munster club senior football finalists 2001 · well played fethard! fethard senior footballers did...

WELL PLAYED FETHARD!Fethard senior footballers did themselves, their town, club and county proud by their great per-

formance, though losing against Nemo Rangers, Cork, in the Munster Club A.I.B Senior Footballfinal at Fermoy on Sunday 25th November, 2001. The strength in depth of the Nemo team is

shown by their three under-21 Cork inter-county star players, David Niblock, James Masters andWilliam Morgan, who were on the substitute bench. Nemo, on the run of play, fully deserved

their 1-11 score line. Fethard on the other hand would not be flattered by a further four points,at least, in addition to their score of 0-10 on their chances created.

Fethard Under-21 panel of players photographed outside Lonergans Bar (sponsors) on St. Stephen’s Day 2000.

Munster Club Senior Football Finalists 2001

South and County Under-21 Football Champions 2000

FETHARD & KILLUSTY NEWSLETTER

2001

Dedicated to our friends and relationsliving away from home

Copyright © 2001

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

WWW.FETHARD.COM

Layout and design by Joe Kenny,Kenny Photo Graphics, FethardPrinted by Modern Printers Kilkenny

Cover photograph: All-Ireland Culchie Festival in Fethard October 2001 (see page 44)

All rights reserved.No parts of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form orby any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,or any information stor-

age and retrieval system,without permission in writing from the author.

A pilgrimage to Knock! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

A raid on McCarthy’s Orchard . . . . . . . 116

A Rural Ramble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

A visit from Ernie O’Malley . . . . . . . . . 105

A visit to Clonmel Museum . . . . . . . . . . . 69

A Visitor in Flanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

A young man from Farranaleen . . . . . . . 25

Abbey Christmas Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Abymill Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Abymill Youth Drama Group . . . . . . . . . 61

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Alan Cantrell remembers . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Alice Leahy and ‘Trust’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Amalgamation of National Schools . . . . . 70

Canon James Power retires . . . . . . . . . . 43

Church of Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Civil Defence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Community Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Country Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Culchie Festival 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Day Care Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Deaths in the parish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Donations Received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Excerpts from a Nature Diary . . . . . . . . 121

Fethard & District Credit Union . . . . . 111

Fethard & Killusty Community Council . 86

Fethard A.C. (The Running Club) . . . . . . 39

Fethard Badminton Club . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Fethard Ballroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Fethard Bridge Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Fethard GAA Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Fethard Historical Society . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Fethard in 1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Fethard Juvenile GAA Club . . . . . . . . . 109

Fethard Macra na Feirme . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Fethard Open Coursing Club . . . . . . . . . 56

Fethard Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Fethard Rugby Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Fethard Youth Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Fond memories of Fethard . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Foot & Mouth Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Fr Patrick Thomas Corcoran . . . . . . . . . 18

Goodbye to Fr. Sean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Killusty Pony Show 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Killusty Soccer Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Legion of Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Marriages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Meals on Wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Mush, Musha, Musheen Musharoon . . . 113

My good friend Joe Pilendiram . . . . . . . 54

Nano Nagle National School . . . . . . . . . 67

Nursing Home Closure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Of Cabbages and Kings! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Our dear departed 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Parish Christmas Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Patrician Presentation School . . . . . . . . 93

Producing ‘Foundations’ . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Reunion (Leaving Cert. 1975) . . . . . . . . . 42

Simple Simon 1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Sliabh na mBan Holy Year Cross . . . . . 104

Sponsored Cycle for Sr. Betty . . . . . . . . . 79

St. Patrick’s Boys School . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

St. Patrick’s Place Residents Assoc. . . . . 53

St. Rita’s Camogie Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

St. Vincent De Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Still Life (poem) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The great republic of the West . . . . . . . . 51

The Irish Girl Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

The Irish Red Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

The late Johnny Casey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

The Old Priest (poem) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

The Third Cavalry Squadron . . . . . . . . . 99

The Valley Witch! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

The Well Golf Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Welcome to Europe! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Woodvale Walk Residents . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Table of contents

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FETHARD & KILLUSTY NEWSLETTER 2001

This year we celebrated the begin-ning of a new millennium and

the preparation of changing our Irishcurrency for one more time – probablythe last. With the coming of the NewYear we welcome the new Europeancurrency, the Euro, into our pocketsand say goodbye to punts, pennies andthe memory of pounds, shillings andpence. This changeover will be veryattractive for those who travel, espe-cially in EU countries, where at last wewill have some idea of what we arepaying for a pint.

On the other side of the coin, I’msure there will be a sharp increase inthe cost of living in Ireland and otherEU countries. Who is going to chargeless when the time comes for changingour prices to Euro? Will an item thatcost £1 (1.27) now be sold at €1.27 —I’m afraid not, It will more than likelybe rounded off to €1.50 (£1.17) anincrease of 17p. Unfortunately thisbrings me to my main point! Here atFethard Emigrant Newsletter head-quarters, we admit we are no differentthan other Europeans and are alsorounding the price of our AnnualNewsletter up from £5 (€6.35) to €7(£5.51), an increase of 51p. This smallincrease will help us continue to pub-lish the Newsletter and post it free-of-charge to our ever increasing mailing

list of Fethard & Killusty emigrantsthroughout the world. The number ofNewsletters posted free of chargeevery year has now increased to almost1100 copies and is still growing withmany long-lost emigrants making con-tact through the Fethard website(www.fethard.com). For copies deliv-ered outside Europe, the postage costexceeds the actual cost of theNewsletter itself.

We appeal to those of you whoreceive the Newsletter free of charge,to increase your donation accordingly,if you can afford it. We depend onyour generous donations to keep thisNewsletter viable. We also acknowl-edge the great support we receive inFethard by those who buy theNewsletter and those who donate andsupport our annual church gate collec-tion.

We would like to express our deepsympathy to those affected by the hor-rific act of terrorism in New York onSeptember 11th this year. We alsopray for peace throughout the worldand a solution to the struggle thatcauses people to act this way.

Finally, on behalf of all living inFethard and Killusty, we wish you avery Happy Christmas and a magnifi-cent New Year.

Welcome to Europe! ◆

Welcome to Europe! Joe Kenny (editor)

Send articles for publication, addresses for mailing list to:

Address: Editor, Joe Kenny, Rocklow Road, Fethard, Co. Tipperary.Tel: 052 31663, Fax: 052 31817, Email: [email protected]

Donations, letters, etc.

Address: Carmel Rice, Brookhill, Fethard, Co. Tipperary. Tel: 052 31134

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Parish Christmas greetings

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To the readers of this annualnewsletter - special good wishes

to you all, both far and near.There is a Yiddish proverb which

says, “The favourite place of God is inthe heart of man.”

Our wish for all of you this specialtime, is that God is truly in your heartand that He will bring to you that placewhere we all long for.

In the past year the tragedies that theworld has experienced are almost

beyond belief. We must respond in thetruly Christian manner by bringing‘The Christ of the Heart’ out into oureveryday world and in this way let usall bring the Peace of Christ into all ofour lives.

We ask the Lord in His goodness toguide us in all we do and may He blessus all with health, peace and happinessat this special time. ◆

Fr. Tom Breen P.P. and Canon James Power

Photographed at the presentation of the 2001 students awards at Fethard Patrician PresentationSecondary School on 26th October are L to R: Our new Parish Priest Fr Tom Breen, Fr A. B.

Kennedy (past pupil), our new Prior Fr Gerry Horan OSA and Canon James Power.

Church of Ireland

On 11th December 2000 aService of Thanksgiving for the

life of Giles Richard Blundell, 1939 –2000, was held at Holy Trinity Church.

Our annual Carol Service was verywell attended and the Church wasbeautifully decorated for the nine

lessons and carols.On Saturday 15th September the

Lowry singers came to Fethard. Wesang Evensong. Earl Moffit was theorganist. It was a beautiful eveningand a lovely service.

On Friday 21st September there was


Abbey Christmas greetings

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This annual Newsletter is ourpleasant opportunity to greet the

friends of Fethard and Killusty Parishand neighbourhood, at home andabroad.

Many changes, affectingAugustinian communities throughoutIreland, have taken place this year.Briefly, they are as follows: ten of theexisting eighteen communities havebeen reduced to five, namely: (1)Fethard / CaIlan, (2) Dungarvan Town/ Abbeyside College, (3) New RossTown / Good Counsel College, (4)Dublin John’s Lane / Meath StreetParish, (5) Galway/Ballyhaunis.

Each of these pairings now form onecommunity, resulting in a gradualphasing out and closure of the secondnamed. All this is happening becauseof our ageing and dwindling person-nel. Callan / Fethard community con-sists of five priests, two at Callan andthree at Fethard. The future of theremaining communities is also threat-ened for the same reason.

In Fethard, meanwhile, we will con-tinue to serve the venerable Abbeywhich contains the remains of ourmartyred confrere, Blessed William

Tirry. His memory is very much alivein Fethard; the Fethard CommunityCentre and a housing estate for retiredpeople bear his name.

We look forward to the restorationof the Abbey church. Our architect,Mrs Margaret Quinlan will soon pre-sent the final plans of the project toour Provincial and Council for theirapproval.

We send our sincere good wishes forChristmas and the New Year. ◆

Fr Gerry Horan, OSA, Prior, Fr Timmy Walsh, OSA,

Fr John Meagher, OSA, Fr Malachy Loughran, OSA, (Callan)

Fr Michael Clifford, OSA, (Callan)

Fethard Harvest ThanksgivingService. The church was decoratedwith fruit, vegetables and flowers.

On Sunday, 21st October 2001, therewas a Baptismal service for AnnabelleJane Tara Ponsonby. Annabelle is thedaughter of Julian and PatriciaPonsonby of Grove, Fethard. Wewould like to congratulate Timothyand Rosanna on the birth of their son.Rosanna is the daughter of Harry and

Rosemary Ponsonby of Grove House,Fethard.

We congratulate Jill Lalor onachieving her first class honoursdegree in engineering at U.C.D. Jill isthe daughter of Richard and AnneLalor, Rathkenthy.

We are very grateful to Pat Shine forthe wonderful work he has done in thelast three years for Holy Trinity. ◆

FUNDING FOR TINSLEY BRIDGE

Further verification of Fethard's histori-cal importance was announced this year

with the Heritage Council of Irelandgenerously agreeing to give a substan-tial grant towards the urgent repair of'Tinsley's Bridge' built c.1840 over the

river Clashawley at Grove.The restoration project is currently in

progress. Contact: Rosemary Ponsonby.


Legion of Mary

Another year has come and isnow drawing to a close. Many

families in our parish have beenaffected by changes, some good andsome not so good. All of us will havehad to face life with courage andoptimism. Many of our dear friends,and relatives will have been called toeternal life and now rely on us to prayfor their eternal peace and rest. Weshould not forget them as we try tostruggle with the loss of their pres-ence among us.

This year we have been re-awak-ened to the presence of evil amongus. Fear is never far away when webecome aware of the power evil hasin spreading terror and instability.This means that more and more weare called to offset these powers withthe strength and the security ofprayer and penance as our BlessedMother called us to do in Fatima.This leads us to wonder how anyonecan refuse to attend the HolySacrifice of the Mass on Sundays andon Holy Days. In contrast we havemany people attending Mass eachday. There are also those who notonly pray one Rosary but severalRosaries each day. Many attend TheHoly Hour in The Abbey eachThursday. Others pay visits to TheBlessed Sacrament, make TheStations of the Cross, recite theChaplet of Divine Mercy. To one andall we say Thank You! You help tokeep evil away from us and from ourfamilies. Let all of us, then, extendourselves to actively support andpublicly proclaim all that theCatholic Church teaches. We cannot

hide our faith. Neither can we beselective in what we choose tobelieve or to obey.

Agnes Allen was called to herreward in March. Although Agneswas in poor health for some time, shekept the best side out. Many did notrealise how ill she was. Agnes was amember of The Legion of Mary forover twenty years and she faithfullyparticipated in the activities of TheLegion during those years. Agneswas one of the few remaining Fethardpeople whose roots were f irmlyestablished in the town and whocould trace and associate events fromyears past. We miss her humour andher friendship. May she rest in peace.

This year crowds turned out for theMay Procession in honour of OurLady. Not as many walked in theCorpus Christi Procession held onthe Sunday evening. The Holy YearCross Pilgrimage was successful aswas the yearly pilgrimage to Knock.Each November we visit all elevencemeteries in the Parish to pray forthe souls of all our departed relativesand friends, and for those souls whoare now forgotten, or for those whohave no one to come out to pray forthem.

The Legion of Mary members dotheir best to be active, to help all ofus to remember we are needed in ourParish. Membership has increased sowe anticipate that more work can beaccomplished. For all the incentives,the encouragement, the guidance andthe perseverance we owe an untold,inexpressible debt of gratitude andrespect to Father Twomey, O.S.A.

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9

who was our Spiritual Leader fortwenty years. God will be his reward.We would like him to know that hispriestly, loyal dedication to theChurch, to Our Holy Father the Pope,to Jesus and Mary, and to TheBlessed Sacrament has been a sourceof encouragement to one and all. Inparticular we refer to the guidance heextended in the Legion of Mary, inthe Cenacle of Our Lady — the laitygroup in The Marian Movement ofpriests — in the assistance he extend-ed when work was needed to pro-claim the teachings of the Church,and in the guidance he gave in theconfessional. We can do our utmostto live in such a way that when Godcalls us we will rejoice as we standwith Father to give thanks and praise

to God for all Eternity. Thank you,Father! You will ever be held inrespect and love among the people inthe parishes around The Valley ofSlieve na mBan.

We conclude with the followingextract from the words of the CureD’Ars referred to by Pat O’Leary inThe Irish Catholic. He Wrote, ‘allsoldiers are good in garrison, but onthe field of battle, we see the differ-ence between the brave and the cow-ardly.’ And, ‘If I were to ask you ifyou loved God, you would tell methat you did; but that is not enough.You must prove it!’

Enjoy a peaceful New Year. Let uspray we keep Christ in Christmas thisyear. ◆

Fr. Sean Ryan C.C. bade goodbyeto the parishioners of Fethard

and Killusty on Thursday March 1st.At his last mass in the parish, he sin-cerely thanked the people of Fethardand Killusty for the privilege of havingministered to them over the past sixand half years.

We would also like to thank Fr. Seanfor his great work in the parish, espe-cially amongst the youth, during that

period. Fr Ryan was chaplain to theboys’ schools and an active member ofthe school’s parents’ committee. Hewas also actively associated with theFethard branch of St. Vincent de PaulSociety, the Fethard Dramatic Society,and will be especially remembered forhis great skill in communicationswhen presenting his weekly hour longprogramme each Sunday morning onTipp FM Radio. ◆

Goodbye to Fr. Sean

Fethard town has lost a very muchneeded local amenity with the

closure of Sacre Coeur Nursing Homeon Saturday 31st March. The homeprovided a great service for residentsand visitors which was much appreci-ated. The residents have been placed innursing homes throughout South

Tipperary which will of course greatlyinconvenience relatives and visitors,especially those without their owntransport. The future of the SacreCoeur Home is at present uncertain.

At time of going to print, theNursing Home is reported to havebeen sold. ◆

Nursing Home Closure


Many years ago on a trip homefrom England I took it upon

myself to dispense with the car and walkaround the roads that I rambled so freelyas a child. I planned to leave the car atmy uncle’s in Mobarnane and walk fromthere to my old school in Moyglass.Along the way I would take in the town-lands of Mobarnane, Magorban,S i l v e r f o r t ,A r b o u r h i l l ,Woodhouse (myplace of birth),n e i g h b o u r i n gClonbrogan andthen on toMoyglass.

On the way toMobarnane travel-ling along theCashel road fromFethard I wasreminded of thepilgrimages wemade from mycousins inMobarnane to thecrossroads atCoolmoyne to visitNora Casey’s littleshop. It was here that my cousins and Iwith a coin or two picked our sweets, sixfor a penny.

Whenever I reach Knockbritt I feel Iam home; Knockbritt was one of fourboundaries that I roamed within, eitheron foot or by means of my grandmoth-er’s old Raleigh bike; Silverfort, High Stand Moyglass being the other land-marks. Beyond these townlands myworld ended. Townlands were special tome as a young lad growing up in thefifties. They gave me a sense of belong-

ing to the land, I was part of them andthey were part of me.

The Knockbritt I knew as a child washome to the Forge and the local PostOffice run by Davy and Rita O’Meara.Passing through Knockbritt I recalledDavy working away in the darkness ofthe forge and the sight and sound ofhorses outside the forge door.

The old PostOffice broughtback a memory Ihad long dis-pensed with, thatof ‘TelegramBoys’, a forgottenjob that struck fearor joy into thehearts of the localsin rural Ireland.The sight of a tele-gram boy ped-alling furiously,and they alwaysdid, on a bike twosizes too big, oftenmeant news of anexile returninghome or a death inthe family. It was

via Knockbritt Post Office that we madeor received those very rare phone callsin the days when a phone was a rarething.

Leaving Knockbritt I made my wayup the hill past Tom O'Neill's house,resplendent at that time with a thatchedroof. In days gone by I would keep aneye out for Tom's terrible terriers. In thecompany of children Tom would drophis cap to the ground, most youngsterswould quite naturally pick it up for him,as they did Tom’s terriers displayed their

10

A rural ramble (1975 with 1957 in mind) Pat Tynan

Marie Crean, photographed with her aunt, the lateRita O’Meara, who ran the Post Office at Knockbritt,

one of the oldest collection points for post.


11

disapproval. No matter how many timeswe tried we always fell for Tom’s littletricks with his well-trained dogs that putthe fear of God in you.

Turning left at O'Dea’s cross along theMobarnane Road I stopped by theSoldiers Tree where, legend has it, ayoung man tired of soldiering in thetwenties ended his days. Passing the treein the late evening brought fear andtrepidation, and on a bicycle a lick ofspeed was required, never looking backuntil you were well past the lodge atMobarnane House.

At this point on the road the quiet ofMobarnane is broken by the sound ofcrows, loads of them, whose calls can beheard right across Mobarnane,Magorban and Woodhouse, and theirfeathers much in evidence along theroad. To this day if I hear a crow italways reminds me of childhood inIreland.

I have never been inside MobarnaneHouse, but I spent many happy days inand around Mobarnane Wood. Thelodge at the entrance to MobarnaneHouse was then the home of theO’Rourkes and the Moroney familylived in the cottage just in front of thekitchen garden. With Mobarnane Woodto my left I thought of the sea of blue-bells that always greeted you as youentered the wood. As a child I lovedMobarnane, its wood and lake, it allseemed like a magical place, alwaysexciting, often frightening. Leaving thecar at my Uncle Jimmy's I set off onfoot, you miss so much of what isaround you in a car.

Magorban Chapel by the little bridgewas my next stop, now the resting placeof my grandparents and many a goodneighbour. The old boys of the daywould frighten the life out of me with

tales of a ghostly coach and horses thatwas supposed to come through thechurchyard gates in the dead of night.Many of the old folks would tell you thestory, and a few claimed to have heardthe sounds of galloping horses. Cyclingpast the gates of Magorban Chapel lateat night was a frightening experience,especially when on one occasion thechain came off my bicycle as I passedthe gates. The experience was madeworse as I then had to pass the Quakerburial ground. I always knew the burialground by the name of ‘Gorranalie,’ tothis day I have never known if that wasits real name or for that matter the cor-rect spelling. Mick Prout, who livedopposite the Quaker burial ground, toldme at the tender age of seven that, “thelads buried in there were put in theground standing up,” I passed the littleiron gate of the burial ground with agreat sense of fear for ever more.Opposite Mick’s I could still see theremains of a gap in the ditch, it wasthrough here in the fifties that onSunday afternoons we entered the fieldsto walk down to a make shift hurlingfield.

Just around the double bend fromMick’s, before Silverfort Crossroads,the gypsys would set up camp. I recalledthe many caravans passing our house; Iwas always fascinated by their beauti-fully painted horse drawn homes withthe occupants selling their wares, usual-ly brushes and the offer of repairingsaucepans.

Approaching Silverfort Crossroadsthe ambience of the road would changedue to the lack of light kept out by the‘great trees’, as they were known local-ly. The crossroads were made all themore haunting by the sound of watercoming from the stream that flows near-


12

by. It was to Silverfort that people cameon a Sunday afternoon when a goodlynumber of the locals would be out for astroll along the road after dinner. In thesummer evenings people came for milesaround to dance at the platform inJacobs's field. I will never forget theexpression on the faces of the old folkswhen one Sunday night a ‘Teddy Boy’in full regalia came out from Cashel andjived at the platform.

A post box was set in Jacobs's wall,beneath it lay Neddie Dineen’s stone,where Neddie, one of two local post-men, would take hisease on his daily round.

In 1973 a memorialwas erected to com-memorate the life ofSeamus Hayes killed inaction on Nov 20th1922 at Silverfort. Alittle way beyondSilverfort crossroadson the Cashel Road sitsa small well, whichnever ran dry no matterhow warm the summer.

From SilverfortCrossroads my walktook me homewards onthe Moyglass Road known locally as‘The Lane’. It was so called because anative of Magorban, Mrs Prout, oftenreferred to the people along that road as,"that lot along the lane."

The Lane was home to many oldfriends and good neighbours. The roadin the fifties and sixties sported nameslike Stapleton, Healy, Kennedy, Cleary,Grey (Parson, living in the rectory lateroccupied by Major Kane), O’Brien andfinally, just before the old family home,Neddy Hunt’s. I knew Neddy’s houseoriginally, as Mary Kate Ryan’s, beyond

that lay Brown’s, Kennedy’s, Lacey’s,O’Connell’s, Hannigan’s, Carey’s,McGuire’s and Tobin’s.

Our old home at Woodhouse was atypical cottage, a two bedroom dwellingthat always seemed to have more peoplein it than it was ever built to house. Astone floored kitchen where everythinghappened and a highly polished parlourthat remained under lock and key. Thehouse has long since changed hands,time has seen the cottage extended andmodernised and my grandparents arenow at peace in Magorban graveyard.

The old hedges mygrandfather trimmedand shaped, theorchard, flower andvegetable garden thathelped feed our house-hold have disappeared— victims of moderni-sation, the lawn mowerand the fridge freezer.

From here on Iwould be walking theactual journey I madeas a child from myhome at Woodhousethrough the townlandsof Arbour Hill,

Clonbrogan and finally the village ofMoyglass.

Walking past the old house withoutbeing able to go in was a strange experi-ence.

I remember going back to the houseafter my grandfather had died. Thehouse was empty and cold as if the lifeand soul had gone out of it.Disappointed that there was nothing ofmy grandfather’s left in the shell thatwas once my home I turned to leave andas I did I spotted the old tongs he usedto tend the fire. The tongs, blackened

Davy O’Meara, Knockbritt


and well worn from daily usage, hadbeen concealed from all in the darknessof the fireplace. It was as if they werewaiting there for me. What bettermemento could you have of a person'slife than something they used every daywhen they were with us.

Starting off from Woodhouse, I wasimmediately reminded of SimonThompson who was often my compan-ion on the daily walk to MoyglassSchool.

The Moyglass road in the fifties waslittle more than a path with a grass vergerunning through the middle of two potholed wheel tracks. There was no trafficto worry about, only the occasionalvehicle conspicuous in summer formiles by a plume of dust and in winterby the amount of water it threw up frompotholes that really were potholes.

The first landmark was the entranceto Browns and Kennedy’s farms lyingdirectly opposite each other, Brownswas in Woodhouse and Kennedy’s inArbour Hill. Both farms had creamerystands for the milk churns outside theirentrance gates. As a small lad creamerystands had to be climbed, kept as yourterritory and any intruder pushed off.Passing here reminded me of the days Iwent to Brown’s pump for spring water,retrieved in a large white pale. I remem-bered that white enamel water pale — afixture in all houses of the day and usedtwice daily to draw water from the wellor pump.

The biggest problem was trying tomake it to and from the well with somewater left in the pale as it bounced offyour leg and drowned your shoes andsocks.

The next stop was the little bridge justbefore Lacey’s, a small stream trickledthrough here, and it was an exciting

place for any child to investigate. Whohasn’t thrown a leaf in the water on oneside of a bridge and then rushed to theother side to see if it will make the jour-ney under the bridge. In the harsh win-ters this little stream could be quietspectacular when the water would risefrom a trickle to a roar as it cut throughunder the little bridge, while summerwould see it almost run dry. In winterwhen you went to get the water fromBrown’s pump you could hear the rivergushing by in a torrent concealed by thetrees and bushes.

Then it was on to Lacey’s gate, andmemories of ‘Blind John’, or to givehim his name, John Meehan. Johnwould often be out along the road for hisdaily walks using the grass verge as hisguideline. He would walk as far as mygrandfather’s house and pop in for achat. Often they were joined by JackBrien and occasionally when fundswere good I would be dispatched toTehan’s Public House in the village forthe large bottles of Porter to enliven theproceedings. The sight of John Meehanmaking his way along the road was partof life back then, a blind man walking acountry road without a care. I can seehim now with his cream straw hat in thesummer sunshine, making his way, tap-ping his stick along the grass verge. Hewould stop occasionally taking littlebreaks chatting to neighbours.

After Lacey’s was Molly Connell'scottage, it was at this point that themountain came into full view as yougazed across Clonbrogan.

Slievenamon was my constant child-hood companion — a special friend.Walking to school the mountain wouldbe in view then disappear from view andthen just as quick come back into view asyou travelled the road, ‘rain hail or shine.’

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My grandfather could tell the weatherby the mountain; he would always lookout to Slievenamon from Woodhouse.The ritual was always the same, leavingthe house he would dip his fingers in theholy water font, next came the hat, rais-ing it towards his head he would glanceat Slievenamon and say something like,“it’ll be raining by evening.” Often inmy exile I would think of the mountainespecially on a long summers eveningwhen Slievenamon was always at itsbest. Her colours ever changing as thesun set casting shadows on the greatlady.

Rounding the bend at MollieConnell’s you came to Paddy Brown’sand Hannigan’s set on opposite sides ofthe road at the top of Cooneys Hill, thedreaded Cooneys Hill.

Now Cooneys Hill was steep to saythe least, icy in winter and hard work insummer. Come to think of it, it was hardwork at any time. Twisting and turningpast Carey’s and on by McGuire’s andlevelling out just before Tobin’s. Oneconsolation Cooneys Hill had a springwell just below McGuires, this well wasthe watering station of many a childgoing to, or coming from MoyglassSchool.

I always found the next stretch of theroad from the foot of Cooney's Hill, alittle sinister and never delayed alongthis part of the road. The trees hereformed a canopy over the road making itvery cool and dark. Trees change thetemperature and atmosphere of a road.

The old railway bridge at Moyglasswas a stopping off point for any childtravelling the road; the railway fromFarnaleen was still running at that timegiving you two daily time checks, quar-ter to one and quarter to four if mymemory serves me well. In the evenings

returning from school you could wait onthe bridge and become engulfed insmoke as the train made its way fromFarnaleen to Thurles. I think it alsomeant you were late from school but Iam not certain about that it could be thatyou were early. The fog of forty fouryears living in another country hasclouded some of my childhood memo-ries.

After the railway bridge it was overthe stile opposite the village hall and offacross the big meadow to the village ofMoyglass. The training of greyhoundswas much in evidence in the big mead-ow so on the way to and from schoolyou could idle awhile and watch thegreyhounds being put through theirpaces.

The village shop was run by Mr andMrs Lyons. With little money availablemy visits to their establishment in thefifties and sixties were reserved forSundays after mass.

School now grew ever closer and animmediate reminder of it was right therein the village in the shape of the smallgate leading into the church. For it wasby the small gate that Mr Lynch theschoolmaster would hold court everySunday before mass. Because of this I,and many other children of the time,used the big gate to go into the church.However, on returning from England forthe summer holidays I would use thesmall gate thinking to myself, “youcan’t get me now.”

Passing the old church at Moyglassstirred memories of the times when onthe way home from school we wouldvisit the church and visit we did!Hearing each other's confessions, play-ing the old organ and generally wander-ing around the church. Sometimes thegallery would be open and it was a big


15

adventure to go up there. Usually one ofthe holy ladies would arrive and givechase, exclaiming that we were, “theboldest children she had ever known.”

The road climbs gradually out ofMoyglass towards the old school, and asa child I walked a little slower over thisthe final part of the journey. I was notthe biggest fan of school. I alwaysenjoyed the view as I climbed out ofMoyglass but it looked a lot better asyou escaped from school. I made myway out of the village up the hill to thenew school, a far cry from the one Iattended which was a little further alongthe road past the priest's house.

As a youngster I would keep my headdown passing the priests house, for I

was always in trouble for talking inchurch becoming the focus of FrMcGrath’s gentle wrath. Not longbefore Fr McGrath died I met him inClonmel. We stopped on the street andchatted about the old days. He remindedme of the time I was scared to come toschool after one of the ‘old fellows,’ upto no good, told Paddy Croke and methat Fr McGrath was coming up to theschool to sort us out. We had been guiltyof talking and giggling in church. I dis-tinctly thought I saw Father McGrathlook in my direction during the sermon.This, added to the comments made bythe ‘old fellows’ at the back of thechurch, was enough to convince Paddyand me that we were doomed.

Moyglass Boxing Club. Back L to R: Jack Purtill, Jack Wall, Jack Lawlor, Johnny Hurley, Francie Hayde,Pat McGuire, Tony Thompson, Mick Prout, Eddie Tierney, Paddy Brown, Liam O’Connell, Billy Blake,

Jim Costigan, Chris Purtill and Patsy Hunt. Second Row: Simon Thompson, Walter Tynan, MartinKennedy, Michael Bergin, Jimmy Thompson, Mick Shelly and Tony Colville. Third Row: Michael Sullivan,Billy Thompson, Tom Hannon, Tommy O’Brien, Liam Quinn (trainer & Munster champ). Sean Walsh and

Derry Ryan. Front: Willie Ryan, David Ryan, Thomas O’Neill (secretary) and Johnny Hurley.


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For the remainder of that Sunday Iwas sick with worry; Monday morningsaw me reluctant to go to school. My lit-tle legs would only carry me as far asthe Railway Bridge at Moyglass.Consumed with fear I went over theditch and hid under the bridge. I couldhear the other pupils going by up above;wild horses would not have dragged meto school that day.

Once the coast was clear I made itback to the house and hid in the shed,giving myself up later in the day. Mymother eventually sorted the situationout and a bemused Fr McGrath madehis peace with me.

Before parting on that Clonmel streetFr McGrath said to me, “spare a littleAve for me,” this was his way of tellingme that he was not long for this world.As we said our final goodbyes Fr walkedaway towards the West Gate. The priestwho unknowingly frightened me as achild now seemed vulnerable and frail ashe neared the end of his days.

Walking on from the priest's housemy next stop was the building that wasthe Moyglass School of my youth. Theold school consisted of an entrance dou-bling as a cloakroom. I don’t recall anycoat pegs; I always hung my coat on thefloor in a heap with all the others.Beyond the entrance were two class-rooms under the guidance of Mr Lynch& and in my youth a very young MsCorcoran. The building was basic withno real facilities either academic or san-itary. It’s fair to say that what it lacked inmaterial attributes was more than madeup for by its teaching staff. Our mainsource of play came from an old treethat had been cut down at the front ofthe school; its contours could be imag-ined into anything we could dream up.Mainly deemed to be a tractor or a lorry.

In 1955 all small boys wanted to drive atractor.

Standing across the road from the oldschool house I felt I had exorcised theghost of wanting to walk around the oldroads. When first I arrived in England in1957 I kept the memory of the road, myneighbours and the townlands alive inmy mind.

I spent a lot of my early childhoodexiled in London very homesick andmissing Ireland terribly. To compensatefor the loneliness, I would wander in mymind’s eye along the roads aroundMoyglass, Mobarnane, Knockbritt andHigh Street. That way I was able to keepmy memories of Ireland alive.

Every year I returned from Englandfor the summer holidays and at firstthings remained pretty much the same.But as the years moved on the biggestchange to come was that the people whoI knew in childhood started to passaway. Eventually, like many an exile, myvisits were completed by attending thechurchyards of Moyglass andMagorban. ◆

Jamesy Gleeson and his sister Molly Cantwell,Knockelly, on their way to mass. 1931


17

Amateur drama is alive and wellin Fethard, due in no small way

to the tireless efforts of AustinO’Flynn who reads numerous playsduring the summer months, and thenin the Autumn rounds us up, all thetime looking for new members, to getthe ball rolling for the current season.It’s a wonderful way to pass away thedark winter evenings, for six or soweeks at any rate. The commitment isconsiderable. It means three or fournights, and five coming towards theend, per week of rehearsal, but it iswell worth it, the comraderie and thecraic are great! And of course, a pro-duction well done which gives plea-sure to the audiences and the cast, isvery rewarding.

Last year we put on a hilariously

American comedy called, “You Can’tTake It With You.” We had a very suc-cessful run, played to full houses andhad to put on two extra shows (8 nightsin all) to facilitate the crowds. It wasproduced by Austin (our long-suffer-ing producer) and the cast included amixture of old and new members —Anne Connolly, Joe Hanly, MaryO’Connell, Lisa Rice, Gerry Fogarty,Vincent Murphy, Eoin Whyte, PercyO’Flynn, Mia Treacy, Eoin Powell,Seamus Hayes, Marian Gilpin, AnnMarie O’Sullivan, Michael McCarthy,Carmel Rice, Derek Newport and EoinMaher.

This year we staged an Irish comedyby Lennox Robinson, ‘Drama atInish’, — the third time the Playershave staged it! It was first put on in

Fethard Players

Fethard Players cast on stage after their performance of ‘Drama at Inish’ on opening night November25th 2001. Back L to R: Eoin Whyte (William Slattery, neighbour); Joe Hanly (Peter Hurley, T.D.), Eoin

Powell (Tom Mooney, civic guard), Seamus Hayes (Hector De la Mare, actor), Marian Gilpin (ConstanceConstantia, actress), Michael McCarthy (John Hegarty, reporter), Mia Treacy (Helena, servant).

Front L to R: Vincent Murphy (Eddie Twohig, proprietor’s son), Jimmy O'Sullivan (John Twohig, hotelproprietor), Mary O'Connell (Annie Twohig, his wife), Helen Carrigan (Christine Lambert, accountant),

Anne Connolly (Lizzie Twohig, spinster) , Gerry Fogarty (Michael, the boots).


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1958 produced by the late EddieO’Neill and then again in 1974 pro-duced by Austin O’Flynn. Each time itproved to be very popular with theaudiences.

We are so lucky here to have ourbeautiful Abymill Theatre in which tostage our productions, and also in

which to rehearse. We can get on thestage after the first reading or two, it’scomfortable and warm and we haveour very own kitchen to make ‘thecuppa’ to keep us going. So that’s thenews from us for this year! Slan agusbeannacht! ◆

Patrick Thomas Corcoran wasborn in Fethard on 8 September

1844, just prior to the Great PotatoFamine of 1845-49.

Apparently, as the Corcoran familywere wealthy, they were spared muchof the misery and hardship of thoseyears, but the famine stillhad an impact on the per-sonality and character ofThomas Corcoran.

In 1870 Fr Corcoran wasordained at All HallowsCollege in Dublin by theMost Reverend Dr.Lanigan, Bishop ofGoulburn. He had studiedat both Mt Melleray Abbeyand at All Hallows Collegebefore his ordination.

His first appointment wasas Priest-in-Charge in East Maitland inNew South Wales, Australia, where hestayed for 16 years before returning toIreland in 1887. Fr Corcoran lived atMt Melleray Abbey as a CistercianMonk for the next four years until aletter from Bishop Murray arrived in1891, offering Fr Corcoran a perma-nent position at his old Parish of EastMaitland now Morpeth in Australia.

Upon his return, in 1898 FrCorcoran began building the parishchurch St. Bede's. The name was later

changed from St Bede’s to the Churchof the Immaculate Conception. Astained glass window donated to thechurch from Fr Corcoran depicts ourLady of the Immaculate Conception.In Fr Corcoran’s time as a priest atMorpeth, the presbytery, convent and

church were all built.On June 24th 1920, Fr

Corcoran celebrated hisgolden jubilee in the priesthood. After Mass was cele-brated, the Bishop of theDiocese and priests present-ed Fr Corcoran with a goldchalice, which is still usedin the church today.

Fr Corcoran could be seendoing his rounds in Morpethon his horse, Posinatus.Posinatus had won the

Melbourne cup in 1913, possibly mak-ing Fr Corcoran the only priest whorode a Melbourne cup winner as a hack.

Fr Corcoran cared for his flock untilhis death on the 21st February 1929.On his tombstone parishionersengraved “Parish Priest of Morpeth1875 – 1929”, as they considered FrCorcoran to be their true parish priestsince he arrived 54 years earlier. ◆

Source: ‘Tomorrow belongs to you’, a history of theCatholic Church in Morpeth, NSW. (Kevin Pilgrim).

Fr Patrick Thomas Corcoran

Fr. Corcoran


Weddings in the parishElizabeth Molloy, Clonmel. to Denis Hannon, Crossard (Killusty)

Maura O’Donovan, Grove Road, Fethard to Stewart Clooney, Baptistgrange (Killusty)Triona O’Sullivan, Perryville, to Mr David Madigan, Dublin (Fethard)

Kathleen Nevin, Rocklow Road, to Adrian Gavin, Bedfordshire, England (Killusty)Carol Costello, Strylea, Fethard, to Declan McNamara, Mullinahone (Fethard)

Claire Kenny, Grove, Fethard, to Donncha Doyle, Clonmel (Fethard)Breda Morrissey, St. Patrick’s Place, to Mr Pat Loughnan, Ballymacarbry (Killusty)

Vera Sheehan, Claremore, Killusty, to Mr Robert Dooley, Cork (Killusty)Jacinta Horan, Tinakelly, to Michael Kavanagh, Clonmel (Fethard)

Jacqueline Stokes, Main Street, to Captain Thomas Freyne, Irish Defence Forces (Fethard)Helen McGarry, Woodvale Walk, Fethard, to Mr Francis Vaughan, Kilsheelan (Fethard)

Jacqueline Dorney, Woodvale Walk, Fethard, to John Hally, Clerihan (Killusty)Elaine Walsh, Burke Street, Fethard, to Malachy Feeney, Limavaddy, Co. Derry (Fethard)

Bronagh Nesbitt to Alan Galvin (Killusty)

Weddings outside the parishMargaret Newport, Grove, to Mr Michael Callan, Dublin (Clonmel)

Edmond Walsh, Coolmoyne, to Ms Julie Keogh, Model Farm Road, Cork (Cork)Rory O'Connor, Main Street, Fethard and Kate Richardson (New Jersey )

Ms Laura Manahan, Tramore. to Maurice Walsh, St. Patrick’s Place (Tramore)Sarah Grubb, Beechmount House, to Mr. Sergio Furno, Italy (Magorban)Seamus Hayes, Rocklow Road, to Mary Nugent, Newcastle (Newcastle.)Simon Probin, Tullamaine, to Ms Síli Ryan, Shannonbridge, Co. Clare.

John Neville, Kilnockin, to Carol Casman, Beechwood House Cappoquin (Cappoquin ) David Flanagan, Coolmoyne, to Margaret Barrett, Crohane (Ballingarry)

EngagementsAvril Colville, Spitalfield, to Adrian Morrissey, Tullow.Gillian Murphy, Main Street, to Peter Collier, Meath.

Marriages

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Wedding of Kitty Shaw (c.1939). Kitty, who died this year, is photographed with her husband Gerry Doyle,his brother, and bridesmaid Annie Barrett. (supplied by Kathleen (Quirke) Whelan, Clonmel.


Our dear departed 2001 from available photographs

Agnes Allen Bill Holohan Nellie Fitzgerald Johnny Casey Stella (Kenny) O’Dwyer

Sinead Healy John P. O’Flynn Bro John Gallagher Babe Maher Michael Shelly

Patrick McCarthy Mary Smyth John Holohan Margaret Fitzgerald Bill Ryan

Dick Hayes Kathleen Walsh Paul Quinn

Capt. Evan Williams Tom Morrissey Mick Treacy Elfreda Hulsebosch Mick Leahy

Tommy Dorney John Burke

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Allen, Agnes, Barrack Street ( Calvary)

Burke, John, Donoughmore (Lisronagh)

Carew, Robert, Derryluskin, Fethard (England.)

Casey Johnny, The Valley, Fethard (Cahir)

Clarke, Jim, Crampscastle (Calvary)

Coffey, Michael Robert, Brodeen, Fethard

Croke, Madge, Derryluskin (England)

Dorney, Tommy, Milestown (Cloneen)

Doyle (Shaw), Kitty, The Green, Fethard

Fitzgerald, Nellie, St. Patrick’s Place (Calvary)

Fitzgerald, Margaret ‘Peggy’, Kiltinan (Calvary )

Fleming, Christy, Coolmore and Rhode, Co. Offaly,

Gallagher, Bro John, Patrician Brothers (Newbridge.)

Guildea (O’Connell), Josie, Coleman (England.)

Hanly, May, Barrettstown (Powerstown )

Hayes, Dick, Burke Street (Calvary)

Healy, Sinead, Fethard and London (Calvary)

Heard (Fogarty,) Kathleen, The Valley (Brighton)

Holohan, Bill, Boolagh, Killusty

Holohan, John, Ballinard, Fethard (Cloneen)

Hulsebosch, Elfreda, Annesgift House (St. Patrick's)

Leahy, Mick, Derryluskin, Fethard

Leonard (Croke), Madeline, Jersey and Redcity

Looby (nee O’Grady), Mary, Coleman ( Rosegreen)

Mackey, Jim, Farranaleen, Fethard (Moyglass.)

Maher, Babe, The Green, Fethard (Calvary)

Maher, Noreen, Barrack Street, Fethard (Calvary)

Morrissey, Michael, Grove and Swindon (England)

Morrissey, Thomas, St. Patrick’s Place ( Calvary)

Mullins (Hennessy), Mary, St. Patrick’s Place

Mullins, Tommy, Knockbrack, London (London)

Murphy, William ‘Willie’, Cashel Road (England)

McCarthy, Patrick, Kerry Street (London.)

O'Dwyer (Kenny), Stella, Crosford, (Ardmore)

O'Flynn, John P., Bradford and Killerk.

O’Meara, Mary, Ballyvaden (Rathcoole,)

O’Shea, Patrick ‘Paud’, St. Patrick’s Place (England)

Power, (Mackey), Kitty, St. Patrick's Place and London

Quinn, Paul, Tullamaine and Lowesgreen (Calvary)

Russell, Donna Jean, Tullamaine (Moyglass)

Ryan, Bill, St. Patrick's Place (Calvary)

Sheehy, Marie Therese, Garrinch (Calvary)

Shelly, Michael. The Green (Calvary)

Slattery, Ellen. Barrettstown (Clerihan)

Smyth, (Hennessy), Mary, Coolbawn, (Moyglass.)

Smyth, Harry ‘Har’, Mogorban (Mogorban)

Sr. M. Celine, Roscrea and Fethard

Stapleton, Johanna. Burke Street (Calvary)

Treacy, Michael (Mick), Barrettstown Cross (Calvary)

Walsh, Kathleen, Barrack Street (Moyglass)

Williams, Captain Evan M.F.H. (Kilmallock )

Deaths in the parishThe following is a list of deaths that occurred in the parish during the year.

We have also included many of the deaths (from information supplied) thatoccurred away from Fethard and in brackets, the place of funeral service if known.

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Confirmation Day 29th April 1982. First cousins L to R: Darren Bradshaw, Karl Cooke, Audrey Moloney, Anna Bradshaw, Kevin Bradshaw and Rory Bradshaw.


22

Once again to readers of theNewsletter we extend a thespi-

an “Céad Mîle Fåilte!”The theatre has seen its usual high

standard of shows this year. TheFethard players had a huge success inNovember 2000 with a fifteen star castof the comedy, ‘You can’t take it withyou’. In December the transition yearstudents staged ‘Oliver’ and as I writemany of that class are about to take tothe boards with, ‘Wednesdays Child’,a play set in the troubled North ofIreland of the 70’s. This Abymill youthdrama is under the direction ofSeamus Hayes, and works and rehears-es out of Abymill.

St Patrick’s Boys’ National Schoolhad their show this year and of courseMajella Hewitt’s ‘On your Toes’ dancegroup entertained audiences with chil-dren of all ages on the stage.

The solo singer Joe Giltrap offeredan entertaining night for singing

enthusiasts, but one of the highlightshad to be the return of the IrishChamber Orchestra in September,with a valued and beautiful night ofmusic for all.

The popularity of Thursday nightbingo is still a major factor and thanksmust be extended to Gerry Fogarty andCinta O’Flynn.

Our continued thanks also to MaryMorrissey and Christy Mullins wholook after the building so well.

The Board of Directors Abymill2001 – 2002: Chairman - MichaelMcCarthy; Secretary – Marian Gilpin;Treasurer – Agnes Evans;Administrator – Austin O’Flynn;Carmel Rice, Joe Kenny, NoelleO’Dwyer, Jimmy O’Shea, BernardWalsh, Eileen Maher, and Mary McMcCormack.

To you, wherever you are, we wishyou a truly peaceful Christmas and asuccessful 2002. ◆

Abymill Theatre

Members of the Croom Carroll family photographed in the Abymill Theatre on May 12 following a one-man, story-play called 'Robert Service, Bard of the Yukon’ by actor Mike O'Mahoney. Mike went to college with local lads Michael Carroll, Joe Murphy and Aidan Maher.


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Anewspaper ball tied with stringor something resourceful.

Jumpers for goal posts and the game ison. Later, hungry tired and huddledtogether on a cold hard floor, someonebegan to share the remainder of sand-wiches, crushed and gooey. The oddapple and biscuit was grabbed too!Cold, shattered and waiting they sat.As if this wasn’t enough for the young-sters to bear, a lunatic began to sing‘Lean on Me’. A noise, a rattle, amovement behind the grill plates. Abuzz of anticipation, then they beganto surge forward — all too ready to beloaded. Yes it was 3am and the ferryhad finally arrived. The youth club tripto Oakwood was moving slowly to aclose. After a 10-hour wait in FishguardPort, swearing we would never do itagain, we were on our way home.

Arriving in Fethard on July 11, a daylate, the crew disbanded to head homeand sleep for what they hoped wouldbe a warm long time.

The next day, misery forgotten,

plans were afoot for next year’s trip!Our adventure to Oakwood in Wales

was the final activity of a full andpacked year of events which includeda variety show, a soccer tournament,an inter-club table quiz, a drama, aChristmas party and quiz, a disco, adrugs project, self defence, a euronight, a cinema trip and regular week-ly activities.

This is the club’s second year and wehave had to put a cap on our member-ship due to lack of adult leaders. Thisyear has shown 52 members on ourbooks. We are now operating a waitinglist. For the coming year our pro-gramme of events is likely to be moreextensive and we once again call onover 18s or any adult with genuineinterest in working with teenagers tohelp. Having listened to ‘heavy metal’played loudly isn’t a prerequisite, but itmight help prepare you for the noiselevel. Ask Mick Ahearne who I’m surehas by now invested in earplugs.

We would like to thank each and

Fethard Youth Club Rita McCormack (secretary)

Club leaders photographed with guest speakers and parents at the Fethard Youth Club Drugs Seminar onMay 22nd. Back L to R: Marian Gilpin, Mary Shanahan, Therese Barrett, Eileen Purcell, Ann Nevin,Paula Taylor, Mary Delahunty, Eileen Frewen, Claire Hannigan. Front L to R: Rita McCormack John,

Marie Murphy, Johnny Casey, Sinead O’Mahoney, Patricia Fitzgerald and Eileen Burke.


24

everyone whose support for us hasbeen invaluable. Special thanks mustgo to Noreen Ahearne, Fethard Arms,who has hosted our adult events andmeetings. Thanks to Jimmy O’Sullivanfor the use of his shop front to displayour drugs project and the FethardBallroom committee,

Thanks for the parents who helptransport us to events when we could-n’t afford a bus — Willy O’Donnell,Eileen Frewen, Valerie O’Meara,Stephen McCormack, Joan Duggan,Eileen and Denny Burke.

A huge thank you to the people ofFethard who supported our churchgate collection. We are voluntary andnon-funded and so are grateful foryour support. I particularly wish tothank Clare, Tony, Maria, Patricia andMary for their enthusiasm and dedica-tion which keeps the club going.

But the club is the sum of its mem-bers whose spirit and sense of funencourage us to turn up every week.Kids are constantly slated in the mediabut I want to take this opportunity tolaud our kids. Their good manners andbehaviour at inter-club events hasgained them a reputation to be proudof within the Tipperary regional youthservice. Well done lads.

Congratulations are in order also; theclubs drug awareness project has wonthe senior clubs CommunityInvolvement Award. Again specialapplause to; Tracey, Tara, Ashley,Louise, John H., Anthony, Niall, Ciarán,Brian, Adrian, Eoin D, and Kyle.

Well that’s some of our news for thisyear so until nest year, MerryChristmas and a peaceful, hopeful2002. ◆

Fethard Youth Club members with their Drugs Awareness certificates received on Wednesday 27th June.Back L to R: John Hannigan, Charlotte Escalon, Brian Conway, Niall Maher, Ashley McCormack-John,Anthony Hanrahan, Kyle O’Donnell. Front L to R: Rita McCormack-John (leader), Adrian Allen, Sinead

O’Mahony (Drug Project Worker), Tracy Coady and Claire Hannigan (leader). The following alsoreceived certificates: Tara Ryan, Louise Nagle, Ciarán Duggan, Eoin Maher and Eoin Delahunty.


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Iwould love to tell you a story. Atrue story, actually, a heart break-

ing story about the life and death of ayoung man from Farranaleen. Hisname was Jimmy Condon, born in1937, died in 1964.

There was nothing unusual about hisyouth except that he was a daredevil.He had to be the first to try out any-thing remotely dangerous, like walk-ing across the old redbridge over to therailway station whilea passenger trainpassed underneath.Yes young readersthere was a lovelyrailway station atFarranaleen, onlythree miles fromFethard. Why a sta-tion there you ask?Well that’s anotherstory.

Jimmy Condon lis-tened to few people, needless to saynot least his parents. When he shouldhave been working he was skulking offwork (from Scully’s). His popularity athome was strained due to his wildnature, and his disappearing for threedays at the age of fourteen did notimpress his austere father, Jack.

Maybe this was the start of thenomadic Jimmy Condon. He left tojoin the army in Clonmel, nothingunusual for young men at that time,except that they took your word youwere 16 years or older.

An indication of this man’s wild-ness, untamed nature or what nowa-days would be classed as unsocialbehaviour could be summed up when

he arrived home on one occasion fromClonmel Army Barracks in possessionof a .177 calibre small firearm.

He used his neighbours as practice.Needless to say they were not pleasedand did not appreciate having smallslugs bounce off their rear ends.

He was no mean footballer and thiswriter would have no hesitation in stat-ing he was on a par, if not better, than

his brothers Sean andBilly who went on torepresent theirbeloved Tipperary.Jimmy Condon wona county juvenilemedal at the age of13 with Ardfinnan.

A twist of fate andlife changes. Halfdisowned at home bya disciplinarianfather, but not by hisadoring heartbrokenmother, and not

happy with the unexciting Irish Armyhe left for London. From there toAldershot, Hereford and finallySarawak province of North Borneowhere the story ends.

Or has it?

“We are the pilgrims, Master,We shall go always, a little further.”

Jimmy Condon joined the SpecialAir Service Regiment in 1959, muchto the absolute horror of his parents,and against the wishes of his youngerbrothers and sister Maureen.

Coming from the Condon’s republi-can background from Ahane,Limerick, this was indeed very sur-

A young man from Farranaleen Mail Nodnoc

Jimmy Condon (right), Borneo 1963


26

prising and upsetting for the wholefamily, knowing that the S.A.S wereconsidered a cool, calculating outfitthat never did anything without a rea-son. Undaunted and unperturbed bylocal opposition he went on to becomechampion recruit of ‘A Company’ andrepresented the company in an air dis-play in Canada in the early sixties fol-lowed by other parades throughout theBritish Empire.

From 1963 to1966 Britainfought a war inSouth East Asiaon theMalaysian sideagainst theC h i n e s eC o m m u n i s t sand IndonesianSoekarno. TheS.A.S werei n v o l v e d .P a r a t r o o p e rJimmy Condon, being a member of theS.A.S, was posted to Borneo in 1963.Each unit comprised of four men whoattacked supply routes and staged sur-prise attacks. Let me remind you thatthis was a huge, un-populated country-side with mountains and heavy jungle.Boundaries were drawn on maps usingrivers mostly, and they navigated moreby sense of direction than by the actu-al maps. Patrols made friends of thelocals as best they could. Condon, whovolunteered for a second tour, was wellversed in the Malayan language, andacted as interpreter of his party.

Early in March 1964 the usual four-man patrol was sent out, includingparatrooper Jimmy Condon, who wasknown to his comrades as ‘Paddy’.These comrades did not leave a stone

unturned in their later efforts to locate‘Paddy’.

Here was the very short, slight andvery quiet man from the banks of theClashawley River at Farranaleenwhose daredevil attitude to lifeendeared him to his comrades, in themiddle of a jungle in SarawakProvince in North Borneo, carrying aheavy two-way radio (he was also theradio operator of the unit).

After 10 daysthey cameacross a largeenemy campwhich wasempty and esti-mated to havehoused about100 enemy. Theunit decided towatch thiscamp and asnothing hap-pened they

moved on the next day.Wherever the border was, and histo-

rians disagree, one thing was sure thatthis camp was on Malaysian territory.Nothing else was found the next dayand a decision was made to return tothis camp.

On the morning of the 14th March,1964, they encountered an enemypatrol. A large enemy force confrontedthem and thereafter followed ashootout. Following a well-rehearsedroutine, the troop moved in differentdirections. Three men re-convened at aprearranged point. Jimmy ‘Paddy’Condon did not make this point. Theywere not worried then as he was carry-ing a heavy radio. Shooting becamerapid again and Paddy Condon did notmake the second rendezvous point.

Jimmy Condon (right), Borneo 1963


27

Things looked bad at that stage.For four days, these three troopers

searched every pre-arranged point, butno paratrooper Condon. They knewthen that hope was negligible. JimmyCondon was dead.

Word filtered through during thenext few days of how Indonesian sol-diers had boasted that they had killed aBritish paratroop-er. He wasg r i e v o u s l ywounded duringthe firstencounter, havingtaken a bullet inthe groin. He wastaken captive.They tried toobtain as muchinformation aspossible fromhim. He pretend-ed his knowledgeof Malaysian waslimited which wasuntrue. He suc-ceeded in givingthem the idea thatthe S.A.S patrolwas larger than itwas. They couldnot take anychances andretreated on this information. Hiscomrades to this day acknowledge thatthey owe their lives to the misinforma-tion Jimmy Condon supplied on thatfateful day, March 14th, 1964.

The enemy retreated and beingunable to walk, the injured paratrooperwas no longer of any importance tothem. He was shot and finished off inthe lonely jungle of North Borneo.

So he died alone, unmourned, un-

prayed for, but dearly loved — theyoung daredevil from Farranaleen.

He was buried in an unmarked gravein this foreign land, having done morein his short life than most.

His beloved parents left this world in1972 and 1981 respectively, still clutch-ing to the possibility that this youngwild man from Borneo would some day

come home. Buthe didn’t.

Today, all threeare together again,at home in the love-ly churchyard inMoyglass. Jimmywas brought homelast April.

To the people ofF e t h a r d ,Farranaleen andits surrounds, Iwould like topoint out that theCondon familydeeply appreciat-ed their support atthat time. Manytributes were paidto Jimmy andmany peoplecalled toF a r r a n a l e e n .Local support, as

always in a time of tragedy, is alwaysforemost in people’s minds.

At the time, local opposition toJimmy’s vocation was cause for localspeculation. I know that the Condonfamily bear no grievance, but genuineforgiveness, as some comments hurtan old repentant father who had justlost a son, many, many miles away.

Say a prayer for Jack, Brigid andJimmy Condon. All three at rest. ◆

Jack and Bridget Condon, Farranaleen 1960


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The Irish Red Cross

Once again it is time to give anaccount of the Fethard Branch

activities for the year 2001.In January First Aid Classes were

held in the Tirry Centre, conducted byTony Lawlor and Kevin O’Donnell.When completed, an exam was held inwhich all were successful. Those whosat the exam were Rosemary Lalor,Katie Murphy, Marie Murphy, HelenGuiry, Rena Hannigan, Ellen Tobinand Margaret Tuohy.

A demonstration on the area of heartdisease and cardiac resuscitation washeld in Fethard Ballroom on MondayMarch 27, given by Tony Lawlor andEllen Kearns. Great interest wasshown and a large crowd attended.

A very active member of the branch,Jacqueline O’Gorman, who has been avolunteer leader on Red Cross respiteholidays, for many years went toPontin’s holiday centre in Blackpoolduring the summer to help care forpeople with physical and other disabil-ities, and all had a lovely time. She

also drives the ambulance which isavailable for racing and sporting fix-tures and other emergencies at alltimes.

In March a very interesting talk onhealth food was given in the Ballroomby Pamela of the health food shop inClonmel. She had a lot of herbs andmedicines, all completely naturalremedies, to relieve complaints.Samples were given for all to try.

The Red Cross members also donat-ed £500 to the CAT scan appeal for St.Joseph’s Hospital in Clonmel. It willmake a big difference to the people ofthe area not to have to travel for a scan.

We also help people in need, espe-cially the people of Afghanistan, whoare in desperate need of food and med-ical supplies now that winter is nearand war is still raging there.

New members are cordially invitedto join, especially those interested in amedical career. The experience gainedin the Red Cross would be helpful intheir chosen field. ◆

Red Cross members making a donation of £500 to the CAT scan appeal for St. Joseph’s Hospital.L to R: Commdt. Austin Kenny, Frank Coffey (chairman), Jacqueline O’Gorman, Biddy Trehy, Mary

Tierney, Maureen Guiry and Gabrielle Schofield (St. Joseph’s Hospital Clonmel).


29

Another successful year hascome and gone for Fethard

Macra na Feirme. Our year began withthe Christmas Party, which was held inCahir House Hotel. The SouthTipperary Clubs attended to make it anenjoyable night all round.

We have had our share of success incompetitions this year with our maleand female Indoor Soccer teams play-ing in the All-Ireland finals, whichwere held in Gormanstown, Co. Meath.The tasks in the Creative Challengecompetition were cookery, recycling,woodwork and computers. SineadO’Brien, Jennifer Frewen, GaryWilliams, Ciarán Duggan and LyndaNevin did themselves proud by finish-ing third in the All-Ireland semifinals.

We took to the stage for the DublinCity talent competition. DarynO’Meara played well in the soloinstrument section. Emma Morrisseyand Corina Smidt did well in the solosinging section as did Ciarán Dugganin the stand-up comedy act section.Our disco dancers were worthy win-ners and qualified for the All-Irelandsemi-finals. Due to the Foot andMouth crisis they did not compete inthe next round. Sinead O’Brien repre-sented us well in the county rounds ofthe ‘Queen of the Land’ and ‘MissMacra’ competitions. The volleyballteam of Mary Barry, Corina Cleary,Lil Grant, Sarah Whyte, PaddyCooney, Kevin Whyte, Gary Williamsand Lar Looby, put on a good show byreaching the South Tipperary quarter-finals. Well done on a great effort.

Club members Ali Holohan, LiamHayes and John Hingston tried theirluck in a ‘Blind Date’ competition. An

adventurous Liam also took part in an‘Ideal Bachelor’ competition. Betterluck next time Liam!

Brendan Morrissey, our very own‘King of the Culchies’ had anotherbusy year. This year the CulchieFestival was held in Fethard from 25 to28 October and was won by local manKen Lee who was representingSlievenamon. The ‘Bacon & CabbageBall’ was held in conjunction withFethard Macra where we rolled up oursleeves and served out the food on thenight. A wide range of activities tookplace over the weekend and it wasenjoyed by competitors, escorts andspectators alike. Brendan also reachedthe final eight of the NationalLeadership Awards.

We were well-travelled during theyear with Lorraine Morrissey movingto Scotland and Corina Morrissey andRobin Roe moving to Australia for ayear. Lynda Nevin spent the summerworking in America while JenniferFrewen went on holidays to Canada.Sixteen members went on a day trip toa theme park in Oakwood in Wales;eight members travelled as part of agroup of forty-five from SouthTipperary Macra to Turkey on the16/17 September. Our holiday includ-ed a Turkish bath, lounging by thepool, craic at the beach, barbeques,belly dancing, spoon dancing, scubadiving, plenty of shopping and greatnightlife. Friends were made and nodoubt one or two will make a returnvisit! We arrived home on the 22/23September exhausted and happy.Plans are already being made for nextyear. A thoroughly enjoyable time washad by all.

Fethard Macra na Feirme


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Community Involvement was in theform of a table quiz, which was held inaid of the St. Vincent de Paul. It waswell supported and we raised £286 forthe local conference. Some thingsnever change in Fethard Macra asagain romance was in the air.

Congratulations go to PatriciaMorrissey and Matt Hennessy and alsoto Adrian Morrissey and Avril Colvilleon their engagements. Best wishes toPamela and Dermot O’Donnell on thebirth of their daughter Laura. We wishall of them the very best of good for-tune, health and happiness. Otheractivities during the year includeMacra capers, debating, volleyball,basketball, race nights, discos, kartingand bowling.

At our AGM on September 1st thefollowing officers were elected:President Brendan Morrissey; Vice-

President Avril Colville; ChairpersonThomas Grant; Vice-ChairpersonKevin Whyte; Secretary Mary Barry;Asst. Secretary Avril Colville;Treasurer Adrian Morrissey; Asst.Secretary Teresa Grant; P.R.O. EmmaMorrissey; Recruitment OfficersKevin Whyte and Gary Williams.

Our club meetings take place everysecond Friday night in Lonergans,Fethard. Members come from allwalks of life so if you are interested inenjoying yourself making new friends,learning new skills, improving yoursocial life and availing of travel oppor-tunities Macra is the place for you.Any of the above committee memberscould be delighted to hear from you.

We would like to thank all those whohelped to make the past year a successfor the club and we are looking for-ward to the year ahead. ◆

Macra play cast at rehearsal with Paddy Maher in convent hall. Back L to R: Paddy Maher (producer),Liam O’Connor, Seamus Kennedy, Jackie Aylward, Anne O’Connell, Sean O’Dea, Nuala Fahy, Simon

Delahunty, Paul Quinn, John Heffernan, Pat Fahy. Front L to R: Francis McGivern, Anne Harrington,Jim O’Meara, Theresa O’Connell, Catherine Harrington and Trudy Phelan.

The play was’Many Young Men of Twenty’ by John B. Keane.


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Fethard in 1950

Sean T. O’Kelly was President,John A. Costello was Taoiseach,

Dr. Noel Browne was Minister forHealth and Pope Pius XII had declared1950 a Holy Year. By happy coinci-dence, January 1st was a Sunday, andin the very first hour of the New YearMidnight Mass was celebrated both inthe Parish Church and in the Abbey.Fr. White was Augustinian Prior at thetime. Canon Ryan was Parish Priestand the curates were Fr. Hogan and Fr.Lambe.

And from things of God to mattersof manna we are amazed to note thatbread rationing was in force. It hadbeen re-introduced the previousNovember. The pound in your pocketwas sterling but that had been deval-ued three months previously from fourdollars to $2.80. We used to call thehalf-crown a half dollar, but now itwas only worth 35 cents.

And if you did have a spare half-crown on Jan 12th and 13th, 1950, itwould have purchased you a balconyseat in the Capitol Cinema where theFethard Players were presenting their

annual pantomime. On this occasion itwas Simple Simon, which, apparently,was vintage Fethard Pantomime stuffand was the subject of a detailedappraisal in the Nationalist newspaperwhich we re-print in full on page 48.It’s a valuable record of those timesand tells us "who did what and whosang which". They took this show tothe Savoy Cinema in Limerick andplayed to a capacity audience of 1800,to a packed Regal Theatre in Clonmelin aid of the Cottage Hospital buildingfund and to Dungarvan in aid of theFriary building fund.

February 22nd, 1950 was AshWednesday, which meant the suspen-sion of dancing for 40 days. Not sur-prising then that ‘Fred and Ginger’fans got in a lot of dancing before Lentbegan. One event was billed as a‘Grand All-Night Dance’ in the TownHall on Sunday 5th February, withmusic by the Twilight SerenadersDance Band. Admission was fiveshillings. If the weather wasn't too wetor cold, a crowd gathered on the oppo-site side of the street watching the cou-

compiled by Billy McLellan

Archbishop O’Donnell talking to blind musician, Joe Kelly Napier, also included is Nellie Trehy


32

ples gliding past the windows and lis-tening to the band. That year one ofthe latest hit tunes was TennesseeWaltz - appropriately melancholicmusic to play in a dance hall with itshaunting tones particularly suited toTommy Sheehan's saxophone. (Ifyou're trying to remember who madethe song famous, it was Patti Page).

Around this time a large advertappeared in the Nationalist announc-ing bottled milk for Fethard. TheDairy, Clonacody was introducingtheir agent Mr. W. O'Flynn, BurkeStreet. The ad went on to say, "ThisHigh Class Milk produced and cooledunder Modern Hygienic Conditions,untouched by hand, will be sold onlyin sterilised pint bottles, and for cash,at the controlled price. Those whowish to register as customers shoulddo so with Mr. O'Flynn immediately."

Coolmoyne Hurling Club held theirannual convention in the Town Hall.The president, Fr. Lambe C.C., con-gratulated the minors on winning theminor championship and paid a glow-ing tribute to the county senior andminor hurling teams on bringing the

highest honours to the county. Heappealed especially for good, cleansporting displays and said the mottoshould be "honour before honours."

Fethard Badminton Club was doingwell in 1950. The A Team, comprisingMisses P. Walsh and K. McCarthy,Messrs. J. McCarthy, S. Henehan andA. Newport, were competing in theClingan Cup Competition. Theydefeated Clonmel 4-3 and met Thurlesin the semi-final whom they beat 5-1.They put up a spirited performanceagainst Waterford in the final but lostto very experienced opponents.Fethard had one great victory in themen's singles when Jimmy McCarthywon 15-0, 15-1, playing an inspiredgame and making miraculous returns.The applause for two of his returns,made when he was on his knees,caused play to cease for some minutes.

Master craftsman in wood by day,bandmaster by night, Tom Hickey hadbeen busy for the previous twelvemonths reviving the ConfraternityBand. A big event was looming. Thetown was preparing for the arrival ofan auspicious visitor and wanted Tom

Twilight Serenaders band featuring L to R: Paddy Grant on drums, Paud O’Shea (trumpet), Tom Sheehan(sax), Patsy Carroll (accordion), Phil Vaughan (piano) and Mick Looby (banjo).


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not only to polish up the brass but thetechnique of the musicians who madethose great oom-pah-pah sounds.Bunting, blather and ballyhoo wouldhave to be augmented by Fethard'svery own Brass Band in according afitting welcome. A series of WhistDrives were held on the Sundays dur-ing Lent to raise funds for the band. Alarge crowd gathered outside theparish church after the men's sodalityin March 1950 cheered and clapped asthe band did their stuff. All agreed therevival had been a success. When thevisitor came, he would be impressed.

A report from New York stated thatSt. Patrick's Day in 1950 was celebrat-ed by the sons and daughters ofTipperary on a larger, more colourfuland more representative scale thanever before. Some of the many

Fethard names attending were men-tioned:- Mr. & Mrs. Michael Casey;Mrs. Alice Cody; Thomas & JosieHealy-Bannon; Margaret HealyO'Shea; Wilfred Lyons; MichaelGunn; George Anglim.

Patrician Brothers Superior HilarionO'Keeffe died suddenly in the earlyhours of Monday 3rd April. TheBrothers in Fethard attending thefuneral were Bro. Damien, Bro.Fergus, Bro. Albert, Bro. Stephen andBro. Dominic. The new Superior wasRev. Bro. Serenius Bergin who was onthe teaching staff at Ballyfin and hadspent 45 years in India. Bro Mark Leealso died in Fethard later in the year.

On 9th April, Easter Sunday, Fethardfootball team had a resounding victoryover Clonmel Commercials in theTipperarymens Cup Game at

Fethard Badminton team and committee in the 1950's. The Team, shown here with the 'Clingan Cup' (wonlater than 1950), were unbeaten in their time in Tipperary badminton circles, a match for any club team in

Munster. A unique feature of the team is all players, except Cly Mullins, are from Main Street. Picturedwith President, Fr. Lamb. Back: Tommy O'Connell, Rosie Henehan, Jimmy McCarthy, Tony Newport, Cly

Mullins, Frank McCarthy, Dollie O'Connell and Fr. Lambe. Front: Mrs. Rita Schofield, Pat Walsh(McCarthy), Sean Henehan, Kitty McCarthy, Betty Holohan, Baby-Anne McLellan.


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Ballypatrick. The weather was blow-ing such a gale that play had to bestopped entirely at one stage.Commercials elected to play againstthe wind in the first half and as thewind increased in strength Fethardswamped them to such an extent theycouldn't recover during the secondhalf. The final score was Fethard 3-7,Commercials 1-5. The Fethard teamwas: R. Meehan; P. Larkin; M. Byrne;W. Coffey; Ed. Burke; J. Roche; J.McCarthy; R. Power; T. Riordan; J.Tobin; P. Foley; P. Marron; J. Fogarty;J. Riordan; and C. Mullins.

Putting the clocks forward toSummer Time in 1950 was not a unan-imous, taken-for-granted practice.Some thought it unnecessary. Manyfarmers didn't agree with it and otherswere vociferously against it. “It’llconfuse the cows at milking time” wasone argument. The Fethard Notes inthe Nationalist said "it is to be hopedthat the people of Fethard will fall intoline with those in local surrounding

towns by adopting Summer Timewhich comes into force on 16th April."But during the year, and for a goodwhile afterwards, some functionsadvertised commencement time in OldTime and others in Summer Time. andif you told someone the meeting wasstarting at eight o’clock, the replywould invariably be “is that old time ornew time?” It was almost a contestbetween progressives and fundamen-talists. Now that we have a vast num-ber of gadgets in the average home,many containing timers, all of whichhave to be adjusted twice a year, itsomehow doesn’t feel like progressand gives the last laugh to the cow.

Fethard Lawn Tennis Club held itsannual meeting. The secretary's reporttold of a very successful season andreported that the grass courts were ingood condition and now open for play.New members were welcome. Thecourts were down the stairs and behindJoe and Pauline Coffey's house inBurke Street. The seat (or furrem, as

Fethard Tennis Team in the fifties: Front L to R: Pat McCarthy, Mary Goldsborough, Carmel White, BettyHolohan. Back L to R: Sean Henehan, Andy Holohan, Jimmy McCarthy, Sean Hogan.


35

we pronounced it) outside BillyO'Flynn's shop was a great meetingplace and an opportunity to samplecones of delicious ice cream calledAmerican Whipped. There are indica-tions thatFethard wonthe GibsonCup that year,but we cannotbe certain.

The arrivalof Summerdays meant theF e t h a r dCarnival was-n’t far off. Itwas held onSunday 11thJune. A special train was laid on. Thereturn rail fare from Waterford was 5s.9d and from Clonmel 1s 6d. Visitorsfrom far and wide converged on thetown before the Fancy Dress Paradeled by the Confraternity Band and theClonmel Boys’ Club Pipers Band start-ed from Kerry Street on its way to theBarrack Field where a wide pro-gramme of attractions was laid on.The yearly success of the fancy dressparade was brought about by dedica-tion right across the community and asense of fun that shone out as brightlyas the sun that, even at the time, wasreported to always favour the FethardCarnival. Gymkana events werejudged by the Earl of Donoughmore,Dr. P. Stokes and Mr. C. Carrigan. Ahurling contest was held betweencounty champions Borrisoleigh repre-senting Tipperary and county finalistsClonea representing Waterford.Borrisoleigh won by a small margin.There were Irish Dancing competi-tions, numerous side shows, a dancing

platform and a place to have refresh-ments known as the “tea tent.” Nohawkers were allowed into the fieldbut they were certainly evident in theapproaches and did a thriving busi-

ness. Theside showsi n c l u d e dR o u l e t t e ,Penny on theJack, Moneyf r o mAmerica, anda game notunlike Bingocalled Pongo,played onm u l t i -c o l o u r e d

boards where you marked off the num-bers with chalk. The 960 visitors whocame by train left Fethard RailwayStation at 9pm with memories of agreat day’s entertainment. We, athome, eagerly awaited the pho-tographs of the day’s events appearingin the window of O’Sullivans Chemistin the Main Street where groups gath-ered looking in at the pictures and re-living it all.

At a meeting of South TipperaryCounty Council, Councillor Ahessyproposed, that for the future, no tollswould be collected at Fethard Fair.The motion was carried unanimously.The Fair of Fethard was held on thethird Tuesday of every month and wassoon to be discontinued in favour ofthe Cattle Mart. At another meeting ofthe County Council during whichhousing needs in Fethard were beingdiscussed, a report from Dr. M.Naughten, County Medical Officerincluded the following:- “Fethard is atown with a population of just over a

Lawn Tennis Court behind Joe Coffey’s, Burke Street.


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thousand (1024). There is, as a matterof interest, a preponderance of females(555 to be exact). Everything is at theagricultural wages standard. On goingthrough the register of each family inthe district, which was brought up todate a few months ago, I find thatalmost all adults in the town (male andfemale) go to England on adolescenceand that in some cases full familieshave gone because of absence of localwork. The town is static and is largelya ‘dormitory or nursery’ from whichpeople depart.” Although the gooddoctor used the word static in a statis-tical context, it nevertheless caused agood deal of resentment, indeed, out-rage as you can imagine, in a commu-nity that was anything but static. Ameeting of various organisations of thetown, including the IrishCountrywomens Association, Hurlingand Football Clubs, Fethard Players,Fethard Carnival Committee, FethardTennis and Badminton Clubs, was heldand issued a statement to the Press list-ing the various activities and achieve-ments of Fethard clubs and organisa-tions - hardly the attributes of a com-munity described as static.

We re-print part of the statementwhich is of particular interest:-

“The Fethard Branch of the IrishCountrywomens Association, whichhas a membership of 58, boasts arecord of activity and achievementwhich any organisation and towncould well be proud of. This Guild haswon twice in six years the ProductionCup offered for work produced in thehome, as well as numerous otherprizes in various competitionsthroughout the country. Fethard mem-bers were responsible for the startingof rush-basket making and through the

Fethard Guild this home industryspread all over the country. Fethard-taught instructresses in the making ofrugs and unspun wool have recentlytaught this art to spinners and weaversin other parts of the country and theGuild recently won first place in allIreland in a rug-making competitionfor I.C.A. members. An annualChrysanthemum Show, the only one ofits kind in the provinces is annuallyheld under the Guild’s auspices inFethard; and during the past two yearsmembers have erected and equipped acomfortable hall for meetings that isavailable for all parish functions. Oneof the most successful and enterprisingventures by the Guild was the estab-lishment over two and a half yearsago, in Fethard, of a weekly co-opera-tive market for produce which hassince been running most successfully.Together with this, members operate amuch-needed coffee stall at FethardFair. The programme of the Guild forthe past season included a series of sixlectures on a wide variety of subjectsand six demonstrations on varioushome crafts. Two of the four perma-nent organisers of the organisationwere chosen from Fethard and anothermember was selected by Mrs. McNeill,Ireland’s only woman ambassador, toaccompany her as secretary to TheHague.”

Certainly, the people of Fethardwere not standing still on the issue ofhousing. A deputation to the CountyCouncil led by Fr. Hogan and Fr.Lambe succeeded in securing 30 newhouses for Fethard. A month or solater, the County Council heard a pro-posal for the purchase of houses bysome tenants of Congress Terrace andThe Green. It was suggested that the


37

purchase price would be 75 percent ofthe rent. The rent was quoted as 5s 0dand 2s 6d respectively.

A meeting was held in Moyglass atwhich it was decided to form aCamogie Club and enter a team to playagainst Elmville, Clonmel in the firstround of the championship to beplayed in Fethard. It was expected toattract a large crowd because it was thefirst camogie match to be played in thedistrict for a number of years. Thegame was held on 22nd June. At thetime of going to press we were unableto find out what the result was andwould like to hear an account of thatmatch from readers.

In handball, Coolmoyne Juniors wonthe singles and doubles in the SouthTipperary Championship beatingClonmel St. Mary’s. The game washeld at D’Arcy’s Cross.

So far, 1950 has been an interesting

and eventful year as we move towardsthe month of August when a represen-tative meeting of the parishioners ofFethard and Killusty met in the TownHall for the purpose of forming abranch of Muintir na Tire. The meet-ing was addressed by the founder Fr.J.M. Hayes, P.P. Bansha. A ParishCouncil was formed representing,Farmers, Labour, Business, Trades,Professions and Ladies which held itsfirst meeting a week later with a fullattendance at which matters of localinterest and utility were discussed andinitial practical steps taken in some mat-ters of considerable importance in thedistrict. We feel sure that one of theitems in general discussion around thattime was the 100 percent increase inwater rate charges from 7/6d to 15/-.

Sunday 27th August was a big day inFethard. The headline says it all“Fethard Welcomes Illustrious Son -

Sections of large attendance taken at a testimonial luncheon to Archbishop O'Donnell tendered by theTipperary Men's Association & his friends in New York. Feb. 18th. 1951.


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Great Reception for ArchbishopO’Donnell.” And so it was. Papalflags and bunting decorated the housesand streets. Enthusiastic and welcom-ing crowds greeted the Co-adjutorArchbishop of Brisbane as the proces-sion went through the streets led byTom Hickey and the FethardConfraternity Band playing O’DonnellAbú. At each side of his car marcheda Guard of Honour of the Archbishop’sformer school companions. A rousingcheer and applause was heard as heapproached the entrance to the ParishChurch, where the Australian and Irishflags flew side by side, and where hewas greeted by a large number of oldfriends and received with full militaryhonours by a Guard of Honour of thelocal F.C.A. That evening he attendeda Grand Reception Concert in his hon-our at the Capitol Cinema. (Seats werebookable at Ward’s, The ValleyGarage. Phone Fethard 11. No book-ing charge).

The Archbishop’s arrival coincidedwith the feast of St. Augustine whichmeant that the special devotions in theAbbey had to be postponed for a week.They were conducted by Fr. ButlerO.S.A. who enrolled a number of peo-ple in the Confraternity of the HolyCincture. Fr. Butler announced that hewas being transferred to Dungarvanwhich was greeted with great sadness.

Local elections were held in theAutumn. Jack Ahessy exceeded thequota. It went to the eighth countbefore another candidate was elected.The elected Councillors were: JohnAhessy (FF); Thomas Duggan (FF);Patrick Brett (FG); Denis O’Driscoll(C.na P.); Patrick Henehan (FG) andPatrick Kenny (FF).

An October headline “Fethard are

Champions” was followed by the fol-lowing report:- “Fethard surmountedthe last obstacle in the climb back tothe highest peak of football promi-nence in South Tipperary when theydefeated Old Bridge, Clonmel, in theDivisional Senior Final on Sunday.Inheritors of an inspiring tradition, theBlues have thus once again enteredthat place of honour where the coloursof Fethard have been raised in the pastby footballers whose names becamehousehold words.” Final score 1-5 to0-2.

During 1950, Windscale (nowSellafield) atomic power stationopened in Cumbria. The Chineseinvaded and occupied Tibet. SenatorJoseph McCarthy launched his cru-sade against Communism. Threeplanes crashed, 2 in Britain and one inthe Alps, death toll 166. Soap andpetrol rationing ended in Britain andthe Cold War got hot when NorthKorea invaded South Korea.

In Ireland, the banks went on strikeon the day before Christmas Eve anddidn’t end until the February 15th. Dr.Noel Browne’s proposed Mother andChild Scheme was collapsing in theface of church opposition.

Back in Fethard the big news wasthe imminent arrival of the rural elec-trification scheme. The area had beensuccessfully canvassed in 1948. TheFarmers section of Muintir na Tireappointed a deputation to meet Mr.Enright, District Superintendent of theE.S.B. in Waterford. Wet battery wire-lesses would become things of the pastand the hum of milking machinescould be heard in the near future. ◆

(Information taken from The Nationalist newspaper issues in 1950)


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Officers for season 2001- 2002are: President Dick Cummins;

Chairperson Miceál McCormack;Vice Chairperson Carmel Condon,Secretary Mary Trehy; TreasurerLaura Lyons; Assistant TreasurerPeggy Sullivan; PRO Fintan Rice.

“ I sometimes think that running hasgiven me a glimpse of the greatestfreedom a man can ever know, becauseit results in the simultaneous libera-tion of both body and mind.”

This quote from the great RogerBannister goes some way towardsexplaining why so many children fromFethard and its surrounding parishesattend our twice weekly training ses-sions in spite of the physicallydemanding nature of the sport and thesometimes challenging aspect of ourwinter weather.

The emphasis in these club sessions

is not merely on winning, and compe-titions, but on participation and enjoy-ment of the health fitness benefits ofthis ancient and most basic sportingdiscipline. The club coaches focus onhelping our younger runners toachieve their potential whatever theirnatural ability.

Following on from this approach totraining, the club presents an annualaward called ‘Sportsperson of theyear’. In deciding the recipient of thisprize we looked at attendance at train-ing, discipline, work rate, commitmentto racing and respect towards coachesand fellow athletes.

Our 2000 winner was RachelBlackmore from Mortlestown whoinspired her club mates with hersportsmanship and her determination.In the competitive arena, the 2000 –2001 season was most successful,

Fethard A.C. (The Running Club)

Fethard Athletic Club members photographed before setting off on their sponsored walk through GroveWood on Thursday evening, 28th June. Over £1,100 was raised to help cover the day-to-day running

expenses of club.


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making it impractical to list all ourmedal winners, the following being aprofile of our top runnersand their achievements:

Michelle Ryall (Buffana)U9: County Champion200m and 60m; MunsterBronze medal 60m; AllIreland Bronze medal 60m;Tipp county games champi-on 200m.

Darragh Dwyer.(Ballygambon) U10:County Champion 60m,200m and ball throw;Munster bronze medal 60m;County Silver Cross country.

John Lalor (Rathkenty) U9:County Champion Cross country;Munster Bronze medal Cross Country;County Bronze medal 200m.

Elaine Kennedy (Mortlestown)U11: Tipp Community famesChampion 800m; County SilverMedal 800m; County ‘B’ Cross coun-ty Champion.

Michael Costello (Woodvale walk)U10: Tipp Community gamesChampion 100m.

Gregory Henry (St. Johnstown) U8:Tipp Community games Champion60m.

Conor Prendergast (Cooleagh)U10: Tipp Community GamesChampion 100m hurdles.

These are the athletes who crossedthe line first in championship raceswearing the blue and black of Fethard,but the unsung heroes are the boys andgirls who never win but compete forthe sheer joy of running and the senseof achievement that is experiencedwhen one reaches the finish line aftera hard race. Without these athletes ourclub workouts, in the boy’s school

field in summer or the G.A.A field inwinter, would be far less enjoyable and

productive.It must be mentioned at

this stage the debt of grati-tude that is owed both to St.Patrick’s Boy’s School andFethard G.A.A club for theuse of their training facili-ties. Other activities organ-ised by the cub during theyear include our Christmasparty, trips to CarrickSwimming Pool andKilkenny track, a sponsoredwalk to Grove Wood and

several races and juvenile sportsevenings.

In this information technology era,where children are increasingly cut offfrom the natural world and face manyrestrictions, challenges and distrac-tions, we can only hope that throughrunning and other sports our youth cantaste some of that freedom to whichRoger Bannister referred.

Sportsmanship, next to the familyand the church, can be the greatestteacher of morals and for this reason itis vital that we in Fethard and our sur-rounding community, nurture and sup-port our sporting organisations.

To end on an amusing note, the fol-lowing is a race day list found discard-ed on the field after the recent A.A.I.Cross Country Championships atEverardsgrange.

The author is an obviously wellorganised young runner with an inter-esting set of priorities: (a) Race:spikes, shorts and singlet; (b) Clothes:an old tracksuit because it will getmucked up. Big Time! (c) Lunch: apacked lunch. (d) Others: most impor-tant of all is money. (e) Win! ◆

Rachel Blackmore, club‘Sportsperson of the Year’


41

This year, 2001, will be remembered by many for the outbreak of Foot & Mouth disease in our countryand the restrictions caused as a result. All farms and walks were closed to visitors and the above sign at

the entrance at Grove is an example of how accommodating the Ponsonby family were. It reads “ Cattle atRisk, No Entry. Ring 31295 for access. Please walk dogs in woods opposite. Thank You”

Foot & Mouth Disease

Fethard was no different than therest of Ireland when everyone

was asked to make special efforts toprevent the spread of the dreaded Footand Mouth disease earlier this year.

Local organisations cancelled meet-ings and functions at which memberswould congregate. The HoganMusical Society put rehearsals fortheir production of ‘Mother Goose’ onhold. Fethard ICA cancelled theirmonthly meeting on March 13th.Ballylusky White Heather Harriersdeferred their annual St. Patrick’s Daydraw as the sale of tickets entails thecalling from door to door in ruralareas. Fethard Athletic Club post-poned their AGM and of course allGAA activities were brought to a halt.Disinfectant soak mats were in place

outside churches, public buildings andbusiness premises.

The precautions taken locally mayhave seemed to be overreacting to thescare. However, many local people, offree travel age, will remember the1941 outbreak when cattle weredestroyed on a farm as near asMoyglass. This was in an era when thevery few cattle trucks in operationwere grounded as the petrol wasrationed and livestock could only bemoved as far as they could walk. Theoutbreak of sixty years ago was not,however, without its humourousepisodes.

The noted practical jokers workingat Coolmoyne Creamery included a7lb weight in the back-pack of the lateJohn Croke, whose job it was to spray


42

the incoming carts. John walkedaround for a considerable period obliv-ious to the fact he was carrying 7lboverweight. It was also a regularoccurrence to see five or six able-bod-ied men pushing and pulling, trying topersuade a reluctant donkey to get itsfeet wet and go through the one-foot-deep pit of disinfectant.

Looking back, it now seems a differ-ent world, when horses and carts, don-

keys and carts, went to the creamery.To the younger generation it mustseem like a different planet. Thosewere the days when farmers like TomWhite of Knockelly called to housesen route inquiring if occupants neededany messages, and gladly broughtthem. We certainly have progressedand gained much from those days, butperhaps in hindsight, we have even lostmore. ◆

Calling all Fethard past pupilsfrom 1970 (first year) – to 1975

(Leaving Cert). We are planning a re-union for the coming year. The date setis Saturday, 4th May, 2002 (BankHoliday weekend) and the venue isMcCarthy’s Hotel at 7pm (latenesswill not be tolerated!). Dress:Informal but neat! Food: Some lightrefreshments will be served. (Wehope!). No children, pets or partnersunless part of the old class! Bringalong any old school photos and ofcourse any portable musical instru-ments. (No Francis you cannot bringthe piano!) P.S. Drinking of alcoholwill be allowed, in moderation, but

please no dancing on the tables!Please make contact as soon as pos-

sible; we can’t contact you, as there isno school register for our year. (Pleasebring to the attention of family left inthe area.) Please RSVP soon as wemight need to book the Ballroom!Also the committee will consider anysuggestions! Looking forward tomeeting you all after 27 years!

Contact: Tom Delahunty, MarketHill, Fethard; Madge (McGrath)Fogarty, Beal Inse, Upper Riverstown,Glanmire, Cork.

Email: [email protected] Majella Morrissey Smyth, 6

Strylea, Fethard. ◆

Reunion - Leaving Cert 1975

The Society continued its work inthe parish in the past year, great-

ly helped by the generosity of the peo-ple who donate funds to us.

Our annual collection again set anew record and donations outside ofthe collection were also high. We lostour esteemed spiritual advisor early inthe year with the transfer of Fr. SeanRyan. Fr. Sean was a most diligentworker for the society. We wish him

well in his new posting.Our new parish priest Fr. Tom Breen

has kindly agreed to become our spiri-tual director. Our work in the parishconsists of family help, educationalhelp, senior citizens, holiday and assis-tance with Christmas expenses.

Anybody needing assistance, incomplete confidentiality, please con-tact any member of the conference. ◆

St. Vincent De Paul


43

The Foot and Mouth epidemic inEngland put paid to the chances

of holding Killusty Pony Show in2001. The restrictions in place inIreland commencing with ‘not on agri-cultural land’ meant that it was impos-sible to comply and still hold the Showin Killusty. A social evening was heldinstead.

On Saturday 6th October in theBallroom, Fethard, the Killusty ShowCommittee held an evening in lieu ofthe Show. The Ladies’ Committee pro-duced a scrumptious meal for 120.Kieran Fogarty provided suitablebackground music during the supperand upped the tempo for dancing wheneveryone had finished eating. Therewere some very accomplishedwaltzers in evidence but no prizes

were being given out. The ‘Walls ofLimerick’ and ‘Siege of Ennis’ wereenthusiastically re-enacted by support-ers of all ages. A great night was hadby all. The Ballroom Committee con-tinue to improve the facilities and thatmade the Killusty Committee’s jobthat much easier.

With the last case of Foot and Mouthin England on September 30, 2001, asI write, it looks as if it will be possibleto hold the Show as usual on the firstSaturday in July 2002. If some partic-ipants have their way, the social, too,will become an annual event.

Officers elected for 2001 are:Chairman, Noel Byrne, Claremore,Killusty; Secretary, Betsy O’Connor.Knockelly, Fethard. ◆

Killusty Pony Show 2001

Canon James Power retires

At a most enjoyable parish func-tion in the ballroom on Thursday

2nd August, presentations were madefrom the Fethard and Killusty parishesto Very Rev, Canon James Power tomark his retirement as Parish Priest ofFethard and Killusty.

Mr Jimmy Connolly, M.C. on thenight, on behalf of the Fethard parish-ioners thanked Canon Power for hisdedicated and unselfish service to thepeople of Fethard and Killusty. He paida very special tribute to the Canon’sdevotion to the sick and incapacitatedof the parish and said he never failed tovisit any member of his flock who werehospitalised, whatever the distance.

Mr Mick Ahearne made the presenta-tion and Mr Noel Byrne spoke similar-ly on behalf of the parishioners of

Killusty. Mr Pat Halpin made the pre-sentation on behalf of the Killusty peo-ple. Noel stated that Pat was well wor-thy of the honour as he probably knewCanon Power longer than anyone else inthe parish. While in the employment ofHealy’s of Coolcroo, Pat was a team-mate of the Canons on the 1945Moycarkey junior football team.

Fethard and Killusty parish are veryfortunate that Canon Power will stillcontinue his ministry amongst us.Jimmy and Noel also welcomed ournew Parish Priest, Fr. Tom Breen, to theFethard & Killusty parish. CanonPower suitable replied and thanked allconcerned with the organisation of theevent. He repeated his thanks at the11am Mass in the Parish Church onSunday morning. ◆


44

The Culchie Festival originated inClonbur, Co Galway, and is now

in its twelfth year. 2001 was the firstyear that it was held outside the Westof Ireland as a result of a local man,B r e n d a nMorrissey, win-ning the title inShrule, Co. Mayo,in October 2000.Brendan insistedthe festival bebrought toFethard.

The Festival is afestival of fun andits aim is to findlocal charactersall over Ireland intowns and vil-lages, who arenatural entertain-ers and have theability to entertainat will, at any timeof the day ornight. This year’sFestival brought ahuge gathering toFethard for the four day event. TheCulchies arrived in the town onThursday night, where they werematched up with their escorts for theweekend by Biddy (a well known char-acter herself), whose job it was to seethat the Culchies/contestants were ontime for all the pre-arranged chal-lenges that lay in wait for them.

One of these events came under theguise of ‘The Fionn Mac CuhaillChallenge’, Fionn challenged theCulchies to welly-throw, to knit, towool-roll, to model in the culchie fash-

ion show, to hurl, to go back to schoolfor an hour (in Grants Bar) and finally,to the art of ‘bulling’ and horse shoethrowing. This method is a tried andtested way of assessing the true quali-

ties of a genuineculchie, beforebeing inter-viewed on stageby the Festivalc o m p e r eMargaret Niland.Margaret, whohails fromKilkelly, CoMayo has com-pered the eventfor the threeyears running. Inrecent years othercomperes for thefestival have beenNicola Berisford,WLR Radio,W a t e r f o r d ;B r e n d aDonoghue (GerryRyan ShowRTE); Linda

Martin; Maxi and Anne Doyle all ofwhom remain good friends of the festi-val and continue to mention the festivalon occasions on their own radio showswhen the opportunity arises.

Friday saw the Culchies head off toClonmel where they called into TippFM Radio to wish them a Happy 10thBirthday.

Throughout the weekend theCulchies raised money for this year’sadopted charity, the ‘Top Flat Charity’,Temple Street Children's Hospital,Dublin. Including the donations

Culchie Festival 2001 Paddy Rock (Festival Director)

Ireland’s Culchie of 2001, Ken Lee, Killusty, receiving abottle of Champagne from Minister Noel Davern TD.National winner Ken represented Slievenamon and

qualified for the final from the heats held at CloneenHall and Sports Complex.


45

received from the Culchie ‘Bed Push’in Clonmel, the total money raisedcame to £2,070.

Friday night saw the now famous‘Bacon and Cabbage Ball’ take placein the Ballroom. On Saturday andSunday record crowds attended theinterviews, which were on stage in theBallroom, followed each night withdancing till late. On Sunday there wasa hint of past times, as the FestivalParade took place, travelling from theBallroom to the GAA grounds. Somevery interesting floats were entered,and the prize for the best float went toBurkes Bar. Many shops also enteredthe festival theme with some interest-ing window displays appearing up anddown the town. The window displaywinner was O’Sullivan’s Chemist.

The selection of the ‘Junior Culchie’took place after the parade and wasfollowed by a unique hurling match atthe pitch between the ‘Powley Boys’from Castlecomer and the Culchies,with the overall winners being the‘Powley Boys’ (or so they say). Theweekend was brought to a close with

Ireland's top comedy mime act, ‘TheMadcaps’ who received a standingovation from a packed ballroom. Soonafter, local man Ken Lee, fromKillusty, was selected as Ireland’sOriginal Culchie for 2001.

As Festival Director I would like totake this opportunity to thank the peo-ple of Fethard and the surroundingareas for the warm welcome theCulchies and I received throughout thebuild up to the event and throughoutthe weekend itself. I would like to saya special word of thanks to CatrionaStapleton who organised accommoda-tion for people visiting Fethard overthe weekend, and also to BrendanMorrissey and the Morrissey Familywho extended a warm welcome to meat all times.

I look forward to hosting the Festivalnext year in Fethard and if you knowthat local character that we search for,why not let us know about him If youhave relations living abroad why notget them to plan their holiday for theFestival next year at the October BankHoliday weekend. ◆

Ken Lee photographed with his friends at a victory celebration held in Cloneen.


46

The club had a very successful2000/2001 season with team and

individual performances outshiningprevious years. We started the seasonwith the County Shield teams. Thisevent got the club off with matchesbeing played on a home and awaybasis. Our 5th/6th division team didn’tgo quite as far as our 3rd/4th divisionteam who eventually went on to winthe county final.

Our next event was the county leaguefor our 3rd division team. This compe-tition seemed to bring the best out inour players with each match beingfought down to the wire. The league iscontested with the first half beingplayed before Christmas and the secondhalf after Christmas. The final was heldat the end of April and as we wereunable to field the full team, we wentdown to Galbally.

We had three individual players,Catherine Morrissey, Jim Connollyand Pat Ryan, taking part in theMunster junior competition inClonmel. This event had singles, dou-bles and mixed competitions.Catherine Morrissey set the ballrolling when she took the Munster sin-gles title beating a Cork lady in thefinal. Pat Ryan and Jim Connolly bothparticipated in the singles event butluck was not on their side for thisevent. Catherine Morrissey, after herwin in the singles, teamed up withMary Wall (Hillview) in the ladiesdoubles and came up against two otherHillview players in the final.Following great displays from all fourplayers, Catherine Morrissey won hersecond Munster title of the day. PatRyan and Jim Connolly played the

doubles but like the singles event luckwas not on their side. Jim Connollyteamed up with Catherine Morrisseyin the mixed and reached the semifinalof this event.

In the county doubles, Ger Browneand Jim Connolly put up a great per-formance and gave some fine displaysof Badminton to take the 3rd Divisiontitle. Ger Browne teamed up withMary Nugent in the county 4th divi-sion mixed and took that title beatingFiona Lawrence and John Fitzgerald(Hillview) in the final. CatherineMorrissey and Jim Connolly werebeaten in the 2nd division mixed final.

The county cup was the final eventof the season and we had the sameteam entered in this competition andtrue to form the team rallied to takethis title and to add to the clubs greatperformances for this season.

Players were: Pat Ryan, JimConnolly, Ger Browne, CatherineMorrissey, Fiona Lawrence and MaryNugent. Other players who subbed forthe year were Delores Costigan andMarie Neavyn. Jim Connolly repre-sented Tipperary in class 4 andCatherine Morrissey in class 3,Butterfield Cup and Brewster Cup. ◆

Fethard Badminton Club

NEW CAREER FOR PATSY

Mr Patsy Lawrence, a very popularand efficient barman for 20 years,left the public house trade and hasset up his own hackney service. Wewish him the very best of luck in hisnew venture. He may be contacted

day or night on Telephone: 052 32250 or 086 8217472.


47

It was Hallowe’en about 1960 andmy late mother and grandmother

(who lived with us for the last years ofher life) were talking about pastHallowe’ens and dressing-up. We livedin The Valley at that time, in what isnow Looby’s house.

Almost before I realised what washappening I was dressed up in mygrandmother’s black fur coat and hernew fur lined slippers (which herdaughter had sent her from London afew days previously).

A mask placed on my face complet-ed my disguise. I was now ready to goup the Valley and attempt to scare mysister Brid and her friend CatherineMolloy, who lived in what was then theMunster and Leinster Bank House,now Don O’Connell’s residence. Thetwo girls were at study and alwayscame home via the Valley.

On my way up The Valley I met PatFogarty and one of his younger broth-ers, who when they saw me, placedtheir coats over their heads and raceddown the street. This gave me a greatfeeling of elation as I walked up to myvantage point inside the wall oppositeMulligans (now Gilpin’s) where I pro-ceeded to wait for Brid and Catherine.

I was waiting only a short time,when I heard what I could onlydescribe as a herd of stampeding ele-phants coming up the Valley and theystarted to pound their way in, near towhere I was hiding. I found out after-wards that my pursuers were the StPatrick’s Place gang. All I could hearduring this time were shouts of, “Findthe witch, find the Witch.” The veryfrightened “witch” was crouchedamongst the briars, brambles and

barbed wire shaking like a leaf. I knewstraight away I had to move fast! Iproceeded to make my way as quietlyand quickly as possible, down throughthe overgrown area which was next tothe Clashawley. The next thing I knewI was ankle-deep in the Clashawleyand my Grandmother’s new slipperswere ruined!! By then I was oppositeLandy’s house now the ClashawleyCottage and I just raced across theroad as fast as my (Granny’s) soddenslippers and shaking legs would bringme. I was home and safe!! My motherand grandmother were delighted to seeme in one piece and I never even gottold off over the ruined slippers!

That night Brid and Catherine wentby a different route — the Main Streetand I never dressed up for Hallowe’enagain! ◆

The Valley Witch! Jean Collins O’Brien

Molly Meara from Powerstown. Molly is a sister ofBill Prout from Killusty and was sacristan of

Powerstown Church.


48

BRAVO FETHARD !Another great success for the

Fethard Players in their annualPantomime! For three hours we allenjoyed a feast of song and dance andmusic, of jest and fun. The high stan-dard of other years was maintained in“Simple Simon” and many say it wasbettered. Packed houses were theorder. Many patrons came from faraway having discovered the mine oftalent that is in Fethard.

The part of Simple Simon was a per-sonal triumph for Paddy McLellan.He appeared very frequently on thestage and all the joys and sorrows andperplexities of youth were splendidlydepicted by him. He sang very wellwhen called on, and recited a veryclever piece of his own composing.

Dame Twinkle’s part, of course, aswe have come to expect, was played by

Billy O’Flynn. I think he was betterthan ever in this pantomime. Eachtime he appeared we expected life andfun, and we were never disappointed.

Louis O’Donnell played the Baronof the beetling brows and bristlingmoustache and florid face with greatgusto. He had some riotously funnyscenes with the Dame and sang ‘PaddyReilly’ very well indeed.

Eddie O’Neill and Ned Maher werethe bad bandits, Sam and Slippery.They played and sang excellently andgave us many laughs, especially in theschoolroom scene. Eddie sang the‘Shawl of Galway Grey’ feelingly andreceived a deserved ovation.

Paul, the handsome hero, was playedby Denis Looby. He gained confi-dence as the play progressed and gavea nice performance. He has a verypleasing voice and his duet with

‘Simple Simon’ 1950The following article appeared in the Nationalist in 1950 by a Special Correspondent. We contacted

Brendan Long, former Editor, and asked him was it he who had written it more than half a century ago.Having heard an excerpt over the phone he felt that he could very well have been the correspondent in

question. We owe him a debt of gratitude for preserving this record for posterity.

The Nationalist Newspaper

Cast of ‘Simple Simon’ on stage in 1950


49

Marion and his own solo were warmlyapplauded.

Joan Goldsboro was a very brightand vivacious Marion, the heroine.She sang two solos, both beautifully,and we admired the poise and confi-dence with which she sang. HelenO’Connell’s Fairy Queen gave usbeautiful speaking and acting allthrough the play. Tom Barrett playedthe deep-voiced Demon King wellimproving with each performance.

Betty O’Donnell in her rather briefpart as Anne acquitted herself verycreditably. Paddy Morrissey had tworoles, - the Pieman and the King ofTruth. In both he was successful,speaking and acting well. JohnCollins as Jack, and John Littleton asthe M.C. were good and clearly spo-ken in their brief appearances.

The characters in the cast wereassisted by the villagers in the singingof the choruses. The villagers were:-Misses M. Evans, K. Fahey, M.Greene, M. Kenny, M. McCarthy, B.Malone, E. O’Shea, F. Walshe, L.Ward; Messrs. B. Kennedy, A.Kissane, W. Ryan, D. Wall, J. White.

Three of the choruses were in har-mony, the others in unison. All werefinely sung, the harmonised chorusesbeing particularly good. John Whitesang the solo tenor part in ‘Love’s OldSweet Song’ very sweetly. The morelively topical songs and choruses weresung with great spirit and life.

We had some lovely dances, full ofcharm and beauty. The dances weredevised and rehearsed by Miss PhyllisO’Connell, who deserves the greatestcredit for these works of art and grace.I refer particularly to the beautifulfairy Mime when the Fairy Queen(Miss H. O’Connell) and her atten-

dants – Misses J. Brett, P. Coffey, N.Hennessy, P. O’Connell and C. White– treated us to a most graceful andcaptivating exhibition of dancing tothe time of a beautiful waltz, wellplayed by the orchestra, while theyportrayed for us in mime and dance thestory of Simple Simon. This dancewas rendered more beautiful still bythe very skillful lighting of Mr. H.Goldsboro, who not merely on thisoccasion, but throughout the pan-tomime used the lighting and effects,of which he was in charge, to the verybest advantage.

The excellent orchestra was:- Violin,Mrs. Murphy; Trumpet, Mr. J. O’Shea;Saxophone, Mr. T. Sheehan; Drums,Mr. P. Grant; Piano, Miss E. Lonergan.Everyone was loud in their praise of itsgrand playing.

For this Pantomime only three cos-tumes were hired from Dublin. All therest – the gay frocks and dresses of theladies, the men’s colourful attire –were made at home in Fethard. Anotable achievement. ◆

Graduation formother and daughter

Congratulations to ValerieColville, B.Sc. Spitalfield, whograduated from the University ofLimerick with an HonoursDegree in Sport & ExerciseScience.

Congratulations also toValerie’s mother, Peggy Colville,who graduated with distinction inthe field of SupervisoryManagement from The IrishCollege of Ireland, Dublin.


50

In March 2001 the residents ofWoodvale walk formed a residents

committee. The following electedwere: Chairperson, Mary Murphy;Assistant Chairperson, Bill Pollard;Secretary, Dolores O’Donnell;Treasurer, Fiona Lawrence; P.R.O,Brud Roche.

Our aim was to upgrade our estate.

There was a grant received from theCounty Council which enabled us,with the help of the residents, to pur-chase a ‘sit-on’ lawnmower and flow-ers. With the help of the kids and com-mittee we were able to set out thegreen areas. The committee and resi-dents also do a sweep up of the estateevery Wednesday night. ◆

Woodvale Walk Residents Association

Mr. Seamus Healy, T.D. M.C.C, met with members of the newly formed Woodvale Walk ResidentsAssociation at a meeting in the Tirry Community Centre on Thursday night 15th March. A large atten-

dance came to voice their opinions and also hand a petition to Deputy Healy seeking support and actionfrom the County Council to improve facilities in their housing estate. The meeting was also attended byrepresentatives of Fethard and Killusty Community Council who arranged a follow-up meeting with the

County Council's Engineer, Jonathan Cooney, and members of the Residents Association.

Country MarketsThe door of the country market at

the town hall is opened everyFriday morning at 8am. There isalways a great buzz when people cometo buy our country fresh produce.

You can always find a good varietyof confectionery, farm fresh eggs, veg-

etables, jam and honey, but most pop-ular of all are the cut flowers andplants.

To our friends overseas we send ourbest wishes for Christmas and the NewYear and look forward to their next tripto Fethard. ◆


51

“The great republic of the West”

Such was the description appliedto the United States by Charles

Kickham in ‘Knocknagow’, a workwhich I read as a sixteen year old backin 1959 and one which I have reread anumber of times since.

I have been to the USA, in 1981when, as a family we took advantageof the sky-high exchange rate of ster-ling and booked a flight to Floridawith that cut-price airline ‘Laker’, nowsadly no more. We went again in 1984when we spent almost a month in NewEngland thanks to my wife Julie’scousin Bea who lent us an apartmentand a car and made possible an unfor-gettable holiday.

One of my abiding memories of thesecond trip was arriving in BostonAirport after the usual exhaustingflight and, having managed to con-vince the charmless, poker-facedImmigration Officer that we were nei-ther illegal immigrants nor undesir-ables with a highly questionable past,we encountered US Customs.Struggling under the weight of a largecase and balancing a bag on the otherarm, I was waylaid by an officer andasked for our passports. I fumbled inthe bag and produced three, two UKones and my Irish one, the distinctivegreen document which preceded thecurrent EU version. The green oneproduced an immediate change ofmanner, we were asked where we wereto stay and offered all sorts of infor-mation and advice to help make ourholiday, sorry, our vacation, enjoyable.

Reflecting on the experience a fewyears later, I concluded that I musthave encountered one of the descen-dants of Phil Leahy or one of the many

who had emigrated in the post-Famineperiod and whom Kickham portrayedso sympathetically in his novel.Throughout that memorable event weencountered countless Irish Americansand felt that we were part of thatextended family which characterisesthe Irish Diaspora.

This October saw the two of us, ourgirls having grown up and, like birds,flown the nest, at Heathrow en routefor Chicago. Our daughter Kathleenwas there and we were to spend fournights on package deal break in the‘windy city’. She had booked it for uswith Virgin in August but, like every-one else, had not reckoned onSeptember 11th. The resulting panicin the holiday trade had resulted in usbeing transferred to British Airways.Surviving the Draconian security atdeparture, we embarked on the eighthour flight to O’Hare Airport andarrived at a fine and sunny Chicago inthe early afternoon. It was Sunday andthe city was a little less frenetic in itspace than the rest of the week.

That Monday afternoon saw us driv-ing up the lake coast to the state ofWisconsin, a part of America settledin the early 19th century by Germansand, as a result, the beer capital of thecountry. The cost of petrol amazed us,about £1 a gallon, I had filled up onthe way from Plymouth to London atfour times the US price and the expe-rience illustrated how heavily taxedthis particular pleasure is in Europe.Our destination in Wisconsin was thehome of my second cousin Mary andher daughter Kathy and her family.She is the last surviving daughter of agrand uncle, my father’s mother’s

Tommy Healy


52

brother who had emigrated in the1880s. He had settled in Californiaand trained horses there eventually.The family made us extremely wel-come, served us an excellent meal andregretted that our stay was so short.We spent a most convivial eveningexploring and explaining our variousfamily relationships and left promisingto keep in touch. The trip back toChicago was made in the heaviest rainstorm we have ever encountered, farworse than the thunderstorm I remem-bered from the drought of 1959, whenon one Sunday night in August, theheavens opened and we had a briefrespite from three months of dryweather.

While the Chicago trip broughthome to me the immediate and subjec-tive reality of emigration, a visit to themuseum in Cobh in August had put theissue into perspective. The museum,housed in the old railway station, com-memorates the three million peoplewho emigrated from Ireland throughthat port, bound mainly for NorthAmerica. It does not neglect thoseother countries to which significantnumbers of Irish people departed andthere is an interesting section onAustralia and New Zealand to whichlarge numbers travelled in search of abetter life or perforce by transporta-tion. The coverage of transportation toAustralia is particularly welldescribed. This aspect of emigrationstarted with the large numbers ofUnited Irishmen dispatched in theaftermath of the 1798 Rebellion andtheir particularly brutal treatmentthere. The episode is very well coveredby the Australian writer RobertHughes in his highly graphic accountof convict life in “The Fatal Shore”.

The reality of emigration is some-thing which has shaped the lives andattitudes of us all. It has shaped thehistory of modern Ireland, it hasaffected its economic developmentand fashioned our attitudes andresponses whether individually or as apeople. Other countries in Europehave experienced it but in no othercountry has it been experienced onsuch a scale. The population of Irelandin 1841 was 8.5 million and probablyeven higher if the evidence cited byMrs Woodham-Smith in her seminalwork ‘The Great Hunger’ is to beaccepted. By 1901 that population wasdown to 4.5 million and the declinecontinued until the 1960s. Famine dur-ing 1846-48 killed over a million anddispersed another million and a half.Population haemorrhage in the follow-ing decades was severe and shockedand infuriated the Fenian Kickham.Today Ireland is the only country inEurope which has a population verymuch smaller than that of a centuryand a half ago.

However the picture is no longerbleak. In an article in the London“Times” a few weeks ago, Ireland andFrance are the only EU countrieswhich, on present projections canexpect to experience greater numbersof people between now and 2050.These figures are based on internalindigenous growth only. They do notallow for that phenomenon new toIreland, net immigration. While everyother EU state is and will be grapplingwith the manifold problems of declin-ing population and supporting theirhuge numbers of retired, Ireland likeAustralia and New Zealand, can lookforward to the unusual position of hav-ing people who are mainly young and


53

economically active. When I was atschool the reverse was the case, theFethard of the 1950s was a town rapid-ly losing its young people. I continueto be both amazed and delighted thatthe reverse is now the case.

In the final chapter of“Knocknagow” Billy Heffernan says .. . “I never see a town that’s gone like

Clonmel. I remember when I couldhardly get through the streets wudloads uv corn; and now there’s nothin’doin there. The mills nearly all idle an’half the shops shut up.” I only wishthat Billy Heffernan or his creatorcould come back to see present dayClonmel. Kickham must be restingwell in Mullinahone Churchyard. ◆

St. Patrick’s Place Residents Assoc.

The people of St. Patrick's Placeheld a meeting in the Tirry

Community Centre on Tuesday night26th June, to elect a residents' commit-tee. Following some lively discussionit was decided to draw up a priority listof items needing attention and seek ameeting with County Council offi-cials. Councillors Susan Meagher andJohn Fahey attended and spoke at themeeting. Both congratulated the steer-ing committee on their initiative. Thegroup were encouraged to work underthe umbrella of the Fethard & Killusty

Community Council who were alsorepresented at the meeting.

The officers elected at the meetingwere Geraldine Looney (chairperson),Eileen O'Shea (secretary), PhilomenaMorrissey and Maura Ryan (joint trea-surers).

Further meeting have taken placewith the County Council who statedthat they will be unable to offer thesame support as in other CountyCouncil estates as all but four of thehouses in St. Patrick’s Place are now inprivate ownership. ◆


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My good friend Joe Pilendiram

Genuine friendship enriches life,enhances relationships. Such a

friend is Joseph Pilendiram whocomes originally from Sri Lanka, for-merly known as Ceylon famous for thetea that country produces. We becamef r i e n d st h o r o u g hthe churchand a com-mon faith.The more Icame toknow him,the more Ilearnt abouthis closeaff iliationand affec-tion forI r e l a n d ,which forhim is theland ofsaints and scholars. He is only a thirdgeneration Catholic for his forefatherswere Hindus. He recalls with evidentrelish names like Keating, Conway,Dunne, Long – a long line ofMissionaries belonging to the Oblatesof Mary Immaculate in Inchicore,Dublin. He has chosen for specialmention the family of Fr. TimothyLong O.M.I. who came from Cork. Hetells me that the Long family werevery blessed to give four of their chil-dren to spread the Kingdom of God. FrTimothy Long came to Sri Lanka in1921 and served the country till 1954.His two brothers- Fr. Fredric Long wasdean in Maynooth; Fr Daniel Longwas professor of Moral Theology atthe Oblate Scolasticate; their only sis-

ter became a nun- Rev. Sister MaryMechtilde and was a lecturer at theLadies Training College at Carysfort.

Joe came to England in 1954. TheMissionaries had given him not only afine education but also a deep founda-

tion in hisf a i t h .W h i l estudying atS t .P a t r i c k ’sC o l l e g eunder FrLong, in1939 at thec o m -m e n c e -ment ofWorld WarII, he cameto knowthe Legionof Mary,

which was started by Frank Duff inIreland in 1921. The Legion of Maryhad spread all round the globe by thetime Joe came to England. He contin-ued his work in the Legion of Mary inLondon and was soon spotted by MrJoseph Farrelly who was the treasurerof the then Senatus of England andWales. Joe Pilendiram was elected tobe Assistant Treasurer of the Senatus.It was during that period he came toknow the founder of the Legion, FrankDuff, and they remained friends till thedeath of Frank Duff on 7th November1980. Joe expresses the view thatfrank Duff will be counted as one ofthe greatest in the land of ‘Saints andScholars’.

It was while he was in England

William Mullins

Joseph Pilendiram photographed meeting Pope John Paul II


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Frank Duff chose Joe Pilendiram to bethe Envoy of the Legion of Mary forEast Africa covering the territories ofKenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Peoplein Ireland will know that Edel Quinn,whose cause is going forward for beat-ification, once traversed this part ofAfrica. She went as Envoy to Africa in1936 and worked there for 8 yearsuntil her death in 1959. Mr Duff sentJoe Pilendiram to East Africa as theEnvoy. He was in Dublin for a periodbefore his departure to Nairobi andduring his stay in Dublin he was intro-duced to Mr William Cosgrave thefirst Prime Minister of the Republic ofIreland. Mr Cosgrave was a greatfriend of Frank Duff and helped himwhen help was needed in these earlyday in 1921. Mr Cosgrave confided toJoe all the difficulties that prevailed in1921 when Frank Duff started theLegion and then the Prime Ministerwas himself able to help his friend.

In the summer of 1959, Joe left forNairobi to commence his importantmission. On his way out, he stopped inRome and was received in audience byPope John XXIII who had succeededPope Pius XII in August of the previ-ous year. With the blessing and theapproval of Pope John XXIII, Joe wentto East Africa and carried out theimportant work of Envoyship through-out Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania withthe active support of the Pope’s repre-sentative- the then Apostolic Nuncio inNairobi, His Excellency theArchbishop of Guido Del Mestri. Forthree years, Joe toiled hard and perse-veringly to extend the legion of Marythroughout East Africa and to consoli-date what was established by EdelQuinn. In June 1962, on his return toDublin to lay down his baton of office,

he broke his journey in Rome. There inthe Eternal City, he was given the greathonour of being received by Pope JohnXXIII and to be complimented by theSupreme Pontiff.

On his return to U.K. he settleddown, got married and had three chil-dren. He worked as a ProbationOfficer until he retired in 1989.Whether he was working or in retire-ment, his work for God and hisBlessed Mother never faltered. He waspresident of the Senatus of London for6 years and also Society of the BlessedVirgin Mary for which CardinalCathal Daly is one of the patrons. In1996, there was a request for personalhelp in Kingston, Jamaica from thesuperior of the Missionaries of thePoor who were looking after nearlyfour hundred poor ejected men,women and children. Joe respondedpromptly and went to Kingston andlived with the community of theMissionaries of the Poor and renderedsterling service for a whole year seeingJesus in every one of the poor peoplebeing looked after by the Missionariesof the Poor. As recently as last year, thebishop in Jaffna, Sri Lanka invited himback to his native country to help thepeople suffering in one way or anoth-er, orphans, widows, widowers and thepeople traumatised by 17 years of civilwar. Joe went to Sri Lanka and helpedthe bishop and the church throughoutthe year 2000. That is the type of gen-erosity and selflessness of my dearestfriend Joe Pilendiram. The reigningPontiff Pope John Paul II has receivedhim in audience on several occasionscommencing in the eighties up to thepresent day. In my experience, I candefinitely say that there are few peoplewho measure up to his standards. ◆


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This year, 2001 was a great yearfor Fethard Open Coursing

Club. We had the privilege of runningthe Munster Open Cup, which is noeasy task, as well as the J.F. O’SullivanCup. To say we had a good meetingwould be putting it mildly as every onethere agreed it was one of the bestMunster Cup meetings they had seenin years. To top it all the Munster Cupwas won by a member of our own club.The dog Tipperary Martin owned byMartin Ryan of Dungarvan and trainedby John O’Gorman won the cup forthe second time, the first dog in thecup’s history to do so.

Sonny Butler from Thurles won theJ.F. O’Sullivan cup. We also won somelocal stakes including the Dick Burkelocal stake for the working members,

which was won by Pat Cormack.We also won the Cormack Cup for

eight dogs and bitches, which was wonby Tommy Shine.

All in all we had a great year’scoursing. Thanks mainly to all ourlandowners and sponsors to whom weowe a vote of thanks.

Finally I would like to thank ourhard working beaters. Without themwe would have no coursing. Thanksalso to our secretary and treasurer.

My hope for 2001 is that we canhave another good year. Keep up thegood work lads and may the hare runstraight and true (and escape).

Officers for 2001: Presidents: J.O’Sullivan and T. O’Riordan;Secretary, Pat O’Sullivan; Chairman,Arthur Daly. ◆

Fethard Open Coursing Club Arthur Daly

FERGUS FAMILY REUNIONSaturday, 18th August, was a special day for the Fergus family in Fethard. Peter Fergus, on behalf of allVincent's family, organised a reunion to celebrate and reflect their family's connection with Fethard. Allthe Fergus family, grandchildren, in-laws, outlaws, friends, neighbours, teachers, school-friends were

invited to a special service in the Augustinian Abbey on Saturday afternoon, followed by the blessing of amemorial headstone at Calvary Cemetery, and later for supper and a social gathering at Lonergans Bar.The evening was truly a memorable one for all concerned and afforded all involved a time to reflect onthe vibrancy, vitality, good humour and love of life the Fergus family have and still associate with their

former hometown — Fethard. Members of the family are photographed above in Lonergan’s Bar.


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This past year has been quieterthan usual for the Fethard Girl

Guides due to the restrictions placed onoutdoor activities as a result of the Footand Mouth outbreak.

The regional camp organised forKilcooley was cancelled and also allhikes and other outdoor activities. But,we still had a very active year, thehighlight being a day trip in June forall Ladybirds, Brownies and Guides toSplash World and Woodstown inWaterford. We set off bright and earlyfrom Fethard and met up with groupsfrom Cashel and Thurles. The after-noon on the beach was absolutelywonderful. We had brilliant sunshine,treasure trails, seashell crafts and the“Burying of our Area Commissionerin the sand.” Many parents and exleaders joined us that day, and every-one had a wonderful time.

Last December we participated in a“Gang Show” in Thurles, and inFebruary we attended Thinking Daycelebrations in Cashel. Presently weare very busy with making Christmascrafts for a craft show in Thurles onthe 9th December.

The guide leaders attended the offi-cial opening of the new Guide Centreand shop in Limerick in September.Fund raising for this project is ongoing. The weekly meetings are heldin the Ballroom on Mondays from 7-8pm. Presently we have four leaders:Susan O’Meara (Ladybirds),Catherine O’Connell (Brownies),Teresa Hurley and Judy Doyle(Guides), who have put in tremendouswork, but we could always use moreadult leaders. If you would like to helpand have some fun at the same time,Guiding has a lot to offer. ◆

The Irish Girl Guides Judy Doyle

On the beach at Woodstown, 2001


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The editor has asked me to write afew lines regarding my new job

as editor of our diocesan magazineFoundations. I offer the following inresponse to his request.

It was over a year and a half agowhen I got a phone call from theArchbishop asking me to become thenext editor of Foundations. Since thenI have tried my best to familiarisemyself with the entire process of pro-ducing a magazine. This has been aninteresting and exciting journey.

I began by meeting with the maga-zine production team made up of nineyoung priests working in variousparishes across the diocese. We decid-ed after much discussion to change theface of the magazine and to try andmake its contents as relevant and asappealing as possible. This aim wasachieved by including news items and

pictures of events from the variousparishes. We also invested in a newcomputer which allows us to producethe entire magazine ourselves.

Originally the magazine was set upto foster faith and unity within the dio-cese. This was to be the guiding prin-ciple of how we proceeded with ourtask. The future success ofFoundations will very much depend onits content. The reader must be given areason to open its pages if it is toachieve its purpose. We have tried toinvolve every parish in this initiative.During the production phase we writeto every priest in every parish seekingideas and suggestions. As a committeeit is impossible for us to be in touchwith every initiative and ‘good news’story that is going on in every parish.This is why it is so important for us tobe told of events so that we can use

Producing ‘Foundations’ Rev. Michael Barry

Rev. Fr. Michael Barry, originally from Tullamaine, Fethard, and now working in Borrisoleigh, photographed at his favourite hobby, ‘Quadding’ in the Galtee mountains.


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Foundations to spread the word ofwhat's going on and spread the goodnews that we all need to hear.

One of the new features in the 'newlook' magazine is the children's sectionentitled ‘Sparky’s Space’. These fourpages are for our younger readers'enjoyment. They include word puz-zles, an art competition and other funthings to do. One of the pages is filledwith pictures of children doing what-ever it is that children do. And ofcourse everyone from grandparents tolong lost cousins across the globeeventually get to see these pictures —a little bit like the ‘Fethard at home’website, but not quite as effective!

Another section entitled ‘ExploringFaith Issues’ attempts to foster anddeepen faith. Our most recent issue,for example, asks the question 'Whydoes a loving God allow suffering?'There are few, if any, to which thatquestion is not relevant.

If I have discovered anything since Igot this job, it is that editors don't havean easy task. I read the followingdescription of what it means to be aneditor and I agree with every word:

The editor has a complex and delicate task. He must plan, prod, encourage,

turn down, turn up, remind contributors of deadlines,

speak sternly 'with a sliver of ice in his heart' when deadlines are unmet.

He must cherish his writers but be answerable to his readers

and he'd better not be thin-skinned when reader or writer complains.

This editor is grateful to everyone who haseased his way.

More recently in my ministry I havebeen assigned to St Patrick's College,Thurles as Spiritual Director to the

seminarians. This presents a dauntingchallenge and one I don't at all feelworthy of. But I am sure, in time, itwill prove to be as interesting andexciting as my work with Foundationshas been, if not more so. In an effort tobetter prepare myself for this oneroustask I now travel to Dublin on a week-ly basis to learn the art involved inSpiritual Direction.

I thank God for the good health I amcurrently enjoying which enables meto carry out these jobs. I pray that youtoo are enjoying good health and Ihope you and yours have a happyChristmas and a blessed New Year. ◆

THE FETHARD CONNECTIONThe author of a new book on the ‘Hope

Diamond’ book is Mary Ryan whose grandfa-ther was cousin of Mrs Evelyn Walsh McLean,

long time owner of the ‘Hope Diamond’.Evelyn Walsh’s father, Tom Walsh of

Baptistgrange, emigrated to America as a 17year-old youth having worked as an appren-

tice carpenter on the erection of the ornamen-tal porch on the former curate’s house at

Main Street. Tom Walsh became a very suc-cessful tin and copper mine owner in Americaand with his other business interests was reck-oned to be one of the richest men in the world

of his time. The ‘Hope Diamond’ was thelargest coloured diamond in the world andallegedly had a curse attached to it. EvelynWalsh made light of the curse even though

several tragedies befell her. She overcame adrug addiction problem, her daughter died

from an overdose, her son was killed in a carcrash and her husband died in a sanatorium.

After Evelyn’s death, her diamonds wereacquired by a millionaire jeweller, Harry

Winston, whose family also suffered misfor-tune. Local folklorists in the Baptistgrange

district, notably the late Tommy Purcell,Jossestown, and the late Jack Smith,

Donoughmore, often discussed the life andtimes of Tom Walsh using information they

had heard from people who knew him. Part ofthe folklore was that, on a visit home in 1889,he made an offer to build the church wall in

Lisronagh. Tom Walsh died in 1910.


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The early part of the year wasquiet due to the curtailment of

activities during the Foot and Mouthcrisis. All our members were on stand-by but thankfully our services were notrequired. Having local units at a timelike this is very important so we couldgive a prompt response if we werecalled upon to help.

Once training resumed our memberswere very active. Many of our membersattended the County Social in Dundrumhouse in April and Annual Camp inLahinch in June. Our Rory once againtook care of the kitchen for the weekwith many helping hands from ourmembers and all had a very successfulweekend. Members provided assistancewith First Aid and stewarding at manyevents during the summer including theMitchelstown Festival and Rose ofTralee week end and of course theCulchie Festival at home.

We would like to thank the

Ponsonby family, Grove, who havealways made us welcome to use theirland for training exercises and to theTirry Community Hall committee forthe use of room for weekly training.

It is hoped to clean up the fire sta-tion and hopefully we might see a FireUnit in Fethard once again in 2002.Anyone interested should contactRory Walsh.

Christmas greetings to all those whoplayed an active roll in our organisa-tion down the year.

Present Members: Rory Walsh,Rhya Roberts, Tom O’Halpin, BrianKenny, Philip Croke, EmmaMorrissey, Ruth Higgins, TeresaCoffey, Jim Murphy, Pat Flynn, LarLooby, Gavin Ahearn, PatrickO’Brien, Noel O’Donnell, JoeCunningham, Darren O’Meara,Damien Flynn, Deirdra Flynn, RobertLee, Emmet Burke and Tony Kennedy(Instructor). ◆

Civil Defence

This photograph, taken c.1900, is of the Byrne family from Fethard. L to R: Robert (better known as BobByrne, The Green), James, Thomas, Alice (Maher) Byrne, Alice, Johanna, Margaret and Molly Byrne.

Alice and Margaret left for America.


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The Abymill Youth Drama groupwas started here in Fethard three

years ago by Seamus Hayes (B.A.Drama, P.G.C.E Drama Primary andSecondary). Since then local interesthas grown, and the group now com-prises a junior and a senior level (6-11years and 12-18 years respectively).There is great credit due to the effortsof all the youth involved for their con-tributions to the workshops and thevarious productions over the past fewyears.

The senior group’s first productionin 1999 of ‘Our Day Out’ by WillyRussell gave them a taste for the stageand by 2000, they were ready for thechallenge of ‘Grease’ — whose perfor-mances filled the Abymill Theatre for

four nights!This year, the acting skills of the

senior group really shone in their por-trayal of ‘Wednesday’s Child’, a pow-erful drama looking at the lives ofteenagers living in the early 70’s with-in the troubled city of Belfast.

This ran for three nights and boththe audience and the cast reallyenjoyed the whole experience. Welldone to all involved and all whohelped to make these productions asuccess.

Classes for the senior group willresume after Christmas and classes forthe junior group will begin, dependingon level of interest and numbers.Remember‚ all are welcome! ContactSeamus at (087) 9502954 ◆

Abymill Youth Drama Group

Cast from Abymill Youth Theatre Group's production of 'Wednesday's Child' which was staged in theAbymill Theatre. The successful show, produced by Seamus Hayes, ran for three nights and gave a young

person's viewpoint at the start of the troubles in Northern Ireland. "For those who live in Northern Ireland— the troubles are a fact of life. For young people living elsewhere — it seems distant and inexplicable.'Wednesday's Child' goes back in time and considers what it must have been like for Northern Ireland

teenagers, both Catholic and Protestant, as their communities exploded into open conflict"


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Fethard Historical Society

The 6th Annual book fair organ-ised by the Fethard Historical

Society took place on Sunday 11thFebruary 2001 in the FethardBallroom. The Tipperariana Book Faircontinues to be a great success withyoung and old enjoying books, music,and high tea. Plans are presently beingmade for next year’s Fair on Sunday10th February. Any donations of bookswould be greatly appreciated.

The annual general meeting of thesociety was held on 27th March 2001.Margaret Newport and MaryHanrahan had 3 years completed assecretary and P.R.O respectively. Thenew committee elected were: ChrisNevin, chairperson; Mary Hanrahan,vice chairperson; Catherine O’Flynn,secretary; Margaret Newport, assistantsecretary, Gemma Burke, treasurer;

Peter Delaney, planning officer; TerryCunningham, public relations officer;Diana Stokes, Dot Gibson, KittyDelaney, Joe Kenny, David Sceats,Marie O’Donnell. A most interestingslide show entitled ‘The long and theshort of it’ by Liam Burke followed themeeting.

A group of ten people travelled tosee ‘The Treasures of Waterford’ onSaturday 7th April. Highlights of theday included a trip to the museum,walkabout with Jack Burchill and atour of Waterford Crystal.

We held a lecture on ‘Old CountryHouses’ by architect MatthewShinners in April. In early May, LiamBurke spoke to the society about ‘TheBurren’. This was in preparation for aweekend trip to The Burren whichtook place on the 18th – 20th May and

Fethard Historical Society held a very interesting lecture on Friday 5th October at 8.30pm in the AbymillTheatre by Senator Maurice Manning on 'James Dillon, his life, times and contemporaries'. Over 50 peo-ple attended the lecture which was followed by a 'question and answer' forum. Photographed at the lec-ture are L to R: Joe Kenny, Mary Hanrahan, Sen. Maurice Manning, Cllr. John Fahey and John Cooney.


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turned out to be a very busy but enjoy-able weekend.

A lecture on ‘Fethard Town Hall’took place inJ u n e .Archaeologist,B a r r yO ’ R e i l l y ,spoke compre-hensively onits history withlots of newi n t e r e s t i n ginformation onthe building.

The Fethardt o u r i s mbrochure wasreprinted thisyear by the his-torical societyand is availablelocally and attourism centresin the region.

A grant wasreceived fromC o u n t yTipperary (SR)Vo c a t i o n a lEduca t iona lCommittee forour lectureprog ramme.We hope to put it to good use this com-ing year.

During the year the society wasdelighted to sponsor a school historyproject in the Patrician PresentationSecondary School. We also employed10 students under the StudentsSummer Scheme who continued workon cataloguing death and birth recordsand entering them on computer.

Our autumn programme started with

a bus trip to Wexford at the end ofSeptember. We visited the DunbrodyFamine Ship on the Quay in New

Ross. We hadpreviously vis-ited the shipwhile it wasbeing recon-structed. Nowit is a wonder-ful place tovisit to appre-ciate the con-ditions inwhich thosetravelled toAmerica dur-ing the famine.While we werein Wexford wealso visited theJohn. F.K e n n e d yA r b o r e t u mand theK e n n e d yHomestead.

The firstlecture held inthe autumnwas a talk byS e n a t o rM a u r i c eManning on

‘James Dillon – his life, times andcontemporaries’. About 50 peopleattended this very interesting presenta-tion.

We will shortly be rounding off ouryear with our Annual ChristmasDinner at the new restaurant atSlievenamon Golf Course. We send asincere message of peace and happi-ness to all our members and friends athome and abroad. ◆

Marie O’Donnell and Kitty Delany planting the FethardHistorical Society’s Millennium Oak Tree by the Town Wall

on the 18th December, 2000.


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Johnny Casey’s parents were emi-grants to Liverpool in the early

twenties. His father was an electrician,and was a native of Fethard, as was hiswife Kit. They had three girls inEngland, and Kit was in poor heathduring her pregnancy, eight years afterthe youngest girl, and so returned toFethard for the birth of her only son,John in April 1932.

Up to the age of six, he lived withhis family in Liverpool, and thanbecame one of the war babies evacuat-ed out of England during the blitz. Hesettled into his grandmother’s home inThe Valley, Fethard, and did not see hisfamily again until he was fourteenyears of age, having made his FirstCommunion and Confirmation inFethard. He was educated by thePatrician Brothers, where the firstseeds of choral singing and dramawere sown. A gifted musician from his

early childhood, he studied piano inthe Presentation Convent, Fethard.Mary Casey, his sister, won‘Opportunity Knocks’ playing thepiano accordion and she found a verywilling student in her musical brotherJohnny during her summer visits toFethard, when he developed a magnif-icent touch on the same instrument

At the age of seventeen, havingpassed the entrance exam to the postoffice, Johnny served his apprenticeyears in the G.P.O. in Galway. In 1953he arrived in Cahir to take up hisappointment as clerk in Cahir PostOffice, where he worked until hisretirement in 1987. He had a greataffinity with the elderly and was muchloved by the pensioners who have pre-deceased him.

During his early years in Galway hewas discovered by Maxi Dooley of theArabian Dance Orchestra, Salthill, and

The late Johnny Casey

The Casey family when they lived in The Valley. Back L to R: Johnny Casey (father), Johnny Casey, Kit(Catherine) Mackey (mother) and Johnny Mackey (uncle), Mary Cassidy (sister). In front is Molly

Mackey (grandmother) and the child is Eileen Cassidy (niece).


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afterwards enjoyed several seasons asresident pianist with that orchestra.On his return to Fethard he joined the‘Twilight Serenaders’, and soon pro-gressed to Mick Fogarty’s famousshowband, the Southern Stars, whowere received to huge acclaim inDublin. Indeed they were the maina t t r a c t i o n ,while ‘DickeyRock and theB l a c k b i r d s ’were the sup-port band.Johnny thenjoined theKevin FlynnBand and aftera few years wasapproached byJimmy Wileyof Mitchels-town and soona f t e r w a r d sjoined theJimmy WileyOrchestra. Hecompleted hisdance bandcareer with thelocal band thePat BurkeSeven, andspent many happy years touring withhis Cahir companions. All his adultlife he suffered from asthma and final-ly found the travelling too difficult.He was fortunate to be a pianist whenshow bands were at the height of theirpopularity, and so thousands of youngpeople could enjoy his talent. Hecould accompany anybody in any keyand often did!

On the 23rd of April 1958 Johnnymarried the local girl Winnie Caplice,

when they were both members of theCahir Dramatic Society. Their sonJohn was born in 1959, soon followedby daughters Maureen and Cathy.Johnny’s family was the centre of hisworld, perhaps especially so since thewar robbed him of his early years withhis own siblings. All his family are

musical, andhave madetheir mark withtheir specialtalents, asindeed have hisgrandchildren.Soon after hehad taken earlyretirement hejoined theCahir ChoralSociety andhad manyhappy yearsand some won-derful tripsaround theworld with thechoir, includ-ing The Holyland, SouthAfrica andRome, Italy. Hewill be sadly

missed in the bass line of the choralsociety, even though sometimes it washard to keep order with the wise cracksat the back of the room.

In the late sixties, Johnny wascoaxed to run a Subbuteo League oftable soccer with the local Boy Scoutsin Cahir and because of its popularitywith the youngsters, was asked to getinvolved with the club as leader. Heagreed to join, only if his wife Winniegot involved as well, and for almost

Johnny Casey leaving his home in The Valley


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twenty years they threw their heartsinto the running of the 7th TipperaryTroup, and were very involved in thefundraising and buildingof they new Scouts Den.

A man of many talents,Johnny was a beautifulreader in the liturgy read-ers group of St. Mary'sParish. He was also a vol-unteer with the localMeals on Wheels groupfor many years. Fouryears ago he celebratedfifty years a Pioneer, anamazing achievement,considering all his yearstouring with the variousdance bands, where one ofthe perks was ‘free drinkfor the night’. A deeply spiritual man,who truly walked with God. SinceNovember 2000, Johnny’s health wasfailing, and in January he got a mildstroke. His continued weight losscaused concern, and while in hospitalundergoing tests, he died suddenly on

the 15th July, 2001.The crowds who attended his wake

at his home, his removal, and hisRequiem Mass were testi-mony to his very full lifeand involvement in hiscommunity. The remainswere received by Fr. SeanO’Dwyer, P.P., and therequiem mass was cele-brated by Fr. Jack Meade,C.S.Sp. Cahir ChoralSociety Sang an inspiringsolemn mass for theirmuch loved comrades,and the hymns chosenreflected his faith andtrust in God. TheOffertory Interlude wasplayed by two of his

grandsons, Stephen and Aidan Casey1st and 2nd clarinet. The prayers ofthe faithful included his other threegrandchildren, Fiona, Jack and SarahDonovan.

May Johnny Casey’s soul shine ineverlasting life. ◆

L to R: Declan Mulligan, John Casey, Honor Mulligan and in front is Marian Mulligan.

Johnny Casey with his Grannyoutside his home in The Valley


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Nano Nagle National School

Staff members at Nano NagleNational School 2001: Sr.

Maureen Power, Principal (3rd/4thClasses); Mrs. Patricia Treacy, Vice-Principal (Senior Infants); Mrs. RitaKenny (5th / 6th Classes); Mrs.Maureen Maher (1st / /2nd Classes);Mrs. Margaret Gleeson (JuniorInfants); Mrs. Mary Hanrahan(Learning Support Teacher); Sr. MaryMacNamara (Resource Teacher) andSr. Angela Ryan

The last fifteen months have seenmany changes in Nano Nagle National

School. In June 2000, we said goodbyeto Ms Anne Ryan who had served socompetently as our Resource Teacherfor the previous nineteen months.Suffice to say we miss her cool, calmpresence and the efficiency with whichshe dispatched every task which cameto hand. We wish her well in her newschool. Our loss is their gain!

September 2000 also saw the arrivalof Sr. Angela from Clonmel, whojoined us courtesy of the PresentationOrder, and who is doing sterling workin 3rd and 4th Classes.

This year’s Junior Infants Class at Nano Nagle national School. Back Row L to R: Margaret Gleeson(teacher), Amy Sweeney (The Valley), Tommy Anglim (Kilknockin), Jennifer Rice (Everardsgrange), Jade

Callanan (Slievenamon Close), Kate Quigley (Garrinch), Molly Proudfoot (Strylea), Eoghain Hurley(Strylea). 3rd Row L to R: Isobel De Courcy (Annesgift), Hannah Tobin (St. Patrick’s Place), GráinneFanning (The Green), Charlie Manton (Main Street), John Bernard O'Reilly (Barrack Street), CormacHoran (Tullamaine), Alannah Coady (Grangebarry). 2nd Row L to R: Jody Sheehan (Woodvale Walk),

Niamh McCarthy (Derryluskin), Louise Fitzgerald (Clerihan), Thomas Condon (Woodvale Walk),Kayleigh Higgins (Strylea), Adam Fitzgerald (Barrack Street), Michael Halley (Woodvale Walk).

Front Row L to R: Liane Hannigan (Barrack Street), Niamh Shanahan (Friarsgrange), Katie Butler(Kilknockin), Jesse McGrath (Rathcoole), Larrisa Clancy (Barrack Street), Jane Morrissey (Roseanne,

Cloneen and Aileen Butler (Saucestown). Missing from photograph are: Darragh Bradshaw (SlievenamonClose) and Clodagh Bradshaw (Patricks Place)


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In December 2000 we had the plea-sure of welcoming back Sr. Mary aftera short absence due to illness. We aredelighted to report that she is back inaction and enjoying the challenge ofher new position as Resource Teacher.

September 2001 brought us Fr. TomBreen, PP, as Chairman of our Boardof Management. We are delighted towelcome Fr. Breen to our school com-munity and we look forward to work-ing with him and Canon Power in thecoming years.

To Fr Sean Ryan, our previous chair-man, we say a heartfelt thanks for histremendous commitment to our schooland for his many innovative ideas. Onesuch project he initiated with ourpupils was the Christmas Mass andcollection for the homeless. We partic-ularly appreciate his contribution tothe setting up of the amalgamation of

our school with St. Patrick’s Boys N.S.We wish him every blessing on hiswork in his new parish of Maynooth.

Invaluable additions to our staff areour two new classroom assistants Ms.Anne-Marie Harty and Ms. EileenKennedy while the office is now in thecapable hands of Ms Anne D’Arcy.Ms Mary Sayers continues to keep theschool in pristine fashion while LiamCloonan and Dave Williams have donean excellent job keeping the schoolgrounds in shape.

Our Parents Association has been asactive as ever manning the stalls at ourannual Cake Sale, helping with theSponsored Walk and organising theever-popular Fun Sports Day in June.The parents ongoing commitment andsupport is a major factor in the suc-cessful realisation of our goals for ourschool and we are deeply appreciative

This year’s sixth class at Nano Nagle Primary School. Back L to R: Aoife O’Meara, Lisa Ryan, StephanieLawrence, Danielle Ferncombe, Sinead Coffey. Front L to R: Patricia Cooney, Jenny Quigley, Sinead

Delahunty, Sarah Moloney and Patricia Rochford.


69

of all their efforts on our behalf.Our school year incorporates many

activities, curricular and otherwise:artistic and literary endeavour isencouraged by participation in variouscompetitions, local and national whileparticipation in inter- schools athleticsin Thurles has become an annual fix-ture. It is wonderful when individualefforts are crowned with success butwe also encourage all our pupils toenjoy the very act of taking part anddoing one’s personal best.

Promoting environmental awarenessamong the children has always beenhigh on our list of priorities and our‘Recycling Can-paign’ continuesapace. We would like to thank every-one for their support and to say if any-one can help please just drop your

empty cans into school. Reflecting thehi-tech age in which we live we arenow also recycling inkjet cartridges.Again all donations gratefully accept-ed. The ongoing battle against littercontinues, as does our involvementwith the Tidy Schools Competition.

We look forward to a busy, happyand fruitful school year 2001/02 as webegin to implement the revisedPrimary School Curriculum which isbeing phased in over the next fewyears.

To all our pupils, past and present, tothe parents, the Board of Management,and the wider parish community andto all those who read this newsletterwe would like to say “Beannacht Déoraibh agus Nollaig Shona Dhíbh goléir”. ◆

I first heard of Alice Leahy andTrust last September. She was

born and raised in Annesgift just out-side our small town of Fethard. Shewas educated in Coolmoyne N.S. andthe Presentation Secondary School,Fethard. After secondary school shestudied to be a nurse in Baggot Street,Dublin. Soon afterwards she workedfor six months in St. Patrick’s inCashel. This is maybe where she gotthe taste for the kind of work she isdoing now. Alice is co-founder ofTrust which was set up in 1975. Trust

offers care and hospitality to thehomeless of Dublin.

Last Christmas, Fr. Sean Ryanenlisted the help of 5th and 6th ClassNano Nagle girls to help him raisemoney for the homeless. Thanks to thegenerosity of our local community alarge sum of money was collected. Itwas divided between Trust and theGuild of the Little Flower. Sr. Brigid,formerly a teacher in Nano NagleN.S., was our contact in the Guild ofthe Little Flower, which is also basedin Dublin. ◆

Alice Leahy and ‘Trust’ by Aoife O’Meara, 6th Class

One day last year we went on atrip to Clonmel Museum. There

was an exhibition on about the RiverSuir. A local artist called Des Dillonhad made a huge model of the river. Itstarted at the top corner of a very large

room and went alI the way to the otherend. There were lots of models of ani-mals which have their homes on theRiver Suir. It was a lovely experienceand we all enjoyed it. ◆

A Visit to Clonmel Museum by Sinead Delahunty andJenny Quigley, 6th Class


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During the last school year it wasproposed that Nano Nagle N.S.

and St. Patrick’s B.N.S. amalgamate inthe near future, subject to approvalfrom the Department of Education andScience. A Steering Committee, repre-sentative of the Boards ofManagement of both schools, wasformed to engage in the amalgamationprocess and to liase with the D.E.S.This committee reports on an ongoingbasis to both Boards of Management.

The Steering Committee comprised:Mr. Dermot Rice, Chairperson, Mrs.Helena Delany, Secretary, Mrs. MaryDelahunty, Assistant Secretary, Mrs.Mary Hanrahan, P.R.O., Sr. MargaretMary, Fr. Sean Ryan, Mrs. CathrionaMorrissey and Mr. Ger Manton. Sr.Maureen Power, Principal, NanoNagle N.S. and Mr. Eamonn Dwyer,Principal, St. Patrick’s B.N.S. are aux-iliary members of the committee.

Our first task was to submit a formalLetter of Proposal to the Departmentof Education and Science, stating ourwish to amalgamate and seekingdepartmental approval. We had alreadycontacted Mr. Declan Kelleher,District Representative, INTO, whohad promised us the benefit of his con-siderable experience of school amalga-mation

On Monday, 9 April, 2001, theteachers from Nano Nagle N.S. and St.Patrick’s Boys National School visitedBunscoil na Naomh, Lismore to learnmore about the amalgamation process.In a situation similar to our own, theboys and girls primary schools inLismore amalgamated three years ago,the new school being sited on the girlsprimary school campus. Our thanks toSr. Aileen Fenton, Chairperson Boardof Management, and Mr. DavidCorbett, Principal, who facilitated our

Amalgamation of National SchoolsThe entrance to the old Fethard Presentation Convent School classrooms, demolished in 1994.


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visit and shared the “ups and downs”of amalgamation with us. Given theirinsights we now have a much clearerunderstanding of the process involved.Sr. Aileen advised “patience and per-severance” in embarking upon amal-gamation and stressed the importanceof knowing exactly what is necessaryin terms of school structures, class-room equipment, etc. etc. On a posi-tive note she informed us that, whilethe preparatory work was taxing in theextreme, the amalgamation itselfproved a tremendous success from theoutset.

A representative of the Departmentof Education and Science visited theschools in September to assess our

needs in terms of classroom space etc.In the meantime, the staffs of bothschools are to collaborate in drawingup a list of what we consider to be pri-orities for the proposed ‘new’ school.Mr. Declan Kelleher, I.N.T.O. AreaRepresentative, is also to meet with usto discuss our reply to theDepartment’s original letter consent-ing to amalgamation.

During the coming months theSteering Committee will be involvedin ascertaining the needs of our “newschool”, seeking expert advice andcollaborating with the D.E.S. and theBoard of Works. Interesting timesahead! ◆

St. Patrick’s Boys School

This has been a very eventful yearfor St. Patrick’s Boys School.

We staged our first school show in the

Abymill theatre. Martha Sheehandirected the show, ‘The Royal MixUp’, which proved to be a great hit.

This year's sixth class at St. Patrick's Boys School. Back L to R: Kevin Maher, Colin Bradshaw, DeclanDoyle, Joe Fogarty, Cathal Gorey, Jason Lawrence. Front L to R: Lory Kenny, Ciarán Leahy, Alan

O'Connor, Christopher Sheehan and Aaron O'Donovan. Missing from photograph is Paul McCarthy.


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This year’s school outing in June tothe University of Limerick’s sportscentre proved a major success with ourpupils. They were able to avail of theUniversity’s excellent indoor and out-door sports facilities.

Congratulations to Eileen Fitzgeraldon her appointment as resource teach-er, a new post for our school.

Catriona Morrissey takes up the postof acting principle for the currentschool year. We would also like to wel-come two new staff members, AislingRyan and Emma Maher.

Fr. Tom Breen becomes the newchairman of our board of manage-ment. We wish them all well in theirrespective positions.

The schools cross-country eventtook place this autumn in Thurles.Fethard boys won the 3rd and 4th classlarge school competition. The teamincluded John Lalor, Ben Walsh,Owen Healy and Damien Morrissey.Darragh Dwyer won an individualmedal at this event. He has also quali-

fied for the All Ireland Cross CountryChampionships. This is a greatachievement.

Our under-11 football team are lead-ing in their group. They drew in anexciting match against Ardfinnan andhad a strong win against Cahir in theirlast match. Best of luck in the nextround.

We had three winners in theClonmel Library Competition. DylanFitzgerald received a prize for colour-ing, while Kieran O’Connell and TonyMyler received prizes for painting.

Seven of our pupils represented ourschool in a recent swimming competi-tion held in Clonmel. All seven provedto be excellent competitors. AaronO’Donovan qualified to the nextround. He will represent the school inCork. We wish him the very best.

Finally we wish all our pupils andtheir families all the best for the com-ing year and would like to extend a bigthank you to everyone for their contin-ued support and co-operation. ◆

Shem Butler photographed recently with his two brothers who were home on a visit from London. L to R: Pat (Cricklewood, London), Richard (Wembley, Middlesex) and Shem Butler (Garrinch, Fethard).


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Fethard Rugby Club

After a lapse of 70 years, Fethardhas been reintroduced to rugby

with the help of Sean Devaney. Withshort notice Sean formed a juvenileteam to take part in the 2001 commu-nity games in May. The newly formedteam came away with silver medalsfrom their first Community gamesrugby competition.

Training commenced for under 12and under 10 players on the schoolsports field on September 1st coachedby Sean Devaney and Paul Kavanagh.

A meeting was held on September27th 2001 to gauge the interest informing a Rugby club in Fethard andsurrounding areas, includingMoyglass, Killenaule, Drangan andMulinahone. The level of interest andsupport for a new rugby club was won-derful. Sean says, with the numbersturning up for practice, the enthusiasmof the players, the skill shown by thevery youthful players, he intends tokeep the show on the road. If he gets

the necessary co-operation and sup-port from the community and parentsSean will be able to continue with hisgood work for the 2001/02 season.

John Lacey, National DevelopmentOfficer, recently visited Fethard andoffered his full support for this venture.

The team who played against Cashelin the Community games match wereas follows: Stephen Heelan, RobertAhearne, Jerome Ahearne, JamesKelly, Mike O'Hagan, WilliamGrassick, Johnny Grassick, JussHalley, Seamie O'Keeffe, John Lalor,Sam Manton, Michael John Murphyand Matt O'Sullivan.

Fethard under-10 had a high scoringencounter with Carrick-on-Suir onSunday 2nd December. Some greatdrives by the forwards, especiallySeamie O’Keeffe, Matt O’Sullivanand Michael John Murphy, set upscores for the halfbacks ConorKavanagh and John Lalor. Some finerunning also saw tries for winger

Fethard under-10 rugby team. Back L to R: David Bergin, Johnny Grassick, Matt O'Sullivan, SamManton, Jack O'Connell, Andy Walsh, Jessica Kenny, Jack Devaney. Front L to R: Mark Ronan, John

Lalor, Tim O'Hagan, Jerome Ahearne, Andrew Kelly, Conor Kavanagh and Keith Bergin.


74

Andrew Yates and centre JackO’Connell, indeed, the latter beingbrought down inches from the line fora winning try.

Fethard under-12 rugby team alsotravelled to Carrick for their secondcompetitive game on December 2. TheFethard boys are improving with eachouting and showed the experiencegained on their first outing the previousweek. Fethard were leading throughoutand ran out of luck when two tries ininjury time gave Carrick a very narrowsix tries to five victory. Richard Lalorand Darragh Dwyer both having theirfirst outing gave very impressive perfor-mances. Richard scored two tries andDarragh won a very deserved ‘man ofthe match’ award.

The club have some rugby jerseys inthe club blue and white colours, orblue polo shirt with logo, for sale.

To show your support, these can bepurchased at McCarthy’s Hotel or con-

tact Sean Devaney, Grove, Fethard.Tel: 052 31095. ◆

Fethard under-12 rugby team. Back L to R: William Grassick, Dick Walsh, Adam Clooney, David Gorey,Chris Thompson, Stephen Healan, David Thompson. Front L to R: Shane Kavanagh, James Kelly,

Mike O'Hagan, Colin Blackmore, J. P. McGrath and Joseph Kelly.

Tipperary Star - May 9th. 1925

THURLES BEAT FETHARD IN GARRYOWEN CUP FINAL.

At the Markets Field Limerick, Thursday, Thurlesdefeated Fethard in the final of the Garryowen

Cup Competition The Trophy has been presentedby Garryowen Club to foster the game in North

Munster. Fethard fielded a strong team captainedby Dr. P. Stokes the well-known International.

Thurles team, which has had a remarkable list ofsuccesses in its first season, however, upset all cal-

culations and won a great game by a margin oftwo points. The match was very strenuously con-tested and resulted: Thurles one try (converted) 5points; Fethard one try (3 Points). For this victori-ous team Dan O'Sullivan who played a great game

scored and converted .Thurles—George Rowe, T. McCarthy R. Murray,D. Sullivan, W. H Ryan, J. Butler, F. Quinn, R A.

May, E. C. Walshe, W Dwan, M Brien, J. Grurdy, PTobin, P. Gleeson, J. Delaney.

Fethard - V. Vaughan R. H. Hughes, Dr. P. Stokes,J. E. O’Brien, J Schofield, J O’Sullivan, R. H.

O’Brien, J. Scully, W. Quirke, J Wall, J.P. Coffey, J.Hughes, D. Kelly, P J. Delaney, C. Heffernan.


75

The club was formed in 1884 andone of our founder members was

Dick Cummins who was first CountyTipperary chairman (from south divi-sion) the present County chairman,Con Hogan is the second. DickCummins was also the first Munstercouncil chairman (1901) and at thisyear’s centenary celebrations, was rep-resented by his son Dick Cummins(current life president of our club), agreat honour for both Fethard club andthe Cummins family. The club offi-cers for the year are Gus Fitzgerald(chairman), Noel Byrne (secretary),and Nicholas O’Shea (treasurer).

On Sunday 11th November 2001,Fethard won their 21st county seniorfootball title in style at a sun-drenchedSemple Stadium, Thurles, on a score-line of Fethard 1-13, Aherlow 0-8. Thelast county senior title at this venuewas back in 1954, beating Loughmore2-3 to 2-2 for their 13th title. The fri-ary town who have currently a fineblend of youth coming through thissuccess, will be a great morale boosterfor the future of football in Fethard(the home of gaelic football).Management and team who brought ussuccess in senior were Tom Mansfield,(manager); selectors Jimmy O’Shea,Danny Kane and Pat Sheehan; PaulFitzgerald (goalie, 2nd senior medal),Michael Ahearne, Cian Maher,Thomas Anglim, Willie Morrissey(5th senior medal), Michael Quinlan(Capt., 3rd senior medal), StephenO’Donnell (2nd senior medal), BrianBurke (5th senior medal), AidanFitzgerald, Glen Burke, TommySheehan (6th senior medal), John PaulLooby (2nd senior medal), Conor

McCarthy, Miceál Spillane (3rd seniormedal), Damien Byrne (2nd seniormedal), Subs on: Kenneth O’Donnell,Carl Maher, Jimmy O’Meara (3rdsenior medal), Kenneth Byrne. Otherpanellists; Michael Carroll, TommyGahan, Brian Coen, Michael Dillon,Martin Ryan (4th senior medal);Willie O’Meara (5th senior medal).

Our footballers then went on toreach another Munster Club final bycoming from behind to beatDrom/Broadford (Limerick) on ascoreline Fethard 1-9 (0-3),Drom/Broadford 0-9 (0-7) in theMunster semifinal played onNovember 17 in Drumcollogher, Co.Limerick. This experience coupledwith ten of the Munster club finalteam defeated by Castlehaven (Cork)in 1997, on a scoreline Castlehaven 1-14 Fethard 1-8, our senior team trav-elled to Fermoy on Sunday 25thNovember seeking success in our sec-ond appearance in a Munster Clubsenior football final. Alas, this wasnot to be as we were beaten on the dayby a very talented Nemo Rangers teamfrom Cork. The Fethard team playedbrilliantly on the day and surprisedmany of the Cork fans with their deter-mination and teamwork. The finalscore was Nemo Rangers 1-11,Fethard 0-10. Our captain, MichaelQuinlan, age 28, captained the teamfor the first time having played foot-ball with the senior club at all levelssince 1989. Michael is holder of threecounty senior football medals, oneminor county medal and numerousdivisional honours in both football andhurling. He has also worn the blue andgold with distinction, a wholehearted

Fethard GAA Club


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player who has made centre back hisown, in recent times. Our team for theMunster final was: Paul Fitzgerald,Kiltinan; Michael Ahearne, Prospect;Cian Maher, Dún Aoibhinn; TomA n g l i m ,Kilnockin; WillieM o r r i s s e y ,T u l l a m a i n e ;Michael Quinlan,T u l l a m a i n e ;S t e p h e nO ’ D o n n e l l ,Monroe; BrianB u r k e ,F a r r a n s h e a ;Aidan Fitzgerald,Kiltinan; GlenBurke, Redcity;Tommy Sheehan,St. Patricks Place;John Paul Looby,St. Patricks Place;Conor McCarthy,Kerry Street;Michael Spillane,T u l l a m a i n e ;Damien Byrne,Killusty. Subs:Tommy Gahan,Strylea; JimmyO’Meara; St.Patricks Place;K e n n e t hO’Donnell, Monroe; Kenneth Byrne,Killusty; Karl Maher, Barrack Street;Michael Carroll, Coolmore; Brian Coen,Killusty; Michael Dillon, Tullamaine;Martin Ryan, Patricks Place; WillieO’Meara, St. Patricks Place.Management team: Tom Mansfield,(manager); Co-selectors, Jimmy O’Shea,Danny Kane and Pat Sheehan.

The under 21 ‘A’ football team wontheir third title in a row in the south

championship and their ninth in all,beating Moyle Rovers in the semi finalon a scoreline of Fethard 2-7, MoyleRovers 0-9; and in the final on a score-line Fethard 0-14, Ardfinnan 0-12. The

team was:Tommy Gahan,Michael Carroll(capt), MichaelAhearne, NickyMurphy, AlanPhelan, CianMaher, MichaelCostello, AidanF i t z g e r a l d ,Kenneth Byrne,Glen Burke,K e v i nO ’ D o n n e l l ,Jason Nevin,Karl Maher,C o n o rO ’ D o n n e l l ,K e n n e t hO ’ D o n n e l l .Subs: BrianCoen, PhillyCroke, PaulHackett, ConorM c C a r t h y ,Michael Dillon,Owen Doyle andDiarmuid Burke.M a n a g e m e n t

team: Tommy Sheehan, Tom Anglimand Pat Sheehan. This team beatKildangan in the county semi final,Fethard 2-6, Kildangan 1-6; drew withGaltee Rovers in the county final,Fethard 2-6 Galtee Rovers 2-6. Thereplay is yet to be played.

On the 25th July 2001 the under 21‘B’ hurling team won their fourth title,the last being in 1997. On the way weaccounted for Kilsheelan on a scoreline

Aidan Fitzgerald with the ball in the County 'A' FootballChampionship Final against Galtee Rovers played on

April 28 at New Inn. The game ended in a draw and thereplay has not yet been played as Galtee Rovers were

unable to field a team the following week.


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Fethard 1-10, Kilsheelan 0-5; in thesemifinal, Fethard 5-13, Ballyneale 1-11,and the final on a scoreline Fethard 3-7Carrick Swans 1-9. Team: ConorO’Donnell, Philly Croke, MichaelA h e a r n e( C a p t . ) ,T o m m yGahan, KevinO’Donnell,M i c h a e lC a r r o l l ,M i c h a e lC o s t e l l o ,Cian Maher,Glen Burke,M i c h a e lDillon, AlanPhelan, OwenD o y l e ,K e n n e t hO’Donnel l ,Jason Nevin,Brian Coen.Subs. AidanFi t zge ra ld,A l a nO ’ M e a r a ,C o n o rMcCarthy, John Fitzgerald, Pat Ahearne,Diarmuid Burke, John Noonan, WilliamHarrington, Val O’Dwyer. On September22, we played a draw in the county semi-final, Fethard 2-9, Templederry 0-15.The replay was played in Holycross onSaturday 1st December in lovely weatherwith heavy underfoot conditions. Wenever got really going, as in the drawngame seven weeks previous, andalthough only two points separated theteams at the end, the game was there forthe taking for Fethard. The final scorewas Templederry 0-8 (0-3), Fethard 0-6(0-2). Management team: Michael Ryan,Shay Ryan and Kenneth Browne.

In intermediate hurling, under AngusRyan (manager) and co selectors MichaelKeane, Davy Morrissey and Michael McCormack, we played eleven games, losingin the south final to Ballybacon/ Grange 0-

13 toFethard’s 1-2,and in thecounty quar-ter final,Kildangan 2-14 Fethard 1-7. In Junior Bhurling weplayed sevenmatches los-ing in thesouth final,Ballybacon/Grange 0-13,Fethard 2-5.

We playedfour matchesin Minor Bhurling, losingthe souths e m i f i n a l ,Newcastle 2-9, Fethard 3-5.

We lost the south semi final replay inintermediate football on November 10thto Ballyporeen 4-11 Fethard 1-7 havingplayed eight games. In Junior ‘B’ foot-ball in the play-off for the semifinalstage we lost to Ballyporeen 1-12,Fethard 0-10, having played six matches.

On the 18th April our minor foot-ballers retained the Jim Frawley cupby winning the county league on ascoreline Fethard 0-8, J. K. Brackens0-4. Our good form then left us down,when we were beaten by Moyle Roversin the south semifinal, Moyle Rovers3-10, Fethard 0-3, having played 10matches. ◆

‘Fethard General Burke’s Senior Football Team 1913’This photograph is thought to be the oldest photograph of a Fethard

football team in existence and was received from William P.Heffernan , New Jersey, USA. The photograph has the following

names of players written underneath which is most interesting: BackRow: Tom Pollard, Christy Burke, Jack Phelan, Jack Tobin, Ned

'Sparky' Delahunty, N. Phelan, J. Gleeson, E. Coffey. Middle L to R:T. Keating, Lar Gorman, Mikie O'Meara, Bob Byrne, Percy Dahill,Paddy Daniel. Sitting: Ned O'Shea, Jack Ryan (captain) and JimmyHeffernan. It is interesting to note that Ned 'Sparky' Delahunty alsofigured on the 1908 Cloneen County Senior Football Championship

winning team and the captain of the team was a very well knownFethard personality of yesteryear, Jack ‘Bánín’ Ryan.


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Afew short years ago there wasgreat excitement amongst

botanists and naturalists from a widearea when a plant of the very rare (inIreland) wild Bee Orchid was discov-ered at the Abbey Rocks field inSpitalfield.

If my own experience is anything togo by, there should be equal, if noteven more, excitement if a plant, oncevery, very common all over Irelandcould be rediscovered anywhere inSouth Tipperary or adjoining counties.I refer to the plant of the brassica fam-ily, known to all and sundry as thecommon cabbage plant. I kid you not;the humble cabbage plant seems tohave joined the Corncrake,Yellowhammer and Skylark as anextinct species, at least in this area.

Time was not so long ago when eachweekly edition of the Nationalist,especially in spring and autumn thetraditional sowing periods, carried atleast half a column of ‘Cabbage Plantsfor Sale’ advertisements. The plantswere always described as strong andhealthy, the same qualifications alsobeing applied to bonhams. Half acrown per 100 was the usual price.Greyhound, Elms Earls, Savoy andFlower of Spring were the popularvarieties. Now, ‘Where have all theflowers gone?’ Every fair day saw twoor three car trailers with cabbageplants on board, tied in bundles of 100,ready for sale. The usual method ofkeeping them fresh was to make athick paste of yellow clay and waterand apply liberally to the roots. Somefamilies were also noted for the pro-duction of cabbage plants. TheCummins family of the Cashel Road

were known far and wide for the topquality plants they produced. MrWalsh of Kilconnell was also a well-known producer of plants and also ofthe finished article.

The late Mrs Nora Cummins told methat shortly after she went to theCashel Road as a young bride, a cus-tomer arrived for 1,000 cabbageplants.

“How on earth am I going to countthat many?” she asked. Her mother-in-law quite simply replied, “Counttwenty-five, four of each bundle are100, forty bundles are 1000”.

Pat Power of the Valley though hewould avail of the high demand forcabbage plants. He grew the produceon The Valley, put a notice on theE.S.B pole on the bridge ‘Cabbageplants for sale, 2/6 per hundred’.Much to his surprise he had no cus-tomers. The sight was not too goodwith Pat, and some weeks had elapsedbefore he discovered that some of the‘bright boys’ had put the figure onebefore the two making the price 12/6per hundred. Thus increasing the price400%.

Cabbage, however, is still easilyobtained in greengrocers and shops,but it is a fair bet that the garden ofproduction is a fair distance from thepoint of sale. Time was when a house-wife if stuck, could send one of thechildren to Johnny Croke on theRocklow Road or John O’Donnell onthe Grove Road and purchase a headof cabbage for 2p or 3p (old money),that would make a family dinner noproblem.

While we are on the cabbage situa-tion, the delicacy that usually accom-

Of Cabbages and Kings! Tony Newport


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panied the head of cabbage in the pot,the gloriously delicious half head(pigs head to younger readers) has alsodisappeared.

You may as well ask for caviar inbutchers or supermarket these days.However, who would bother with pigshead and cabbage when you can feaston goulash and Chinese takeaways;chow mein, chop suey and Szechwan.There are also a variety of Indian dishesso highly flavoured with hot spices andcurries, it would take paint off a gate.

I wonder do the youth of today writein each others autograph books suchversus as:

My heart is like a cabbageThat I have broken in twoThe leaves I give to others

The heart I give to you.

Probably not! The treasured auto-graph book has probably disappeared,after all, it is now much easier to con-tact by mobile phone or leave yourgreeting on a message minder.

Ah well. Times change and menmust change with them. ◆

Starting school at Killusty National School this year were L to R: Kate O’Donnell, Grangebeg, Fethard;David Morgan, Grangebeg, Fethard; Niamh Crotty, Killusty; and Derek O’Brien, Main Street, Fethard.

Missing from photograph is James Harrington, Tinakelly, Fethard.

Sponsored Cycle for Sr. BettyOn Saturday, 24th March 2002,

Sr. Betty Cagney, St. Bernard'sGroup Homes, Fethard, along with 80other cyclists will partake in a 600mile sponsored cycle in France, fromDinard to Lourdes, to raise funds forthe Irish Handicapped Children’sPilgrimage Trust (IHCPT).

Since the early 198Os many childrenhave benefited from this Trust, withapproximately five to ten local chil-dren travelling to Lourdes each year

for a week’s pilgrimage. The cyclistswill cycle six hundred miles over aperiod of seven days. Each cyclist hasto raise a minimum of £2,000. Cyclistspay their own fare and expenses so allmonies raised goes directly to IHCPT.

Sr. Betty is actively training andfundraising at present. The IHCPT is aregistered charity and therefore any com-pany making a donation is entitled to taxrelief. Sr. Betty would be grateful for anyfinancial support small or large. ◆


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The Well Golf Society

The society held its A.G.M. in theFr. Tirry Centre in January this

year. Officials elected at the A.G.Mwere: Captain, Pat Woodlock;Secretary, Michael Leahy; Treasurer,David Lawton.

Once again we had our annualEaster draw in the Well bar on EasterSunday night with great prizes andmusic from Seamus and Mary. Theprizes on the night were very good andgreat credit to our draw committee,Shay Ryan, M.J. Croke, Kevin Ryan,and Sean Aylward. The Society alsodonated a cheque to the Day Care

Centre from our draw proceeds. Wehad a very enjoyable year on the golf-ing front, with six outings in the yearand a great turn out at them all, show-ing how popular golf is in Fethard. Weentered a team in the Daily StarCompetition with teams from all overIreland. We went out in the secondround and it was a great experience foreveryone involved. The society wouldlike to thank all our sponsors over theyear especially for the Easter draw.

Let’s hope 2002 will be as enjoyableon the golfing front as was 2001. ◆

SHARE A DREAM FOUNDATIONChildren from Woodvale Walk housing estate in Fethard performed their own dance show in the Abymill

Theatre to raise funds for the ‘Share a Dream’ foundation. The group are photographed above with ‘Sharea Dream’ representative Shane Kinsella who presented the group with a framed certificate in acknowl-

edgement of their contribution to the foundation. Back L to R: Treacy Needham, Debbie Lawrence,Patricia Rochford, Gerard Lawless, Shane Kinsella (Share a Dream Foundation), Melissa Rochford, SarahLawless. Front L to R: Michael Halley, Kelly Fogarty, Katie O’Shea, Claire O’Brien and Sarah McManus.

Missing from photograph is Lynn Flynn and Martina Ryan.


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Community Games

Fethard & Killusty area had a verysuccessful year in the Community

Games. They took part in the followingevents: art, model making, athletics,judo, under-10 GAA, under-12 girlsGAA, under-12 boys soccer, boys andgirls volleyball & rugby under-12 whichwas revived by Sean Devaney in Fethardafter a lapse of 70 years. The followingqualified for the county finals of the artand model making: Under-8 (girls &boys) — Ciarán O’Meara, EmmaMorrissey, Rachel O’Meara, TedBarrett; Under-10 — Jake Maher,Lorraine Feery, Padraig O’Shea, SineadLee; Under-12 — Kevin Browne,Aisling Breen, Aoife O’Meara & J.P.McGrath; Under-14 — Cathal Maher,Katie Murphy, Eoin Condon & DeniseMcGrath. Model Making — NicolaGleeson (girls under-10), Sinead Coffeyand Sinead Delahunty (girls under-14).At the County Finals in Clerihan bothCathal Maher, Dun Aoibhinn, andNicola Gleeson, Coolmore, won goldmedals and qualified for Mosney.

Cathal Maher won a fourth place‘Certificate of Merit’ and was compet-ing for his fifth successive year.

Sinead Delahunty won a silver medaland Sinead Coffey won a bronze medalin model making at the County Final.The under-10 GAA had a great yearwinning six matches including thecounty final. They beat Waterford in thepreliminary round of the Munster Finalsbut were beaten by Cork in the Munstersemifinal. The team consisted of CiaránRyan (captain), Tommy Sheehan, BenWalsh, Frankie O’Donovan, KieranO’Connell, Jerome Ahearne, DavidWalsh, Daniel Hickey, MatthewFitzgerald, Matt O’Sullivan, DarrenConnolly, Aaron Conran, Adam Lyons,Damien Morrissey, Philip Doyle, GlenMaher, Alan Lawrence, Owen Healy,Kevin Hayes and Padraig O’Shea. Theunder-12 GAA girls beat Moycarkey inthe first round but were beaten by St.Flannans in the second round. The girlsvolleyball were beaten by Lismore inthe Munster final, and the boys volley-

Fethard and Killusty Community Games organisers photographed in Fethard on Sunday 27th May at thelocal heats. L to R: Helena O'Shea, Bernard Feery, Caroline Hall, Denny Burke, Joe Keane, Michael

Fitzgerald, Carmel Condon, Fintan Rice, Mary Trehy, Declan Morrissey and Peggy Colville.


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ball travelled to Mosney where theywon a fourth place ‘Certificate ofMerit’. The under-12 rugby team reachedthe county final but were beaten byCashel. The under-12 boys soccer teamwere also beaten by Cashel. At the coun-ty finals of the athletics Michael Costellowon gold in the 100m, and David Sullivanwon a bronze inthe 1500m.Fethard hostedthe county finalsof the Judo in theTown Hall onMay 11th. Goldmedals were wonby the followingfrom the Fethard& Killusty area;Padraig O’Shea,Michael Costello,M a t t h e wFitzgerald, CathalGorey, RichardGorey, D. J.Gorey, MichelleB r a d s h a w ,B e r n a d e t t eCostello andS t e p h a n i eLawrence. The following qualified forMosney from the Munster Finals: -Padraig O’Shea, D. J. Gorey, Roy Gorey,Cathal Gorey, Stephanie Lawrence, Niall& Martin O’Donnell. At last the elusivegold medals came to Fethard andClonmel with Stephanie Lawrence andMartin O’Donnell giving outstandingperformances and both winning gold.Silver medals were won by: D. J. Goreyand Cathal Gorey, and a bronze medalwas won by Niall O’Donnell.

Certificates of Merit went to PadraigO’Shea and Richard Gorey. Richard wasa former gold medallist and was most

unfortunate to fall and break his arm.A very successful open sports took

place in August. The feature event wasthe Coolmore 4x1 mixed relay, whichwas won by: Willie Morrissey,Tullamaine; Michael Dillon,Tullamaine; Tommy Sheehan, Fethard;and Linda Quigley, Killenaule.

Beautiful tro-phies were pre-sented to thewinning teamby AgnesEvans, repre-s e n t i n gCoolmore StudFarm.

The PatR y a nMemorial Cupattracted ahuge entry inthe PenaltyKick event andwas won byEoin Healy,The Green;runner up wasC o l mShanahan, a

grandson of the late Pat Ryan. Trophieswere presented by Mrs Nellie Ryan.

The committee received tremendoushelp from several people too numerousto mention in organising the games dur-ing the year. They would like to say aspecial ‘thank you’ to all concerned, totheir sponsors and to all those who sup-ported their sponsored walk and churchgate collection. Last but not least to JoeKenny who was always on hand withthe camera.

Current officers are: Canon JamesPower (president), Joe Keane (chair-man), Bernard Feery (vice chairman);

Fethard boys volleyball team who represented Tipperary in theCommunity Games finals at Mosney. Back L to R: Paul

Kenrick, William O'Brien, Darren Sharpe and KeithLawrence. Front L to R: Chris Taylor, Brian Conway, John

Leahy and Adrian Allen. Also on the team were ConnieO'Flynn, James Smyth, David Prout and Peter Gough.


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Caroline Hall (secretary), PeggyColville and Joe Keane (treasurers);M.C. Maher (development officer); andPeggy Colville (public relations offi-cer). Committee members: Helena

O’Shea, Michael Fitzgerald, DenisBurke, Michael McCormack, JosephineO’Hagan, Sean Devaney, Patricia andTony Fitzgerald. ◆

Some of the Fethard boys and girls who represented their county at the Community Games Finals inMosney this year. L to R: Cathal Maher (art), Padraig O'Shea (judo), Stephanie Lawrence (judo), Nicola

Gleeson (model making), Richard Gorey (judo) and Cathal Gorey (judo).

Fethard under-10 footballers who won the Community Games County Final on Friday, 22nd June. Theyare photographed above on a victory tour through the streets of Fethard with their coaches and trophy.


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It all started in Walls Bar, MainStreet, Fethard. There were three

of us there at 10am, Andy, Phil andmyself and as there was nothing hap-pening, we decided to do the Stationsof the Cross. The ‘stations of thecross’ we were doing had nothing to dowith the chapels between Fethard,Drangan, Mullinahone and the cross ofLismolin, but there are thirteen pubs,so we went through them all.

At 2am in Lismolin we came in con-tact with a Fianna Fail CountyCouncillor who was just coming froma meeting. He asked us where we weregoing so we told him we were going toMonsignor Horan’s funeral in Knock.

We all took off in the pick up truck,which had a scrap cooker up on theback. At Portlaoise we were stoppedby the Gardai, who asked us if weknew of anyone from Fethard. I said,

“That’s where we come from”. TheGardai said, “Who do you know well?”I replied, “Most people in the town!”The Gardai insisted on a name. ‘OJesus’ I said, ‘Sean Hanrahan’. So theguard told us to go on.

We were well stocked up withClonmel Champagne (cider) andmotoring on to Athlone we took awrong turning. On the CustomsBridge the two lads wanted to relievethemselves so we went around theback of the shopping complex, notknowing the way through.

A beam and a squad car arrivedagain, but this time was a Ban Garda.We explained that we were kind oflost, so she said, “Follow me and I willput you on the right road for Knock”which she did. Now everything wasgoing O.K. but no ‘pigeon post’ to giveus directions.

A pilgrimage to Knock! Jimmy Ryan

Jimmy Ryan, Watergate, photographed in 1991 with Nellie Kelly and Mrs Paddy McCarthy at the Fethard Jamboree held in aid of the Town Wall restoration project


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It was just breaking dawn and wesaw a fella on a bike coming on theroad, so we stopped to ask the way.Well, he dropped the bike, jumped thegate, ran across the field and that wasthe last we saw of him.

Eventually we arrived at Kelly’sHotel in Knock not knowing it was fullof retired priests and nuns. The wait-ress asked us what we wanted forbreakfast. I had scrambled eggs ontoast and the two lads had full Irishbreakfasts. I asked where the best pubin town was for the craic. Andy said‘shut up’ we came here for a funeraland not for fun.

So I took up the town on my own,bought a pack of Bic razors and shav-ing foam, went to a pub and asked thelandlady if I could have a shave. Shetold me to go to the ladies, as there washot water and a towel there. So jobdone, I came out and the two boysfound me. Andy asked me where I

shaved. I told him where and gave himthe equipment and he did the same. Onreturning he said to Phil, go in andshave yourself. After waiting a whilethere was no sign of Phil coming out,so I went in to see what was happen-ing. I found Phil with a full face offoam, looking like Father Christmas,throwing away the razors, giving outthat the razors were useless. The prob-lem was that he never took the yellowcover off the blade. I went out to Andyand I could not speak. Andy asked mewhat was wrong, so I told him to go inand look for himself. Andy told Phil totry the other side of his face.

We eventually got to the funeral, andwe were the men who representedSouth Tipp. We got home safely twodays later. More to be told of this storynext year. Best of luck and HappyChristmas to all of you overseas, notforgetting the good people here athome. ◆

WHYTES GROCERY SHOP CLOSESThe Whytes retired from their family business on Main Street, on Sunday 3rd June. The shop reopened on

Tuesday under new management, that of Veronica Barry and John Morrissey from Cashel. We wish thebest of luck to John and Maureen in their retirement and thank them for their years of service to the

Fethard community. Photographed minutes before closing are L to R: Eoin Whyte, Pat Whyte holding hisdaughter Katie, Joanne Kearney, Maureen and John Whyte.


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The Fethard & KillustyCommunity Council held their

AGM on Tuesday 13th November,2001, after which the following com-mittee was elected: Joe Kenny (chair-man), Brian Sheehy (vice-chairper-son), Jimmy Connolly (treasurer),Edwina Newport (secretary), MarieMurphy (p.r.o.), Peter Grant (schemeparticipant development officer), FrTom Breen, Diana Stokes, ThelmaGriffith, Jimmy Lawrence and HelenCarrigan. Joan O’Donohoe is our FÁSScheme supervisor and Sr. Christine issupervisor of the Fethard and DistrictDay Care Centre.

The Community Council is celebrat-ing its 25th anniversary this year as thefirst committee was elected on the

13th January 1976 when the followingofficers were elected: Chairman - Rev.J. Stapleton; Vice-Chairman - JerrySkehan; Secretary - Mrs. Mary Healy;Treasurers - Paddy Broderick andPaddy Heffernan; and P.R.O. - AustinO’Flynn. Before the formation of theCommunity Council the people wererepresented by the FethardDevelopment Association formed in1967 following observations made byMr. E. McLoughlin, B.E., ActingChief Assistant County Engineer(Planning), on the Draft DevelopmentPlan for Fethard. In 1974, a re-organis-ing meeting of Fethard Muintir na Tirewas held on July 26th. The meetingwas addressed by Mr. Patrick Costelloof Templemore Branch who gave a

Fethard & Killusty Community Council

FETHARD DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION 1967The first committee of Fethard Development Association formed in 1967. Back row: Austin Slattery, Paddy

Lonergan, Tom Barrett, Gene Walsh, Tommy O’Connell, Timmy O’Connor and ? Middle row: PaddyBroderick, Percy O’Flynn, Ray O’Sullivan (Bank) , Helen O’Connell, Maura Healy, Marie ‘Ma’ O’Brien,Austin O’Flynn, Phil Kearney and Dick Gorey. Front row L to R: Bro. Stephen, Eileen Maher (treasurer),

Paddy Maher (chairman), Eddie O’Neill (secretary), Moira Cotter and Fr. Tom Kennedy.


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instructive talk on the functions ofMuintir na Tire. A new council waselected. At the AGM in 1975 the fol-lowing officers and committee wereelected: President - Rev. Fr. Noonan;Chairman - Austin O’Flynn; ViceChairman - Brendan Kenny; Secretary- Mrs. Mary Healy; Treasurer - SeanHenehan; Assistant Sec. & P.R.O. -Catherine Allen. Committee: JimRyan, Tom Barrett, Jack O’Shea,Frank Coffey, Paddy Lonergan, Mrs.O’Brien, Tom McCormack, AustinSlattery, Tim O’Riordan, Mrs Coffey,Paddy Broderick, Tommy Carey, CarolKenny and Larry Dargan. A publicmeeting was organised and held underthe auspices of Fethard DevelopmentAssociation to ascertain the views ofthe people of Fethard and KillustyParish, on the advisability of forming aCommunity Council. There was aunanimous vote in favour of forming aCouncil, and a temporary steeringcommittee was elected. This tempo-rary committee distributed nominationpapers to each household in the Parish.Each person over eighteen years of agevoted for the candidate of their choice.The vote was by ballot.

On the 13th January 1976 the firstmeeting of the Fethard & Killusty

Community Council was held and thefollowing officers were elected:Chairman - Rev. J. Stapleton; Vice-Chairman - Jerry Skehan; Secretary -Mrs. Mary Healy; Treasurers - PaddyBroderick and Paddy Heffernan;P.R.O. Austin O’Flynn. The guidingprinciples of the council at that meet-ing were: “The Community Council isa representative body, whose aim is toinvolve all the members of the com-munity in identifying local needs andproblems, and taking the initiative tosolve them. A community councilensures that the identification of localproblems and their solution, is an on-going concern, and that concern isintegrated into the everyday life of thecommunity. We have at the moment,projects in operation, which we areconfident will benefit the whole com-munity.” Those principals still remaintoday, twenty-five years later.

In the past 12 months, the Fethard &Killusty Community Council has hadplans drawn up for an extension to thevery popular Day Care Centre. Theseplans have been granted planning per-mission and work is expected to com-mence in the New Year. The extensionwill also facilitate a new CommunityInformation Office on the ground

Proposed extension to Tirry Community Centre at Barrack Street (on right)


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floor, which will make it a lot moreaccessible for all community mem-bers. This project is being supportedby the South Eastern Health Board towhom we are most grateful for theirsupport. The Fethard Day Care centrecontinues to grow in popularity andtheir report can be read on page 91.

The second project accomplishedthis year was the purchase of theConvent Hall from the PresentationSisters. The committee completed thepurchase for further development as aFethard & District Family ResourceCentre — a community need identi-fied by the committee after undertak-ing a FÁS facilitated CommunityEnterprise Programme. The hall andgrounds were purchased for £50,000and are now in community ownership.

The community council have alsoinitiated the formation of a residentsassociation in Woodvale Walk and St.Patrick’s Place during the year. Bothwere successfully formed with thehelp and support of Cllrs. John Fahey,Susan Meagher and Seamus Healy.

The Tidy Towns committee have

also achieved great success during theyear with the setting up of by-monthlymeetings on the ground with CountyCouncil engineers, officials and com-munity representatives to deal withproblems on a priority and realisticbasis. We thank the Council engineer,Mr Jonathon Cooney, for his supportin this area.

The Community Lotto is now ourmain source of income and generates anaverage of £600 sales per week. Wethank all the sellers who work tirelesslyevery week to promote the lotto and wethank the people who buy the ticketsand assure them that their money isbeing put to great use in our communi-ty, for our community. As our mottostates ‘Helping Ourselves — SupportingEach Other’.

An open day was held at the TirryCommunity Centre on the 29th May2001. Visitors were invited for a cup oftea and an opportunity to see the facili-ties available at the centre. The TirryCentre is a hive of activity every day andcaters for all members of our communi-ty, from the very young to the very old.

Photographed at the Open Day at the Tirry Community Centre on 29th May are L to R: Kay McGrath, Kathy Aylward and Joan O’Connor.


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Great credit is due to the many volun-teers who carry out their wonderfulwork every day in a quiet and unassum-ing manner. Some of the facilities avail-able at the centre are: Fethard & KillustyCommunity Office and InformationCentre which has free literature avail-able on tourism and family support;FÁS Community Employment Schemeproviding eleven employees working forthe Day Care Centre, Tidy Towns, GAAand Community Office; Day CareCentre open five days per week and pro-viding transport, entertainment, mealsand services to the elderly in our area;Meals on Wheels providing a homedelivery service of hot meals to thosenot always in a position to cook forthemselves; 'First Steps' a privately runplayschool which caters for our veryyoung and prepares them for NationalSchool.

During the year we said goodbye toMairead Croke, supervisor of theFethard & Killusty FÁS CommunityEmployment Scheme who left her posi-

tion on Friday, 5th January, to take up anew supervisor's position in Clonmel.The newly appointed supervisor of theFethard & Killusty Community Schemeis Joan O’Donohoe who was previouslyin charge of community office adminis-tration and information at the Fr. TirryCentre. The community scheme cur-rently employs Monica Aherne, MartinBolger, Janet Butler, Michael Keane,Patsy Lawrence, John Neagle, ThomasPurcell, James Roche, Melanie Ryan,David Standbridge and Maura Tynan.

During the year we also said good-bye to our treasurer, Fr. Ben O’BrienOSA, who was transferred to Galway.Fr. Ben was instrumental in setting upthe Community Lotto and was also agreat support to the committee in ourprojects over the past few years.

There was very positive response byTipperary S.R. County Council to oursubmission on ‘Community SpeedWatch’ and the dangers of speedingtraffic on our roads. The Council haveagreed to fund and erect the appropri-

Staff and helpers at the Fethard Day Care Centre. L to R: Esther (Cuddihy) Breen, Megan Sceats, John Neagle, Maura (Carey) Tynan and Marie (O’Donovan) Murphy.


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ate signage to put the scheme intooperation. The Community Councilwere also requested to submit sugges-tions as to what locally can be done tomake motorists fully aware of thepedestrian crossing on Main Street.Flashing amber pedestrian lights wereinstalled earlier in the year to make thecrossing more visible to motorists.

In June this year, the CommunityInformation Office promoted andmade available, the interactive CD,‘Helping Hand’ — a guide to educa-tion, training and employment oppor-tunities, which was supplied by theDepartment of Social, Community andFamily Affairs, in collaboration withFÁS, VTOS, NALA and CERT. The CDis a virtual tour of the second chanceeducation, training and employmentopportunities that are currently availableto people who want to return to work. Itincludes internet links to various web-sites, and was produced as part of“Welfare Awareness week”.

The Community Council are cur-rently negotiating with the County

Council to get the lights by the TownWall replaced and turned on again.We have been promised that the supplyof electricity from the ESB is nowordered officially and will be installedwith the erection of two new lights bythe footbridge over the Clashawley inFebruary, 2002.

The ESB have also agreed to allowus erect our Christmas Lights from thenew street light poles on The Square.This is now underway as the newslet-ter goes to print.

The annual dinner outing for mem-bers of the Community Council, sub-committees, helpers at the Day CareCentre, Community Lotto and Mealson Wheels will take place in J’sRestaurant on Friday night 25thJanuary, 2002.

The Fethard & Killusty CommunityCouncil would like to thank sincerelyall our voluntary workers on the vari-ous sub-committees and wish all ouremigrants and community at home, avery Happy Christmas and peacefulNew Year. ◆

Members of the Fethard and Killusty Community Council, Community Lotto, Day Care Centre,Community Office, Tidy Towns, and Cllr John Fahy photographed at farewell social on July 2nd for our

treasurer Fr. Ben O’Brien OSA who was transferred to Galway.


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Day Care Centre / Meals on Wheels

The first observation one makesvisiting the Day Care Centre is

that it is a happy place to be, and thatis what it is all about! The faces aresmiling, the music is rousing, and, ifyou visit at the right time there is amouth-watering smell of dinner waft-ing from the kitchen.

The Centre is now in its sixth yearand runs five days a week. Clients areserved breakfast on arrival, lunch atmidday and a light afternoon teabefore leaving around 4pm. They havetheir own bus, driven by LiamConnolly (he of All-Ireland Hurlingmedal fame for Tipp!) which collectspeople who are unable to walk andfrom the outlying areas of the town.The meals are beautifully prepared inthe kitchen by a staff of men andwomen and served up with the help ofvolunteers. Three days a week themain meal is also prepared for theMeals on Wheels and delivered out by

volunteer drivers, with the invaluablehelp of the transition year pupils fromthe local Presentation / PatricianSchool. These young boys and girlscome to the Centre three days a week,for the first half-hour they join inwhatever fun is going on, and some-times even render a few bars of a songfrom the current musical they arerehearsing in school! At 12 noon theyaccompany the drivers to deliver themeals, and have a great rapport withthe recipients, who love to meet them.

Entertainment consists of bingo,music, singing and craft making. Thebeautiful crafts are to be seen in thedayroom — patchwork, knitting andcrochet. The throws which are on theeasy-chairs are made by the clientsthemselves. They are also made forsale at the annual Bazaar. The much-appreciated music is provided byPauline Morrissey (daughter of thelate Tom Sheehan of the Twilight

Fethard 'wrenboys' photographed on St. Stephen's Day in the Fethard Arms. The group raised £445 for theFethard and District Day Care Centre. L to R: Marie (O'Donovan) Murphy, Kitty O'Donnell, John

Pollard, Sr. Christine, Thelma Griffith, Pauline Morrissey and Sr. Clement.


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Through the fair to the conventschool, and afterwards to the

Monastery on the Rocklow Road. Thecobblers cutting, shaping and sewingleather and Scully’s black car. Massand devotions in the Parish or Abbey,processions, carnivals with fancy dressparade and style.

The buzz of the hunt’s opening meet,the cinema for pictures, matches in theBarrack Field. The circus in all itsmight, a swim in Newbridge or anorchard of ripe apples. Walking aroundthe ring of Ballybough or up to the dis-pensary for a cure.

Picking blackberries on the AbbeyRocks, on Market Hill blackcurrantsor down to Grove Wood where TarzanCoroimo, the ‘Tommies’ and ‘Jerries’and the musketeers reigned.

A game of soccer in St. Patrick’sPlace, ‘pitch and toss’ on the CashelRoad. The fights after closing timeoutside the pubs. Fishing in the riverand Mrs O’Brien’s chip shop.

Handball against the Town Wall, asnog down the pound, a few bob forhunting or thinning turnips or beet.

Jack Gunne's forge in the Green,basket making in Cummins’s near thestation. Will O’Donnell winning hand-ball All Irelands. Richie Fallon break-ing the high jump record. SellingMission News and Good Counsels,playing in Delmege’s field.

Just some of the growing up experi-ences in the town I love so well.

P.S. I Would do it all again! ◆

Fond memories of Fethard John Joe Keane

Serenaders) on accordion, JohnPollard also on accordion and JimmyLawrence on the keyboards. They alsohave their own percussion band, con-sisting of triangles and the spoons.They also have been known to dance!

A Bazaar is held at Christmas inconjunction with a monster raffle toraise funds. Local businesses verygenerously contribute towards same,and, as previously mentioned, somereally beautiful crafts are for sale.

Two very enjoyable outings wereheld during the year which were thor-oughly enjoyed by all, one to Horseand Jockey for afternoon tea and theother to Lismore and Mount Melleray

with a meal in Dungarvan beforereturning home.

A big ‘thank you’ to Sr. Christine forthe caring and kind manner in whichshe carries out her role as Day CareCentre Supervisor, to JoanO’Donohoe, FÁS Scheme Supervisor,and her obliging staff in theCommunity Office, and to ThelmaGriffith, chairperson of the Day CareCentre committee, for the endlesshours she puts in voluntarily into theCentre, and to all the FÁS participants,who all together help to make this DayCare Centre in Fethard such a wonder-ful facility for our senior citizens andmake it the happy place it is. ◆

NEW BANK MANAGERWelcome to Fethard to the town’s first ladybank manager, Mrs Mary Birmingham, who

took up her new position officially onMonday 14th May.

CONGRATULATIONSCongratulations to Nurse Mary

Prendergast, St. Johnstown, Fethard, on herappointment as Acting Assistant Manager

of St. Patrick’s Hospital, Cashel.


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The new school year is underwayand the euphoria of exam results

fades into the not so distant past. Bothour Leaving Certs and Junior Certs didvery well in the Certificate exams. Theever elusive ‘A’ was achieved in manysubjects with one student achievingnine A’s at Junior Cert level. OnOctober 26, the principal, Mr ErnanBritton, staff members and studentsassembled in the school hall to cele-brate a mass of thanksgiving whichpreceded this year’s awards ceremony.The celebrant of the mass was Fr. TomBreen, and co-celebrating Fr. GerryHoran OSA, our new prior, and Fr.A.B. Kennedy, a past pupil. CanonJames Power also took part in the cel-ebration. A number of parents wereamong the congregation which includ-ed Rita Kenny, chairperson of theParents Association; Larry Kenny,board of management, and SistersAnnunciata and Christine from the

Presentation Convent.The altar reflected the soft glow of

autumn flowers and sunshine as thesenior choir of the school, assisted bya third-year group, followed throughthe theme of thanksgiving with appro-priate numbers. A moving solo of ‘TheClouds Veil’ was sung by Jodie Gilpin(5th year) and Peter Kenny (6th year)brought a tear to the eye as he sang andaccompanied himself on piano to theJohn Lennon ‘Imagine’.

At the conclusion of the mass, prin-cipal Mr Ernan Britton thanked allconcerned in the preparation and run-ning of this lovely occasion. He theninvited Mrs Rita Kenny to open theawards ceremony. Rita presented thefollowing awards: Progress inLearning Award to Derek Shine;Student of the Year Awards to MaryGriffin and Sarah Mai Ahearn (1stYear), Sarah Kennedy and LindaKenny (2nd Year), Miriam Carroll (3rd

Patrician Presentation School

Fethard Patrician Presentation Secondary School Awards 2001. Back L to R: Fr. A.B. Kennedy, JenniferFrewen, Mary Gorey, Sinead O'Brien, Gerard Walsh, Ross Maher, Eoin Doyle, Glen Burke, Julieanne

Smith, Mark Sullivan, Susanne Gorey, Mr Ernan Britton (school principal). Front L to R: MiriamCarroll, Derek Shine, Mary Griffin, Claire Ryan, Sarah Kennedy, Linda Kenny, Sarah Mai Ahearne,

Jack Kenny and Evelyn O'Connor.


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Year), Jennifer Frewen (5th Year).Mr Britton then presented the

Padraig Pearse Trophy to Claire Ryanfor achieving a Grade ‘A’ in Historyand Irish at Junior Cert level. The bestachievement at Leaving Cert went toEoin Doyle and a special achievementaward for Junior Cert results was pre-sented to Jack Kenny. Father A.B.Kennedy was then called upon. Headdressed all assembled with nostalgiatinged with humour as he rememberedhis school days in Fethard, particularlywhen the schools amalgamated andthe occasional ‘hop’ took place ineither the Brothers’ school or theNuns. He encouraged the students toenjoy their young lives and theirschool days. Being a late vocationhimself, he spoke of biding one’s timeand there will be an answer. He is nowteaching himself in Portumna, Galway.He presented the best attender awards

to: Susanne Gorey (1st Year), MaryGorey (2nd Year), Mark Sullivan (3rdYear), Evelyn O’Connor and EmmetBurke (4th Year), Paul Walshe andAdrian Morrissey (5th Year). DenisBurke then presented the specialsports award to Julianne Smith, andPaddy Broderick presented a specialsports award to Glen Burke. MarianGilpin, chairperson of Fethard andDistrict Credit Union, presented thebusiness and enterprise award, spon-sored by the Credit Union, to GerardWalsh. A replica was presented toMary Gorey – last year’s winner.Justin McGree then introduced theGaisce Awards – the President’s prizefor personal and social development.The recipients were Ross Maher whoreceived a silver award; JenniferFrewen and Sinead O’Brien whoreceived bronze awards.

Finally Mr Britton presented pine to

All-Ireland Schools Volleyball Champions 2001. Back L to R: Michelle Coffey, Vanessa O’Donnell(Monroe), Kersty McCarthy (Kerry Street), Helena McCormack (Kerry Street), Evelyn O’Connor (St.Patrick’s Place), Ailish O’Connell (Coolmoyne), Zoë Cooney (Main Street). Front L to R: Mr Ernan

Britton (school principal), Lynda Nevin (Ballintemple), Jennifer Frewen (Tullamaine), captain CarolineCroke (St. Patrick’s Place), Lily Maher (Kilnockin) and Ms Jill Cunningham (coach).


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the prefects 2001-2002: MichaelWalsh (1st Year), Paul Walsh (3rdYear), Rhya Roberts (4th Year),Jennifer Frewen (5th Year), RebeccaCarroll (Head Girl) and Paul Cleary(Head Boy).

The ceremony concluded at 1pmand all departed to commence thebeginning of the October mid-termbreak. Congratulations to all.

Sport is very much on the agenda forthe coming year with football, hurling,volleyball, and basketball, and wewish our teams every success.

A special congratulations to oureleven girls on their achievement inwinning the All-Ireland SchoolsVolleyball title in Carlow on Thursday6th December. The victory over oldrivals Loughrea was particularly sweetas Fethard have suffered many lossesto Loughrea over the years. In the lastfive years, two Community Games

finals in Mosney were lost to the sameopposition — the 1999 final actuallylost to the very same girls who playedin Carlow. In addition, the final wasan absolute thriller, the best of the fivefinals played in Carlow. The Fethardgirls lost the first set but got to gripswith their game in the second and won25-18. The third set was heart-stop-ping and the final score of 15-13 is asclose as a game can be.

The eleven girls who brought homethe coveted trophy were: captainCaroline Croke (St. Patrick’s Place),Jennifer Frewen (Tullamaine), LyndaNevin (Ballintemple), VanessaO’Donnell (Monroe), AilishO’Connell (Coolmoyne), Lily Maher(Kilnockin), Zoë Cooney (MainStreet), Kersty McCarthy (KerryStreet), Helena McCormack (KerryStreet), Michelle Coffey (GroveRoad), and Evelyn O’Connor (St.

Mr Britton presenting the Padraig Pearse Trophy to Claire Ryan, Killusty, for achieving a Grade ‘A’ in History and Irish at Junior Cert level.


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Patrick’s Place). Their coach was JillCunningham (Kilkenny) who departs fora position in the United States nextmonth. Along with fellow Kilkennynative, Bernie O’Connor, both have doneTrojan work in Fethard for which every-one is grateful and without which thisvictory would not have been possible.

The Concern debates will also find the5th years participating under the direc-tion of Mr McGree. The team is JodieGilpin, Ciarán Duggan, Barry Shee,Kersty McCarthy and Rosaleen Fanning.

Transition Year have commenced theirvery valuable and worthwhile year, andspent long weeks rehearsing for thisyear’s musical ‘Oklahoma’ which wasstaged in the Abymill Theatre inDecember and produced by Ms MarianGilpin.

A number of our students were alsoinvolved in Abymill Youth Drama Groupand the curtain went up in September for‘Wednesday’s Child’, a play set inNorthern Ireland.

A highlight for the year for transitionyear students was their expedition inMay. It all began with a visit to PatriciaLooby’s exhibition ‘Harvester’ in TempleBar, Dublin -Transition Year were ‘ontour’ again, and less than a week later westarted out on the long road to Delphi -not Greece, simply Mayo - on a brightMay morning filled with promises of anIrish ‘heat wave’. Twenty-five boys andgirls from T.Y. 2000/2001 bid farewell toFethard with enough luggage to survivefor at least a year! The journey to Galwaywas predictable -Atlantic 252 . . . cokecans . . . text messages — the all toofamiliar sounds of an thousand and oneringing tones.

It was when we reached MaamCross an almost reluctant wave ofsilence engulfed the bus. Yes! Theseyoung souls were actually touched bythe strange beauty of Connemara. Wasit Cromwell said “to hell or toConnaught?” - He was wrong on thatMay day - it was Heaven. By the time

Fethard Patrician Presentation transition year students photographed on stage after their opening nightproduction of 'Oklahoma' on Wednesday 12th December.


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we reached Delphi the awesome beau-ty, the silence of the mountains, thegentle ripple of the lakes had seepedinto their souls. Their silence gave wayto uncertainty, even a touch of xeno-phobia. Who were these strange peo-ple, with strange accents? English inthe main, as it appeared the entire surf-ing generation of England had beentransported to Delphi. Gradually theuncertainty gave way to a newbornconfidence - the joy of achievement atthings never thought possible — surf-ing, kayaking, abseiling, archery.Layer by layer the skin of the fast foodconsumer society began to peel away -burgers and mobiles faded into the dis-tant past in these idyllic surroundings.

Cheeks rosy and sun-kissed;appetites sharpened by mountain andsea, new friends; happy laughter andthe cuckoo sang her song of summerfrom daybreak to dusk, elusive yetever present, the fairy godmother ofthe majestic Mayo mountains, accom-panied by Vincent — a Mayo man atheart. Justin, with his youthful enthu-siasm, enjoying to the full all the out-door activities; Deirdre, a mother offour daughters who looked upon eachone of them with a maternal eye; and

myself - defying definition - I hadcome home to the lost secrets of mysoul - the land of Yeats, of Synge, ofJoyce, of pure living.

Maam Cross, Friday May 11th.Reality struck - the myriad of mobiletones the cries of McDonalds! show-ers, coke cans, the odyssey was over!And now I hear her again as I write -not as clear yet somehow reassuringme perhaps she has followed us downfrom Mayo, perhaps she too seeks anew home - our cuckoo!

A new feature of this year is the‘new look’ uniform, with the girlswearing grey skirts and blue shirts,alternating with grey trousers and blueshirts.

We welcome this year, Ms Stapletonto the staff. She will join the resourceteam. Congratulations to Gerald Walshon his entrepreneurial skills.

As the dark days of Christmas set inespecially this year in light of events inthe U.S. we extend a hand of friend-ship to all our emigrants who are nowliving in so many area of the world.

The Principal, Mr Britton, staff, andoffice and ancillary staff wishes youpeace, heath and happiness this sea-son. ◆

Holy Year Cross on Slievenamon in the 1950’s L to R: Maureen O’Donnell, Jude Donovan and Kathleen Donovan


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Last season was a successful onefor Killusty soccer club. We won

the First Division shield, finished run-ner up in First Division League andwere the first winners of the PaddyPurtill Cup.

The youth team performed well inthe top division and played Cork Cityin the Munster Youth Cup. The topscorer in the junior team was ShayCoen. The player of the year awardwent to Paul Fitzgerald. The youthplayer of the year was Brian Coen andtop scorer was Pa Looby. The clubmanof the year was Chris Coen. These pre-sentations were made at our Annual

Dinner Dance held in mid November. Officers for the year 2001/2002 are:

Bob Maher (president); Sean Aylward(chairman); Louis Coen (treasurer);Shay Coen (junior team manager);Jimmy O’Meara and Colm Coen(youth team managers); and BernardFeery (trainer).

We would like to thank everyonewho supports our weekly lotto. Theclub wishes to extend our deepestsympathy to Bob and family in theunexpected death of Noreen.

Wishing all our friends home andabroad a very peaceful Christmas andNew Year. ◆

Killusty Soccer Club

Killusty F.C. winners of the Paddy Purtill Cup final played against St. Olivers Boys 'B' at Cahir Park onSunday 17th June. Final score 1-0. Back L to R: Cian Maher, Nicky Murphy, Brendan Brett, Paul

Fitzgerald, Kenneth O’Donnell, Brian Coen, Martin Coen, Michael Quinlan, Shay Coen. Front L to R: Willie O’Meara, Martin Ryan, Eddie Holohan, Jimmy O’Meara,

Colm Coen, Karl Maher, Eugene Walshe and Chris Coen

St. Rita’s Camogie ClubLast April, we were fortunate

enough to have Declan Brownetake over as trainer for theIntermediate team - his commitmentwas evident from the first intense

training session. However, due to theunavailability of some of our players,we began the league campaign with adepleted side and found it difficult tofield a team on many occasions. In


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addition to this we played all of ourChampionship and League matcheswithout a regular goalkeeper.

Fortunately, we got a few new play-ers prior to the championship and wehad a successful campaign beatingClonoulty, St. Cronin’s, Roscrea, andMoycarkey-Borris. We were defeatedin our first game against KilruaneMcDonaghs — having led 2-8 to 0-2at half-time — by just one point, aftera controversial 7 minutes extra time.This was a game which we literallythrew away and it ultimately cost us aplace in the county final. We had oneother defeat at the hands ofTemplemore who are now CountyChampions and so will be promoted tosenior status next year. As the champi-onship was run on a league basis we

were unfortunate not to reach thecounty final as we finished third in thetable — just one point behindClonoulty who qualified for the final.

We hope to have all of our playersback next year to strengthen our effortto win the Intermediate County Final.The panel for 2001 was: SharonO'Meara, Fiona Conway, VanessaO'Donnell, Imelda Spillane, SandraMaher, Norah O'Meara, Kay Spillane,Jennifer Keane, Niamh Sheehan,Marie Holohan, Caroline Quinlan,Mia Treacy, Audrey Conway, EdelFitzgerald, Laoise O'Connell, LisaMcCormack, Ailish Sheehan, JoanO'Donnell, Marie Mulcahy, LouiseWade, Jennifer Frewen, Teresa Burkeand Elaine Williams. ◆

The 3 Cavalry Squadron (ReserveDefence Forces) formerly known

as 3 Motor Squadron FCA has had apresence in Fethard and surrounding areafor many years and recently that area wasextended as far as Killenaule. The unitHQ is located in Kickham Barracks,Clonmel.

Training is carried out in KickhamBarracks, Clonmel every Tuesday night,transport is provided to and from theFethard area. To date there are approxi-mately 16 new applicants from theFethard Centre. This followed a visit toschools in the area. The personnel, whenenlisted, will begin Basic Training in thenear future.

This will consist of: drill, weaponshandling and firing, navigation, first aid,communications and sports.

After basic training is completed, per-sonnel will undergo advanced training

and this can include any of the following:military exercises, advanced weaponshandling and firing, shooting competi-tions, main armament live firing, careercourses, orienteering, driver training onthe following — jeep 4 x 4, motorcycle,truck, armoured vehicles.

The primary task of a CavalrySquadron in performing its role withinthe brigade involves route reconnais-sance, flank protection, seize and holdand various other independent opera-tions. The Squadron is a mechanised unitwhose main characteristic is its highmobility and use of armoured fightingvehicles. The unit also uses light three-quarter ton 4 x 4 vehicles and cross-country motorcycles such as theKawasaki 250cc and Suzuki 350cc.

The Reserve Defence Forces is cur-rently going through a re-organisation inline with the Defence Forces Review car-

The Third Cavalry Squadron


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ried out over the last few years. The forceis being issued with the same equipmentas the permanent force. Voluntary over-seas service may be an aspect of this re-organisation. The organisation is alsochanging its name from FCA to CultachaArim (Army Reserve). There are bigchanges expected over the coming yearsas personnel of the RDF become moreinvolved with all aspects of the workdone by the Defence Forces both at homeand abroad.

The benefits of becoming a member ofthe Reserve: learn and master new skills;make new friends; experience Espirit deCorps; earn pay for full time attendanceat regular army rates; gain qualificationsthat apply in civilian life; enhance yourCV with the inclusion of military serviceas a job description; enable members tofully participate and contribute meaning-ful service to the state and at the sametime benefit the individual in the areasof: self reliance, communication skills,

character building, sense of duty, loyaltyand civic pride.

Being in the 3 Cavalry Squadron givesyou a wide range of opportunities forchallenge, excitement, self-improvementand comradeship within a military envi-ronment. It does, however, require timecommitment from members.

While attendance at training is volun-tary, members are asked to make a com-mitment to attend at least one full day permonth (usually a Sunday) and weeklynight training parades (two hours)throughout the year. However, mostmembers do much more than this.

Enlistment is open to both male andfemale applicants over 17 years of ageand not more than 35 years of age and bemore than 5'5" in height (males) and 5'4"(females), be of good health and possessthe characteristics to satisfy the medicalentrance examination. Contact HQ 3Cavalry Squadron (052) 21222 or call into Kickham Barracks any Tues night. ◆

FCA 3rd Motor Squadron group photographed outside Health Centre Fethard, 1960's.Front: Michael O'Meara, Billy Fitzgerald, Tom O'Connell, Eddie Fogarty, Pierce Ryan (Station Master's

House), Tommy Healy. Back: Jimmy Fitzgerald, Sonny Leahy, Jim Sayers, Sean Quirke and Jimmy O'Neill.Top: Dinny Burke, Ray Molloy (Bank employee) and Morgan Fergus.


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In mid-November last year a col-league, Fr Tadhg Barry, and I availed

of the chance to visit Flanders, andBruges in particular. We were offeredseats on a coach from Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. The rest of the compa-ny were ostensibly on a pre-Christmasshopping spree to one of those vast super-markets so convenient to the Channelports. It was a long drive to Dover andthence the car ferry to Calais.

We reached our accommodation inYpres late that Friday night. It was a verycomfortable, modern hotel on the out-skirts of the town. Ypres, (‘Wipers’ as theBritish Tommies called it), PasschendaeleNeuve Chapelle, Mons, Artois, theSomme, names of places that conjure upthe battles and terrible massacre of theWestern Front 1916–17.

Most of the battles here ended in dead-

lock or in a few miles of territory gainedby one side or the other.

Passchendaele, then a village 8 kilome-tres east of Ypres, is synonymous withslaughter, mud, trenches, and utter mili-tary incompetence. As an objective it hadlittle military significance, but came tosymbolise the appaling character of waron the Western Front. Here in Ypres mus-tard gas was used for the first time in thespring of 1915. Half a million men, intheir teens many of them, died here.

Little Belgium had the misfortune to liebetween France and Germany and tookthe brunt of the fighting, especiallyFlanders, where poppies grow in profu-sion. This is the north-western province ofBelgium and borders the Channel. Calaisis within 80 kilometres of the Belgianborder.

I well remember as a lad, in the late

A visitor in Flanders Canon Matthew Hayes, (Bath, Avon)

Canon Matthew Hayes photographed above with his niece Maeve. Canon Hayes has just published adelightful book which records some cherished memories of childhood at his home at Rathcoole, Fethard.

The book entitled ‘I Slept with Dan’, covers Matthew’s childhood days up to 1937 when he set off toRockwell for the commencement of his secondary schooling. The book contains lots of photographs and is

a great record of his family life at Rathcoole at that time. The book, at £5, is available for sale in localbookshops or from Lisheen Publications, Carrig Hill, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. Tel: +353 (0)505 21050.


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twenties, Lizzie Mulcahy, who was help-ing my mother in Rathcoole, having timeoff to see her father on parade in theSquare in Fethard on 11th November. Hewas one of the many ex- soldiers to hon-our Armistice Day in this way. Poppieswere worn, the Last Post was soundedand a poppy wreath was laid against theBarrack’s wall. Similar parades tookplace in other towns. Thousands of ouryoung men enlisted in the many famousIrish Regiments that fought in the GreatWar.

In the past couple of decades 2,100 setsof bones have been recovered of 370,000Commonwealth soldiers who have lainunder the black rich soil of the WesternFront. Only 65 have so far been identi-fied. More and more remains are beingrecovered, as the land is being ploughed,developed or dug by archaeologists. It is atestimony to the horror and camaraderieof that war that 20 skeletons have beenfound recently in a common grave,arranged in a neat row, arms linked andfeet facing enemy lines. These were ladsfrom the same town maybe, who enlisted,fought and died together.

All remains, when discovered, aregiven a christian burial with full militaryhonours in one of the many war cemeter-ies that are a familiar sight in northernFrance and Belgium. These cemeteriesare very well kept and are visited asplaces of pilgrimage. We visited one nearPasschendaele on the Sunday morning,which I believe, is the largest in Europe.The sign posts directed us to Tyne Cot; sonamed because the men fromNorthumbria who captured that particularpiece of ground, a strategic advance, nick-named the German command post ‘TyneCot’, because it reminded them of theircottages at home on Tyneside.

‘Tyne Cot’ is now a worthy monument

standing in the centre of this cemetery.The headstones, row upon row of them,stand in long symmetrical lines, like sol-diers on parade. There is a simple inscrip-tion on each: the regimental badge, name,rank, age and date of death. Many are justinscribed ‘An Unknown Soldier.’ Somepoor mother’s son. I found a headstone toa Private Richard Hayes from Liverpool.I don’t imagine there is any connection.

That Sunday there was a cold, bitingwind and heavy rain lashing down. Theterrain as far a we could see was flat, opencountry, with no walls, trees or ditches. Itwas easy to imagine the trenches, barbedwire, mud and awful loss of young lives.Parties of school children on mid-termholiday trips from U.K were doing draw-ings and noting down names from theheadstones. I hope they learnt somethingof the futility of war.

On the Saturday evening we went theshort distance from the hotel to the MeninGate just outside Ypres. Menin is a smalltown about 15kms east of Ypres. On theMenin road in September 1917 there wasbitter fighting and awful loss of life. Afterthe war a noble cut-stone monument wasput up, the Menin Gate, to commemoratethe half a million who lost their lives inthese battles. These are soldiers who areunburied; whose bodies have not beenfound. Their names are now inscribed ingranite according to their regimentsalphabetically. Irish regiments, such asRoyal Irish Rifles, Dublin Fusiliers, theMunsters, The Irish Guards and manyothers, are proudly featured.

The Menin Gate is really a high, opentunnel through which the main road runs;a noble granite construction indeed. Theroll of honour goes on and on into theGardens of Remembrance on either side.Every evening at 8 o’clock buglers fromthe local fire brigade sound the Last Post.


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This unique ceremony has taken placewithout fail since the end of the Great War.A large crowd had gathered that particularevening; perhaps more than usual as it wassoon after Remembrance Sunday. Trafficwas stopped, the crowd was still and quiet;two trumpeters stood in the middle of theroad, their Last Post was a shattering,plaintive, thoughtful event. I am moreanti-war from now onwards.

We had spent most of that Saturday inBruges, or Brugge colloquially, which is alovely, cobble-stoned city that goes backto the 9th century. It started as a defencefort against Norse marauders from theNorth Sea. In the 13th century it hadgrown to a sizeable port and had becomeone of the most populated and prosperouscities in Europe. Commerce, industry andin particular the cloth trade flourished.Merchants, bankers and traders enjoyedmagnificent festivals, tournaments, joust-ing, pomp and splendour. It vied withAntwerp as a port.

In the 14th century Bruges reached itsgolden age as one of the chief cities in theHanseatic League. This was a confedera-tion of cities in Northern Europe whichhad the monopoly of trade and shippingin the Baltic. Bruges was the centre of thewool trade. Our Modern E.U is after all

nothing new.Even in mid-November Bruges has its

appeal for tourists. The boats still pliedthe many canals; the horse drawn car-riages still took sightseers along the cob-bled streets, their boater-hathed driverspointed out the outstanding and historicalsights and buildings. Cyclists were every-where. You can hire a bicycle from thelargest cycle depot I have ever seen.

The Provincial Court is a noble buildingin the Market Square, as is the famousBelfry, uniquely Flemish. Bruges is note-worthy above all for its shrine of the HolyBlood. The Basilica was closed forrepairs, so we were unable to visit theshrine. According to tradition this relic ofOur Lord’s Blood was brought to the cityat the time of the Second Crusade 1147from Constantinople. Every year onAscension Day the procession of the HolyBlood flies through decorated streetsaccompanied by, clergy, people and thevarious Guilds in medieval costumes.

The city is under the protection of ourBlessed Lady, with her 12th centurychurch (Notre Dame). This has a famoussculpture of the Madonna and Child inwhite marble, the only pieceMichelangelo did outside of Italy. It is areal gem. We went to evening mass in the

Military Cemetery, ‘Tyne Cot’ in Passchendaele (November 2000)


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Cathedral of St Saviour, which is the old-est brick building in Belgium. It stands onthe site of a much older church goingback to the 7th century. It has magnificentstained glass and a unique collection ofpaintings by Flemish oldmasters.

Lace making is a delicate art muchpracticed in the city. The lace makerswear their quaint bonnets and shawls asthey deftly ply their bobbins. TheBeguinage, the most peaceful spot inBruges, is special to the place: it was a14th century sisterhood, but is now a con-vent of Benedictine nuns who still dressin the habit of their predecessors. Brugesis a mecca for artists with its architecturalwealth and natural beauty. It is noted toofor swans, which are quite unconcerned

about the hundreds of sightseers that dailytrespass on their green banks and canals.On a short day trip it is not possible to seeand take in all that Bruges has to offer. Iwould like to return and next time to seemore of Flanders: pay a visit to Douai andits college which goes back to the PenalTimes when it trained young men for thepriesthood on the English Mission, manyof who died for the Faith. It was from thatcollege that our first vernacular Biblecame, the Bible we grew up with.

The wheel of fortune has at last turnedin Belgium’s favour. Brussels is now theE.U. capital and the seat of its parliament.We often resent and criticise ‘Brussels’decisions and laws. But then there’s noneso queer as folk. ◆

Our Lady truly looked down onus on August 15th 2001, as we

were blessed with a beautiful sunnyday and once again a great number ofpatrons turned out, from the veryyoung to the ever-young Mrs MonicaHealy from the Green. It was also aspecial day as it was the first time outon the course for our new parish priest,Fr. Tom Breen. Many of us thought thesoft going and stiff uphill climb mightbe his undoing, considering he wasmore used to the top of the groundlevel conditions around Clerihan. Howwrong we were.

Sporting a stylish pair of golf shoeshe was more than able for the testinggoing uphill and his stamina was neverin doubt as he led the group from thefront in what many believe was acourse record. Even at that, some menin the know suggested he took a ‘pull’to preserve his energy for the holidayhe embarked upon later that day.

What we didn’t know was that Fr.Tom was an old hand at these pilgrim-ages, having started one similar on theDevil’s Bit many years ago.

Next year he carries the weight ofthe heavy loudspeaker!

On returning to O’Donnell’s, thefield was in readiness for mass and thecanopy-covered altar was enhancedwith the sun-drenched valley of Sliabhna mBan as a backdrop. What moreidyllic setting could you ever find?

Canon James Power and Fr. JohnMeagher OSA, who had earlier led therosary for those who were unable tomake the climb, celebrated the mass.

After mass, in what has now becometradition, the locals provided a much-appreciated cup of tea and refresh-ments. Take a bow all concerned.

So if you haven’t been on our pil-grimage, or you’ve missed a few years,pencil in August 15th for 2002. You’llbe glad you did. ◆

Sliabh na mBan Holy Year Cross Kevin Ryan


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This is how Republican ErnieO'Malley described the sur-

rounding area shortly after his arrivalin this part of South Tipperary in June1921. He had been sent to NorthMunster to cover a Thirty TwoBattalion, which contained 7,000 men,his brief, to check armament and toacquaint himself with the officersattached to the bat-talions mentioned.

Earlier that Juneevening, threerepublican volun-teers had come uponthree British officersand had called out tothem to surrender.The officers ran, butone fell, after beingwounded by a rifleshot by one of thevolunteers. At thatpoint all three sur-rendered. Each hadfully loaded Webleyrevolvers and anidentification card inhis pocket. Two weregunner officers from the ArtilleryBarracks here in Fethard, the third wasattached to the Lincolnshire Regimentin Tipperary Town. When first cap-tured, the officers were brought to adugout under the command of Adj.Sean Fitzpatrick. Later on that eveningthey were transferred from the latter'scustody to where O'Malley was sta-tioned. Fitzpatrick questions this, or so

it seems, in his book "Recollections of3rd Tipperary Brigade (IRA)"

They were brought before O'Malleyone by one, all three gave their name,rank and Commanding Officer. Allsaid they had been out for a walk.Unfortunately for them, one of the vol-unteers had said that they were callingto houses asking about ‘dug-outs’ in

the area. They werethen informed thatthey would be shot atdawn. One of theofficers protestedseeking permission toappeal to a higherauthority, butO'Malley informedhim that he held thatauthority. It wasexpected that officersand foot soldierswould by now havestarted a search of thesurrounding area fortheir missing officers.

The three prisonerswere moved to high-er ground, as this

would provide the Republicans with aclear view of the approaching enemy.The wounded officer was carried bypony and trap while the other twowalked behind. All officers wereblindfolded, but their hands were leftuntied, as it wasn't a policy to tie pris-oners, men held them by the sleeves.

O'Malley liked the younger of theofficers as he was quiet and seemed

A visit from Ernie O'Malley Tom McCormack

“A sloe skin dusk came slowly down on the steep western slopes of Slievenamon and across thewoods there. It blurred the valley of the Suir below the Comeraghs. Hedges of tangled hawthorn

with fresh leaves in amongst the neat stems of spruce, stood out against the rise of hills. There wasa strong spicy smell carried across from the bright pink blossoms of a corner hedge of wild crab.”

British soldier stationed at Fethard Barracks


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refined and fearing an all out attack bythe arriving British he told the officerhe would release them and not shootthem like dogs. One of the officerswho had first aid experience volun-teered to help republican casualties ifthere was an all out battle. As the partyof men headed for higher ground theypassed a house where two women wereleaning on the wall. The younger of thetwo inquired as to the identity of theprisoners, and when told she suggestedthat shooting was far too good forthem. The older woman uttered loudly“God help them” and then asked theprisoners if they would like a drink, allnodded. Returning from the house thewoman brought a large jug of milkfrom which all three drank gratefully.

The group moved on until theyreached a farmhouse in the fieldssome way from the Clonmel / Cahirroad. Darkness was now closing in andas British soldiers were earlier seen inthe area with machine guns, two sen-tries were posted outside to keepwatch.

The woman of the house made sup-per and lit a fire in the room where theprisoners were seated. The room waslarge and the curtains were drawnwhen O'Malley entered. The officerswere seated around a table, one withhis head in his hands. O’Malleyinquired if they would like the pres-ence of a clergyman or a fellow coun-tryman to sit through the night withthem. All three refused the offer,O'Malley then gave them paper andpencils to write to anyone they wished.

He returned and sat at the fire with afew other members of the brigade. Thewoman of the house had gone quietlyto bed. None of the men spoke for along time. O'Malley was putting him-self in the same position as the men inthe other room; he felt his own turnmight be coming soon. The Q.M.entered the room, O'Malley judgedhim to be the eldest of the group there.He had a wind-red face coupled with along skillet jaw. His step was steady.He was used to having his way andwould over-rule most objections as

IRA Firing Squad at practice near Rathkenny


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this was his job. He was about 35 yearsof age while everybody else in thehouse including the prisoners were atthe most 24 years old. O'Malley men-tioned to theQ.M. his desireto have it over;his reply was that"It'll be oversoon enough".

The night wasmisty, the moonshone softlythrough theclouded sky.From the lowerfield came thelonely bray of adonkey. Closer tothe house sheepcoughed dryly inthe shelter of ahedge and milk-ing cows chewedloudly. Dawnwas breakingwhen O'Malleyentered the pris-oners’ room.They had notslept, but had written their letters. Theyounger officer requested that all theirpersonal items would be sent to theirC.O. Major King in Fethard. Theirwatches, rings and money were placedand sealed in a Fry's chocolate box andaddressed to their CommandingOfficer. As dawn broke they wereoffered tea but refused.

The sky was cold and grey as theywalked down the sloping hill towardsthe roadway. The light was dim in theshivering dawn wind that blew throughthe hawthorn hedges ruffling the grassladen with dewdrops. Men with rifles

walked ahead. Two of the prisonerswalked with the Q.M., while the thirdwalked with O'Malley. "It's all a mis-take", he said, "We could be good pris-

oners". The skylit to a silverygrey and thewind dropped.

"Stiff banksfor hunting",said one of theofficers. "Thereis no hunting inthis countysince the intro-duction ofMartial Law",r e p l i e dO'Malley. Theyreached theroad and theprisoners shookhands with theQ.M., O'Malleyand each other.The prisonersthen joinedhands, theirfaces coveredwith silk hand-

kerchiefs. Asked by the Q.M. werethey ready, they said goodbye, inclinedtheir heads, and fell to the volley of thesix-man firing squad, who then stoodto attention.

No one spoke as they walked slowlyup the hill through the wind-snakedrye grass and back to the centre. Soonafterwards Ernie O'Malley moved onto South Kilkenny where he wasarrested under an assumed name.

The body of Lt. Toogood, one of theexecuted officers, was brought to theTipperary Barracks on the 20th June(1921) and escorted to Camberly,

Soldiers at Fethard Barracks c.1922. L to R: Lt. Kennedy,Lt. Michael Farrell, Killenaule; Lt. Jimmy Comerford,

Kilkenny, who later became District Attorney in New York.


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Surrey, on 25th June for interment.It is surprising that while a number

of books have been published in rela-tion to the War of Independence in theCo. Tipperary area, very few havementioned this episode. I suppose itwould be fair to say, here in Fethard,little was spoken of this incident, pos-sibly by some sitting at an open fire ona winter’s night in the 1940's. It was inthis context that I heard about the exe-cution of the three soldiers.

On 23rd May, 1990, The Irish Timesin an article "An Irishman's Diary",Kevin Myers states that Dan Breenpresided over the execution but failedto mention this in his book, "My Fightfor Irish Freedom". He also stated thattwo of the officers were aged 20 years,while the third was a 21 year-oldR.A.F. officer. Myers calls the shoot-ing “a particularly atrocious affair”.In his article he states the “firingsquad did a poor job”. He then goeson to say that Breen went around tofinish the men off like a vet did.

On another point, Myers maintainedthat due to the pending truce meetingsset for the following month of July, the

executions were unnecessary.Myers was correct regarding the

mess made by the firing squad, evenO'Malley admitted that. I doubt verymuch if Dan Breen was present.Neither Fitzpatrick nor O'Malley men-tioned in their books that Breen was inthe area at the time; also the descrip-tion of the Quarter Master did not fitthat of Breen. The article may havebeen correct about the ages of the offi-cers. Whether the officers were goingfor a stroll on that June evening asreported in the Irish Times or lookingfor the I.R.A. dug-outs as suggested bythe volunteers is no longer an issue. Ialso think Kevin Myers erred when hesuggested one of the officers was amember of the R.A.F., perhaps hemeant the R.F.A. (Royal FieldArtillery) based in Fethard.

He could have a point, however,regarding the necessity of the execu-tions. In his book ‘Black and Tans’Richard Bennett quotes the then IRA’sdirector of publicity, Pieras Beaslai, assaying the belated exhibitions ofprowess with no military objectives,when the danger seemed past, reflect-

Fethard Barrack’s after being burnt down in 1923


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ed no credit on Irishmen but they wereonly the beginning of a period whichpatriotic Irishmen feel little pride inrecording.

One thing however is certain, theexecuted officers fell foul of a policyintroduced by their own governmentwhen British Auxiliaries shot republi-can prisoners on capture.

Of Ernie O'Malley, the "Irish Press"sums him up in the following way,writer, poet, realist. A man who notedthe quiet charm and rich culture of theIrish countryside with the same obser-vant eye as he noted the mechanism ofa Thompson gun. ◆

"Stands the church clock for ten to three and is there honey still for tea.”

— Rupert Brooke

Sources1/ "On Another Man's Wound" Ernie

O'Malley2/ "Recollections of the Third Tipperary

Brig" (IRA) Sean Fitzpatrick 3/ "History Tipperary Military Barracks"

Walter O'Shea.4/ "An Irishman's diary" (Irish Times) Kevin

Myers. 5/ "Irish Times"6/ “Black and Tans” Richard Bennett

Fethard Juvenile GAA Club

The A.G.M of the Fethard juvenilestook place in February. Officers

for the year were: Michael O’Dwyer,(Chairman); Caroline Sheehan,(Secretary); Anne Darcy, (Treasurer);Committee: Susan O’Meara, MarieRyan, Patricia Fitzgerald, Laura Lyons,Mary Godfrey, Austin Godfrey, MartinO’Connor, Tina Conran, FrankO’Donovan, Michael Walsh, M.C.Maher, Stephen McCormack.

The most successful of our underageteams were the under-10, winning theCommunity Games County Final instyle. Great celebrations were had byall, especially the children who wereparaded around the town on a truck.They won the Cloneen tournament beat-ing Ballingarry in the final. Theseyoung boys also proved their skill on thehurling field winning the (B) hurlingchampionship in impressive style. Theyare currently in the under-10 footballand are hoping for more success.

The team is as follows: Eoin

O’Connell, Kieran Ryan, GavinFitzgerald, Aidan Lyons, Ben Walsh,Kevin Hayes, Philip Doyle, JeromeAhearne, Glen Maher, Daniel Hickey,Matthew Fitzgerald, Matt Sullivan,Kieran O’Connell, Tommy Sheehan,Aaron Conran, Frankie O’Donovan,Damien Morrissey, Alan Lawrence,Owen Fitzgerald, Owen Healy, OwenDillon, Davy Walsh, Jonathon Fleming,Owen Prout, Colin Shanahan andDarren Connolly.

The under-12’s also did well gettingto the semi final in the championship,but were beaten by Moyle Rovers.

The under-14’s and under-16’s wereunfortunate with both hurling and foot-ball opposition proving too strong.

Our under-18’s trained all summerand played a competition in Moyle Park.All boys played extremely well and aftera hard day were beaten by the hosts(Moyle Rovers) in the final

The summer camp proved a great suc-cess yet again with 150 children


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between the ages of 6-14 in attendance.Brendan Cummins gave of his time tovisit the camp during the week. JohnLeahy was also there to meet the childrenand participate in medal presentation.Thanks to everyone who gave their timeand helped during the week.

The highlight of the year was the Feilena Peil held this year in Tipperary.Selectors in charge of our under-14 teamwere: Michael O’Riordan, Pat Sheehanand Penny Burke. All the team werekindly sponsored by Slievenamon GolfClub. Fethard hosted a team fromBaltinglass in Wicklow. A disco was heldin the ballroom for the teams, friends andfamilies. Baltinglass reached the AllIreland Final and Fethard travelled toThurles to cheer on the good friends theyhad made over the weekend.Unfortunately they were beaten. On theSaturday the President of the G.A.A,Sean McCague, paid Fethard a visit. Atremendous amount of work, time andeffort went in to making the weekend asuccessful one. We extend our thanks toeveryone who helped to make it run sosmoothly. A special thanks to all the par-ents who looked after the under-14 boys

from Wicklow, also Michael O’Dwyerand Mary Godfrey whose hard work didnot go unnoticed.

On a final note, the officers and com-mittee would like to thank TommySheehan, Michael Sheehan, DannyBurke, Michael Walsh, Tony Fitzgerald,Mickey Ahearne, Philly Croke, MichaelO’Riordan, Pat Sheehan and BrendanBrett for training the footballers. LiamHayes, Martin O’Connor, StephenMcCormack, Miceál McCormack, IanO’Connor and Liam Treacy for trainingthe hurlers. ◆

Fethard started their Feile Peil Na nOg campaign on Friday, July 6, with their opening game against St.Josephs (Baltinglass, Wicklow) and on Saturday they played Carrickmacross (Monaghan). The Fethard

team are photographed above in their new jerseys sponsored by Slievenamon Golf Club.

CYCLING NEWSCongratulations to Raymond Clark, theyoung Clonmel Cyclist whose father is

Sean Clarke formerly from Fethard, on hisexcellent performance in this year’s ‘FBDMilk Rás’. Riding for the Derry ClassicWall NL Team, Tuesday and Thursday’s

stages were the days on which he excelled.Wednesday’s stage included three leg-

breaking first category climbs in whichRaymond’s powerful solo effort to keep the

‘King of the Hills’ jersey was just notstrong enough to hold Nicholas White of

the powerful South African team.Raymond finished 2nd in his category.


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The euro conversion is justaround the corner and our sys-

tem has been up-graded to suit theseneeds. We are now also offering thenew government savings plan. Thelocal round of the schools quiz was ahuge success in January, unfortunately‘Foot and Mouth’ took its toll on fur-ther rounds.

The A.G.M was held in Cork lastApril and was attended by our dele-gates. A Credit Union Perpetual Trophyfor business and enterprise was initiat-ed and first awarded to Mary Gorey,Main Street, a pupil of PatricianPresentation Secondary School.

Our business is keen and the Friday

morning opening has proved a hugesuccess. Hopefully the recessionaryimpact of the downturn in the UnitedStates economy will not be of too longa duration, and will not have adverseaffects on the Credit Union system,both in Ireland and elsewhere.

Board of Directors: Marian Gilpin(chairperson); Edward O’Brien (secre-tary); Kate Healy (treasurer). CreditCommittee: Sean O’Callaghan, AngelaDillon-White, Mary Morrissey, KaySpillane and Jonathan Gilpin.Supervisory Committee: John Barrett.

The staff and directors wish all ofyou a very peaceful Christmas and aEuro New Year! ◆

Fethard and District Credit Union

Fethard Bridge Club celebrated itstwenty-fifth anniversary at the end

of the last bridge season in May 2001.Our outgoing president, Anna Cooke,arranged for a special pen to be producedto commemorate the event and thesepens were presented to the members atthe beginning of the new bridge season inSeptember. Our president’s prize dinnerwas held in J’s Restaurant, Fethard, on18th May 2001 and the President’s Prizewinners were Rita Kane and Kay St.John. The Committee Prize was won byBrendan Kenny and Buddy Roche.Player of the Year, for which the O’Flynntrophy is presented, was Berney Myles,and the Club Championship, for whichthe Hayes trophy is awarded, went toMoira McInerney and Nell Broderick.

We played for the free sub for the com-ing year on 26th September and 3rdOctober and the winners of the gross freesub were Margaret Hackett and Berney

Myles. Tony Hanrahan and DavidO’Meara won the nett free sub. OurChristmas party was held on 12thDecember at which our Christmas prizeswere presented.

A course of bridge lessons for begin-ners was run over eight weeks duringOctober and November and was well-attended.

At our AGM on 23rd May 2001 thefollowing officers and committee wereelected: President: Nora Lawrence, VicePresident: Margaret Hackett,Secretary/PRO: Gemma Burke,Treasurer: Bernie O’Meara; AnnaCooke, Breda Walsh, Berney Myles, KaySt. John, Teresa Cummins, FrancesBurke, Alice Quinn and Betty Walsh.

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. ◆

Fethard Bridge Club


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We glance back on the lasttwelve months with a sense of

pride, as it was a hugely successful yearfor the Ballroom Company.

Our main events were: Dancing onSunday nights, which is proving verypopular and our single biggest turnoverof revenue with attendance’s averaging200 per night; indoor soccer; volley-ball; dancing classes; cards; GirlGuides; Boy Scouts; Macra; keep fitclasses; parties; ‘On Your Toes’; YouthClub; funeral catering; Senior Citizensparties and meetings.

The Ballroom is proving to be anexcellent community facility which weare continually improving, mostrecently, fitting new doors and win-dows, new carpeting, and non-slipfloor covering in the kitchen. Theseeliminate draughts and reduce heatloss and add to the comfort of patrons.

All of these improvements do notcome cheap and, added to our opera-tional costs and repayments to ourshareholders on an ongoing basis, add

up to a tidy sum. However, we arehappy to say that we are in a verystrong financial position, due to asmall but hard working Board ofDirectors.

It would be an injustice to fail torecognise our Ladies Committee whodo so much so quietly; MargaretPhelan; Monica Ahearn; BredaSpillane; Sheila O’Donnell; Pat Horanand Catherine O’Connell.

To our dancers, clubs and individu-als who use the Ballroom, manythanks for your support, we hope weprovide a good facility and service. Welook forward to your continued sup-port. To all who helped in any way,many thanks. We would like to wisheveryone a happy and holy Christmasand a peaceful New Year.

Board of Directors: - Mick Ahearn(chairman), Seamus Barry, GayHoran, Paddy Hickey, Sean Spillaneand Robert Phelan (secretary).Resigned during year: DavidO’Donnell. ◆

Fethard Ballroom

David O'Donnell is photographed in his new plant tunnel at his home in Coleman, Fethard, where he cansupply a large variety of healthy plants for bedding or for hanging baskets.


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Mush: — As a young teenager Iworked in the pram factory in

Clonmel, for the princely sum of seven-teen shillings and sixpence (87.5p) aweek. One of the adult workers wasknown as ‘Mate’, because he hadworked in England for some time. Headdressed all his adult colleagues as‘Mate’. However, the younger workerslike myself were referred to as ‘Mush’:“Hey Mush, hand me those panel pins.”A fellow young teenager was being cor-rected at home for his mispronunciationof certain words. When he asked hisfamily what sort of mate they were hav-ing for dinner, he was promptly told,“It’s not mate, it’s meat” As a result heone day said to mate “Would you likesugar in your tea, Mr Meat?”. Enoughsaid!

Musha: — This word was oftenused by my mother instead of

“indeed”. “Did you see poor Mrs. Soand So?”, my mother would reply,“Musha, I did, she doesn’t look well atall.” As my mother hailed from Tallowin West Waterford, I could never under-stand why she said “Musha” as folk inTallow would have said “Yarra, shedoesn’t look well at all.” When I recent-ly read Christopher Nolan’s “TheBanyan Tree”, I was amazed at the con-stant use of the word “Musha” by themain character in the book, MinnieO’Brien. As it happens my mother’smaiden name was O’Brien, a coinci-dence or what?

Musheen: - A friend of my moth-er lived in Hopkin’s Lane in

Clonmel, the entrance to which was

between Duggan’s the Druggists andWaldron’s Grocery and Bar, offO’Connell Street. I often visited thiswoman’s house with my mother. Onmore than one occasions the house wasfull of smoke from the fire. My motherwould remark, “It’s very smoky todayMam.” To which the reply was alwaysthe same, “It’s the wet musheen Missus.”That was her description of wet turf,which it often seemed to be during thosewinter days in the early forties.

Musharoon - Like my youngfriend at the pram factory (fif-

teen shillings and one penny a weekafter stoppages –75.5p), I too had mymoments of mispronunciation. “Wheredid you get the musharoons Mammy?”My sister Phyllis would correct me“They are mushrooms notmusheroons,” she would say. I supposethat’s when I discovered my love ofmushrooms, which happily continues tothe present and will I trust, continueinto the future.

Mushrooms: - As soup, boiled, ontoast, fried with a few rashers,

cooked with a pinch of salt and a knobof butter on an open fire or nowadayseven microwaved, they are the food ofthe gods anyway up. I’ve eaten mush-rooms in England, Scotland, France,Spain, Italy, America, and Poland but atthe end of the day there is no mushroomto beat a Fethard mushroom. Ask anyexpert. The first mushroom I pickedwas not in Fethard, no, it was inClonmel. I will remember it for the restof my life; it was in O’Donnell’s fieldup the Cashel Road. I was just over six

Mush, Musha, Musheen, MusharoonMushroom . . . Tony Synnott.

I think these words need some explanation!


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years old, it was before 7 o’clock on adewy morning and someone had beenbefore us. Their tracks in the dewygrass were clearly visible. My motherand my eleven-year-old sister Phyllistold me to walk between the tracks,which were three or four yards apart. Ofcourse they were both right, the previ-ous picker has missed a lot. I can stilltaste the breakfast of that morning,mushrooms boiled in half milk, andhalf water, lots of white pepper and agood shake of salt, lashings of home-made brown bread and butter and hottea. Egon Ronay eat your heart out.

Since my sister Phyllis and her hus-band Michael (God be good to him)moved back to Fethard over 40 yearsago, it has been my habit to phoneFethard at least once a week, regardlessof my own address. Always after theinitial greeting and when the season wasright, the first question from me wouldbe, “Any mushrooms yet?” I alwaysasked that question too soon. Then per-haps after two or three weeks of, “Noneyet”, the magic words would comedown the line, “Tom Barrett got a fewduring the week.” A week later perhapsthe answer would be, “Mrs Gleesonbrought me in a nice few this morningand Tommy Bulfin came with more.”That was good enough for me, that wasthe signal to arrange a trip to Fethard. Ihonestly believe that all Tom (God begood to him) had to do, was to standoutside his front door on Main Street,sniff the air and he immediately knewwhich direction to take to get the first ofthe season. I well remember a Saturdaynight whilst enjoying a leisurely pint inLonergan’s talking to Tom and his friendGus about mushroom picking daysaround Fethard. Two of nature’s gentle-men talking to me about nature.

Gold medals are not awarded formushroom picking, but if they were Iwould surely have got one on aSaturday evening in 1984. Togetherwith my wife Phyllis and our thenteenage daughter Kim, we had gonedown from Clane to Fethard for theweekend, as the signals were good.When we had eaten and exchangednews, my sister Phyllis told us thatMarie Crean had told her that there wasan abundance of nice mushrooms readyfor picking on her farm. Within minutesof hearing the good news, my sister,daughter and our dog were on our wayto Crean’s farm. A sight for sore eyesappeared when Marie and the lateJimmy pointed us to the right field. Itlooked more white than green, coveredwith the most beautiful mushroomsanyone ever laid eyes on. Fortunatelywe had brought ample baskets with us.We returned to Main Street with wellover 20 pounds. A big mushroom sup-per and an even bigger mushroombreakfast saw us leaving Fethard, stillwith 21 pounds.

Returning to Clane on Sunday, weweighed them into one pound lots andbagged them ready for Dublin onMonday morning. I told the Limerickman who was in charge of one of theoffices, that there were Fethard mush-rooms in the boot of my car, and it wasopen, but only one bag per person. Fiveminutes later I locked the empty boot.Most of the families who enjoyed theCrean farm mushrooms that Mondayevening in various parts of Dublin, hadonly ever eaten forced mushrooms fromtheir local supermarket, now they wereintroduced to the true taste of Fethard.

God willing, I will tell you anothertime about how I sold leprechauns inFethard! ◆


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A green breasted haw-finch grosbeaks his fillFrom a red berried tree of haws

Which beamed across a sunlit fieldOf bobbing turnips an Infantry drilledI regiments plodded in ups and downs

And plumed like circus horsesIn swede attire.

A smoked out pipe, the broken stem chalkedThe headland where he the breadwinner

Would rest for a bite and supOn his throne of sop and fern

To the munching sound of oats and hayBy his seisreach

A white starred chestnutAnd a red maned bay.

Secretly in purple robes

Lies Queenly Slievenamon, passionately alone,Baring all,

A shapely thigh and crested breastNakedly caressing the ploughman’s unquiet cry

As they stretch together side by sideCrouched in a sensual dream

Humming like a lullabyCradling to sleep

The ploughman’s unquiet cryOn a feathered bed

Of deep red fern“Ploughman’s Rest”

Until shadows pass a hushed“Still Life”

Into the kingdom of The Morning Star.

— by Jimmy O’Donnell

Still Life“Ploughman Rest”

Remembering the great Ploughmen around Fethard —coming to mind are the Nagle Brothers —

Pad and Martin who ploughed the Rocks of Carrigbawn.

Dear Lord, he stands there all aloneSo helpless old and grey,

He is too old to guide his sheepOr seek the lambs that stray

Those eyes that turn to Thee in prayerAre dim with aged tears,

Those snow-white hand that touch their GodHave withered with the years

That Pallid face that once shone brightThe lips that kissed Thy cheek

Are blanched because he knelt besideThe fallen and the weak

No one is there to take his handOr guide his stumbling feet,

And silently he stands and waitsWhere earth and Heaven meet.Beyond the hill the children lie

Who once stood at his knee,Beyond the stars the Angels wait

To lead him unto thee.

Dear Lord, have pity on him nowHe stands there all alone,

Not yet of Heaven and not of earthTake him, he is your own.

The Old Priestby A.J. Philips

Monica Lonergan Wade found the following amongst books belonging to the late Archdeacon Cotter.Thought provoking in appreciation of all the priests who have passed through the parish of Fethard and Killusty.

Jimmy O’Donnell, overall winner inthe Best Drama category at the BallinaArts Week Literary awards, July 2001.


116

We were crouched in the busheson the bank of the river, elbow-

ing one another, pushing, voices low-ered, waiting our turn to slide downonto the fat sewerage pipe that made ahump on the rippling surface of theClashawley; mouths drooling in antici-pation as we eyed the ripe red applesthat gleamed tanta-lisingly on the treesin McCarthy’sorchard at the farside of the river.And the clusters ofpears on the tower-ing pear tree. Soonwe’d be wiring intothose, stuffingthem inside ourjumpers.

One by one wehopped along thechunky squares ofconcrete that heldthe sewerage pipein place and provid-ed us with ready-made stepping-stones to the farbank. The orchardditch was close tothe river and there was a hole in it closeto the spot where the pipe disappearedinto the riverbank. We squatted there ina rough circle, thinking we were com-mandos about to venture behind enemylines. We used to be the Valley Gang,now we called ourselves ‘The ValleySlashers.’ We even had a slogan, madeup by Eddie Coffey and Pat Fogarty:‘Eggs and rashers/ For the ValleySlashers’

We’d chant this as we dogtrotted our

way to the wood to cut hazel saplingsfor the makings of bows and arrows.(Like the Fianna of old we – well, someof us - had a great disdain for walkingand ran everywhere). Of course whenwe were Apaches we’d ride our pintowar ponies everywhere, and when wewere deep in Sherwood Forest — as we

often were — we’dbreak into, ‘RobinHood, RobinHood, ridin’through theg l e n … . ’Sometimes we’dbe out there rang-ing over the moun-tain-tops ofTennessee in ourcoonskin capssinging, ‘Daveee,Daveee Crocket,king of the wildfrontier.’

The gang wasabout a dozen innumber, mostlyC o f f e y s ,Littletons, Sayersand Fogartys. Ourmission now was to

feck and gorge ourselves on as manyapples and pears as we could carry inour jumpers from McCarthy’s orchard.

Tommy Sayers was eyeing us seri-ously now and telling us that we’d bet-ter stuff our jumpers inside our britchesand tighten our elasticated ‘snake’ beltsto make pouches so’s we could feckloads of apples and if we were caught‘twas every man for himself and nobawling if you were caught and aboveall, no telling.

A Raid on McCarthy’s Orchard John Fogarty

McCarthy’s Hotel


117

Tommy then scuttled off through thehole with Pat Fogarty — they were ourleaders — to scout ahead for signs ofdanger. They ran in a half crouch halfmonkey scamper, trying to imitateAudie Murphy’s low, zig-zagging run ina film we’d seen at The Capitol Cinemaabout a week before. We watched asthey threw themselves, like good com-mandos, at the foot of the low stonewall that divided the orchard into twounequal parts, and slowly raised theirheads to scan what we called the ‘bigorchard’, at the far side of the wall. Thebest and sweetest apples were at the fur-thest end of the ‘big orchard’, close to abuilding where coffins were made andstored, and the stable-yards at the backof McCarthy’s Hotel on the other sideof the crumbling remnants of the townwall. The very spot where the risk of

being caught was greatest. Time and again dire warnings about

fecking apples had been thrown at us:‘the guards will put ye in jail; keep outo’ that feckin’orchard, or ye’ll draw theparish priest and the monks down ontop of us!’

But the most fearful threat of all was:‘if aul’ Jack ‘Carthy catches ye feckin’his apples he’ll put ye into a coffin, orlock ye into a stable with a mad horse!’

That put us thinking all right. But itdidn’t stop us. The lure of those juicyapples and pears was irresistible. Assoon as they were ripe enough oursweet-starved taste buds took over andall fear of coffins and mad horses sud-denly vanished. We were like prospec-tors in those old Westerns, possessed bygold-fever.

So when Tommy and Pat beckoned

Robin Hood 1956 - 57. Boys from Fethard Patrician National School in Town Hall. Front L to R: MichaelMaher & Stewart McLellan. 2nd Row: Billy Power, Lory Dineen, Jimmy O'Neill, Damien McLellan, Billy

Fitzgerald, Noel White, Ian McLellan, Jim Sayers, Ray McSweeney, Davy Woodlock. 3rd Row: PaddyMahoney, Eamon Maher, Eddie Fogarty, Tommy Whyte, Waltie Moloney, Willie Harrington, Jim Fitzgerald,

Davy Lawless , Paddy Lonergan. Back Row: Jim Shine, Tom Mackey, Tommy Healy, Richard O'Brien,Sean Evans, Michael O'Meara, Cyril Sweeney.


118

us on we almost trampled one anotherin our eagerness to get into the orchard.We charged through the ‘smallorchard’, which had mostly cookingapples and swarmed over the wall intothe ‘big orchard’. In minutes, leavesrustled and trees shook, as we wriggledthrough the branches, working our wayto the top to reach the juiciest apples.Our legs and clotheswere smeared ascummy green fromthe damp moss onthe branches. We’dpay for that later on.Now we didn’t care.

In the smallorchard JohnCoffey had clam-bered almost to thetop of the pear tree,as nimble as a piratein the rigging of aship. The thinnerbranches at the topcurved ominouslyunder his weight ashe tried to reach theripest pears on theouter edge of thetree. All sense ofdanger and fear ofbeing caught were gone now as we bitinto juicy apples and packed theminside our makeshift pouches. This wastoo easy. We began to shout and laughcarelessly. Soon we were screechingand cursing and wantonly bombardingone another with half-eaten apples.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, we heardan angry shout, and froze.

‘Hey, hey,’ we heard. We looked towards the sound.

Somebody was shouting and wavingand striding angrily down the yard from

the back of the hotel, a big dog bound-ing on ahead. A strange looking dog.White, with black spots. We didn’t stopto admire him, though. There was animmediate, panic-stricken evacuationof the trees. We sprang from thebranches, fear driving us like drug-fuelled, Olympic sprinters towards thewall and the hole in the ditch beyond

that led to safety.We were pregnantwith jumpers-fullof apples and reluc-tant to leave themafter us; we ran interror imagining thedog closing in like aravening beast anx-ious to devour oneof us, expecting tobe hit between theshoulders at anyminute, praying, ohplease let it be any-body else but me.

‘Jaysus, we’re allet,’ Billy Sayerswailed and thenthere were appleshopping off ourshins and ankles aswe began to empty

our makeshift pouches, trying to gainthat vital, extra bit of thrust that wouldcarry us clear of the dog’s jaws.

High overhead in the pear tree JohnCoffey began a slow crazy tumble,falling from branch to branch like a ragdoll. Amazingly he hit the ground run-ning and was out the hole ahead ofeveryone. Some cleared the wallalmost without breaking stride; othersscrambled up and slipped back, heed-less of skinned knees and shins, andwere heaved and pushed unceremoni-

Kitty and Nell McCarthy


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ously over by those behind. There wascongestion at the hole in the ditch as weall tried to squeeze out together.‘C’mon, c’mon,’ the ones at the backscreamed.

I risked a fearful look over my shoul-der. Poised on the crown of the wall wasthe bold Judo, leaning forward, hisflight arrested by the dog whose jawswere firmly clamped to the arse of hisbritches. For a millisecond they hungthere in a weird freeze frame, Judostraining forward, the dog pulling himback. Suddenly the shorts gave away,Judo tumbled forward, and the dog fellbackwards, looking slightly surprisedto find only a khaki coloured patchbetween his teeth. Judo picked himselfup and streaked away with one handclamped to his backside, wailing likethe fire siren on the Town Hall.

And then we were all jumping wildlyinto the river, splashing and falling andfloundering through water and rushes,slipping on mossy stones in a franticeffort to get to the other side and safety.No queuing for the sewerage pipe thistime. Oh no. Fortunately the dog stayedon the far bank and only his barks fol-lowed us as we scrambled through thebushes to the Valley field then over thewall and onto The Valley. Of the manthere was no sign.

We milled around on the road pant-ing, laughing, everyone shouting hisown version of what had happened, thewater squelching in our shoes and drip-ping from our wet clothes. Then webecame aware of Judo, wailing anddancing and clutching his left buttock:‘Oh, me arse, me arse, I’ll be kilt, I’ll bekilt when I go home!’

‘Give us a look, give us a look, ahcome on give us a look!’

We gathered round Judo, bursting

with curiosity, showing not a shred ofsympathy as we jostled one another outof the way to get a good look at whatthe dog had done. Just at the spot wherethigh and buttock meet the dog hadnipped away a tiny piece of flesh. Sointent were we on getting a good look atit that we didn’t notice the arrival of afawn coloured VW Beetle, or thetrousered, cigarette-smoking figure of awoman struggling out of it. Only whenshe twisted someone’s ear did werealise what was happening and thenwe were off again in a mad scatter. Thistime we cleared the wall into Henehan’sfield and tore away intending to takerefuge in The Furry Hill. But westopped, groaning and cursing, whenwe reached Jesuit’s Walk because therewas Nell chugging along past the dumpin her Beetle, blocking our way. Weswung away right-handed through DickCummins’s field, intending to cutthrough Nick Harrington’s sandpit andonto the Clonmel road at Congress Tce.And blast it, we swore, when we got tothe sandpit and saw the roof of theBeetle above the top of the wall movingslowly along the road. We gave up run-ning and sat among heaps of pebblesand concrete pipes and scattered blockscursing her and wishing she’d go away.Finally she went and we dispersed forhome.

Later that evening, at about five thir-ty, which was the time ‘Rin Tin Tin’ and‘Rusty’ would be showing on the telly,a group of us stood gazing uncertainlyat the brass-handled door of the Hotel.We desperately wanted to see ‘Rin TinTin’. And the pubs were the only placesthat had tellies. We could have watchedit on a telly in Jack O’ Shea’s window,without sound, but that was no use.

Would Nell be inside waiting to


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pounce if we went in? Once again thelure of something we really wanted out-weighed the fear of what might befallus in trying to get it. A half dozen of uscrowded nervously inside the door, and,Mother of God, there she was half-sit-ting on a stool, two legs, in an immacu-lately creased trousers, stretched outbefore her, one ankle crossed over theother, a cigarette in her hand. Webacked towards the door, ready forflight once more. In desperation some-one blurted out, in a pitiful voice: ‘Anychance of watching Rin Tin Tin and

Rusty missus?’She took a slow drag on her cigarette

and looked at us for a long minute andwe feared the worst; then she suddenlywinked and jerked her head towards thetelly. ‘Thanks missus,’ we said, delight-ed, and ran past her to the far end of thebar, jostling and elbowing for the bestplaces as we settled ourselves in frontof the telly, Nell and the afternoon’sadventure forgotten as we sat glued tothe snowy, black and white pictureswaiting eagerly to be transported intoanother make believe world. ◆

Alan Cantrill remembers

It is a peculiar feeling to think that Iknew my grandparents for only 12-

14 weeks, spread between 1947 and1959, and that along with very vividmemories (of these weeks), only thenames of friends made then still exist;sadly Gran died in 1962.

Lory Dineen along with GuardEvans’ son played a good game of foot-ball along the edge of CongressTerrace. Sheehans (from the farm onRed City Road?) turned out to becousins I later found out.

Breda Hurley and a certain CarmelBrett plus a number of their friendstook me mushrooming up the railwaybank and out onto a field somewhereabove the station. The same Carmel —who saved stamps — wrote to me inEngland and made the postman think itwas a birthday with red envelopes!

Philip Ward took me with Dad, ongarage business to Thurles andKilkenny. The scent of a newVolkswagen I can conjure up even now.He was a very kind and generous

friend. Mick O’Riordan allowed me to help

at the smithy — he let me write toFerguson Tractors in Coventry fordetails of all the accessories then avail-able in 1954. Perhaps he was intendingto sell them?

I helped put iron tyres on woodenwheels outside on the front. I even wentto a large castle covered with ivy orsimilar, to shoe up some horse. I wasonly 12 or so. I wonder if it was thesame place that Mr Lloyd Webber hastaken over.

I remember someone connected withMcCarthy’s pub — he was a little older,had a strong interest in photography.We could buy contact print packs andthese could be exposed somehow.(They were a toy and not a proper cam-era film.) They were then developed athis house. The amazement at seeing animage come out of an otherwise plainpaper was something!

Who was he? I haven’t a clue now butI wonder if he remembers.

The following is an excerpt from a letter from Alan Cantrill, Burton on Trent. (January 2001)(Son of Molly Mackey, Cloneen and 3 Congress Terrace)


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Gran gave me 6d each morning sothat I could go down to JimmyHanrahan’s shop. A bottle of pop 3d (afirm from Clonmel produced it and itwas better than anything else apart fromGuinness) and a 3d Cadbury milk bar— not your Birmingham Cadbury but amuch better Dublin variety. Jimmy’sshop had wonderful posters of yachtracing, courtesy of Players tobacco. Hewas also very kind to an English schoolkid, in fact I probably came to know

Mick O’Riordan and Philip Wardthrough him. I should add that travel,even at the age of 9 or 10, was safeenough for me to be put on a train aloneat Derby Friday evening and then jour-ney via Holyhead — Dun Laoghaire-Dublin – Thurles- Fethard to be met byGran and Grandad on Saturdayevenings. All Alone. I doubt if you let10 year olds cross the road alone today.

Very Best wishes to everyone for2001. ◆

September 9th 1943.

While cutting barley on the farmwe were very surprised to find

a wood pigeon’s nest. When the tractorpassed along the side of the hedge, twopigeons flew out in a very excited fash-ion. We went to the spot and it was quiteeasy to find the nest, which was verylow on the branch of a crab tree. Irealised what a sanctuary Grove woodis for all the different birds and animals,weasels, rabbits, hares, pheasants, par-

tridges, rats and mice. But I did not findwhat I was looking for, the nest of aharvest mouse. I was told that he buildswith the skill of a bird, fastening hisnest like a cradle, to the stem of thecorn.

September 10th 1943.

Trees are holding green with a veryodd scrap of gold and red shining insome places. Blackberries are ripeeverywhere. Mushrooms are also plen-tiful.


I noticed an Elm tree in Grove, flam-ing in red, gold and yellow. The othertrees near it are a very dark green, so itstands out like an Indian Prince. Nuts,hip, haws and sloes are to be seen onhedgerows everywhere. A lovely day ofwarm sunshine. Robins and wrenssinging cheeky duets to each other.Honeysuckles in bloom.


On my way from Kiltinan thisevening, I heard a lot of chitter-chatterin the trees near Grove gate. I could notsee them, but I am sure they were star-lings. I noticed the crows flying aroundapparently very busy at something or

Extracts from a nature diary kept in 1943-44 by Liz Brett, Main Street, Fethard.

Nature Diary 1943-1944

Liz (O’Keeffe) Brett


122

other. They were making lots of noise inthe trees and it struck me that they werehaving manoeuvres or exercises ofsome sort, or meetings perhaps.

October 1st 1943.

The Ivy is in blossom and the daisiesstill in bloom. I saw five hen pheasantsfeeding very peacefully near the brack-en in grove. I wonder how many willsurvive the shooting days of October? Isaw three squirrels sittings on the road-side eating beechnuts.

When they saw me they hurriedlycrossed the road and jumped over ahigh wall into the wood.

October 8th 1943.

I saw five young swans in flight overthe river Anner with Slievenamon quiteclose for a background. They lookedlovely, but a fisherman remarked thatsomething would have to be done aboutthem, as they were getting too numer-ous and so destroying the fish in theAnner.

October 14th 1943.

We went for a nature walk with MrsHughes at Annesgift and spent an inter-esting and lovely evening. From her Ilearnt a lot about fungi. I even had thecourage to taste the peppery milk of theLactarius, which burnt my tongue. Ialso saw a fern leaved beech tree, whichgrows at the entrance gate. I never knewof this tree before. The woods aroundAnnesgift were a lovely sight;Laburnum was in bloom on the avenue,together with seedpods and witheredleaves. I also saw dozens of snailsasleep in the hollows of an oldsycamore near the house.

October 18th 1943.

I saw several wagtails at the bridge atRocklow. The hedges are full of wildfruits and berries. The old folk say it isthe sign of a hard winter; all the berriesand fruits are Gods gift to the birds.

October 21st 1943.

I have tried in vain to get any visualfeathers in Grove wood, also inRocklow. The trees are a wonderfulsight in Grove wood presently. I couldhear the call of the pheasant every-where. I saw lots of spider’s webs on thefurze, but no sign of a spider.

October 21st 1943.

We ploughed out our potatoes today,and half of them are both green andbad. The housewife will have to bemore careful than ever.

October 25th 1943.

We sent our beef to the factory today.It suffered from crownrot and wascured by spraying with borax.

I saw several lots of small birds flit-ting in and out of the hedge nearArdsallagh. I think they were sparrowsand sitting as if they were having a con-ference. I saw three blackbirds and fourthrushes. I got off my bicycle and had agood look at them. When I made asound, they slipped off quietly frombranch to branch and disappeared.

October 28th 1943.

I searched the whole countrysidetoday for elderberries, but not onecould I find. I wanted to preserve themand use as currants for cake and pud-ding at Christmas.

At our last I.C.A meeting, Mrs Byrnegave us a demonstration how to do this.She gave us some to taste, which shehad in a jam jar, they were good.

March 3rd 1944.

Went to Rocklow to look at thecrows. They seem more numerous thanever. They were not working on thenests, but flying around going from onetree to another apparently settling onsites. I noticed a wren singing the loud-est song I ever heard a small bird sing.

March 10th 1944.

Dandelion is blossoming everywhere


123

on the Rocklow road. In an old pondthere is a large amount of frogspawn.One field is almost covered in withdaisies in bloom. I gathered lichen todo some home dyeing, also some furzein blossom.

March 16th 1944.

The wild roses are covered with newleaves. The thorn hedge is brokeneverywhere by the green of the wood-bine and the white of blackthorn. I sawsome crows flying towards Rocklowcarrying some sticks in their beaks.

March 20th 1944.

I found a waterhen’s nest on the riverbank new Rocklow with two eggs in it.The elms are lovely in the distance justbreaking into bloom, and look purplishand dark red. There is a tremendousamount of extra tillage work beingdone. I noticed it on the road toClonmel

One would think the tilled fieldswould all look alike, but they were a

succession of different shades, onegrey, one light brown, then chocolateand many other shades of pale greenwhere the new corn was springing up.

March 26th 1944.

I noticed a new moon and the sky wasall shades of rose, mauve and purple.Slievenamon was lit up with fires. Ifound a chaffinch’s nest with one egg init at Kiltinan today and watched a treeclimber go up and down a lime tree, butwhat it was after I could not find out.One would think it was following someinsect.

The Grove at Kiltinan was filled withthe joyous sounds of many wild birds; Iespecially like the sound of the woodpigeons. Violets and Celandines wereeverywhere. Ground ivy is also inbloom here. I gathered some primrosesfor our I.C.A meeting. On my wayhome I watched eight pheasants, maleand female, near Grove wood. ◆

Archbishop O’Donnellcongratulating Mary

Barnable from Walshbog,Killusty, on the occasion

of her 100th Birthday.

In the background is BillProut, Slievenamon, a

friend of the Bishop and an outstanding

cross-country runner who competed in his

sport all over Ireland.

Mary died on the 19th November, 1954,

aged 100 and 3 months.


Ahearne, Joan (Murphy) Dublin 22Allen, Vincent, EdenderryAnglim, George K. Texas, USAAnglim, Monica (Woodlock) New JerseyAnglim, Nan, New JerseyArkell, Joan (O’Donnell) WarwickArmstrong, Monica (Dwyer) NorthamptonAylward, Christie ClonmelAylward, Mrs Mary, BrayAylward, Tony & Paula, NaasBarnard, Brian, Maine, USABarrett, Angela (McCarthy), ArdfinnanBarrett, Pat, DublinBarrett, Richard, DublinBarry, Fr. Michael, BorrisoleighBarry, Michael, KilkennyBarry, Rose (Ryan), LismoreBeavis, Pat (Finn), Herts EnglandBergin, Sr. Éilis, Dublin 6WBogue, Michael, ClonmelBradley, Teresa (Fogarty), West Sussex,Browne, Dolly, Dublin 17Browne, Nora (Ryan), RathdowneyBurke, Frances, Farranshea, FethardBurke, James, San FranciscoBurke, Joanne, DublinBurke, Kevin, Illinois, USABurke, Patrick, Milwaukee, WisconsinBurke, Patrick J., Santa Monica, CaliforniaButler, Kitty (Hayes), ThurlesButler, Mike, LimerickByard, Dr. Donal, Cincinnati, USAByrne Healy, Peg, New JerseyByrnes, George, TexasCannon, Tom & Margaret, Les Annoney, FranceCantrill, Alan and Hazel (Mackey), Burton-on-TrentCanty, Mary (Casey), TramoreCarroll, Mary (Morrissey), NuneatonCasey, Michael & Katherine (Delaney), CambridgeCasey, Mrs. Winnie, CahirCathie, Alice (Mulcahy), Hants.Clear, Margaret (Gough), California USACoady, Johnie & Mary Dorset, England.Coen, Michael, London W1Coffey, Michael, Leeds, EnglandCoffey, Rita, New RossCollins, Olivia (Schofield), TemplemoreColville, Anthony, Essex, EnglandColville, Tony & Maeve (O’Shea), TullamoreCondon, Liam, KilkennyConnolly, Eileen (Carey), FethardConnolly, Liam, TramoreCooney, Tom, New York Cribbens, Peter & Rosemary, New ZealandCroke, William, London SE3Cummins, Eamon, Lake Carmel, New YorkCummins, Eddie & Ellen, ClonmelCummins, Fiona, London, W7 Cummins, Gus, PeterboroughCummins, Jennifer, Leighlinbridge

Cummins, John, Dublin 5Cummins, Liam, ClonmelCummins Margaret, Main Street, FethardCummins, Mrs R. Hemel, HempsteadCummins, Owen & Donal, New YorkCummins, Seamus, Burke Street, FethardCummins, Tom & Ellen, GoatenbridgeCurran, Timmy, Welwyn Garden CityCurtin, Jacqueline (Moloney), StillorganCurtin, Rena, KilkennyDalton, Aine (Tierney), Oakland, CaliforniaDalton, Joe & Annie (Sayers), PeterboroughDalton, Michael, Howard Beach, N.Y.Danaher, Mrs Bridie, London W14Darcy, Mr & Mrs Phil Kent, EnglandDavern, Honor (Mulligan), CashelDavies, John Mossley, EnglandDawson, Martina (Murphy), CappamoreDawson, Sheila (Cummins), Solihull, West MidlandsDay, Mrs. N. J., Bognor RegisDelaney, Catherine, Nottingham, UKDelany, C. P., FethardDelguidice, Mick & Peggy (Bedford), LondonDevereux, Noreen (Henehan), Dublin 22Devlin, Rainy (Healy), West Virginia, USADevlin, Rev Mgr B. P., GibraltarDixon, Patrick, EnniscorthyDowney, James,BournemouthDuggan, Eugene Christchurch, New ZealandDwyer, Geraldine (Fitzgerald), Newmarket-on-FergusEvans, Bob & Karin, GermanyEverard, Richard, HollandFadugba, Joan (Pollard), London NW6Farrell, John Boldmere, West MidlandsFennell, Josie (McCarthy), Barnett, HertsFennell, Kathleen, MiddlesexFethard Athletic ClubFethard Badminton Club Fethard Ballroom Fethard Bridge Club Fethard Community FÁS SchemeFethard Community GamesFethard Historical SocietyFethard Park & Folk Museum Fethard Red CrossFethard Tidy TownsFethard Youth ClubFitzgerald, Con, BradfordFitzgerald, Paddy, Wrexham UKFitzgerald, Sheena, Surrey UKFitzgerald, Tony, ClonmelFitzpatrick, Jo Beatty, Long Island, NYFitzpatrick, Thomas, Bronx, New York Flanagan, Frank & Rita (Fitzgerald), Bristol, BS7 UKFlanagan, John, Nr. Wantage, OxonFleming, Sarah, LondonFlynn, Denis, Redhill, SurreyFlynn, Mick, Bradford, EnglandFlynn, Pat, West Yorkshire, EnglandFogarty Joey and Leish, Congress Terrace

Donations ReceivedAcknowledged below are donations (£5 and over) received from readers and organisations up to

30th Nov. 2001. We would also like to thank all those who wished to remain anonymous.

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Fogarty, Madge (McGrath), Glanmire, CorkFox, Andy, ThurlesFrewen, Willie, TramoreGibbs, Maria (Scanlan), Calgary, CanadaGibson, Mrs M., Tullaroan, Co. KilkennyGleeson, Francis (Walsh), ThurlesGluck, Kathleen (Morrissey), Isle of WightGoans, Rita (Morrissey), TennesseeGorski, Alice (Fitzgerald), MiddlesexGough-Risk, Mrs. Patricia, CaliforniaGrant, Gerry, Blackrock, DublinGrant, John, Sudbury, MA, USAGriffin, Ena, Herts AL7 EnglandHackett, Austin, YorkshireHaide, Theresa (Quinlan), Bucks. UKHalley-Pennisi, Patricia, Florida, USAHally (RIP), Jack, Dublin 14Hally, Kathleen (Slattery), New InnHanlon, Mrs M., New JerseyHannigan, Dorothea (Schofield), CashelHanrahan, Alice (Phelan), London W4Harrington, Maurice, Cheshire, UKHarsch Jean K., Florida, USAHayes, Anne (Byrne), IllinoisHayes, Canon Matthew, Bath, UKHayes, Denis, Victoria, AustraliaHayes, John, Toronto, CanadaHayes, Michael, Dublin 24Hayes, Pat & Mary (Anglim), Queensland, AustraliaHayes, Willie, RoscreaHayes, Willie, Hereford, UKHeffernan Paddy and Joan, BallyvadinHennessy, Mary (Skehan), Coleman, FethardHennessy, P., Middlesex, EnglandHetterley, David & Frances (Kenrick), Hereford, UKHoey, Cathleen (Murphy), Birmingham, EnglandHolland, Patrick, County Museum, ClonmelHomfray, Rev. Kenyon, Convoy, Co. DonegalHopkins, Mary (O’Connell), Victoria, Australia.Hunt, Maureen (Mackey), Staffordshire, UKJakeman, Rodney, Cheshire UKJohnson, Dr. Brian & Joan (Carey), CT, USAJordan, Margaret (Peg Cummins), CelbridgeKane, Conor, WicklowKane, Danny & Rita, Kerry Street, FethardKane, David, Essex, UKKane, Dermot, Dublin 8Kavanagh, Rena (Keyes), WaterfordKeane, John, TullamoreKearney, Breda, LondonKelly, Carmel (Kenny), Dublin 16Kennedy, Fr. A. B., PortumnaKenny, Maura (Stokes), Dublin 6Kenrick, Gus, FethardKenrick, Paddy, ClonmelKerr, Colleen, Ontario, CanadaKevin, Sr. Monica, New YorkKinman, Kathy, Belgrade, USAKnight, Mai, Wantage, UKLavin, Michael James, New Jersey, USALeahy, Gerry, KilkennyLee, John, CorkLee, Josie (O’Donnell), London E4Leonard, Euna (Whyte), CorkLocal Studies Dept., County Library, Thurles Lonergan, Conor A., Killiney, Co. Dublin

Lonergan, Thomas, Preston, UKLonergan, William, KillaloeLooby, John & Patricia (Halloran), Surrey, UKLooby, Paul, Camberley, Surrey, UKLow, Eileen, LiverpoolLynam, Ann (Morrissey), Dublin 12Mackey, Denise, London SW16Magnuson, Mary (Hackett), Bellevue, USAMaher, Bill, Dublin 6Maher, Mike, SwedenMalone, Mary (Maher), New YorkManning, Patricia (Ryan), Middlesex UKMannion, Cathryn (Byrne), AthloneMarshall, Tom & Patricia, PortlaoiseMartin Lucy (Wyatt), Lawrenceville, GeorgiaMartley, Sr. Margaret, CorkMcCarthy, Don, LeixlipMcCarthy, Kitty, FethardMcCarthy, Mrs Shiela, Cambridge, UKMcCarthy, Tony, ClonmelMcCormack, John Joe, LimerickMcCormack, Leonora, New ZealandMcCormack, Thomas, Gwynedd, WalesMcGrath, Kay, FethardMcGrath, Mick, Edgeware, MiddlesexMcKeown, Breda (Gorey), Melbourne, AustraliaMcLaren, Mary (Ryan), Kent, UKMcLaughlin, Mary (King), Dorchester, Mass.McLean, Arthur, USA McNulty, Mary (Maher), Bedford, UKMcQuinn, Cynthia & Timothy, Indiana, USAMeaney, James J., London SW19Meaney, Michael, Ipswich, UKMeehan, Mrs Ellen, Oklahoma, USAMoloney, Patrick F., Bucks. UKMoloney, Tom, Northampton UKMooney, Anna (Skehan), BelfastMoore, Mary (Gorey), DroghedaMoran, Bro. James, AbbeyleixMorrissey, Maurice, FethardMorrissey, Billy, Herts. UKMorrissey, Colm, Delgany, Co.WicklowMorrissey, J. J., Tralee, Co. KerryMorrissey, Mamie, FethardMorrissey, Patsy, Swords, Co DublinMorrissey Owen, Brigid, Warwickshire, UKMullins, Billy, Marlow, Bucks UKMullins, Denis, New JerseyMullins, John, WexfordMullins, Paul, LondonMullins, Vincent, North Yorks UKMurphy, Muriel, (Mullins) New RossMurray, Pat, Watford, Herts. UKMurray, Tom, FethardNagle, Anastasia (Kelly), BanshaNapier, Eileen, Herts. UKNapier, Nora (Hickey), St. AlbansNeville, Michael, CorkNeville, Roger, TullamoreNeville, Seamus, TramoreNichols, Betty (Dineen), Warwick UKO’Brien, Mary, London NW3O’Brien, Mary (Kenrick), LimerickO’Brien, Sally (Finn), FethardO’Brien, Sr. Philomena, Blue Point, N.Y.O’Callaghan, Sean, Fethard

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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.

O’Connell, Jimmy, Hornchurch, EssexO’Connell, Peg (Darcy), Basildon, EssexO’Connell, Peter, Victoria, AustraliaO'Connor, Betsy, Knockelly, FethardO’Connor, Biddy (Henehan), Middlesex UKO’Connor, Mary, WestportO’Connor, Stephen, Devon, EnglandO’Connor, O.S.A. Fr. John, GalwayO’Donnell, Anna (Mackey), Niles, IllinoisO’Donnell, Jim & Betty (O’Sullivan), Minnesota, USAO’Donnell, Jimmy, Dublin 16O’Donnell, Joe, Leeds UKO’Donnell, Michael, London N4O’Donnell, Tony, Dublin 9O’Dwyer, Tom, RoscreaO’Flynn, Patrick, Glen Ellyn, IllinoisO’Hanrahan, Patrick, London W9O’Hare, Patricia (Murphy), LimerickO’Keeffe, Eileen (Woodlock), Birmingham UKO’Keeffe, Larry & Helen (Cummins), ClonmelO’Keeffe, Michael & Hazel, BirminghamO’Mahoney, Laura (Ward), Ballybay, Co. MonaghanO’Mahoney, Marian (Hayes), FermoyO’Meara, Chrissie, Knockbrack, FethardO’Neill, Hal, CorkO’Neill, Hugh, Luxembourg O’Reilly, Rita (Walsh), Dunadry, Co. AntrimO’Riain, Padraig, Baile Atha Cliath 13O’Rourke, Sr. Brenda, DungarvanO’Shea, Jerry, New YorkO’Sullivan, Brian & Edith, Ayr, ScotlandOstler, Alice (McInerney), SouthamptonPereira, Geraldine (White), Madeira, PortugalPhelan, Bridie, FethardPhelan, Eddie P., California USAPhelan, Gus, Crampscastle, Fethard.Phelan, John, CorkPhelan, Kathleen (Elsie), New YorkPhelan, Pat, Drumdeel, FethardPhillips, S., Bristol, UKPower, Ned, Wolverhampton UKPresentation Convent FethardQuerns, Mary (Watts), Middlesex, UKQuinlan, Bridget, ClonmelQuirke, Stephen, Surrey, UKReilly, Mary (Hayes), MullinahoneRoberts, Alice (Flynn), South AustraliaRoche, Peggy (Kenny), ThurlesRyan, Donal, Kentucky, USARyan, John (Boxer), KilsheelanRyan, Johnny, London SE3Ryan, Mary (Murphy), CashelRyan, Michael J., St. Albans, Herts.

Ryan, Noel, Surrey UKRyan, Philip, Kilcoole, Co. WicklowShattock, Jack & Pam (Myles), Essex UKSheehan, Don, Cincinnati, USASheehan, Patrick, London N17Shine, Elizabeth, Monroe, FethardShine, Nessa (O’Donovan), London E7Slattery, Richard, London Smith, Robert, Waltham Abbey, EssexSquires, May (O’Dwyer), EssexStaehelin, Linda (Kane), GalwayStapleton, Martin & Rita (O’Grady), Dublin 7Stapleton, Peggy, ThurlesStaunton, Rena (Stokes), London NW1Synnott, Thomas, Basildon, EssexSynnott, Tony, Clane, Co. KildareSzwarc, Agnes (Culligan), Kent UKTierney, Patrick, CorkTingley, Ellen (Culligan), Seven Oaks, KentTobin, Donny, Sydney, AustraliaTobin, Michael, Oak Lawn, USATobin, Patrick & Ellen (Walsh), ClonmelTorpey, Kitty (Strappe), Cambridge,Tyska, Katherine (Sayers), Brooklyn, N.Y.Van Dommelen, Bert & Janneke, Netherlands Vinten, Joan (O’Shea), Maidstone, KentVoss, Eileen (Morrissey), Surrey UKWade, Monica (Lonergan), CashelWade-Palmer, Eileen (Doherty), HampshireWalker, Eleanor (O’Donnell), Australia Walsh, Anne (Kenrick), Glenageary, Co DublinWalsh, Gerard, CanadaWalsh, Hugh, Tallaght, Dublin.Walsh, Mrs Jim, Middlesex UKWalsh, Joan (Maher), London NW10Walsh, Mary (Fahy), PortlawWalsh, Pat, Leeds UKWalsh, Pat, N.S.W. AustraliaWalsh, Rita, New YorkWalsh, Fr. Joseph, Victoria, AustraliaWhelan, Kathleen (Quirke), ClonmelWhite, Eileen (Leahy), DranganWhite, Marie (Dineen), Leamington Spa UKWhyte, Michael, Leicestershire UKWilkins, Christine (Sayers), Taghmon, Co. WexfordWoodvale Walk Residents Association FethardWoodward, Sheila Aline, Warwickshire UKWright, Ann (Flanagan), Wantage, OxonWyatt, Frank, North Carolina, USAWyatt, Kathryn, Amsterdam, Netherlands Wyatt, Kevin, Phoenix, ArizonaWyatt, Paul, San FranciscoWynne, Monica (Dwyer), Clonmel

Iwould like to thank Sarah Crookes for typing, Carmel Rice for looking aftercorrespondence and donations, Brendan Kenny for distribution and Gemma

Burke for proof-reading. I would also like to thank all who subscribed to ourChurch Gate Collection in Fethard and a special thanks to all those who make annu-al donations which help make the whole publishing of this newsletter possible. ◆

Joe Kenny (editor)

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Acknowledgments

www.fergalmurraycars.com

Some local websites to visit!

www.crampscastlepottery.com

www.grantvideo.comwww.mousemorris.com

www.gatewaybandb.comwww.mccarthyshotel.com

www.slievenamongolfclub.comwww.shortallpianos.com

All-Ireland Culchie Festival — Fethard 2001

The Bridge Bar Still House - Best Float Award at Culchie Festival

Kieran O'Connell, Coolmoyne, Fethard, winner of the Junior Culchie section.LtoR: Brendan Morrissey (National Champion 2000), Paddy Rock (Festivalorganiser), Kieran O'Connell and Catriona Stapleton (Festival committee).

ISSN 1393-2721

munster club senior football finalists 2001 · well played fethard! fethard senior footballers did...

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