.

Into this calm and contented setting,

Give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above, Don’t fence me in.Let me ride through the wide-open country that I love, Don’t fence me in.

by Tom Burke

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an event occurred on June 29th 1955which would set in train events des-tined to disturb the peace and tran-quility for many years to come.

The Killerk road forks away fromthe Cahir Road outside our house,and climbs steeply the 400ft to the topof Killerk Hill, from where it drops justas suddenly to the valley on the southside. Dairy farmingwas the thriving indus-try in this valley, andits importance hadlong been recognizedby the establishment ofthe Killerk Branch ofthe Coolmoyne &Fethard CooperativeCreameries Ltd. TheSlatterys farmed 272acres of good land inKillerk North, just astone’s throw from theKillerk Creamery.When Patrick died in1952, the land thenpassed to the only surviving memberof the family, Mary, who had nevermarried. Mary’s house was off theKillerk road at the bottom, accessedby an old boreen. Now living alone,she decided to move closer to theKillerk road and built a modern bun-galow, which could be furtherenhanced by the imminent arrival ofelectricity to the area. Contracts wereawarded to local builder, MichaelBarrett, of Market Hill, which was awise choice, as Michael’s diligence andattention to detail was legendary.Work commenced in 1954 and by June

of the following year, the structure wascomplete and ready for occupation.But Mary was to never enjoy themodern facilities which the shortmove from the ancestral homesteadwould have allowed, for on June 29th,in the 65th year of her life, she sud-denly passed to her eternal reward.

With no ‘close’ relatives, there wasimmediate agitationlocally for the lands tobe ‘compulsorily pur-chased’ by the LandCommission, anddivided among thelocals, all of whomimagined themselvesto be more deservingof extra acres than thenext. There was a mul-tiplicity of meetings:small meetings, largemeetings, ad hoc meet-ings, clandestine meet-ings, and meetingswith public representa-

tives. Irrespective of this feverish activ-ity, the law took its course, and theproperty was taken over by one MrsMary A. Bradshaw, administratrix ofthe Slattery Estate. But this onlystirred the local agitation to even high-er level, as it was feared that the prop-erty might now be disposed of beforethe Land Commission could beinduced to move.

“The Powers and Functions underwhich the Land Commission acquiredlands were provided for in the variousLand Acts. The Land Commission

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were allotted extensive powers tocompulsorily acquire land and divideit locally for the relief of congestion. Italso bought land voluntarily wherethe owner was prepared to sell. Inaddition, it migrated farmers fromcongested areas and provided themwith new equipped farms. It under-took schemes of rearrangement with aview to consolidating scattered andfragmented holdings into compactviable units.

The Land Commission did not havea Mission Statement as it was dis-solved in 1999 by the commencementof the Irish Land Commission(Dissolution ) Act, 1992. In its latteryears, the basic aim of the LandCommission was to create the largestnumber possible of viable economicsmall holdings.

(Definition of the aims and objec-tives of the Land Commission as stat-ed in correspondence from Dept ofAgriculture & Food . . . dated 16/10/07)

All Government Departments moveslowly, and this situation would be nodifferent, for many legal aspects hadto be examined and the patience of thelocals was tested to the extreme, forover 18 months in fact. Finally, theywere to be rewarded when, on 12thFebruary 1957, the Land Commission,having completed all of their prelimi-nary investigations, and pursuant tothe Land Acts 1923-1954, vested in thesaid Commission the untenantedlands of Killerk North in the Barony ofMiddle Third, with an acreage of 272acres, 4 roods and 23 perches. The

sum of £8,500 was lodged “To theReps. Mary Slattery, deceased, perEdgar J. Ryan, Esq, Solicitor,Killenaule, Co. Tipperary, who appearto the Land Commission to be theOwners of the said Lands, and to allother persons, if any, interested in thesaid lands.” (Record No. S 21031- IrishLand Commission)

The locals had stood united and hadwon out. Division of the land couldnow proceed. Whilst the events of theprevious 18 months had forged theminto a strong, cohesive unit, it wouldnot take long to fragment that unityand drive wedges between them,which were in some cases taken totheir deathbeds.

Looking back over the years to thatperiod, one could feel great sympathyfor those in the Land Commissioncharged with the responsibility ofpreparing a Division Plan. Neither thewisdom of Solomon, nor the patienceof Job, would have been sufficient tosatisfy the myriad of demands whichwere presented.

The problems were as follows:• Some would not concede small

portions of their lands at oneside to gain double and treblethat amount in Killerk, whichbounded them on the other.They had sentimental attach-ment to their own land, handeddown through generations, andwho could blame them.

• Some would not accept certainareas of Killerk Land under anycircumstances.

• Some would not move from

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their own homes to occupy thenew Bungalow.

• Some would not even meetwith the Commissioners towork on the possibilities. Thedilemma being presented wastoo disturbing for them.

Difficulties were also added by thecriteria laid down by the LandCommission for those qualifying forland in Killerk, or indeed anywhereelse where ‘Divided Land’ was beingallocated — ‘One had to own someland already’. This disqualified at leasttwo of our neighbours, who, whilstowning no land, had actually rentedpart of the Slattery Estate in Killerk formany years, and were very successfuldairy farmers.

The situation during those yearswas not without its humour. When the‘Commissioners’ were doing theirrounds in the preparatory phase of

their deliberations, the appearance (orindeed a rumour) of a ‘suited’ individ-ual or individuals in the area was suffi-cient to cause havoc. There was oneoccasion when a well-dressed mantoured about, visiting houses inRedcity and Market Hill, and waswined and dined everywhere hetouched. It transpired that the saidindividual was none other than asalesman for Kosangas Cookers,which would of course been very pop-ular in an area that had not yetsecured the services of the ESB. Therewas at least one local who signed upfor the cooker, fully convinced that itwas being sold to him by a‘Commissioner’ who was double-job-bing. At least he was the only onehonest enough to admit it.

Then there was the poemA local family, who specialised in

composing a verse or two to com-

Killerk Land Dispute public meeting in 1955

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memorate any noteworthy event, be ita county championship victory forFethard, or a Grand National win forVincent O’Brien, were not foundwanting on this occasion. A ‘SatiricalSonnet’ appeared, under‘Anonymous’ of course, which pokedfun at some of the locals who wereactively pursuing extra acreage inKillerk.

I remember well when my fatherwas advised of his inclusion in thepoem, and he was not at all pleased.

“Dinny will plough, and Dinny will sow,and Dinny will live in a new Bungalow.”

That seemed innocent enough to usbut to him it exposed publicly that hishat was in the ring, not alone for landin Killerk, but indeed as a contenderfor the new Bungalow. His good friendand neighbour (a quiet, retiring manwho shall remain nameless), could notresist giving him an almighty ‘ribbing’

at every opportunity. Who couldblame him. My offer to ‘compose’ afew lines on the neighbours candidacywas eagerly accepted, and when I pro-duced the following my father wasestatic . . .

“ --- ------ is a very quiet man,But he is trying to acquire new possessions

as fast as he can.”

Now that our neighbour believedthat he was also included in the poem,it lost a good deal of its earlier attrac-tion for him. He was even heard to saythat those people composing poetryabout something which was none oftheir business should be careful lestsomeone who had been offended (pre-sumably himself) might seek redressby exercising the full rigours of thelaw.

Whether due to the intransigence ofsome of the locals, or perhaps politicstaking precedence over policy, the final

Killerk Land Dispute public meeting in 1955

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‘Division Plan’ implemented wasstrange to say the least and certainlygave impetus to those who arguedthat no strategic plan was involved inthe allocation of the divided land. TheDivision Plan, when implemented in1958, could be quantified as follows:

• Two farms, both of approx 60acres (one complete with newBungalow) were created andassigned to applicants from 20miles away. These applicantsgave up holdings in their‘home’ area.

• Two locals, married, of advanc-ing years and with no children,were awarded 26 acres and 18acres respectively, to make theirexisting holdings more viable.This latter land (18 acres) wassold after short time as theowner scaled down due toadvancing years.

• One local man, with four youngsons, was awarded 7 acres, tobring his holding to a total of 13acres.

• Another local man, with fouryoung sons, was awarded 12acres, to bring his holding to atotal of 20 acres.

• A small plot of 1 rood and 10perches was allocated to theCoolmoyne & Fethard Co-Opat Killerk Creamery.

• The remaining 90 acres approxwas awarded to a local man,who gave up his existing landon all sides to facilitate hisneighbours, and whose farsee-ing and conciliatory attitude

must have been like a breath offresh air to the hard-pressedCommissioners.

• The local beneficiaries were allfrom the North side of theSlattery estate.

It was like as if an examination hadbeen held, to which some had notbeen permitted to enter at all; somecould not bring themselves to enter;others entered and failed, and somepassed. The celebration of the latter, ifthey were so inclined, had to be mutedlest they give offence to their less for-tunate neighbours.

The impact from the Killerk LandDivision would last for many years.Neighbours who had been close,became estranged and barely spoke.The community had been severelytraumatized by the events of the ‘55-‘59 period and would take many yearsto forgive itself for its weaknesses:

• Inability to accept change dur-ing the initial preparatoryphase.

• The anguish and disappoint-ment of the awards phase.

• And finally, the envy and jeal-ousy generated during the postmortem phase.

In other words, it was hard to for-give itself for being human.

PostscriptIn producing this article at the

request of the Editor, I have tried, indeference to the good people ofRedcity, Market Hill and Killerk, to beas factual as possible. Nothing can bemore offensive than misrepresenta-

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tion. No names, other than those ofthe Slattery family, their accreditedsolicitor, and the administratrix of theSlattery estate, are mentioned.

I should point out that the KillerkFile is listed as existing in the RecordsOffice of the Land Commission. It isavailable for examination under theFOI Act or so I was informed. I wasparticularly interested in establishingfrom the file, if possible, why no divid-ed land was awarded to farmers otherthan those to the North of the Slatteryestate (excluding the two non locals).

When I came to examine the file itcould not be located. Am I paranoidenough to imagine that it containsinformation not suitable for public

consumption? No. But, then maybe itis in everyone’s best interests that thefile is left to gather dust in someDublin basement. The protagonistswould perhaps have wished it so.

The last word goes to a poet, not thelocal amateurs who provided such funwith their composition in 1955, but toa great English poet who died 20 yearsbefore that. A.E. Housman probablynever heard of Killerk, but he capturedthe pessimistic mood that many of thelocals would have experienced by theKillerk Land Division. �

And how am I to face the odds,Of men’s bedevilment and Gods.

I, a stranger and afraid,In a world I never made.

This photograph, supplied by Gene Walsh, was taken in Fethard Tennis Court in the 1950s. L to R: Mary(Dwyer) Walsh, Carmel McSweeney, Main Street, and Sally (O'Brien) Finn, Burke Street.

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Killusty Soccer Club

The promising start we made inlast season’s league only flat-

tered to deceive. We were out of cupcompetitions at the early stages, andinterest and results went from bad toworse. We picked up only a few morepoints, and ended up being relegated.The club is now in the second divisionof the TSDL, our lowest position inover twenty years.

On a brighter note there seems tobe renewed interest in the club. Teammanager, George Williams, is getting agood turnout at training and althoughresults are mixed we are hoping for adecent run in the league.

Away from the playing field, theclub organised a fund-raising golfclassic at Slievenamon Golf Club,which was very successful. In October,clubman Declan Fanning fromKillenaule, was the deserving winnerof a GAA hurling All Star, a fittingaward for a fine sportsman, whatevercode he plays.

At our AGM which was held in July,the following officers were elected:Chairman Shay Coen; Hon. Sec.Sarah Shelly; Hon.Tres. EmmaFitzgerald; and Team Manager GeorgeWilliams. �

Killusty team who beat Glengoole in the Statoil FAI Junior Cup 2nd Round played in Killusty. Back L to R:Jason Nevin, Declan Fanning, Barry Hanley, Noel Walsh, John Conway, Eoghan Aylward. Front L to R: Tony

Shelly, Shane Aylward, Ross Aylward, Tommy Gahan and Martin Coen.

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Fethard Historical Society

Fethard Historical Society heldtheir Annual General Meeting on

the 27th March 2007 and the follow-ing committee was elected: DóirínSaurus (Chairperson), MaryHanrahan (Vice-Chairperson),Margaret Newport (Secretary), PeterDelaney (Assistant Secretary),Catherine O’Flynn (Treasurer), TimRobinson (Planning Officer), TerryCunningham (Public RelationsOfficer). Committee members: KittyDelany, Marie O’Donnell, Ann Lynch,Frances Murphy, Mary McCormackand Pat Looby.

This year, 2007, was a very goodyear for the Historical Society. Webelieve we have ‘turned the corner’ interms of finally getting official recogni-tion for the uniqueness of the walledtown of Fethard - the best in Ireland

apart from the walled city of Derry.There is now a very good working

relationship between the Society andall the interested government agencies,especially South Tipperary CountyCouncil, the Heritage Council andFailte Ireland.

In particular, The Irish WalledNetwork, which is funded by theHeritage Council and covers all ofIreland, has been the main force inconvincing the ‘powers that be’ thatFethard is a very special and unusualplace.

Grants for the Wall and TownThis year, nearly €200,000 has been

agreed with the above agencies forboth practical repair-work on the townwall and for three major reports thatwill issue early in 2008.

Dóirín Saurus, Chairperson Fethard Historical Society, presenting the Tipperariana Book of the Year Award toMichael Ahearn, Clonmel, for his publication, ‘Figures in a Clonmel Landscape’. L to R: Deirdre Ahearn,

Michael Ahearn, Dóirín Saurus and Niamh Ahearn.

One report will deal exclusivelywith the wall itself. It will come upwith a detailed conservation plan forthe full circle of the wall and the areasclose to the wall.

The second report is known as apublic realm plan, and this couldprove to be the most important docu-ment written about Fethard in recenttimes. It will deal with Fethard as a liv-ing place – where people walk, play,work, park, shop, socialise, etc., andthis should be a great help in planningdevelopments in the town for the nexttwenty years.

The third report will deal with theTown Hall and will try to come upwith a plan to save the building and tosuggest a real sustainable working usefor the most central building in thetown.

Preparing the groundwork for thesereports has taken up most of the timeand efforts of the Historical Societyduring 2007 but hopefully it will all beworthwhile when all the reports feedinto the next development plan for thetown that will be drawn up by theCounty Council.

The highlight of the year was ‘TheWalled Towns Day’ festival that tookplace in The Valley area on Sunday26th August. The Heritage Council,County Council, County Museum,Failte Ireland, local clubs and individu-als all supported the Historical Societyin staging a wonderful Medieval Eventon what was the finest and hottest dayof the summer.

Congratulations must also go toLaurence Kenny who came second inthe National Walled Towns Photo

Photographed at a preliminary meeting to form a Conservation and Management Plan for Fethard on 31st Jan2007 are Back L to R: Terry Cunningham (Rural Tourism Adviser, Teagasc), Cllr John Fahey. Front L to R:

Tim Robinson, Dóirín Saurus (Chairperson Fethard Historical Society), Damian O'Brien (Product MarketingOfficer, Fáilte Ireland), Alison Harvey (Irish Walled Towns Network), Mary Hanrahan (Vice Chairperson

Fethard Historical Society), Hugh O'Brien, (Forward Planning Section South Tipperary County Council), EoinPowell (Fethard Area Engineer) and Joe Kenny (Chairperson Fethard & Killusty Community Council).

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Competition and his picture will nowbe made into a postcard by theHeritage Council and circulatednationally.

Normal business did continue alsofor the society with lectures and a veryenjoyable summer trip, with localartist Pat Looby, to visit the high cross-es of the South East of Ireland.

Members of the committee alsojoined Tim Robinson, resident inmedieval Watergate, on an investiga-tive trip to South West France to seetheir walled towns which are called‘Bastides’. These towns were foundedand walled at the same time and bythe same English/Norman kings whowere carrying out similar ‘plantations’in their other ‘lands’ here in Fethardand other parts of Ireland in the 12thand 13th centuries. A ‘twinning’arrangement may result with one ofthese small French towns in the future

when more research and consultationhas been carried out.

The usual Tipperariana ‘Book of theYear’ presentation and the Book Fair(on the second Sunday of February)all went off very well and are set tocontinue into the future.

In 2008 it is planned to publish abook on Heraldry in Fethard, byGerard Crotty, and finances are inplace to do this. Also the long awaitedHistory of Fethard may come out latenext year and ideas to finance thismajor undertaking are now becominga priority for the society.

We wish all Fethard and Killustypeople a happy Christmastime andmore of the same for all of 2008. Thesociety can be contacted, supported,or joined by email at [email protected] or by writing to: TheSecretary, Fethard Historical Society,Fethard, Co. Tipperary. �

Fethard Historical Society members celebrate the erection of new doors at the Mural Tower on Fethard Town Wallwith tea and scones on Sunday morning 29th June 2007. L to R: Tim Robinson, Mary Hanrahan, KittyDelany, Mary McCormack, Dóirín Saurus, Kate Corcoran with her son Richard, Terry Cunningham, Dot

Gibson and Colm McGrath.

Winners of the senior and junior Fethard Walled Towns Photographic Competition accepting their prizes of €500and €200 respectively from members of the Fethard Historical Society and Fethard Walled Towns Committee who

coordinated the competition in conjunction with the Heritage Council of Ireland. L to R: Terry Cunningham,Angelico Bano (Junior Section Winner), Dóirín Saurus, Laurence Kenny (Senior Section Winner and runner-upin the national competition) and Pat Looby. There was a great response to the Fethard competition with over 120entries. The Clonmel photographer, John Crowley, kindly took on the difficult task of choosing the winners. Larry

Kenny won the adult section with his photograph entitled 'Light on the Past'. This photograph of the wall bymoonlight went on to become a runner up in the national competition organised by the Heritage Council. The first

prize in the under 18 section was won by Angelico Bano with her photograph, 'Incrocio' (Meeting Place). Fourrunner up prizes went to Aisling Dwyer, Xuan Wyatt, Andrew Phelan and Katie Butler.

The national runner-up photograph of Fethard Town Wall by Laurence Kenny

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Did you ever notice that whentwo people meet their first

remarks to each other usually refer tothe weather? “Lovely day”, “Verycold”, “Will it ever stop raining?”, arejust a few of the greetings betweenfriends. Perhaps Ireland being primari-ly an agricultural country, with theweather having such an effect on day-to-day living, is the reason for ourgreat interest in prevailing weatherconditions.

With very accurate weather fore-casts being given almost every houron radio and television we mightreflect on the ways and means ofweather forecasting in pre-television

and radio days. Accurate weatherforecasting was far more importantthen. The most important farm worksuch as hay-saving and corn-harvest-ing with horse and manual work tookdays, if not weeks. Currently withbalers, mowing-bars and up to eight-een-feet combines, the work is done ina few days, weather permitting.

Time was when every farmer was anexcellent judge of the weather, asindeed he had to be, being close tonature every day. Each district had itsown local weather experts whoseopinions were often sought and actedupon. Local signs such as behaviourof animals, birds and even insects

What’s the Forecast? by Tony Newport

Ardsallagh House c.1951, renovations of house by contractor Laurence Kenny, The Green. Front: MattieKavanagh (Clonmel), Dick Fitzgerald, Tom McCormack (Annesgift), Mick McCormack (Annesgift), Johnny

Jacobs (Waterford), Johnny Littleton. Back: Dick (Reidy) Power, Tom Burke (Coolmoyne), Tommy Kenny(Baptistgrange), Paddy Fitzgerald, Employee of Jacobs (Waterford), Bill 'Uncle' Connors, Dan McCarthy

(Coolmoyne), Tom Finn (Burke Street).

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were watched and studied as a guideto weather forecasting. Some of theother methods used locally and natu-rally are now lost and gone forever.We will do our best to recall some ofthem in order that the younger gener-ation may keep them alive at least foranother generation.

Locally, our beloved Slievenamonwas regarded as an excellent weatherbarometer. Extraordinary is the onlyword to describe how accurate theshort-term weather forecasts localfarmers could give by studying whatthey always referred to as ‘the hill’.Cloud formation played a very impor-tant part. Were the clouds lying lowon the hill or higher-up? Did they liftslowly or quickly? Did they move eastor west or straight up? All these signsforetold something concerning theweather. Did the hill appear near ordistant? Did the top ‘Suidhe Fionn’wear a cloud bonnet, especially afterbeing clear for some days? Did thesheep stay on high ground or movedown to lower pastures? All thesewere signs to be watched and studied.Other locals truly believed that whenthe Presentation Convent Sisters cuttheir hay, it always rained. The bell ofthe Augustinian Church heard clearlyat the other end of town was consid-ered a sure sign of rain.

Our two local weather forecasterswere the late Tom Finn, of BurkeStreet, and Neddy Wall. Tom keptrecords and was most reliable. Ned’sguide was the moon. The moon waseither on its back or as straight as acandle. When waxing, when full or

nearly full, it had a big ring around itor a small ring. When waning it hadcloud above it, below it or around it.We often hear of a blue moon, butNeddy was the only man I ever heardspeak of a red one. All these signsmeant something to Neddy. The prob-lem was he covered every eventualityand was seldom wrong!

With regard to the sayings and folk-lore concerning the weather, some per-tain to the weather itself, others to pre-cautions to be taken at certain times.Many are as old as time itself. “Redsky at night, sailors delight. Red sky atmorning, sailors warning”, is said todate back to biblical times. “Oakbefore ash, you are sure of a clash; ashbefore oak, sure of a soak”, is anotherone. “If cuckoo comes beforewhitethorn, sell the cow and buy thecorn”, “If grass in January doth appear,‘twill grow the worse for the rest ofyear”. “Sun before seven, rain beforeeleven”. One relating to hunting,where scent is all important, is “whenthe drop is on the thorn, huntsmanput away the horn” has been recordedas far back as the 17th Century and isstill true today.

Enough blue, in an otherwisecloudy sky, to make a cloak for theBlessed Virgin was taken to signal agood day. “Button up to the chin whileApril is in”, “Don’t cast a clout ‘tillMay be out”, were mottos that moth-ers of a previous generation strictlyadhered to. Now, at the first sign of abit of sunshine, shirts off for the boysand bare midriffs and backs are theorder of the day for the young ladies.

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A cricket chirping on the hearth-stone at night, cocks crowing and pea-cocks screaming at dusk were allthought to be sure signs of rain. Aschildren we brought seaweed fromTramore, hung inside a back-kitchendoor and it was our weather clock.Damp meant rain; dry, fine weather. Asaying widely known, “East wind isnot good for man or beast” comesfrom a weather verse never quoted infull. “When the wind is from the East,it is not good for man or beast. When

the wind is from the North, wise menseldom venture forth. When the windis from the South, it blows the baitinto the fish’s mouth. But the windthat is by far the best, is the gentlewind blowing from the West.”

Fishing boat skippers will not allowwhistling on board, as they believe itbrings on a storm. Swallows flyinghigh, good weather; swallows flyinglow, rain. Seagulls coming inland,storms at sea; crows flying high andtossing and tumbling, storms inland.

Well known cyclist and weatherman Neddy Wall (left) brings news of a spell of good weather to a delighted JackRyan from Fethard. Neddy is well known in many towns around County Tipperary.

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Chimney smoke rising straightupwards, good weather; turning downtowards the ground, rain. Sheep com-ing down from the higher mountainsto lower ground or cattle standingwith their tail-ends towards a hedgeusually signalled rain or snow… andon it goes, the list is endless.

Another one worth recalling refersto the three hard months of the year.We must remember that these werefrom the days when electric blankets,central heating, double-glazing, etc.,were never heard of and referred tothose of the community who were ofdelicate constitution and dreaded theapproach of winter. “January searches,February tries and March decides ifone lives or dies.” A bit morbidmaybe, but if we look at the long listsof the dear departed in the papers inthe months mentioned maybe theywere not so far off the mark after all.

Now, who are we to believe? Thefarmers and rural dwellers who readthe signs and judged by them, or theladies and gentlemen of the MetOffice, with their University Degrees,satellites, weather ships, etc., whomore than likely never spent a dayworking outdoors in their lives. Thefollowing quotations may be of assis-tance. One says, “Only fools areweather-wise and have not muchknowledge otherwise”. We must alsoremember that, “The best of clerks(even clerks of the weather) make mis-takes”. Maybe the lady who, requiringa good day for a family wedding, putsthe Infant of Prague outside the nightbefore has the best method of all. Or

how about the old time country ParishPriest who on receiving instructionsfrom his Bishop to pray for fine har-vest weather, said, “We’ll do as HisGrace asks but while the wind is fromthe point it is coming from at presentit is only a waste of time”, had got itcorrect. We must never forget thatnature has a way of balancing thingsout eventually.

Well, there you have it. There aredozens of other signs and symbols offorthcoming weather but space doesnot allow recording. Whatever theforecast, as the Americans say, “Have anice day”, and be sure to bring anumbrella, just in case! �

Stephen Maher, St. Patrick's Place, with SarahCashman outside Kiltinan Castle.

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Scouts last meeting of 2006 washeld on 15 December. We hiked

to the Holy Year Cross onSlievenamon under cover of darkness,which was enjoyed by all. Reports thatthe Cross, when illuminated by torch-light was visible from Fethard addedto the sense of fun and adventure.Fethard Group hosted the MountainPursuit Challenge on Slievenamon on21 January 2007. The day was enjoyedby all, helped no doubt by the mostlyfine conditions and change of venue(most groups in the county not havinghiked on Slievenamon before). Muchthanks and praise goes Mr & MrsJimmy O'Donnell who allowed theparking of so many cars in their yard,thanks also to the leaders from the

county, but the biggest thanks of allgoes to the scouts themselves whoturned out in great numbers on theday.

In preparation for the CountyOrienteering, the scouts went toLyrnalea Wood, 18 February 2007,where a good training session wasenjoyed by all, helped in no small partby excellent weather and good condi-tions also under foot. A planned hikefor the afternoon to the Punchbowlended up as more of a leisurely stroll,the lads feeling a bit tired after thetraining.

County Orienteering, hosted byCahir on 25 March 2007, was attendedby Scouts. Despite not having had asmuch training as we would have liked

Fethard Scout Notes - 27th Tipperary

Fethard Boy Scouts and their leaders photographed at St. Patrick's Day mass at Holy Trinity Parish Church.

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prior to the event, we still got a result— Brian Delahunty and Gerry Horanwinning the U-14 paired event. Welldone to them.

The Group attended the county hikeon 28 April 2007, to mark 100 years ofWorld Scouting. Both the Cub andScout sections attended. The hike waswell attended by the groups from thecounty and scouts from foreign partswho took in the Holy Year Cross over-looking Clonmel and Carey's Castle inglorious sunshine.

All the while preparations and train-ing were taking place for the CountyShield which took place in Mellerayfrom 4th to 6th May. No trophies thistime out but the weekend was enjoyedby all the Scouts who attended.

Our 3rd hike to the Galtees this yearproved a huge success. Previousefforts in reaching the summit werehampered by bad weather but, thirdtime lucky, we reached the summit ofGaltymore, and two of the Galtee’slakes were hiked in good weather,albeit a bit windy! Memories are madeof hikes like this, a great day.

The highlight of the year was whenwe joined with the Clonmel,Kilsheelan and Ardfinnan troops forthe Annual Camp which this year washeld in Fethard-on-Sea. The weatherwasn't too unkind to us with only afew days’ rain, not too bad for twoweeks under canvas! Highlights of thefortnight were daytrips to OakwoodTheme Park in Wales and a shoppingtrip to Wexford, a packed games andevening entertainment programme,numerous trips to the beach and so

on. Roll on camp next year.

Cub BriefWind and rain failed to dampen the

spirits of cubs on a backwoods cook-out in October 2006. In November weparticipated in a County ActivityChallenge. Other activities were theCounty Swimming Gala, Sportsdayand Hike which celebrated 100 yearsof world scouting, and of course anenjoyable fun weekend at MountMelleray Scout Centre. Unfortunatelythis was the only weekend away forcubs, essentially due to lack of leaders.

Our Sixers and Seconders, TommyAnglim, Paul Moloney, Donal Walshand Eoin O'Donovan did get anovernight away on a Sixer TrainingActivity in January. At weekly meet-ings we worked on badgework, chal-lenges and played lots of games. EarlyMay saw us move outdoors for mostof our meetings which allowed us toexpand our programme, i.e., followingthe course of the Clashawley River,stopping at different locations to fry afew sausages. During the year weinvested Shane Quigley, BrendanWalsh, Michael Halley and AlexO'Donovan.

We ended the year on Sunday 15July with a hike on Slievenamon. Wetook in the same route the bigger fel-lows (Scouts) took on the MountainPursuit Challenge earlier in the year.This proved no problem to the hardyCubs and for good measure we tookin a huge backwoods cookout, a greatachievement for the Cubs, well done.A great and exciting programme is

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promised for 2008 as we celebrate 100years of Scouting in Ireland, and 21years in Fethard. However, unless weget some growth in our leaderresources, the Cubs will be unable toenjoy the full extent of the plannedprogramme.

As per tradition, the group marchedto Mass on St. Patrick’s Day from theTirry Centre to the Parish church for11 o'clock Mass. The group, accompa-nied byL a d y b i r d sand Guides,looked wellon the day,with mostnow sportingfull uniform,s o m e t h i n gwhich wasnoted fromthe altar byParish Priest,Fr Tom Breen.July saw thegroup pur-chase a mar-quee and already it's being put togood use — three times for HorseTrials in Grove and once on theAnnual Pilgrimage to the Holy YearCross on Slievenamon.

Our Annual Flag day was held on29th/30th June. A huge thank you tothe people of Fethard and beyondwho supported us so well and to theCubs and Scouts themselves who didthe collecting. Many thanks also toeveryone who supported our AnnualChurch Gate collection. Many thanks

to all the parents who helped us, toour Chairperson Mary Healy,Treasurer Mary O'Donnell, SecretaryPeter Grant, Scout Section LeaderPhilip O'Donnell, and Cub SectionLeader Sean Cloonan. Sean was oneof our first scouts back in 1986 andhas been with us since without abreak. He moved through the ranksand is currently Chairman of theCounty Management Team. Sean is

moving toA r d f i n n a nwhere he willjoin the groupthere and I’msure will be asbig an asset tothem as hewas to us. Wewill miss himenormously.He was veryd e d i c a t e d ,thorough andunstinting ofhis time, how-ever, our loss

is their gain. We wish him well and wethank John and Mikey McCarthy,Dermot Culligan and Scout SectionLeader Philip O'Donnell (who is tak-ing some well deserved time out), andGroup Leader Robert Phelan. Wewould welcome any assistance fromadults, especially ex-members. Wethank all who helped and supportedus during the year, we wish all thepeople of the parish and surroundingareas a Happy and Holy Christmasand a Peaceful New Year. �

Scouts and leaders photographed on the summit of Galtymore

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Girl Guides in Fethard had avery good year in 2007. For the

first time in a number of years we hadfive Guides, as well as our Browniesand Ladybirds. This is a very welcomedevelopment and hopefully one whichwill continue. We also had a newleader Martina (Morrissey) Cowlardwho was one of the first group of GirlGuides enrolled back in 1988. Thiscoming year we will celebrate twentyyears of Guiding in Fethard, and it’samazing to realise how many girls andleaders have passed through in thoseyears.

During the year we had various out-door activities including a lovelysunny day in Dundrum Wood and acold wet Sunday climbing

Slievenamon in May. On both theseactivities we were joined by girls fromCashel. We had several trips toCatherine and Jim O'Donnell's farmfor cook outs, fun and games. Manythanks for having us out.

Our weekly meetings in the ball-room continued as usual with games,crafts, badge work and of courselearning the Law and Promise. Wewere also involved in the Christmasshoebox appeal.

Many thanks to our leadersCatherine O'Donnell, Teresa Hurley,Martina Cowlard, CatherineO'Connell and Judy Doyle. Alsothanks to parents and to everyonewho contributed to our church gatecollection. �

Irish Girl Guides

Fethard Girl Guides and their leaders photographed at St. Patrick's Day mass at Holy Trinity Parish Church.

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Ammo from Grove Wood

Over the lane, near the creameryor from Jesuits Walk, across

Stoke’s fields and the Boody Bridge,stopping to be engulfed in steam fromthe Clonmel to Thurles train, downthe wooden steps, through the wood-en gate and Eureka, spears, bows andarrows, catapults, poles for goals andvaulting, cap timber, a natural resourcefor growing minds, the one stipulationwas ash, was sacred. The long journeyhome afterwards meant we werebeasts of burden, cowboys andIndians, gang warfare, football, hurl-ing, soccer, card playing, tents, vault-ing with a pole, high jump, just someof the uses we made of the timberfrom the natural wealth of the forest.

Les Bleus

Excitement in the air, studentsfrom France arrived. Stayed

locally and mingled freely, a barbecueorganised on Slievenamon. BillyHolohan and family hosted. Homemade buns, sausages, chops spikedwith spokes of bicycle wheels thencooked and consumed greedily. Asing song, by the fire started. OneFrench chap played the guitar and amedley of songs were sung. MyGrandfather’s Clock, Swanee River,the latest hits and many more. SomeFrench was learned amidst youngromance, wee wee, moujeu and Ce lavie!

The Tirry Club

Adjacently, Tommie Barrett gar-dened, upstairs a poker game

was held. When the old stone schoolwas knocked the Tirry Club, substitut-ed. Occasionally the youth club usedit for dances, games and meetings.The building, being aged was func-tional and once a cat spent a fortnightbeside a chimney on the roof.Clonmel fire brigade wouldn’t crossthe slates and so it took PaddyMorrissey of St. Patricks Place to coaxit down with meat, as a lure.Nowadays it is restored beautifullyand houses the Day Care Centre andvarious other events and it is wheel-chair accessible.

Mining some time ago

Gathered at Bob Burn’s corner,laden with lunch box, overalls

and head light. The moans were fewand far between, digging down the pitfor anthracite; water pumps, props,buggies, shift work. Wages owing tooutput and position. The pub trade, aslave for some, sometimes dangerousand there were fatalities. In later life,lungs were affected by the conditions.The rats leaving, was a sign it was timeto go. Tommy O’Brien, aka ‘TommieCoal’ to some, was the employer.Collum balls were also made and themines have been long since closed.The product was high grade.

John Joe’s Corner by John Joe Keane

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Ann’s Gift in Bloom

Tulips were grown there annually,a great source of employment

for the youth during the summermonths. Work was back-breaking, butthe wages were good. During thespring, when the tulips were in flower,it was like a multi coloured quilt overthe countryside. When picked, thebulbs were cleaned, put in boxes andstored at different times, in various

conditions in the sheds. Diseasedtulips were discarded, the gangerWillie Crean, the Leahy family and MrBrown supervised the operation, lunchwas consumed daily and everythingthat was topical was discussed MrNaundorf was the steward who drovea Volkswagen and maintained itmechanically himself. �

— J.J. Keane

In the 1970s L to R: Gerry Fogarty, Adrian Cashin, Thomas Barrett, Jimmy O'Shea and A.B. Kennedy.

In the late 1960s L to R: Ed Healy, Norma Hanrahan, John Joe McCormack and Marion McCarthy.

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An unusual find at Watergate!

Sean O’Brien, originally fromKillenaule and now living in

Portlaw, relates this interesting storythat happened while showing a U.S.lady around Killenaule-Moyglassparish. The lady, Sue Connolly-Watt,from Andover, Massachusetts, wasseeking information on her ancestorsin the parish from the Famine era. Inthe process, Sean brought her toFethard and showed her around thetown walls and then stopped to viewthe Sheila-na-Gig at Watergate.

While there and taking photo-graphs, Sean drew the attention of hisvisitor to a tall narrow opening in thecorner of the wall (maybe forarchers?). The lady noticed a small

packet within the opening, and onpulling it out saw a piece of tightlyrolled paper tied securely with sewingthread! On opening it, much to theirsurprise, they saw that it was a photo-graph of a group of people, and bore adescription in fine handwriting aboutthose in the picture who were mem-bers of a family named 'Eager'. Onthe back of the photograph the follow-ing is written:

“John, James Jnr, Marjorie, Nora,Helen, Nana & Pop Pop, Dottie, Grace,Katherine and Robert. This is a familyportrait of the Eager family fromWorcester, Massachusetts, USA. Theirtwo nieces have been travelling Irelandas a pilgrimage to remember this love-

This photograph was found rolled up and placed in an opening in the Town Wall at Watergate with the follow-ing inscription on the back :“John, James Jnr, Marjorie, Nora, Helen, Nana & Poppop, Dottie, Grace, Katherineand Robert. This is a family portrait of the Eager family from Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Their two nieceshave been travelling Ireland as a pilgrimage to remember this lovely, kind, generous family, all of whom in this

picture have passed on. Please embrace them in your thoughts, prayers and memory as brothers and sisters of thismotherland. Pray for their wonderful spirits — they live in our hearts with the same spirit. Thank You.”

by Sean O’Brien

ly, kind, generous family, all of whomin this picture have passed on. Pleaseembrace them in your thoughts,prayers and memoryas brothers and sistersof this motherland.Pray for their wonder-ful spirits — they live inour hearts with thesame spirit. ThankYou” If anyone has anyinformation on the‘Eagar’ family wewould love to hearfrom them.

Sean and his ladyfriend found no fewerthan five headstones inMoyglass cemeterywith inscriptions re her ancestors,Bergins (Silverfort) and Heffernans.Visiting Magorban cemetery later theyhad the pleasure of a lengthy conver-sation with Louis Grubb of Cashel

Blue cheese fame, and Barry Cleary(am uncertain of surname) ofSliverfort Stud, and some other local

Church of Irelandparishioners.

On the way back toYoughal and Portlaw,they were treated torefreshments and fur-ther lengthy conversa-tion at the Village Inn,Moyglass, for whichthey are most grateful.They also wished tothank Fethardnewsagent EdwinaNewport who kindlygave a copy of a Fethardlocal history book to

the visitor. On the trip they wereaccompanied by Eileen O'Callaghan,Youghal, daughter-in-law of the lateDr. Pat O'Callaghan of Clonmel,famous Irish Olympic sportsman. �

At Magorban Cemetery: L to R: Louis Grubb, Sue Connolly-Watt, Barry Lalor and Sandra Craik-White.

Sue Connolly-Watt and Sean O'Brien at aHeffernan ancestral headstone in Moyglass.

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Fethard Ballroom Ltd

As the end of 2007 beckons, theyear was a financially success

with a bounty of bookings anddances. The committee were busy withmaintenance and taking care of opera-tional matters. We are very lucky tohave a great FÁS worker in ShemButler, to whom we are very grateful.

We suffered a tremendous blowwith the untimely loss of ourChairman Mick Aherne. Mick was agreat chairman, unafraid to make adecision. He was instrumental in theresurrection of the ballroom from adebt to our present very credible posi-tion. He was thoroughly dependable,a stalwart member of the committee,

and had an enduring sense of humourwith a fund of wit. He was widelyknown, had been involved with thelocal GAA and the equine industry atwhich he frequently judged showsfrom Wexford and Cork to as far asour friends in Northern Ireland. Mickhad a wish to be waked at his home inProspect where the door was alwaysopen and then for a few hours in hisbeloved ballroom. The number ofpeople that attended Mick’s home andthe ballroom are testament to his pop-ularity. A great character, a fine a manas you are ever likely to encounter,you always knew he was on your side,especially, he was a great friend. His

Fethard Mayoral candidate, Mick Ahearn (back), photographed on 24th February 1995 at his ‘Bachelor of theYear’ fund-raising night in aid of Fethard Ballroom. Fethard bachelor Joe Hanly gets a big congratulatory kissfrom competition organiser Catriona Stapleton after he beat stiff competition to win the ‘Fethard Bachelor of theYear’ award before a capacity crowd at Fethard Ballroom. Over twenty bachelors, young and old, were inter-

viewed and put through their paces by a very capable Gerry Fogarty and Marie Crean. Pictured above are L toR: Jimmy Mullins (2nd); Joe Hanly (winner); Catriona Stapleton (organiser); Vincent Cummins (3rd).

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absence is indescribable, especially tohis family, which he always spokehighly of and loved so much. ToMonica, sons PJ, Gerry and Mikeyand extended family, our deepest sym-pathy. We too, miss him greatly. Slán,a chara, ar dheis De go raibh a ainm.

To all the people of the parish and

surrounding areas, the clubs, organi-sations, dancers and individuals whosupport us, thank you, and, we wishyou a Happy and Holy Christmas anda Peaceful New Year. �

For and on behalf of Ballroom Committee,— R. Phelan, Hon Sec.

Fethard Knitting Group meets at7.30pm every Tuesday night from

September to June at the PresentationConvent. We have ten or so memberswho get togetherever week to knit,crochet, exchangeideas and chat.During the summersome of the mem-bers went on an out-ing to the craft/woolshop in Lismorewhere there was avaried and interest-ing display of craftitems and wool.After lunch inLismore we went onto the wool shop inD u n g a r v a n .Everyone bought some yarn for winterprojects.

The members were also busy duringthe summer crocheting blankets for Sr.Winnie’s mission in Africa. InNovember we visited the Knitting &Stitching Show at the RDS in Dublin.For some of the group it was their firstvisit to the show, for the rest it was a

return visit, many of the group havingbeen to the show a number of timesover the years. We hope to make it anannual event.

We had ourChristmas Party atthe Cashel PalaceHotel on 14thDecember at whichwe were joined byour founder member,Sr. Juliana. Sr. Julianamoved on to pas-tures new inCastlecomer, Co.Kilkenny this year,however, she stillmakes an occasionalreturn visit to Fethardon a Tuesday eveningto check up on us! Sr.

Winnie now “looks after” the groupand provides a much appreciated cupof tea and biscuits during the evening.New members are always welcome.Don’t be put off if you haven’t pickedup needles and wool for years — thereare lots of interesting yarns availablenow which knit up in no time to makea variety of simple projects. �

Fethard Knitting Group

Sr Juliana and Sr Winnie photographed with aselection of baby cardigans and blankets knitted.

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Fethard Bridge Club

Fethard Bridge Club is now in its31st year and still going strong.

We play every Wednesday evening inthe Tirry Centre which has long beenthe home of the bridge club. It is awarm and comfortable venue, conven-ient for everyone and we break for acup of tea and a chat half-way throughthe evening. Our numbers havedropped a little in the last few years,so we would welcome new membersand encourage as many as possible totake up the game.

We note the death this year of twoformer club members, Maura Mullinsand Tess O’Flynn. Both were popularmembers of the club for a long num-ber of years. Although they hadn’tplayed bridge for the past few years,both maintained an interest in theactivities of the club and will be fond-ly remembered by the club members.

At our President’s Prize dinner at

Slievenamon Golf Club on 9th May2007 the following prizes were pre-sented: President’s Prize to MarieDelaney and Annie O’Brien;Committee Prize to Rita Kane and KaySt. John; Player of the Year, for whichthe O’Flynn trophy is presented, toAlice Quinn; Club Champions, forwhich the Hayes trophy is presented,to Alice Quinn and Berney Myles;Individual Champion, for which theDick Gorey Trophy is presented, toAlice Quinn; The Suzanne OprayTrophy was won by Breda Walsh asthe player who reduced her handicapby the most during the year.

We played for the free sub for thecoming year on 3rd October and 10thOctober and the winners of the grossfree sub were Brigid Gorey and BettyWalsh, and the free nett sub was wonby Tony Hanrahan and David Abell.On 14th November we held a charity

President's Prize winners: Marie Delaney (left) and Annie O'Brien with Mike Burke (President)

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night and donated the proceeds forthe evening to the Multiple SclerosisSociety. Our Christmas party was heldin McCarthy’s restaurant on 19thDecember at which our Christmasprizes were presented.

At our AGM on 16th May 2007 thefollowing officers and committee wereelected: President: Bernie O’Meara,Vice President / PRO: Gemma Burke,Secretary: Anne Connolly, Treasurer:

Rita Kane, Assistant Treasurer: AnnaCooke. Tournament Directors: AliceQuinn, Betty Walsh, Frances Burke,and Gemma Burke. Partner Facilitator:Berney Myles. Committee: MikeBurke and Marie Delaney.

May we take this opportunity towish all bridge players (and non-bridge players!) at home and abroad avery happy and holy Christmas and aprosperous New Year. �

History is often made availableto us in what it leaves behind

and nothing is more striking or imme-diately available than the buildingsthat surround us. Coming into Fethardfrom most roads, there is a structureto be seen that has hugely determinedthe town's shape, size and streetscape;that contributes to a sense of prideand place; that gives the town its par-ticular flavour and perhaps, may in the

future, help in the economic sustain-ability of its inhabitants.

Crossing the Clashawley over eitherMadam's Bridge or Watergate, thetown wall is easily observed; comingin the Rocklow road you must passunder the North Gate and pity thepoor drivers of the huge trucks whohave to slowly manoeuvre their wayunder this archway; through BarrackStreet the wall can be easily seen on

Our Town Walls for all to enjoy by John Cooney

Photographic Survey of the Town Wall at Burke Street in progress on 21st November 2007

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the right hand side but through BurkeStreet you might pretend the wall wasnever there but a big stretch of it is lessthan ten feet away on the right handside. Huge sections of this imposingstructure that originally surroundedthe old town have survived and it isnow considered that Fethard is one ofthe very best examples of a smallwalled medieval town in the republic.Just because that statement is repeatedhere, once again, does not make theassertion less relevant.

It was a royal decree that signifiedthe first official mark of the wall onpaper and this royal provision in 1292

allowed for the inhabitants of thetown to begin to build this fortifica-tion: in the following two centuriesthere were further provisions maderegarding taxes and grants for the wallto be continued or to be rebuilt. Forabout seven hundred years the wallhas hugely dominated the physicalshape of the town, the market place,the layout of the streets and, obvious-ly, the size of gardens. For many and,one presumes, various reasons por-tions of the wall have collapsed, beendismantled and entrances brokenthrough but what is most remarkableis that so much has survived to the

South Tipperary County Council Manager, Ned O'Connor, photographed with representatives from FethardHistorical Society and Fethard & Killusty Community Council during his visit and tour of the Town Wall on

21st November 2007. L to R: Terry Cunningham (Rural Tourism Adviser, Teagasc), Joe Kenny (ChairpersonFethard & Killusty Community Council), Hugh O'Brien (Planning South Tipperary County Council), Cllr John

Fahey, Chairperson South Tipperary County Council), Ned O'Connor, County Manager South TipperaryCounty Council), Dóirín Saurus (Chairperson Fethard Historical Society), Peter Grant (Fethard & Killusty

Community Council) and Tim Robinson (Fethard Historical Society).

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present day whether by design or for-tune — the more economically mindedmight be prone to suggest ill-fortune.In recent years, various groups withinthe town have taken an interest in thewall, from the Friends of Fethard andthe Historical Society to many individ-ual householders whose propertiesback onto and border the wall.Legally, who owns it or has a claim toit is more a consideration for thosewho know the law or claim to knowthe law but it might be best to viewthis matter like the way the man whowas too poor toown a gardendecided that all theflowers and treeswere really a bless-ing for him fromthe earth and helearned to genuine-ly appreciate themall. So for thosewho live inside or outside the wall orthose whose property borders it ornot, the wall is for everyone, a greathistorical medieval artefact that helpsto give the town part of its appeal.With the increased prosperity ofrecent years and a peace settlementthat appears to be holding betweenthe dominant religious-politicalgroupings on the island, there hasbeen a resurgence of interest in allmatters pertaining to the peoples whohave lived here before us. TheHeritage Council has set up the 'IrishWalled Towns Network' which seeksto promote the appreciation of walledtowns and they have taken a particular

interest in the situation here. As anational body, they are implementingpolicies that are probably not too dis-similar from the great work carriedout by the Friends of Fethard who,through their restoration work,adorned the panoramic view of thewall in the valley and defined it as agreat public space in the town. And itwas this very space that was used tosuch great effect this year for theNational Heritage Day in Augustwhen several hundred people gath-ered on a glorious Sunday afternoon

for celebrations.So what remains

of the wall is whatwe have and thewonderment of itssurvival must nowgive way to consul-tation and deci-sions as to how thewall can shape our

imagination for the future. Otherstatutory bodies all have a powerfulsay in what might happen around thisphysical structure but they, as well asthe citizens of the town, have thepotential to maintain and improve thisstructure in order to mark the town onthe historical tourist trail. It is notinconceivable that money mightbecome available to further enhancevarious features. Recently, one of thetowers on the wall by the Holy TrinityChurch was restored in a fashion andthere is a possibility of more work andgrants to follow. It may prove possibleto lure just a small percentage of themany tourists that visit the neighbour-

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ing towns of Cashel and Cahir to thissmall town in order to view it, pos-sessed as it is with many historicalbuildings and artefacts. But no lessimportant than luring visitors is thepreservation of the wall itself and cele-brating it as the iconoclastic feature ofthe town. From its functional past, thewall in its present charm passes on,one hopes, through emotional appre-

ciation to the future generations with asense of pride, a sense of history and asense of place. Whether it is for theexisting residents or for those whohave lived here and left or for thosewho will come to live in the newschemes planned for the town, all canshare in the local heritage which linksus, even if in a tiny way, with the widerEuropean Community. �

Spirits in the Bar by Vincent Murphy

Idon’t believe in ghosts, but I love agood ghost story. One that can

send a tingle down your spine, raisethe hairs on your neck and leave yourarms covered in goosebumps. I’mwriting this story in the dark of thenight having just come home from myplace of work, the family pub,McCarthy’s on the Main Street, whichearlier today I heard described on theradio as one of the “most hauntedplaces in Ireland”, by a writer who

specializes in the paranormal. I havelived there most of my adult life andhave never seen a thing. But othersclaim to have seen ghosts while in mycompany, so who am I to cast doubton their visions.

The first I heard of the paranormalactivities in the house was when I wasa teenager. My grand-aunt Nell was inher latter years (some would say thatshe was scarier than any ghost), livingon her own in the then run down

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hotel over the bar, and needed nurs-ing. The lady who nursed her told sto-ries that would rivet you to your seat.I heard of doors opening of their ownaccord upstairs or of locked doorsbeing found unlocked the next morn-ing with nobody elsein the house. I heardof pictures fallingfrom the wall for noapparent reasonbefore a member ofthe family died. Iheard about the threeloud knocks on thefront door the nightbefore Beatty died. Ihad been told firsthand by a gentlemanwho was working inthe hallway about anobject that came fly-ing down the stairsand landed behindhim in the middle ofthe day. Upon investi-gation, there was nobody foundupstairs. And despite all of this, I stilldon’t believe in ghosts.

Many years later, I was present on anumber of occasions when sightingsof people from beyond the grave tookplace. I never saw a thing, but the peo-ple who saw what they saw areadamant that something was there. Asthe setting for the paranormal visits isa bar, many have jumped to the sameconclusion . . . the visionaries weredrunk! Not so! Dispute as I may thevisions that were seen, I can confirmthat none of the people involved were

so inebriated that they saw visionsfrom the nether world.

Some of the visions could be putdown to winding people up by thedisbelievers, but one incident standsout as very believable. It was a quiet

mid-week night in thebar, with only a scat-tering of customersabout. As I collectedempty glasses from atable, three youngladies sat chatting at atable. One I knew,one I had met beforeand the other was afriend of theirs on afirst visit to Irelandfrom Wales. We chat-ted for a few minutesbefore the Welsh girlasked who the oldlady was behind thebar. I told her thatthere was no old ladybehind the bar unless

somebody had walked through fromthe back room. I looked into thatroom. There wasn’t a soul in there. Itold the girl that there was no old ladybehind the bar. Having been present atother sightings, I asked her to describethe lady. She said that she couldn’tdescribe her as she hadn’t paid muchattention to her, but noticed that herattire was of a different era.

Fearing that one of the family mem-bers was harassing the public from theother side, I asked her to accompanyme to the office. There are various pic-tures on the wall of generations of the

Kitty McCarthy

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Beatty and Nell looking at their brother's grave in Holy Trinity Church graveyard.

McCarthy clan. I wanted the Welshgirl to see the pictures in case herapparition was one of them. She wasdubious at first about retiring to theoffice with a stranger, but she wasassured by her friend that my interestswere purely paranormal. We steppedin and looked at my dead relatives onthe wall. She scanned them and sud-denly pointed at one. “That’s thewoman that I saw”. She was pointingat a photograph of my grand-auntBeatty, who had passed away almostthirty years ago.

Another night, a friend was homefrom San Francisco, and as we hadn’tcaught up with each other for a while,I asked him to hang on for a pint afterwork. About half-way through thepint, he declared that he could seesomeone beside him. Thinking that hewas winding me up, I decided to puthim to the test. I went to the toilet and

waited a few minutes before returning.He was as white as a sheet when Icame back. What he called me forabandoning him with the visiting spir-it I shall leave to your imagination.Once again I saw nothing.

The following morning, as I washauling kegs in to the cellar, my moth-er asked me to cover her shift in thebar as my grandfather, Dick, had hada stroke the night before. I then toldher about the strange vision in the barthe previous night. My aunt hadjoined her in the meantime, so Iphoned my friend who had seen thespirit. He described the attire of theman that he saw and both my auntand mother said the same thing at thesame time, “Uncle Gus!”

Numerous other sightings havebeen seen since then, some believableand some a little bit out there. A num-ber of people have turned up at the

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bar looking for the spirits, as the sto-ries have gained extra credibility bybeing discussed on television andpublished by recognized spiritual andparanormal investigators and medi-ums. One of the strangest visitors wasa woman who walked in one day anddeclared herself in contact with theother side. She said that she saw aman wearing a flat cap sitting in thesnug in the bar. She then told a cus-tomer at the bar that anybody could

make contact with the other world ifthey only left down their barriers. Shethen opened her shirt and exposedmost of her breast to the unsuspectingcustomer who was sipping his beer.She pointed to something on herample bosom. There was a tattoo of awitch on a broomstick flying acrossher breast. Her guarantee that she wasin contact with the other side. Thetruth is out there. Somewhere! �

Fethard and District Credit Union

At the AGM in December 2006the following officers were

elected: President, Marian Gilpin;Honorary President, Canon Power;Treasurer, Katie Healy; Secretary,Eddie O'Brien. Credit Committee:Jonathan Gilpin, Kate Spillane andJacinta O'Connell. Credit Control:Betty McLoughlin and CarolineO'Connell. Supervisory Committee:John Barrett, Marion O'Connor andRichard Nevin. Tellers: Phyllis Healy,Ann Nevin and Anne Healy.

During the Credit Union year 2006-2007 Transition year students DavidGorey, Ida Carroll and Lisa Anglimoperated as voluntary tellers. SinceAugust 2007 our opening hours havebeen extended to Saturday morningopening – commencing at 10.30am.Hopefully, this will attract the out-and-about Saturday morning shopper, aswell as facilitate those who work dur-ing the week. Our aim is to provide avaluable, voluntary service to mem-bers of the Fethard area and its hinter-

land.We would encourage more young

people to join, and now is idealopportunity at the beginning of theCredit Union year. In January 2007Jonathan Gilpin was elected as Vice-President of the Chapter X — of whichFethard is one of 16 Credit Unions. Itis a valuable asset to have a voice atChapter level and our Chapter X con-tains some of the biggest CreditUnions in the country, Waterford andClonmel.

We would like to take this opportu-nity of offering our sympathy to anyof our officials or members who havesuffered loss or bereavement duringthe past year. May you be safe andwell this seasonal time and for the yearto come.

Opening hours are on Friday morn-ing from 10am to 12 noon; Saturdaymorning from 10.30am to 12.30pm;Saturday night from 7pm to 8.30pm.Loan Applications taken on Tuesdaynights from 7.30pm to 8pm. �

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After the achievement of excel-lent Leaving and Junior Cert

results the year commenced on anenthusiastic and energetic note.Transition year, under the guidance oftheir co-ordinator, Ms Mary-AnneFogarty, had a hugely successful yearcrowded with activities — work experi-ence, mini-company, first aid, swim-ming, stage musical, Meals onWheels, Credit Union, carol singing,Daffodil Day, as well as numerousoutings, the final one to DelphiOutdoor Activities Centre in Mayo inglorious weather. Ida Carroll of TYentered a National PhysicsCompetition and got to spend a weekin Trinity College, Dublin.

December saw the staging of theschool musical in Abymill and theproduction of ‘Grease’ as always was areal winner.

In January 2007 three internationalstudents arrived at the school – VitorViera Antunes from Brazil, Franzi Fritzfrom Germany and Ricardo Caiazzofrom Italy. They adapted well to 5thyear and Transition Year respectivelyand stayed until the conclusion of theacademic year.

On February 5th 2007 the schoolheld its ‘Open Evening’. It was verywell attended and parents and stu-dents alike thoroughly enjoyed thewide variety of student displays and achance to view the newly refurbished

Patrician Presentation Secondary School

Award winners photographed at the Patrician Presentation Secondary School Awards Day on 19th October2007. Back L to R: Rebecca O'Donnell (Writers Quill Award), Angelica Bano (Photography Award), Ida

Carroll (Gradam na Gaeilge Award), James Cotter (Writers Quill Award), Colm Horan (Attendance Award),Kate O'Brien (Pupil of the Year 6th Year), Gráinne Horan (Paddy Broderick Perpetual Award), Jonathan Hall(Pupil of the Year Leaving Cert 2007), Melissa Wallace (Attendance Award), Eoin Condon (Sports Award),Aisling Dwyer (Photography Award), Alex Channon (Business and Enterprise Award). Front L to R: Jane

Fitzgerald (Pupil of the Year 2nd Year), Laura Rice (Padraig Pearse Perpetual Award), Jonathan Gilpin (Fethard& District Credit Union), Mr Ernan Britton (Principal), Ms Marian Gilpin (Deputy Principal), Anne Marie

O'Donnell (Guest Speaker and Past Pupil) and Fiona Crotty (Pupil of the Year 3rd Year).

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state-of-the-art science rooms. Agroup of students treated the visitorsto home cooking and a 'cuppa' in theHome Economics room under thesupervision of Ms Marie Maher.

Mr and Mrs Prendergast held twovery successful table quiz nights at theschool — one for library funding andthe second, the ever popular 'LourdesInvalid Fund Quiz'.

On 16th February 2007 approxi-mately forty students headed for the'ski slopes' with Mr Maher, MrLeonard, Ms Mahon and Mrs Griffin.The venue was Lavarone, Italian Alps.It was a new experience for all, butmany took to the slopes as thoughthey had been skiing for years. A tripto Verona, associated with Romeo andJuliet, was on the itinerary on the wayhome.

Easter heralded the beautiful sum-mer weather and of course the lastterm before exams. Congratulations toall our students who sat the stateexaminations and who did so well inthem. The academic year ended withthe usual Leaving Cert Celebration

Mass and the Transition Year Evening.On a sporting note we may not

have won any All Ireland Finals as inthe previous year, but we were in the'shake-up' and plan to reassess the sit-uation this year.

Mr Burke's lunchtime volleyballwas a huge success, as was his chal-lenge for Tanzania, which raised over€1,000. One of our 5th year students,Sarah Hayes, has now been chosen toplay volleyball for Ireland, and wewish her the very best of luck.

Under the careful eye of MsSullivan our uniform looks very smartindeed, with the crested jumper andschool jacket, now extended to 5thyear.

On a welcoming note for September2007 we extend a Cead Mile Fáilte topast pupil Damien Byrne, who ismonitoring the School CompletionProgramme, and Willie Quigley whois Home-School Liaison. MargaretBarrett, also a past pupil, has joinedSpecial Educational Needs and wehave three new International students– Angelica Bano from Italy, Esther

Full cast of Fethard Patrician Presentation Secondary School Show 'Abbabuja' photographed on stage after theirvery successful show staged for three nights in the Abymill Theatre on 5th 7th and 8th December 2007.

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Müller and Anna-Marie Limpachfrom Germany, and Lyubov Novikovafrom the Ukraine have joined firstyear, but sadly we said goodbye toXuan Wyatt, who has returned to SanFrancisco with her family.

At 11am on Friday morning, 19thOctober 2007, the Patrician /Presentation Secondary School stu-dent awards ceremony commencedwith Mass. The celebrants Rev. TomBreen and Fr. Gerry Horan welcomedall — the Principal and DeputyPrincipal, staff, students, Board ofManagement representatives, ParentsAssociation, parents and family mem-bers of students, ancillary staff, busi-ness representatives and our specialguest of honour, Ann-MarieO’Donnell, of Mockler’s Hill, a pastpupil of the school.

The choir, made up of seniors,Transition Year, 5th and 6th Year stu-dents was accompanied by KevinHickey. The interlude between the

Mass and the commencement of theawards ceremony was devoted to ourup and coming 2nd Year group ‘ZeroTolerance’. The band comprising ofNoel O’Brien, Ted Barrett, Tony Mylerand Gareth Lawrence treated us to avery professional ‘Simple Man’ com-posed by Leonard Skinner. ThePrincipal Mr Ernan Britton addressedthe assembly regarding the impor-tance of this day for everyone andhow it had become a milestone in theeventful year of the school. Hethanked all those who had helped inthe preparation for the event, particu-larly Mr Michael O’Gorman, MrDenis Burke and Mr R. Prendergast.He then introduced guest speakerAnn-Marie O' Donnell to all.

Ann-Marie completed her HonoursLeaving Cert in 1991 and is nowinvolved in a legal practice in WexfordTown. Ann-Marie's address was clearand practical, offering the studentsvery sound advice on their future

Patrician Presentation Secondary School 2nd to 5th year students photographed before they headed off on a skiingtrip to Lavarone, Italy, on Friday 16th February. The group were accompanied by teachers, Ms Marian Gilpin,

Mr Michael Leonard, Ms Marie Maher and Mr Noel Maher.

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careers and what road they shouldtake. Ann-Marie went on to presentthe ‘Student of the Year’ DruidCuchulainn awards to Jane Fitzgerald(2nd year), Fiona Crotty (3rd year) andJonathan Hall (6th year).

The Padraig Pearse Award for themost outstanding Junior Cert went toLaura Rice. Ann-Marie presented thePaddy Broderick Award to GráinneHoran. Denis Burke presented theSports Person of the Year awards toSarah Hayes and, amidst hugeapplause, Eoin Condon. DeputyPrincipal, Marian Gilpin, introducedthe Vice President of Chapter 10 IrishLeague of Credit Unions, JonathanGilpin, who presented the CreditUnion Enterprise award to AlexChannon.

Mrs Gilpin then presented theCredit Union Fethard Quill Writersaward to James Cotter and RebeccaO'Donnell. Mrs Margaret Prendergastpresented the Gradam Na Gaeilge

award to Ida Carroll. The best school attendance awards

were presented to Ted Barrett, FionaCrotty, Melissa Wallace, Colm Horanand Alan O’Connor.

In September the Fethard HistoricalSociety had organised a Town WallPhotography Competition in conjunc-tion with the Heritage Council ofIreland and Ms Patricia Looby, ArtTeacher, presented the junior 1st Prizeto Angelica Bano, one of our interna-tional students from Italy. Runners upwere Aisling O’Dwyer and XuanWyatt whose family have recentlyreturned to the United States, soXuan’s prize was collected by hergrandmother Mrs Phil Wyatt.

At the conclusion of the ceremonythe Principal Mr Britton presentedAnn-Marie O'Donnell with a framedphotograph to commemorate herreturn to the school as our guest onthis very special day. And so, passedanother beautiful Awards Day on a

Members of the Parents Association helping at the Patrician Presentation Secondary School Open Evening. L toR: Marie McGrath, Maura Gorey, Valerie Rice, Veronica Fogarty and Helena O'Shea.

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serene and sunny autumn day inOctober 2007.

On a sad note, we would like toextend our sympathy to the Maherfamily on the passing of Conor. Soyoung and so enthusiastic, Conor wasa member of the cast of the FirstTransition Year’s show ‘Temple Rock’.Many of his classmates who heard ofhis untimely death were exchangingmemories of Conor and themselves athis funeral and that first step onto the

stage of Abymill Theatre. May he restin peace.

As the season of winter andChristmas approaches the Principal,Mr Ernan Britton, Vice PrincipalMarian Gilpin and all the staff andstudents would like to extend ourhope for a happy and peacefulChristmas to all newsletter readers,wherever you may be, in far-flungextremes of the world. �

Members of the Parents Association photographed at their stall at the Patrician Presentation Secondary SchoolOpen Evening. L to R: Rita Kenny, Judy Doyle, Mary Carroll, Finola Anglim and Joan Hayes.

Ross Maher, Rathronan, Clonmel, with his parents, Seamus and Maureen, at his graduation with a MastersDegree in Civil Engineering from Strathclyde University, Glasgow, on 31st October 2007.

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Breda Kearney (centre), who graduated at Tipperary Institute, Thurles, with a Bachelors Degree (Honours) inBusiness Studies SME, is photographed above with her brother Tom and mother Biddy. Breda is originally fromSt. Patrick's Place, Fethard, and is now working for an Irish Engineering company based in Wembley, London.

Linda Corcoran, The Valley,Fethard, who graduatedfrom U.C.C. with a First Class Honours Degree in Biomedical Science.

Evelyn O'Connor, St. Patrick'sPlace, Fethard, who graduated

from the Institute of Technology,Carlow, with a Bachelor ofBusiness (Honours) Degree

in Marketing.

Miriam Carroll, Menlo,Fethard who graduated with 1st class honours degree in psychology from NUI Maynooth.

Rebecca Carroll, Menlo,Fethard, who graduated with 1st class honours

degree in veterinary medicine from

UCD.

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Abymill Theatre

The Annual General Meetingtook place on June 14th 2007.

The following officers were elected:Chairman, Joe Kenny; Administrator,Austie O’Flynn; Secretary, MarianGilpin; Treasurer, Agnes T. Evans. Tothe board: Eileen Maher, JimmyO’Shea, Carmel Rice, VincentMurphy, Michael McCarthy, MaryMcCormack and Bernard Walsh.

As usual, the winter/spring pro-gramme for the theatre was active andlively. The Fethard Players staged ‘12Angry Men’ (mixed cast) inNovember 2006 under the direction ofAustie Flynn. In early December thePatrician Presentation SecondarySchool took the popular musical‘Grease’ to Abymill, under the direc-tion of Marion Gilpin. Closer to

Christmas came Nano Nagle primaryschool girls with their Christmas con-cert.

Fethard Abymill Theatre was awashwith talent on Monday 19th March,when twenty boys, whittled downfrom an initial entry of over 12,000,auditioned before a live audience forthe lead part in a new West End pro-duction of Joseph and His AmazingTechnicolor Dreamcoat. Only twelveof these boys went forward to the finallive TV series of auditions, whichcommenced on BBC1 on Saturday31st March. Footage from the Fethardrecording was shown on the secondpre-recorded show on 7th April.Martin Scott, Editor, LightEntertainment BBC, was in charge ofthe production in the Abymill Theatre,

Fethard Players cast of 'The Country Boy' who had a very successful run in the Abymill Theatre with full housesfor the one week run in October 2007. L to R: Niamh Hayes, Anne Connolly, Pat Brophy, Mia Treacy, Joe

Hanly and Jimmy O'Sullivan.

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which went off without a hitch.The BBC television search show

called ‘Any Dream will Do’ came toFethard at the invitation of AndrewLloyd Webber. Andrew Lloyd Webbersaid, “There hasn't been a male rocksuperstar cast in a role for some timeand that's what I'm looking for –somebody like Justin Timberlake.” Hechose Fethard as the final test thatwould stretch the boys to their limit ashe invited them to perform for hisfriends, family and local people at theAbymill and Kiltinan Castle.

Andrew Lloyd Webber welcomedthe audience and Graham Nortonacted as MC for the night. Stars in theaudience included Westlife's andBoyzone's manager, Louis Walsh, aswell as a former ‘Joseph’ and

boyfriend of pop queen KylieMinogue, Jason Donovan.

Graham Norton used his free flow-ing humour to loosen any remaininginhibitions that a well catered for audi-ence may have had and then intro-duced a series of very polished actswhere the boys performed in variouschoreographed songs to display theirindividual singing talents and stagepresence. The audience were givenballot papers to mark their choicesafter the auditions. These votes werealso taken into consideration by thejudges when choosing the eight final-ists to go forward.

The evening concluded with refresh-ments in the foyer where the artistschatted to locals, celebrities andguests. The artists then retired to

Photographed at 'Joseph' in the Abymill Theatre on 19th March 2007 are L to R: Bob Lanigan, GrahamNorton and Andrew Lloyd Webber

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McCarthy’s to let their hair down andrelax. Some of these handsome andtalented young men are going back toordinary life once they are knockedout. That’s where reality TV bites.Louis Walsh said that he saw a poten-tial group in a few others, so maybethey will make it too!

Lee Meade was chosen as the newJoseph, and making a very good jobof it. It was a wonderful opportunityto ‘showcase’ Abymill to millions ofviewers in England and Ireland, and itindeed looked well.

Majella Hewitt-Fortes DanceExhibition took its annual stand, andon Friday June 8th Vincent Murphygave all our young hopeful localgroups an opportunity to ‘strut theirstuff’ in the aptly named ‘Any Scream

Will Do’. Young and enthusiasticbands Autocrats, Rootless and ZeroTolerance took to the stage and theyare all Fethard based.

Thursday night Bingo, is as ever, apopular night thanks not only toAustie, but to Cinta O'Flynn andGerry Fogarty, who are at the chalkface every Thursday night. ChristyMullins, Abymill’s caretaker, is everpresent during these bouts. Thanksalso to Mary and Benny Morrissey forancillary work. The Fethard Playersstaged this year’s production of TomMurphy's ‘The Country Boy’ inOctober and this was followed inearly December with the school pro-duction ‘Abbabuja’, written anddevised by Marian Gilpin and featur-ing the music of Abba. �

Photographed in McCarthy's after the ‘Any Dream will Do’ auditions were L to R: Annette Murphy, GrahamNorton, Louis Walsh and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

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The Autocats band on stage in the Abymill. Band Members Declan Doyle, Laura Rice, Matt O'Sullivan(guest), Kevin Maher, Fintan Maher and Lory Kenny.

Photographed in McCarthy's after the ‘Any Dream will Do’ auditions were L to R: Linda Shanahan, SusanHalley, Róisín Earls and Deirdre Lanigan.

Aidan Ward performing back in his hometown in the Abymill on 17th November 2007 L to R: RichardDunkley, Eithne Hannigan, Aidan Ward and Tom Portman.

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First Steps playschool is situatedin the Tirry Centre, Barrack

Street, Fethard. It is open Monday toFriday from 9.30am to 12.30pm andcaters for children aged 2 years 10months to 6 years. It is run by Cora(Breen) McGarry who has childcarequalifications as well as eight yearsworking in the childcare sector. Corais assisted by Mary Morgan who also

has previous experience in childcare.It is great to welcome back the old

faces along with the new boys andgirls. A really big ‘Thank You’ to JoanO’Donohoe and all the staff in theTirry Centre. If you have any queriesplease feel free to call into the TirryCentre or you can contact us on Tel:086 1686688. �

First Steps Playgroup

Our contribution to theNewsletter this year begins on

a sad note, as two of our most dedicat-ed members passed away in the pasttwelve months — Nuala Delaney, RedCity, and Mary Meagher, Cloneen.Nuala had been our President fromMay 2003 to 2006, and then was elect-ed Hon. Sec. Nuala worked very hard

for the betterment of the Guild at alltimes, and her kindness and supportto all our members will always beremembered. Mary Meagher, too, wasa very faithful member, and couldalways be relied on when a helpinghand was needed. Mary representedthe Guild on many occasions, in golf-ing and pitch and putt competitions.

Fethard ICA celebrating 80 years

Cutting the cake at the Fethard ICA 80th anniversary celebrations on 1st July 2007 are L to R: Aggie Barrett,Hannie Leahy (founder member) and La Curtin.

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At our Guild meeting in January 2007many tributes were paid to bothladies. We will miss them greatly. Maythey rest in peace.

We continue to hold our monthlymeetings on the second Tuesday inour hall at Rocklow Road.

On 1st July 2007 we celebrated awonderful occasion in our long histo-ry, the 80th birthday of the Guild inFethard. We are almost the oldestGuild in the country, Bree in countyWexford being, we believe, the oldest.We were blessed with a beautifulsunny day, one of the few this year.

Our celebrations commenced withHoly Mass, celebrated in theAugustinian Abbey. The celebrant wasFr. Timothy Walshe, and he was joinedby Rev. Barbara Fryday, who read thesecond reading. The ceremony wasmuch enhanced by the beautifulsinging of the Abbey Choir. After

Mass we adjourned to our hall wherea beautiful meal was served and therewas lots of opportunity for old friendsto have a chat and reminisce. We hada large attendance of present and for-mer members of ICA. Among ourguests were Federation President MrsNora-Mai Kennedy, FederationPresident Mrs Mary Quinlan, andspecial guest La Curtin. La served asPresident and Secretary and in manyother positions within the Guild overthe years. It was wonderful to see Laentering the hall again, she received astanding ovation from all present.

In place of the annual summer out-ing this year, we had a lovely night inBrú Ború on 12th July, starting with awonderful meal followed by entertain-ment in their beautiful theatre.Twenty-four members attended.

We would like to wish all Newsletterreaders a very Happy Christmas. �

Committee members of Fethard ICA Guild photographed at their 80th Anniversary Celebrations held in Fethardon Sunday 1st July. Back L to R: Sheila O'Donnell, Rose Holohan, Breda Slattery, Kathy Aylward, Betty

Lanigan, Kay McGrath, Marie Crean. Front L to R: Anne Horan (secretary), Ann Gleeson (president), Nora-Mai Kennedy (Federation President) and Phil Wyatt (treasurer).

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La Curtin photographed with some of her Fethard ICA Friends over the years at the 80th AnniversaryCelebrations held in Fethard. Back L to R: Josie Casey, Phyllis McDonnell, Aggie Barrett, Celia Byrne, Kay

McGrath. Front L to R: Kitty Ahearne, Kathy Aylward, Hannie Leahy and La Curtin.

Country Market’s 60th Birthday

On Friday 22nd June 2007,Fethard Country Markets cele-

brated its 60th birthday with foundermember Hannie Leahy cutting a beau-tiful birthday cake, baked by MarieMoclair, at their weekly market held inthe Town Hall. Hannie, the only sur-viving founder member, fondlyremembered many of the people whowere involved in the Country Marketthroughout the years which promptedus to republish this extract taken fromThe Farmer’s Gazette from sixty yearsago when the Fethard Country Marketwas founded.

“Our market started in most adversecircumstances. Vegetables had neverbeen scarcer owing to the bad weatherof 1946, and bread rationing, whichhad recently been introduced, was

stringent, and no one had surplusflour. All the other towns in SouthTipperary had been discussed as pos-sible sites for the venture, but the localcommittees, for some reason or otheranother thought that nothing could bedone.

Fethard Guild, spurred on by itsmembers, and against the advice ofthe chairman, who writes this report,decided to open a weekly market, onthe model of the markets run byWomen’s Institutes in England, charg-ing one penny in a shilling for all pro-duce disposed of.

We rented the bottom of the TownHall, which is in a central position, andwe insured it against fire. This Hall haswide doors which open straight off thestreet. It was being used as a store for

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empty packing cases and for a fireengine, and part of it is being used asan office for the town weighing scales.The ancient fourteenth century wallsare pierced with deep apertures, whichmake the hall very cold and draughty,and we had before ustwo months of snowand flood.

We put in plugs foran electric fire andkettle. Before manymonths had passedthe authorities decid-ed to block off a por-tion of our abode forthe fire engine, andthis was a blessing asit made the room ofmore manageableproportions and gotrid of some of thedraughts.

Some broken downfurniture was roosting in the hall, sowe arranged it to act as counters,when we had camouflaged it intorespectability with some Hessian fromthe country shop. Luckily, we hadinherited from a previous adventure, ashallow and very long chicken run,which had been used to protect eata-bles at shows. This kept the bread andcakes safe from too eager customers.Our third possessions were, a weigh-ing scales lent by Miss Drury, andsome excellent steel-framed chairs andtables, which were hired to the market.

We bought an electric kettle andwere lent an electric stove. We con-verted a handsome Victorian workbox

into the most efficient of moneyboxesby getting a carpenter to divide it intosloping compartments. We bought alock-up case for our books and wehad the loan of some egg packingcases. We had a few pounds which

had been subscribedby sympathizers, andwe had two jollyposters which showedglorious cakes andvegetables, and wereheaded, ‘The shape ofthings to come.’

Some local opposi-tion was to be expect-ed, and to meet this,we had circularisedevery householdexplaining our planssaying, “A Marketshould not conflictwith shopkeepers ortraders, as the prices

charged will be current market prices,and if the country women bring theirproduce into the towns they willspend their money in the town, anddo their shopping there. Where thesemarkets have been held, they haveproved a stimulus to business, andcreated a steady demand for high-class produce. We hope we shall haveyour sympathy and support.”

The report goes on to tell of theincrease to trade in the town, also ofthe opening of a brand new marketgarden during the first year of trading.

The pricing proved to be a problem,and the controller, May Quinlan, hadthe ultimate authority of the task. It

Hannie Leahy cutting the 60th Birthday Cake

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was soon found to be increasingly dif-ficult to look at everything brought induring the crowded half-hour inwhich the stalls were being prepared.To combat this problem the pricingwas done by the stall-holders, whobecame expert with added experience.

A Friday morning was chosen forthe day of the market, which provedto be a wise choice as it was a day forcollecting the pensions, also for coun-try people to go to the bank to getmoney for wages. The streets were fullof potential customers. Being a fast day,there were more customers for eggs,vegetables and savoury dishes.

The market, as reported, went fromstrength to strength. More than onethird of the total sales was in eggs andpoultry, and a dealer’s license had tobe taken out to comply with regula-tions, also a girl had to be employedas egg packer.

There were twelve to sixteen work-ers and every one needed, as they hadto cycle miles in all weathers, and bepunctual. There was to be a cup of teaand something to eat available. Thesellers were all but one, members ofthe ICA and loved the job.

From that first day when everythinghad been sold, and the takings wereten pounds, it was quoted, ‘We knewwe would succeed if we persevered!’

Fethard Country Markets was fea-tured on RTE Nationwide televisionprogramme on Wednesday 31stOctober 2007 as part of their‘Hallowe’en Special’ programmerecorded in Fethard. Hannie gave agreat interview and the town lookedreally lovely on the day. Also featuredwas Lonergan’s Pub where CorneliaRyan demonstrated how to make aseasonal Pumpkin Pie. �

Members of Fethard Country Markets celebrating their 60th Birthday at Fethard Town Hall on Friday 22ndJune 2007. L to R: Rena Kennedy, Marie Moclair, David Curran, Nellie O'Donovan, David O'Donnell,Hannie Leahy (founder member), Mai Kennedy, Christy Williams, Megan Sceats and Maura Meaney.

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Years afterwards, when we’d allgone our different ways in the

world and would only bump into oneother occasionally, and mostly by acci-dent, we were never quite sure exactlywhose idea it had been. I had alwaysthought it was Connie Coen’s - heused to think it was mine. What I doremember is how we used to talkabout it as we leaned against the door-jambs of Moll O’Brien’s chip shop, nomoney to play the juke box or the foot-ball machine or to chance one of Moll’sbags of chips. There were always someof us hanging around there in thosedays, looking up and down a mostlyempty street, hoping that somethingwould happen, something different,something unusual – but nothing everdid. And so we waited.

I seem to recall that it was Octoberwhen we first began to talk about it,that the evenings were beginning todarken earlier and earlier, that wintrybreezes were beginning to sneakdown Barrack Street and across thesquare of the old town.

Most Monday evenings this nor-mal, uneventful routine was broken bythe arrival on the street of an old armyjeep. It would swing aroundSchofield’s corner and pull up at theNissen hut on the Rocklow road, usu-ally at around half-past seven. We’dalso see older lads like Billy Treacyparading up and down the MainStreet in uniform, passing the timeand showing themselves off as theyawaited the arrival of the jeep from the

army barracks in Clonmel. They weremembers of the FCA (Fórsa CosantaÁitiúil) - in English, the Local DefenceForce. Every Monday evening they’dreport for basic training in arms drillin the Nissen hut. We’d often hearthem talk about the great crack theyhad at training with Sergeant Scanlan,who drove out in the jeep fromKickham Barracks. They used to jokethat FCA meant the Free ClothesAssociation and that they’d really onlyjoined to get the big overcoat andhobnail boots for the winter. Thegreatcoat would keep them warm incold weather and on frosty nights itwould serve as a quilt for the bed.

Then one Monday night, as Connieand I watched from Schofield’s corner,Sgt. Scanlan hauled a black, murder-ous looking machine gun and a tripodfrom the back of the jeep, as well assome rifles. We were intrigued.

Afterwards we met the boys atMoll’s in their greatcoats and hobnailboots. They told us that the blackweapon was a Bren gun and could firehundreds of rounds per minute. Ofcourse, they said carelessly, we havebeen trained to strip it down andassemble it again — blindfolded, in thedark. We were impressed. They alsotold us that the rifles were Lee Enfield.303s and that soon they would begiven one of their own to take home.No ammo of course.

And, they said, in November youcan go to a training camp for a fort-night and be paid for it as well as

Soldiers Were We . . . by John Fogarty

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being fed. I can’t remember what theamount was, except that it was almosttreble what we were being paid at thetime.

That did it. Connie and I decidedthere and then that we’d approach Sgt.Scanlan the following Monday night.

The only problem was we were bothtoo young, even though we were along time left school and working. Wewere both in our fourteenth year. Therequired age was seventeen.

‘Sure you’d pass for twenty,’ Connievery kindly told me.

‘What if they ask for our birth certs? We’ll worry about that when the

time comes’Still we hummed and hawed about

attempting to join.When the following Monday

evening came round we couldn’t keepstill and walked up and down thestreet, smoking. Finally we saw thejeep swing round Schofield’s corner asusual. We waited for a while untileverything had been hauled in andeveryone was settled inside.

Connie marched up to the door andrapped loudly with his knuckles.

The door opened and SergeantScanlan peered out at us.

‘Well, Blossom what can I do foryou?’ he said to Connie.

‘We want to join up, sergeant,’Connie announced, a little too boldly Ithought. I fully expected the sergeantto run us from the door.

Instead he asked us to come into thelight so as he could have a look at us.I followed Connie, who stepped inwith his chest thrust defiantly out.

Billy Treacy and some others werestanding around a table with the bigBren gun half-dismantled, big grins ontheir faces, expecting a good laugh.

Sergeant Scanlan looked us up anddown, like a dealer sizing up horses ata fair.

He asked our age. ‘Seventeen’, says Connie.‘Seventeen’, says I. ‘Hmm’, says the sergeant.‘We can show you our birth certs if

you want’, says Connie, managing tosound hurt and offended that the ser-geant should doubt our word.

I looked at Connie – show him ourbirth certs?

‘What do ye think, lads?’ the ser-geant asked, turning to the others.

‘Oh, they’re dead genuine’, saysBilly Treacy, grinning.

‘OK,’ Sergeant Scanlan said, ‘comeback next Monday and we’ll sign yeup. I’ll take yeer sizes now for the uni-forms.’

And that was it. We were practicallythere.

We were down to Moll’s like a shotto tell the others that we were in.

Every Monday night from then onwe were in the Nissen Hut saluting,clicking our hobnailed heels, present-ing arms, ordering arms, snapping toattention, doing left turns, doing rightturns, eyes left, eyes right – and all thecommands roared as Gaeilge: IOM-PAIGH, IOMPAIGH THART,GASRA, GASRA AIRE, ARDAIGHAIRM, THAISPEANAGHI AIRM,CLE, DAS, CLE, DAS.

The uniform, when it came, consist-

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ed of a greatcoat, a beret, trousers,jerkin with a white cord called a lan-yard to be worn on the right shoulder,some epaulettes to be sewn onto theshoulders, brooches for our lapels andberet and a pair of hobnailed bootsand leather gaiters. Wearing all of thatregalia we began to imagine we weremembers of some crack military unitand strutted importantly up the MainStreet like a pair of Napoleons.

Outside Scully’s shop we met Mick‘The Dust’ Ryan. He stopped and tooka long boozy look at us.

‘Is there a war after starting, lads?’‘No.’‘Well it’s nice to know we have sol-

diers like yeerselves to defend us,’ hesaid. ‘An’ I hope ye make good use of

the free clothes and boots.’Connie’s answer was unprintable.In mid-November Sergeant Scanlan

looked for names for the winter train-ing camp which would be held atKickham’s Barracks in Clonmel andlast for two weeks. Connie and I vol-unteered, motivated by the prospect ofthe handsome wages that would bepaid.

On a bleak November evening wearrived at the barracks. It seemed asthough we’d landed in Siberia. Wewere marched to a huge dormitorywith high ceilings and as draughty asa hay-barn. It was furnished withabout forty beds and some lockers.There was an open fireplace at bothends and a large skip filled with turf,

FCA group taken at Kickham Barracks in 1965. L to R: Tom Ryan (Carrick-on-Suir) John Fogarty (Fethard),Pat Lonergan (Carrick-on-Suir), Connie Coen (Fethard) and Willie Moroney (Carrick-on-Suir).

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and a lively population of fleas. Mostof the other lads were either fromClonmel or Carrick, and from the waysome of them were sizing us up andthe way Connie was eyeing them backI had a premonition that there couldbe an outbreak of some kind beforetoo long.

The Carrick contingent comman-deered the beds close to the fire at oneend; the Clonmel lads the beds at theother end. Connie, myself and a chapfrom Grangemockler occupied a kindof buffer zone in between. As a pre-cautionary measure we chose thedraughty beds near the door, in casewe should have to evacuate in a hurry.

A severe frost fell that first night andthe two turf fires were lit early. We sataround them berets on our heads,only taking our hands from our great-

coat pockets to light a fag, or crack theoccasional flea. Connie took out themouth organ he always carried in histop pocket and began playing, vamp-ing and stamping ‘The Banks of theRoses’ which drew some colourfulresponses from the Carrick/Clonmelcontingent-mostly to the effect that heshould shove that effin harmonica in aplace where the sun never shines.

Time for lights out was signalledwhen the door was kicked open by avery angry looking individual wearinga greatcoat with sergeant’s stripes anda cap with two tassels. He stood in themiddle of the dormitory and roaredthat it was time to ‘get those *******lights out ye shower of *******’.

We didn’t debate the matter. When we’d been in bed about an

hour the bombardment started. It was

FCA Group some years ago — maybe some reader will remember the day?

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hard to know which side started it butwithin a short time sods of turf wereflying from the Carrick to the Clonmelend and vice versa — with the Fethardboys keeping their heads under theblankets in no man’s land as occasion-al sods fell short onto our beds.

Very early in the morning we wererudely awakened from our slumber bya terrifying crash. I jumped up in bed.The lights were on and the angrylooking sergeant was back again, thistime wielding a short stick and using itto batter a row of decrepit lockerspositioned inside the door and bel-lowing at us to get the **** out of thosebeds straight away, get shaved, getdressed, get the blankets folded in theregulation way, get over to the can-teen, get ready for parade, get an effinmove on.

We scuttled through the frosty air tothe washroom which was about fiftyyards from the dormitory. There wasno hot water and the mirrors werecracked and permanently misted over,which made shaving a risky undertak-ing.

In the canteen we were served whatresembled a fry for breakfast. Thepuddings were as hard as hazel nuts.The toast was like a piece of timber.The tea was like tar.

‘Tis a hammer and chisel you’dwant here not a knife and fork’, saysConnie.

A big sour looking soldier wearinga huge white apron across his potbelly stood in the kitchen doorwaywith folded arms, as if daring anyoneto find anything wrong with his

preparations. The following days were spent

square-bashing in time to the bellow-ing of the demented sergeant, andlearning how to shoot using .22 rifleson a miniature shooting range in thebarracks.

One morning we were introducedto the hazards of riding motorcycles.The bikes looked like ancient museumpieces and our suspicions were con-firmed when the sergeant informed usthat they were ‘veterans’ of the SecondWorld War and had been built in 1939.They were unbelievably heavy, cum-bersome and difficult to keep uprightlet alone ride. The Grangemockler ladwas first to go. He went round thesquare like an Irish version of EvelKnieval, wobbling at first, slowingdown jerkily, suddenly surging for-ward, gradually building up speed,swerving, veering madly, unpre-dictably, the sergeant roaring himselfpurple telling him to stop before heeffin well killed someone, preferablyhimself.

Finally he came careering round thesquare towards where we stood wait-ing our turn, bearing down on us in along swerving loop, forcing us all toflee for safety before crashing to theground, the bike spinning and skitter-ing one way across the square andhimself the other. That ended themotorbike riding.

The first week passed. Early onWednesday morning of the secondweek all of the FCA recruits piled intoa couple of trucks and were transport-ed to the army firing range at Kilworth

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in Co. Cork. Twice the trip had beencancelled due to torrential rain. Therehad been a tremendous build up tothis trip Our abilities as soldiers, wewere led to believe, would be judgedon how we performed on the firingrange using live ammo fired from LeeEnfield .303 rifles. We had been drilledin the techniques of firing rifles:adjusting the sights, allowing forrecoil, lying spread-eagled at a certainangle ‘oblique to the line of fire’.That’s what Sergeant Scanlan said,repeating it like a mantra, ‘always lieoblique to the line of fire’.

Unfortunately, I had developed amassive stye in my right eye in thedays before going to the range. WhenI closed the left eye to look throughthe sights with my right the stye sud-denly reared up before me as big asthe bloody Matterhorn blotting outthe target. Even though I couldn’t seethe target I squeezed off the first shotwhen the command to fire was given.The rifle kicked back viciously catch-ing me on the chin, almost knockingme out. After five shots SergeantScanlan went around telling eachtrooper what he’d scored.

‘I don’t know where your bulletswent, Blossom’, he said to me, ‘butnone of them went within an ass’s roarof the shaggin target.’

I spent the rest of the morninghanding out bullets instead of firingthem.

On the last morning of the trainingcamp, after we’d handed our blanketsand rifles back to the quartermaster, apoker game got underway in an

upstairs room overlooking the quad-rangle where the jeep was to pickConnie and myself up and bring usback home. Connie sat into the gamewith four Carrick lads. I sat behindConnie, innocently observing the play.The game unfolded without incidentwith the pots being won variouslyaround the table. Then Connie,through a combination of luck andastuteness, won three pots in a row.Two of the games had developed intoa showdown between Connie and athin faced, chain-smoking jumpy kindof individual. He began mutteringaccusations and throwing murderousglances in my direction and at theGrangemockler lad who was sittingquietly smoking behind him. I satback taking in what was beginning toresemble one of those tense poker-playing saloon scenes from a Western:smoke curling to the ceiling, stakesbeing raised, met, raised again, tem-pers beginning to fray, hands hover-ing over gun butts.

When Connie won yet another pothe began to sympathise extravagantlywith the thin faced, chain-smokingjumpy individual saying, ‘sure you’rein hard luck there you’re just not get-ting the right cards you sir.’ Well, itdidn’t go down well with your man;after that things took a definite turnfor the worst. The thin faced, chain-smoking individual pointed furiouslyat me and the Grangemockler lad,accusing us of being in ‘cahoots’ withConnie and of giving him ‘tokens’whatever that meant. The otherCarrick lads began to mutter agree-

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ment with him and started throwingmurderous looks at theGrangemockler lad and myself.

Things settled a little when theGrangemockler lad and I were ban-ished from the table. Another handwas dealt. I began to pray that Conniewould throw in his hand. That wewould get out of there in one piece.But no, he had to go seeing and rais-ing yer man again. I looked out a win-dow and saw with gratitude thatSergeant Scanlan had pulled up in ajeep ready to take us back to Fethard.

Suddenly, in true Wild West fashion,there was an eruption at the table. Thethin faced lad dived across the tableand tried to grab Connie by thethroat, Connie tumbled backwards

and landed, chair and all, onto thefloor with a crash.

‘Kill the ****** ‘, someone shouted. We didn’t need to hear anymore. We

were gone, faster than rabbits at thesound of a gunshot. Down the stairs,Connie shoving coins into his pocketand shouting that the last effin pot washis and we should go back for it, mepushing him on and pleading withhim to shut up or we’d all be killed,the Grangemockler lad going headover arse down the last three or foursteps and we trampling right over himand out the door in a panic, into thejeep, me pleading with SergeantScanlan to get going quick. The lastthing I saw as the jeep headed for thegate was the Grangemockler lad being

Fethard First Communion boys class 1958. Back L to R: John Joe Napier, Ed Healy, Pierce Lyttleton, ThomasKeating, Austin Godfrey, Pat O’Brien and Michael O’Sullivan. Front L to R: John Fogarty, Tony Sayers,

Jimmy Hayes, Thomas Barrett, Connie Coen and Gerry Nevin.

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chased across the quadrangle by threeCarrick lads. The thin faced fella wasrunning beside the jeep waving his fistand shouting abuse at us anddemanding his money back. Then wewere out the gate and gone.

We never saw any of them again. We continued going to the training

sessions on Monday nights and some-times on Sundays we’d go off in atruck to the firing range at Kilworth orto the barracks in Clonmel for moreintensive training. But Connie and Ifound that we didn’t have a true voca-tion for the military life and graduallystopped going to the Nissen hut.

(Years later, though, Connie did jointhe regular army for a while.)

We held onto the hobnailed bootsand the greatcoats though. �

(Connie Coen and I went to schooltogether and were friends throughoutour teenage years until time led us indifferent directions. Connie was a live-ly and generous character with a greatsense of humour. He was alwaysready with a quip or a witty remark tokeep us laughing during hard times:he died tragically in England twenty-five years ago in February of 1982aged just thirty-one. — J.F.)

This story began on a cold wintermorning in Melbourne,

Australia. My daughter, son-in-lawand granddaughter had planned a tripto the Farmers’ Market in Red Hills,‘down the Peninsula‘ from Melbourne.

A Farmers’ Market, I thought –could be an interesting outing. I imag-ined a village marketplace with stallsselling farm produce and maybe hotcoffee and a cookup to take the edgeoff a cold early morning.

Speeding down the Peninsula atabout 6.00 AM, it was difficult to fig-ure out where greater Melbourneended and rural Australia began. First,it was all housing estates just like sub-urban Dublin. Then came the stock-broker belt with large houses hiddenbehind high eucalyptus trees, with

security gates and high fences.Finally some open country with

cherry orchards dotted here and there,the fruit recently harvested and thetrees dormant for the winter months.After almost an hour’s drive, wearrived at Red Hills village. The mar-ket has a permanent site outside thevillage and on every first Saturday ofthe month, come hail or shine, it con-venes from 7.30am till 12 noon.

Just past the village, we came onlines of cars, jeeps and trucks parkedon both sides of the country road andwe had to abandon our transport towalk the final half a kilometre to themarket site.

There was a nominal entry charge ofone Australian dollar — about 60 centsin our currency and we were in the

Red Hills Farmers’ Market and theBeaverskin Hat by Jim Trehy

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thick of the action. There were lots ofpeople moving around the large fieldon gravel footpaths between stalls thatsold all kinds of articles - fresh farmproduce, mostly labelled organic,home-made leather goods, poultryalive and dead, farm implements,flowers and herbs and even hand-crafted violins.

A couple of groups had taken upstands playing country music and theinevitable Peruvian pan pipes whichseemed to be so popular aroundMelbourne at the time.

There were stalls selling steaminghot foods and you could feast on acooked breakfast of steak and eggs,hot coffee, toast and pizza, all verywelcome on this cold winter morning.

Because we were there during thefirst hour of the market, there wasintense activity. “G’day mate, can weinterest you in a pot of home-made

preserves, fresh carrots, Irish potatoes,a merino wool fleece, (even) a Nubiangoat,” you name it, all was there.

In deference to my age, I suppose,my daughter bought me a pair ofmerino wool slippers – more likewoolly wellies, I thought. And, while Iscoffed at them at the time, I have toadmit they are comfortable in winter.

We got into conversation with onestallholder who made all sorts ofleather goods, belts, purses, wallets,bags and brief cases in different styles.Like a lot of the stall holders at farm-ers markets, he took time to chat andto explain that in winter on his small-holding (only about 150 acres) he andhis family worked with leather whichhe bought from a small tannery in hislocal town.

My daughter made some purchasesand on hearing that she originallycame from Ireland, he told her that his

Jim Trehy, Donoughmore, on his way to visit his daughter Angela in Perth, Australia. Jim is photographed inCork Airport with his daughter Gaye and grandson Jamie.

name was Sean Barry and his great-grandparents had come from Mallowin Ireland in the late 1800s. His wife,Sally, was of French extraction and herfamily were leather workers over gen-erations, hence the little industry thatthe stall was based on.

While Sally attended to customers,Sean chatted with us about Irelandwhich he had never visited but hoped,at some stage in the future, to do.

Enter the beaverskin hat! Next stallto the Barry’s was one which dis-played beaverskin everything – jack-ets, full length coats, bags and hats,hats, hats of every shape and size.

The elderly man sitting on a highstool was almost a replica of his St.Bernard snoring at his feet. Bothlooked so sad that I decided to try ona few hats, if only to cheer him up abit. Almost immediately, the mancame to life and went into a sales speilwhich finally resulted in my plankinga wide brimmed beaverskin hat on myhead and shelling out 27 Australiandollars – about €13 – to appease thesalesman and, I must confess, my ownfascination with hats.

Anyway, by now the sun had comeout and I needed shade so the hatstayed put and we continued our tourof the market. One of our calls was toa plant and flower stall where therewere proteas of every colour and size.Generally the protea is a massivebloom that is grown a lot in theMelbourne area and is in highdemand because it is a long lastingdecoration. We bought two bloomsthat would be equal to one large bou-

quet for the princely sum of $5 –about €2.50 – good value as a floraldecoration.

By 11.30, the crowds began to thinout. Only the food stalls remainedcentres of brisk business as the stallholders took a well earned break andrelaxed before packing up their gear.We went back to say goodbye to theBarrys who were now unwinding withtheir ‘stubbies’ and sandwiches andsocialising with other stallholdersabout the business of the morning.

Sean explained that, after the marketbusiness was over, it became a sort ofsocial occasion for an hour or sobefore stalls were dismantled and thehomeward trek began. So the marketserved two purposes really. First, itwas a sales outlet for all kinds of ruralactivity, harvested crops and localcrafts cultivated to supplement farmincome. But secondly, it was a socialevent for stall holders who often camefrom less populated areas and whohad few opportunities to meet andswop stories and information withother families involved.

Finally we headed back to our jeepladen with fresh vegetables, rye bread,a cuddly toy for granddaughter,Ashling, and, of course the beaverskinhat that sparked off this memory of aholiday spent in the environs ofMelbourne a few years ago.

That beaverskin hat has seen five orsix mixed seasons since that time andit is wearing well and is better thanany umbrella in an Irish summerdownpour. �

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Just when it seemed all was wellwithin FÁS, once again things are

very unsettled. It is envisaged thatmore places may be lost by March2008. It seems a great shame becausethe work carried out by CommunityEmployment Schemes is immeasura-ble. If this happens then the volun-teers’ time and resources will bestretched once again.

On a brighter note a lot of trainingcourses were completed during theyear — Classroom Assistant, ECDL,Sage Level 2, Health & SafetyManagement, Start Your OwnBusiness and many more. All ourlearners did very well and I congratu-late them on their achievements.

During the summer our three ladies,Linda Phelan, Melanie Ryan andMarie Hannigan, did great workpainting the centre during the sum-mer break. We have 12 participantson the scheme at present, Maura Ryan

and Monica Aherne in theCommunity Office, (deepest sympa-thy to Monica on the recent sad lossof her husband Mick) and LindaPhelan, Melanie Ryan, MarieHannigan, James Roche and TonyKeating who look after the cookingand upkeep of the centre. MartinBolger and Michael Morrissey are onTidy Towns maintenance and EddieMcCarthy in the GAA field. EmmaWallace helps out in the Day Centreand Annmarie Buck is in St. BernardGroup Homes.

I would like to say a big thank youto our committee, Fethard & KillustyCommunity Council, who are alwaysvery supportive, to all the staff whoworked so hard during the year andlast but not least, CatherineMcCormack FÁS. On behalf of all atthe Fr. Tirry Community Centre a veryMerry Christmas and a prosperousNew Year to all. � — Joan O’Donohoe

Community Employment Scheme

Sr. Monica Kevin OSU, formerly from Barrack Street, Fethard, photographed celebrating 70 years with theUrsuline Order in New York in October this year. L to R: Sr. Monica Kevin, Sr James Frances McDonald (50

Years) and Sr. Margaret Golab (50 years).

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Marriages

Weddings in the ParishMichael Sheehan, Cahir, and Nicola Carey, Cahir

Alan Connolly, Garrinch, and Valerie Colville, SpitalfieldFrancis Tyrrell, Árd Álainn, and Áine Doocey, Abbey RoadHugh Tierney, Inver (Donegal) and Victoria Roche, Strylea

Austin Smyth, Dublin, and Laura Doyle, StryleaMark Moloney, Redcity, to Edel Bradshaw, Congress Terrace

John Ivory, Kilmacthomas, and Elizabeth Holohan, Abbey RoadMark Neville, Scotland, and Stacey Baker, Ayrshire, Scotland

Weddings outside the ParishFrazer Duffy, Grove, and Joanna Sharpe, Grove (Rosegreen)Martin Power, Portlaw, and Niamh Lonergan, (Rosegreen)

Paul Murphy, Kiltinan, and Rachel Harwood, Terenure (Adare)Robert Lanigan, Tullamaine, and Judy Walshe, Kilmacthomas

David O’Loughlin, Coolmore, and Treasa Melody, Clonmel (Holycross)Richard McCarthy, Monroe, and Sandra Lucaben, Clonmel (Marlfield)

Kenneth Cleary, Ballinure, and Barbara Ahearne, Monroe (Italy)Tyrone Tobin, Kilnockin, and Edel Cryan, Frenchpark (Boyle)

Laura Doyle, Strylea, Fethard and Mr Austin Smyth, Firhouse, Dublin who were marriedon 23rd June in the Parish Church. Bridesmaids were, Mary Doyle, sister of bride and

Sharon Lyons friend of the bride.

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Boys and girls who received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion in Fethard on Saturday 12th May. Alsoincluded are Fr Tom Breen P.P., Ms Maureen Maher (teacher) and Ms Carmel Lonergan (teacher).

Tony O'Donnell, Drumcondra, winner of the EasterCup and Presidents Cup at Ierne Sports Club 2005

Jimmy O'Donnell, Sandyford, Dublin, prizewinnerin the P. Mac Gill Literary Competition 2007

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Happy 50th birthday to Valerie O'Meara who celebrated her 50th birthday with family and friends at TheCastle Inn, Fethard, on Friday 16th February 2007. Valerie is photographed above with Back L to R: Bill Carver,Tishy McCormack, Ronan O'Meara, Esther McCormack, Darren O'Meara, Valerie O'Meara, Peter O'Brien,

Glen O'Meara, Gina Power. Front L to R: Russell O'Meara and Ricardo Caiazo.

Members of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ syndicate photographed celebrating in Butler’s Bar after selling the unbeatenIrish mare ‘Feathard Lady’ for 270,000 guineas at the Doncaster August Sales on 8th August 2007. The mare

was bought by Howard Johnson for the Graham Wylie-owned Chesters Stud in England. ‘Feathard Lady’daughter of ‘Accordion’, won seven successive starts before injury curtailed a highly-promising career. Trainer

Colm Murphy had hoped to keep her in training for this year's Cheltenham Festival but a recurrence of a liga-ment injury led to her retirement in February. Feathard Lady is in foal to ‘Presenting’, whose progeny include

Cheltenham Gold Cup winner ‘War of Attrition’.

Playing For Life volunteers fromSouth Tipperary photographed

in the Esso Parish in Arusha, Tanzania.They are part of a group of over sixtypeople who departed Ireland onSeptember 26th for a fortnight’s expe-rience in Tanzania, a magical placewith amazing, friendly people, whoare musical and colourful.

In co-operation with the PallotineFathers and the parishioners and localcommunity of the Esso parish, PlayingFor Life volunteers are building amuch-needed Community Centre /Sports Hall. A vibrant local commu-nity group already exists in the Parishof Esso and despite its situation in avery poor slum area in Arusha thespirit and the determination of the

community has to be experienced tobe believed. Their desire to improvethemselves and their sense of commu-nity spirit is evident all around, andassistance with building this centrewill give them a much-needed boost.

Playing For Life also provides shortcourses to various sections of the com-munity in areas such as basic IT train-ing, sports and gymnastics coaching,account keeping, music and drama,and food preservation, such as jammaking and pickling. Playing For Lifeis a registered charity and promotesself-development through education,sport and health awareness. Directorsare: Tracy Piggott, Paula Murray,Robbie O'Malley, Barney Rock, PeterMcCloone and Ossie Kilkenny. �

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Playing for Life — Tanzania

Photographed at the Playing for Life project in the parish of Esso in Arusha, Tanzania, are L to R: Honor(Mulligan) Davern, originally from Fethard and now living in Cashel; Cathy Whyte, whose father is Noel

Whyte originally from Fethard; Mary Cloonan, Killenaule Road, Fethard; Joe Kenny, Rocklow Road, Fethard;Nuncie O'Dwyer, from Clerihan and working in Fethard; and Adrian Dooley, New Inn, whose mother is Joan

(Fergus) originally from Cashel Road, Fethard.

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Fethard & Killusty Community Council

The past year has been quite abusy one for the committee and

members of Fethard & KillustyCommunity Council. In addition tothe regular, ongoing, activities 2007saw the organisation involve itself in anumber of new initiatives. Theseinclude the establishment of two newgroups in the Parish, namely, FethardCommunity Alert Group and theFethard Childcare Committee, the co-ordination of activities to celebrateWalled Towns Day and the arrangingof a meeting for the residents of ÁrdÁlainn.

In June Fethard & KillustyCommunity Council hosted a success-ful public meeting to establish aCommunity Alert Programme for theFethard area. This meeting wasaddressed by Margaret Quinn,Community Alert Co-ordinator,South-East Region; Sgt. SeanSherlock, Crime Prevention Officer &Community Alert Advisor; GardaLiam Tobin, recently appointed Guardto Fethard Station and Cllr. JohnFahey, newly elected Chairman ofSouth Tipperary County Council.This meeting was Councillor Fahey’s

Fethard's new Community Alert Committee elected at a public meeting on Thursday 28th June. Back L to R:Margaret Slattery (joint-treasurer), Sgt. Sean Sherlock, Crime Prevention Officer & Community Alert Advisor,Geraldine McCarthy, Garda Liam Tobin (Fethard Station and Liaison Officer), Diana Stokes (joint treasurer).Front L to R: Margaret Quinn, Community Alert Co-ordinator, South-East Region; Cllr John Fahey, Chairman

South Tipperary County Council; and Michael O'Dwyer (Chairman).

first official function as CouncilChairman and his attendance wasgreeted with warm applause. MargaretQuinn informed the meeting thatCommunity Alert is for everyone, it isincumbent on each person to playtheir part and that everyone can do alittle in their own way.Neighbourliness is the key toCommunity Alert. On completion ofthe presentations it was unanimouslyagreed that a Community Alert Groupwould be established. The followingcommittee were elected on the night –Chairman, Michael O’Dwyer;Secretary, Margaret Slattery; andJoint-Treasurers, Diana Stokes andGeraldine McCarthy.

Another successful public meetingwas convened in November. The pur-pose of this meeting was to establish acommittee to co-ordinate the develop-ment of a purpose-built childcare facil-ity in Fethard. Representatives fromthe South Tipperary County ChildcareCommittee, Mr Gerry Hickey,Manager, and Ms Ger Boland,Development Officer, were in atten-dance. The meeting was chaired by JoeKenny. He informed the meeting thatthere was both a need and an oppor-tunity in Fethard to develop a pur-pose-built childcare facility in thetown. Joe’s address was followed by acontribution from Ger Boland whoexpressed her delight at the largenumber in attendance. Ger informedthe meeting that successful communi-ty facilities had been set up in manylocations throughout the county fromsimilar meetings. Ger advised that as

a substantial amount of the 2008budget has already been allocated itcould be likely that the 2009 fundswould be applicable to Fethard. Shefurther advised that an amount of €1.2million should be sufficient to developa multi-functional childcare buildingincorporating indoor and outdoorplay areas. Ger advised that gettinginvolved in a committee wouldinvolve a considerable amount ofwork and that the involvement ofskilled members would be highly ben-eficial. Mr Gerry Hickey added thatthe strength of the committee wouldbe greatly enhanced by ‘networking’:people on the committee might knowsomeone who would be willing tocontribute. Before the meeting con-cluded a committee was formed toprogress the project. The followingOfficers were elected – Chairperson:Joe Burke, Secretary: Helena O’Sheaand Treasurer: Carmel Kiely.

In recent months the CommunityCouncil has worked, along withFethard Historical Society and SouthTipperary County Council, in co-operation with The Heritage Councilof Ireland and the Irish Walled TownsNetwork in an effort to document andpromote our local treasure — TheTown Wall. The highlight of thisinvolvement was, undoubtedly, thefestival to celebrate Walled Towns Dayon Sunday, August 26th. A number ofevents and activities, all free as part ofNational Heritage Week, took place invarious locations and culminated in amemorable, medieval-type fayre in thearea between the Town Wall and the

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Clashawley River. At present a num-ber of archaeological consultancygroups are at work in Fethard assess-ing and documenting the built envi-ronment of the town with a view toproducing plans that will direct con-servation and future development.Draft copies of these reports – ThePublic Realm Plan and TheConservation and Management Planhave recently been made available. Itis envisaged that once the final docu-ments have been completed anImplementation Committee, whichwill include representatives from theCommunity Council, will be set up.

In an effort to promote the establish-ment of residents’ associations and toencourage new neighbours to meetand greet, the Community Councildecided to organise an informal meet-ing and to issue invitations to the resi-dents of new housing developments in

the town. In July, the residents of ÁrdÁlainn, a recently completed develop-ment at Killenaule Road, were invitedto such a meeting. While the turnouton the night was rather small themeeting certainly enabled neighboursto meet, some for the first time, andmingle. It is hoped that the seeds havebeen sown for the establishment of aresidents association in Árd Álainnsometime in the future.

In May, we were sorry to have tosay “Goodbye” to Suzie O’Shea. Suziehad commenced work as a YouthOfficer with the Fethard CommunityYouth Project in September 2006.Unfortunately, due to the lack ofongoing funding for the project it wasforced to cease. We hope that this situ-ation is but for a short time. While theproject was in existence for a merenine months almost eighty youngpeople were involved every week and

Photographed at the public meeting to object to the lack of funding and support from the government for theFethard Youth Project in operation for the past year are L to R: Edwina Newport (Secretary Fethard & KillustyCommunity Council), Rachel Murphy (Area Manager Foróige), Peter Grant (Fethard & Killusty Community

Council), Lisa Kavanagh (Youth Officer South Tipperary VEC), Gerard Manton (Fethard & KillustyCommunity Council), Maura Carey (Tipperary Regional Youth Services), Jimmy Connolly (Fethard & Killusty

Community Council), and Suzie O'Shea (Fethard Youth Project).

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approximately fourteen individualgroups were activated during the lifes-pan of the project. These figures speakfor themselves. The success of theFethard Community Youth Project wasdue in no small way to the involve-ment, energy and enthusiasm of Suzie.As we go to print final preparationsare being made by Foróige to secureadequate funding so that the youthproject can be reinstated and that thebadly needed provisions for youth canbe put in place once more. It is hopedthat 2008 will see the Convent Hallbeing transformed into a dedicatedYouth Centre. Once planning permis-sion has been secured plans are readyto roll so that building work and reno-vations can commence.

The Community Council are

indebted to Joan O’Donohoe and herstaff for their involvement and contri-bution towards the activities of theCommunity Council, particularly inthe Community Office, the TirryCommunity Centre and other loca-tions. Joan is an unsung heroine of theCommunity Council. Her official func-tion is as supervisor of theCommunity Employment Scheme butin reality she does an awful lot more.It seems, at times, that she carries outthe roles of all the officers of theCommunity Council, all at once!Thank you Joan. We would also like tothank our two local County Councilrepresentatives, Cllr John Fahey andCllr Jimmy O’Brien who are in atten-dance at almost all our meetings.

The members of the Community

Walking Woodies Youth Group photographed at their Christmas party in the Woodvale Walk CommunityHouse with adult volunteers Teresa Roche, Delores O’Donnell, Cora McGarry, Patsy Lawrence and Suzie

O'Shea (Fethard Youth Project) on 20th December 2006.

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Council would like to take this oppor-tunity to thank the people of Fethardfor their ongoing and continuous sup-port. Your weekly commitment to theCommunity Lotto contributes greatlytowards financial support to manyand varied activities in the town. Also,the funds collected locally helptowards the cost of the ChristmasLights, which add a festive cheer to theholiday season.

The officers of Fethard & KillustyCommunity Council, elected at theAnnual General Meeting held inFebruary 2007, are as follows:Chairman, Joe Kenny; Vice-Chairman,Peter Grant; Secretary, EdwinaNewport; Treasurer, Jimmy Connolly;Public Relations Officer, MarieMurphy and Scheme ParticipantDevelopment Officer, Peter Grant. TheBoard of Directors for 2007 of Fethard

and Community Council are: JoeKenny, Edwina Newport, JimmyConnolly, Peter Grant, ThelmaGriffith, Paddy McEvoy, MariaMurphy, Brian Sheehy, Diana Stokes,Ger Manton, Liam Hayes, Very Rev. Fr.T. Breen PP and Rev. George Knowd.

If you have any concerns in relationto the development of Fethard &Killusty or you feel that you havesomething to contribute feel free tobecome involved in the CommunityCouncil. Meetings are held monthly,usually on the second or thirdTuesday, in the Tirry CommunityCentre. On behalf of the committeeand members of Fethard & KillustyCommunity Council, I extend SeasonsGreetings to all our readers at homeand away and to wish you every Peaceand Blessing for 2008 �

Liam Hayes, Fethard Heart Safe Committee, photographed erecting the new defibrillator boxes on Main Street,Fethard, with Paul Shanahan (right) on 3rd March 2007.

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Marie Smyth, proprietor of The Well, Fethard, presenting a cheque for €550 to Jim Bond, representing SouthTipperary Hospice. The cheque was the proceeds of a pool competition run in the pub by the locals. L to R:

Anthony Hayes (winner), John Hurley (runner-up), Marie Smyth (The Well), Jim Bond (South TipperaryHospice), Tommy Gahan (organiser) and Michael O'Flaherty (organiser).

Presenting the proceeds of 'The Castle Inn' Benefit Night in aid of South Tipperary Hospice held on Saturday21st July where a total of €2,025 was raised are L to R: Kathleen Coen, Jim Bond (South Tipperary Hospice

Support Group), Denis Burke, Noel Sharpe, Irene Sharpe and Brud Roche.

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Aherne, Mick, Prospect (Calvary)Coffey, Michael, Mockler’s Tec & USA (Calvary)Connolly, Liam, St. Patrick's Place (Calvary)Conway, Peggy, Coleman (Clerihan)Delaney, Nuala, Redcity (Calvary)Donovan, Paddy, Fr. Tirry Park & MullinahoneFahey, Gerry, Coleman (Calvary)Grant, Patrick ‘Paddy’, Fr. Tirry Park (Kilfeacle)Heffernan, Johnny, Fethard (England)Heffernan, Michael, Lower Green (England)Holohan CSSp, Rev Fr Patrick, Ballinard (Rockwell)Lawrence, Tessie, Fr Tirry Park (Calvary)Madden, Patrick ‘Paddy’, Kerry Street (Canada)Maher, Conor, Killenaule Road (Calvary)Maher, Philip, Ballybough (Calvary)Millet, Gus, St. Johnstown (London)Morrissey, John, Fethard & Cottage Nursing Home Mullins, Maura St. Patrick's Place (Calvary)

The following is a list of deaths that occurred in the parish during the year. We have also included many ofthe deaths (from information supplied) that occurred away from Fethard and, in brackets, the place of

funeral service if known.

Deaths in the parish

Joe O’Dwyer Liam Connolly John O’Riordan Mick Aherne

Napier, Peter, The Green (Holy Trinity Church of Ireland)O’Dwyer (O’Neill), Breda, Farranaleen & NewbridgeO'Connor, William, Ballyvaden (Moyglass)O’Donnell, Mary, Killusty (Killusty)O'Donnell, Willie, Monroe (Calvary)O'Dwyer, Joe, St. Patrick's Place (Calvary)O'Flynn, Tess, The Valley (Cashel)O'Neill, Margaret 'Peggy', Main St. (Rosegreen)O’Riordan, John, Kerry Street and New YorkOwens, Kitty, The Green (Holy Trinity Church of Ireland)Prout, Kathleen ‘Kitty’, Killusty South (Killusty)Quinn (Barry), Kitty, Curraghtarsna & DublinShine, Alice, Crampscastle (England)Tierney, Michael, Bannixtown (Killusty)Wall, Tommy, The Green (England)Walsh, Pat, Fr. Tirry Park, Fethard (Calvary)White, (Dineen) Marie, Leamington Spa & Kerry StreetWhyte, Tommy, Main Street (Calvary)

Newsletter Contact DetailsArticles for publication

Joe Kenny, Rocklow Road, Fethard, Co. Tipperary.Tel: +353 52 31663 Fax: +353 52 30051 Email: [email protected]

Donations, Letters, Change of AddressesCarmel Rice, Brookhill, Fethard, Co. Tipperary.Tel: +353 52 31134

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Our dear departed 2007 from available photographs

Willie O’Donnell Kitty (Barry) Quinn Tess O’Flynn Philip Maher

Gerry Fahey Nuala Delaney Tommy Whyte Tess Lawrence

Peter Napier Peggy O’Neill Paddy Grant Paddy Donovan

Michael Tierney Michael Coffey Maura Mullins Marie (Dineen) White

Kitty Prout Kitty Owens Gus Millet Conor Maher

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Catherine Quinn (Kitty Barry,Curraghtarsna, Fethard) was by

any standards an exceptional personwhose sudden and unexpected deathat the age of 64 on 18th Aprilleft family and friends withdeep sadness and an abidingsense of loss. Catherine’s fourdaughters, Kristin, Jannine,Adrienne and Micheline,have lost a wonderful motherand friend. The massivecrowd of neighbours andfriends from so many walks of lifewho filled Rathcoole Church to mournher loss was a testament to the respectin which she was held.

Catherine’s career began as one ofthe state's first woman Garda and inthose days she was obliged to retireon marriage. She then became active

in her local Rathcoole commu-nity in Dublin. She respondedwith enthusiasm, was dulyelected and served with dis-tinction. The members ofRathcoole church choir gave amagnificent tribute to theirbeloved colleague at the funer-al service. We will all miss her

greatly. We have lost a very specialperson; a bright light has gone out inRathcoole. �

— Mary Harney

The late Catherine Quinn

Old Fethard School Group. Included are Mary O’Sullivan, Mella Cassells, Eileen Murphy (Rocklow Road),Elsie Ryan (Kerry Street), Vera Stokes (The Square), Molly O’Dwyer (The Green) and Noreen Cummins

(Kilnockin Road). If any of our readers can identify others in the photograph or when it was taken we would to tohear from you.

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As the emperor of ice cream out-lives all other empires, the

increasingly, uncommon, commongardener may yet outlast all the fads,fashions and experts of the modernfood industry. If 'local' is to be the newdiscovery in food production, perhapsthe vegetable gardeners will re-emergeto be cherished in their rightful pivotalposition as providers of nutritious andhealthy food.

Bill and Maura Meaney live lessthan a mile from Fethard inCrampscastle and they continue toprovide fresh tasty vegetables, gor-geous flowers and soft fruit from aplot of earth that has been tilled forfifty years. Much of this and otherassociated produce is available eachFriday morning as Maura is part of the

Country Market which was recentlyfeatured in the RTE television pro-gramme, Nationwide.

During the past decade, there havebeen great efforts made on a nationalbasis to have farmers markets both inrural and urban communities but theCountry Market in Fethard has beenquietly undertaking a similar service inthat it has provided for many years anoutlet for fresh vegetables and home-made produce at a reasonable rate tothe immediate community.

Daffodils begin the flower cycle inthe Meaney's garden followed bytulips and the wall-flower plants, thenSweet William, sweet peas, dahliasand finally Michaelmas daises withtheir purple pink flowers growing to aheight of four to six feet. Other vari-

Traditional Gardener at Crampscastle

Bill Meaney photographed on 15th December 2007 harvesting his Brussels sprouts in time for Christmas

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eties grown are gladiolus, the occa-sional sunflower and nerines, whichhave a slender pink flower and wait tobloom until October. The flowers aremixed with vegetables and fruit bush-es which makes the garden a lusciousdelight to look at. Gooseberries,blackcurrants, raspberries and straw-berries are the main fruits and alreadythis November the new ranks of thestrawberry runners are well bedded intheir fresh weedless patch of soil.

There is a tradition that it is moralor sensible to have seeds sown by acertain date, for example, seed pota-toes should be in by 17th March, butBill will have none of it believing thatthe casualty from late frosts in Maydoes not make it workable or viable."Not too early and not too deep", isthe simple but effective and prudentlesson learnt from many years of tend-ing the garden. And as for pest andweed control, "there is the hand andthe hoe", a constant cultivation of thesoil between the crops which allowsair, water and earth to mix while hin-dering and constraining the growth ofunwanted intruders, sometimes,known as weeds.

Roosters are the preferred choice ofpotatoes. Each seed potato is plantedin a bed of farmyard manure and itsyield and taste are regarded as mostsuitable for this well drained lime area.Bill believes in sowing in late springand early summer; parsnips in May,carrots and turnip in June and inNovember there are busy but proudrows of lively leeks ready to be har-vested as well as Brussels sprouts,

broccoli, parsley, Swede turnips andbulging heads of cabbage. Lettuce andscallions are grown all year round andthere is a plentiful supply of peas inJuly and a variety of beans inSeptember; there are rhubarb andchives and tomatoes from golden sun-rise to money-maker.

Needless to say, changes in lifestyleshave wrought changes in the garden;pumpkins have arrived though there isa lack of variety in lettuce seeds, driedflowers which were once so popularare no longer in demand. Who's whoin the parsnip prize winners have longbeen forgotten about in the nowdefunct flower and chrysanthemumshow in Fethard and the supermarketshelves do not note food miles or ourcarbon footprints. Nevertheless, thePiltown show has survived and con-tinues to expand and Bill and Maurahave been the recipients of many acco-lades there over the years for their gar-den produce.

The Meaney's garden plot is southfacing and is on a slight slope to catchthe sun and there is a low shelter forprotection from the north wind. If youcannot buy at the country marketearly on Friday mornings then per-haps you could go for a walk toCrampscastle and see, amidst a sea ofgrass, a garden that nearly always hassomething in bloom and blossom and,in its bountifulness, through the workof Bill and Maura, has an air of bless-ing about it, if that is not too strong aword. �

— John Cooney

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Fethard & District Day Care Centre

The Fethard & District Day CareCentre is now in its 11th year.

The service is expanding all the timecatering for the needs of our senior cit-izens as they arise. A daily pro-gramme is set out to incorporate asmany interests and hobbies that ourclients mightenjoy. The activi-ties for each weekconsist of: art,crafts, weaving,board games,cards, bingo, anddiscussions on thedaily newspapers.Our musicalentertainment isprovided on adaily basis byPauline Morrisseyand John Pollardwho have beenplaying theiraccordions on avoluntary basis foryears. Our clients also join in with avariety of different musical instru-ments, dancing and, of course,singing.

We are now getting ready for ourChristmas Bazaar. The clients are busysewing and knitting, making a varietyof crafts including Christmas cards,Christmas gift tags and dusters, all ofwhich will be on sale. As our bazaartakes place in November we willshortly be decorating the centre withan exhibition of the paintings our

clients did throughout the year.Exercise is so important in all our

daily lives that it has become a dailyactivity in the centre. Over the pastyear we had weekly lessons in Tai-Chiwhich is very good for both body andsoul. In the afternoons our clients

enjoy a relaxingmassage of theirhands and feetafter a busy morn-ing.

We paid a visitto theSlievenamon GolfClub courtesy ofthe Clonmel LionsClub. We enjoyeda lovely afternoonof beautiful foodfollowed by musicand dancing.

In March weheld a table quiz inButler's Sports Bar,Main Street. Thank

you to Philip and Anne (proprietors)for facilitating us, to all our sponsorsof prizes and all who took part andwho helped in any way to make thisnight a huge success.

For our summer outing we enjoyeda trip to Dungarvan via the beautifulscenic Vee. Afterwards we had a love-ly meal at Slievenamon Golf Club.

Our Christmas party was held in theDay Centre at the Tirry Centre. Thecatering staff put on a fabulous mealwith all the trimmings.

Tipp FM Radio 'Down Your Way' presenter EamonO'Dwyer interviewing musicians John Pollard and

Pauline Morrissey at the Day Care Centre.

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The Day Centre Committee meetonce a month. Also once a month wehold a ‘Senior Day’, where our elderlyneighbours who do not attend the cen-tre can avail of a chiropody service. Thedistrict nurse also attends and a hotmeal is served. Thank you to staff, vol-unteers and transition year students.

The committee members are as fol-lows: Thelma Griffith (chairperson),Jimmy Connolly (vice-chairperson),Fionnuala O’Sullivan (secretary), LiamHayes (treasurer), Marie Murphy, JoanO’Donohoe, Carmel Rice, NellieO’Donovan, Nora Lawrence, Joe

Kenny, Breda Nolan, DesmondMartin. Our employed staff areGeraldine McCarthy, supervisor of theDay Care Centre and Michael Cleereour minibus driver. We would like totake this opportunity to say ‘Thankyou’ to Phil Wyatt and Megan Sceatsfor their tireless work as committeemembers for several years. Phil andMegan retired from the committee thisyear.

A very happy and peacefulChristmas to our families, friends andneighbours and to you our readers,from all at the Day Centre. �

Presentation of a cheque of €2000 to Fethard Day Care Centre, proceeds from a Vintage Road Run and aCharity Horse Ride organised jointly by the Tipperary Vintage Motor Club and Premier Harriers. Back L to R:David Burke, Pamela Burke, Tom Shanahan, Nora Lawrence, Jimmy Connolly, Geraldine McCarthy. Front L to

R: Eddie Murphy (Tipperary Vintage Motor Club), Tommy Griffin (Premier Harriers), Thelma Griffith(Fethard & District Day Care Centre) and Joan O’Donohoe (Fethard Community Employment Scheme).

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Three school friends meeting after 40 years at The Castle Inn L to R: Chris Mackey, Tommy Shea and MichaelMullins. The photograph was taken in August 1999. Michael Mullins died in 2006.

Donal wins photographic competitionThe winners of the €10,000

‘Notice Nature’ TV3 WildlifePhotographic Competition were pre-sented with their prizes by Mr JohnGormley, TD, Minister for theEnvironment, Heritage & LocalGovernment at a receptionin the Custom House.

The second prize waswon by Donal Mullinsfrom Fethard for his pho-tograph of a longhornbeetle, entitled ‘The LoneExplorer’. Donal, anemployee in HSE Clonmelwon €3000 of the €10,000prize fund. The photo-graph was taken at the Galtee moun-tains. The competition was run in con-junction with TV3's weathermanMartin King who encouraged thepublic to send their wildlife photo-

graphs to him during the month ofJune.

Speaking at the prize giving ceremo-ny, Minister Gormley expressed hisdelight at the public response to thecompetition stating, "the interest in the

campaign shows thekeen interest the Irishpeople have in their nat-ural environment".

The judges' com-ments on DonalMullin's photo: “TheLone Explorer is asuperb photo. With theanimal shown as a smallpart of a big picture we

are invited into another world. Thepattern and form of the fern and thecontrast in colour between it and thebeetle, make this a lovely and interest-ing image." �

Donal Mullins and Stephanie Pagliaccio

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Donations Received 2007Acknowledged below are donations (€10 and over) received from readers and organisations up to 30th

November 2007. We would also like to thank all those who wished to remain anonymous.

Ahearne, Bridie, YoughalAherne, Joan (Murphy), Clondalkin, DublinAllen, Vincent, EdenderryAnglim, Monica (Woodlock), New Jersey USAArkell, Joan (O’Donnell), WarwickArmstrong, Monica (Dwyer), NorthamptonAylward, Mrs. Mary, BrayAylward, Tony & Paula, NaasBarnes, Frances (O’Halloran), Kent,Barrett, Angela (McCarthy), ArdfinnanBarrett, Richard, DublinBarry, Fr. Michael, BorrisoleighBarry, Michael, KilkennyBarry, Rose (Ryan), LismoreBeavis, Pat (Finn), Herts., EnglandBoulton, Valerie, Bristol, UKBradley, Teresa (Fogarty), West Sussex,Bradshaw, Mattie, ArdfinnanBramley, Anna (Skehan), New South WalesBrett, Teresa (Leahy), KilfeacleBrowne, Nora (Ryan), RathdowneyBurke, Eamonn & Nora, Tralee, Co. KerryBurke, Joanne, DublinBurke, Mary, ThurlesBurke, Richard, Monagarriff, Clonmel.Burke’s Bridge Bar, FethardButler, Mike, Limerick CityByard, Dr. Donal, Cincinnati, USAByrne Healy, Peg, New JerseyByrne, John, Ballincollig, CorkByrne, Michael, Wellington, New ZealandByrnes, George, Texas, USACahill, Michael, New YorkCaraher, Pat, Ballybay, Co. Monaghan.Carey, Johnny, The Green, FethardCarroll, Brendan (Morrissey), Isle of AngleseyCasey, Fionnuala (Murray), CorkCasey, Michael, Blackrock, DublinCasey, Rosemarie, Wimbledon, LondonClark, Rita, San Mateo USAClear, Margaret (Gough), California USACoady, Johnie & Mary, Dorset, England.Coffey, Marie, Leeds, EnglandCollins, Olivia (Schofield), TemplemoreColville, Anthony, Essex, EnglandColville, Tony & Maeve (O’Shea), TullamoreComerford, Esther (Nevin), KilkennyConnolly, Sean, KilsheelanConnolly, Thomas, Essex UKCord, J., Sussx, EnglandCrane, Tom, Illinois USA

Cross, Carl, Blackrock, DublinCrossman, Breda (McCarthy), London E4Crowley, Maura (Butler), Ballyneale, Co. TippCummins, Gus, PeterboroughCummins, Joan (Sayers), CashelCummins, Liam, ClonmelCummins, Michael, YorkshireCummins, Mrs. R., Hemel Hempstead, UKCurran, Timmy, Welwyn Garden City, UKCurtin, Jacqueline (Moloney), StillorganDalton, Aine (Tierney), Oakland, CaliforniaDalton, Claire (Morrissey), London NW10Dalton, Michael, Howard Beach, NYDanaher, Mary, FethardDarcy, Mr & Mrs Phil, Kent, EnglandDavern, Honor (Mulligan), CashelDavey, Catherine (O’Connor), Penzance, CornwallDavin Haran, Mrs Lois, New YorkDawson, Sheila (Cummins), Solihull, West MidlandsDelahunty, Steve & Kathy, Novato, USADelaney, Catherine (Bergin), Nottingham, UKDelguidice, Mick & Peggy (Bedford), LondonDevlin, Rainy (Healy), Toledo, Ohio, USADixon, Patrick, EnniscorthyDodman, Gemma (Walsh), Eastbourne, UKDoheny, Marion (Fitzgerald), Ealing, LondonDouglas, Patsy (Quinlan), SwedenDownes, Mary, CahirDuffy, Katherine, Batley, West YorkshireDunphy, Deborah (Guiry), Dunhill, Co. WaterfordDwyer, Geraldine (Fitzgerald), Newmarket-on-FergusEverard, Leonie, NSW, AustraliaEverard, Richard, HollandFahy, Brigid (O’Dwyer), New YorkFennell, Kathleen, MiddlesexFergus, Helen, Monaghan TownFethard & Killusty Community CouncilFethard BallroomFethard Boy ScoutsFethard Bridge ClubFethard Community Employment SchemeFethard Community GamesFethard Country MarketsFethard Folk Museum & Car Boot SaleFethard GAA ClubFethard Girl GuidesFethard Historical SocietyFethard ICAFethard Legion of MaryFethard Sports CentreFethard Tidy Towns

First Steps Playgroup, FethardFitzgerald-Ryan, Denis & Sheena, MiddlesexFitzgerald, Con, BradfordFitzgerald, Jimmy, Fenit, Co. KerryFitzgerald, Paddy, Wrexham UKFitzgerald, Patrick, Leicester UKFitzpatrick, Jo Beatty, Long Island, NYFitzpatrick, Thomas, Woodlawn, New York Flanagan, Frank & Rita (Fitzgerald), Bristol UKFlanagan, Tony, London W5Flannery, James, Perrysburg, USAFlynn, Denis, Redhill, SurreyFlynn, Mick, Bradford, EnglandFlynn, Pat, West Yorkshire, EnglandFogarty, John & Veronica, Redcity, FethardFox, Andy, ThurlesFrewen, Willie, Fenor, Co. WaterfordGibson, Mrs M., Tullaroan, Co. KilkennyGluck, Kathleen (Morrissey), Isle of WightGreene, Laura (Cummins), ClonmelGriffin, Ena, Herts AL7 EnglandHalley, John, Dublin 16Hanlon, Mary (Ryan), Dalky, DublinHannigan, Dorothea (Schofield), CashelHanrahan, Alice (Phelan), London W4Harkin, Jennifer (Cummins), Old LeighlinHarrington, Maurice, Cheshire, UKHayes, Canon Matthew, Bath, UKHayes, Pat & Mary (Anglim), QueenslandHayes, Willie, RoscreaHeffernan, Austin, Wellford, N.Z.Heffernan, Larry & Inger, Oslo, NorwayHeffernan, Michael, Richmond, USAHenehan, Paddy, Dublin 20Hennessy, Paddy and Mary (Smith), MiddlesexHetterley, David & Frances (Kenrick), HerefordHolloway PP, Fr. James, PallasgreenHoward, John & June, New YorkHowes, David, Hampshire, UKHunt, Maureen (Mackey), Staffordshire, UKJakeman, Rodney, Cheshire UKJohnson, Dr. Brian & Joan (Carey), USAKane, Dermot, Dublin 8Kavanagh, Rena (Keyes), WaterfordKeane, Joe, PortlaoiseKeane, John, TullamoreKelly, Lydia, Fermoy, CorkKennedy, Fr. A.B., PortumnaKenny, Carol & Billy, The Green, FethardKenny, Larry & Rosena, Centra, FethardKenny, Maura (Stokes), Dublin 6Kenrick, John, CashelKerr, Colleen, Ontario, CanadaKevin OSU, Sr. Monica, New YorkKidd, Ethel (Whyte), WaterfordKillusty Soccer ClubKnight, Mai, Wantage, UK

Leahy, Gerry, KilkennyLee, John, CorkLonergan, Conor, Killiney, DublinLonergan, Thomas, Preston, UKLonergan’s Bar and Restaurant, FethardLooby, John & Patricia (Halloran), SurreyLovatt-Dolan, Elizabeth (Quirke), Dublin 14Lyons, Alice (McDonnell), BirkenheadMacDermid, Walt, Silver Spring, MD, USAMackay, Ann (Murphy), Devon, EnglandMackey, Denise, London SW16Maher, Bill, Dublin 6Maher, Geraldine, KilkennyMallon, Nuala (Kenny), Sandymount, Dublin 4Mann, Bridget (Sheehan), London E6Mannion, Cathryn (Byrne), AthloneMarshall, Frank, KilkennyMarshall, Tom & Patricia, PortlaoiseMartin, Lucy (Wyatt), Berkeley Lake, GeorgiaMartley, Sr. Margaret, CorkMcCahery, Monica (Kearney), ManchesterMcCarthy, Don, Leixlip, KildareMcCarthy, Kitty, Main Street, FethardMcCarthy, Tony, ClonmelMcCarthy’s Hotel, FethardMcCormack Sheridan, Eileen, Naas, Co. KildareMcCormack-Herkommer, Lorraine, GermanyMcCormack, Fergus, Copenhagen, DenmarkMcCormack, Thomas, Gwynedd, WalesMcLean, Arthur, Thompson, USA McNulty, Mary (Maher), Bedford, UKMeagher, Bridie (Phelan) RIP, BirminghamMeaney, James J., London SW19Meaney, Michael, Ipswich, UKMeehan, Mrs Ellen, Oklahoma, USAMillett, Augustine, West Norwood, LondonMohan, Breda (O’Donnell), Surrey, EnglandMoloney, Patrick F., Bucks. UKMoloney, Tom, Northampton UKMooney, Anna (Skehan), BelfastMoore, Mary (Gorey), DroghedaMoran, Bro. James, Abbeyleix, Co. LaoisMorrissey Owen, Brigid, Warwickshire, UKMorrissey, Billy, Herts. UKMorrissey, J. J., Tralee, Co. KerryMorrissey, Mamie (Murphy), FethardMorrissey, Mary, London N19Morrissey, Patsy, Swords, Co DublinMorrissey, Pauline (Sheehan), FethardMorrissey, Shaun, Morrissey, Teresa (McCarthy), BallymacarbyMulligan, Declan, San FranciscoMullins, Denis, New JerseyMullins, Paul, LondonMullins, Vincent, North Yorks UKMurphy, Muriel (Mullins), New RossMurphy, Patrick, Braintree, Essex UK

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Nagle, Anastasia (Kelly), BanshaNeville, Michael, CorkNeville, Roger, TullamoreNeville, Seamus, TramoreNevin, Gerry, New YorkNewport, Tony and Mary, Congress Terrace, FethardNichols, Betty (Dineen), Warwick UKO’Brien OSU, Sr. Philomena, Blue Point, N.Y.O’Brien, Cathy, New YorkO’Brien, Margaret (Butler), LimerickO’Brien, Mary (Kenrick), LimerickO’Carroll, Lila, CaliforniaO’Connell, Gabrielle (Hayes), WaterfordO’Connell, Katie, West Yorkshire, UKO’Connell, Peg (Darcy), Basildon, EssexO’Connor OSA, Fr. John, DungarvanO’Connor, Mary, Westport, Co. MayoO'Donnell, James, Tuckhoe, New YorkO’Donnell, Anna (Mackey), Niles, IllinoisO’Donnell, Jim & Betty (O’Sullivan), Minnesota, USAO’Donnell, Jimmy, Dublin 16O’Donnell, Joe, ClonmelO’Donnell, Mary (O’Meara), Ontario, CanadaO’Donnell, Michael, London N4O’Donnell, Tony, Dublin 9O’Donovan, Gabrielle (Mackey), Tullow Road CarlowO’Dwyer, Chris and John, Strylea, FethardO’Flynn, Peggy, BallincolligO’Gorman, Paddy, Woking, Surrey.O’Hanrahan, Patrick, London W9O’Hara, Catherine, Oxford, England.O’Hare, Patricia (Murphy), LimerickO’Keeffe, Larry & Helen (Cummins), ClonmelO’Kennedy, Peggy, WaterfordO’Mara, Jimmy, New YorkO'Neill PP, Rt. Rev. Msgr. William, Savannah, USAO’Neill, Hal, CorkO’Reilly, Rita (Walsh), Dunadry, Co. AntrimO’Rourke, Paddy, Dublin 6WO’Sullivan, Brian & Edith, Ayr, ScotlandO’Sullivan, Michael, Rathvin, FethardParkinson, Teresa (Hickey), Lancashire UKPereira, Geraldine (White), Madeira, PortugalPond, Mrs P., Kent UKPower, Ned, Wolverhampton UKPurcell, Tom, Burke Street, FethardQuirke, Joe & Hayley, Masterton, New ZealandReeves, Maureen (Fogarty), Shrewley, UKRobinson, Bridget (Smith), DundalkRoche, Peggy (Kenny), ThurlesRussell, Rita (Leahy), Carrick-on-SuirRyan (Jnr), Mattie, Buffana, KillenauleRyan, Breda (Grant), GoldenRyan, Donal, Kentucky, USA

Ryan, John (Boxer), KilsheelanRyan, Majella (Neville), Ballinure, ThurlesRyan, Mary (Murphy), CashelRyan, Michael J., St. Albans, Herts UKRyan, Michael, MonasterevinRyan, Noel, Surrey UKRyan, Philip, Kilcoole, Co. WicklowSgarlata, Patricia (Sheehan), Loudonville, NYShannon, Tony, Leeds, UKSharkey, Neil, GalwaySheehan, Patrick, London N17Shine, Nessa (O’Donovan), London E7Skehan CSsR, Rev. William, PhilippinesSkehan, Nicholas, DublinSlattery, William, MitchelstownSquires, May (O’Dwyer), EssexStapleton, Martin & Rita (O’Grady), Dublin 7Staunton, Rena (Stokes), London NW1Sweeney, Carol (Delahunty), Westminster, USASzwarc, Agnes (Culligan), Kent UKTaylor Family, Saucestown, FethardTingley, Ellen (Culligan), Seven Oaks, Kent, UKTobin, Michael, Oak Lawn, USATobin, Patrick & Ellen (Walsh), ClonmelTorpey, Kitty (Strappe), CambridgeTotonchi, Louise (Kenrick), IllinoisTrehy - Halliday, Max, SydneyTumpane, Breeda (Lucey), NaasVoss, Eleanor (Morrissey), Surrey UKWade-Palmer, Eileen (Doherty), HampshireWade, Monica (Lonergan), CashelWaldron, Paul & Joan (Quinlan), ClonmelWalsh OSA, Fr. Joseph, Victoria, AustraliaWalsh, Anne (Kenrick), Glenageary, Co DublinWalsh, Gerard, Ontario, CanadaWalsh, Mary (Fahy), PortlawWalsh, Pat, Leeds UKWalsh, Pat, NSW AustraliaWalsh, Tony, OrmskirkWarren, Susan, Omaha USAWhelan, Anne (Schofield), Whelan, Jimmy & Susan, PrestonWhelan, Paddy, London SE13White, Eileen, DranganWhyte, Michael, Leicestershire UKWilkins, Christine (Sayers), Taghmon, Co. WexfordWoodlock, Michael, Flancare, ClonmelWoodlock, Vincent, FethardWoodward, Sheila Aline, Warkickshire UKWyatt, Frank, North Carolina, USAWyatt, Kathryn, Lausanne, Switzerland Wyatt, Kevin, Phoenix, ArizonaWyatt, Paul, California USAWynne, Monica (Dwyer), Clonmel

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If, for any reason, we have omitted your name, please let us know and we will acknowledge your donation next year.

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Group photographed at the Patrician Presentation Secondary School Class Reunion of 1980/1981 at the FethardArms on Friday 29th December 2006.

Some of the large group of children and adults that turned out for the Annual Christmas Carols on the streets ofFethard in aid of the CRC 'Santa Bear Appeal' on Thursday 21st December 2006.

Patrick Keating who diedin London on 12th

November 2006. Patrick was originally

from Cashel Road and isburied in Kilbride,

Callan.

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Members of Fethard Foróige Club photographed with leaders at their meeting on Friday 27th April 2007 beforeheading off for a trip to the cinema in Clonmel. The club hold their meetings every Friday evening in the ICA

Hall from 7pm to 8.30pm.

Fethard Under-14 team, South Champions, photographed after beating St. Mary's 1-9 to 0-5 in the Under-14South Hurling Final played in Clonmel on Monday 3rd September 2007. Congratulations to Fethard’s Under-14 hurlers who put on a terrific performance against a physically stronger St. Mary’s side to win the South Finalbefore a large attendance at Clonmel Óg GAA field. After a slow scoring start the team finally settled and com-manded the field in almost every area with some great individual displays of hurling. The final score was 1-9 to

0-5 and it was a particular proud day for Paddy Lawrence, who had three of his grandchildren on the team,Alan (captain), Garreth, and his great grandchild Dean Butler.

St. Patrick’s Boys National School Sixth Class 2007 L to R: Gary Bradshaw, Paul Norrby, Brian Healy, Adam Hall, Gerard Gorey, Kevin Shine and Colin Grant.

Long time foot-follower of Tipperary Foxhounds, Tony Newport, photographed above on his pony 'Minnie Gray'outside Lander's shop on Main Street while waiting for the off at the opening meet of the Tipps in 1937. Tony isalso over sixty years a follower and supporter of t5he local foot pack, The White Heather Harriers', of which he iscurrent chairman. Tony is also 50 years hunting correspondent with the Nationalist. Seventy not out, Tony says

he intends to keep going as long as the old legs will carry him.

ISSN 1393-2721

National Heritage Day Festival in Fethard 26th August 2007

niall quinn presenting a sunderland jersey signed by ... · gratulate cllr. john fahey, killenaule,...

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