by Kathleen Mullane
‘Everything Irish’
Well, St. Patrick’s Eve Vigil Mass was really enhanced by the beautiful singing of the Athea Adult Choir led by Tim Connelly on keyboard and John Redmond as they remembered St. Patrick in song. Also Cathal O’Brien, Shannon Brady and Rosy Connelly retold the story of St. Patrick’s life. Well done to them all for adding a real ‘Irish’ touch to the ceremony.
Parades in the surrounding towns were very well attended, with the weather being an added bonus. The organisers and participants of the parades must be complimented for their input. It’s a day when “peoples of all nations” want to have a drop of Irish blood in them. It was brilliant to see a man from Mozambique on TV speaking fluent Irish and doing some great sean nós dancing, as also an African woman singing “Ár nAthair” (The Our Father) in Irish. It makes us somewhat ashamed that us Irish people are not even able to put a few ‘abairti Gaeilge’ together. However with Bernard Dunne the former boxer – now promoting the Irish language with his Brod Club on Monday nights on RTE 1 it will hopefully make people speak a “Beagáin” bit. He’s looking for 100,000 people to log on and sign up to speak a few words in as far as they can. Bernard wanted to help his children who attend a Gaelscoil. “Ar agaidh linn go léir”.
Well done to Margaret Stackpoole , daughter of Lily and Dan , Lower Athea and a pupil of ‘Scoil Colaiste Ide agus Ioseph’ who represented her school in Sligo recently taking part in the “Takeaway My Way” cookery competition . She came down to the last 16 out of 900 competitors. Well done to Margaret!
On this Wednesday night the Lartigue Theatre Company stage their play “HUMMIN” in St John’s, Listowel until next Monday March 26th at 8pm. It promises to be a great production. So come along and enjoy.
Don’t forget to sign up as soon as possible for the Ballybunion half-marathon and 10k run. There’s even a 1k run/walk for the younger kids to coincide with the event. Our Slí na Sláinte (the Templeathea ring) seems to be very busy at the moment with so many “ag rith agus ag siúl” in preparation for the Marathon. There’s a great atmosphere there with everyone gearing up and eager to go, many of them running to raise money for a specific charity. Also with obesity on a huge rise amongst children here in Ireland it’s a great chance for them to join in. It takes place on Saturday April 7th. A parent was recently asked what was the most difficult question his child had ever asked him – he replied – “Where does the dark go Dad when you turn the light off “- now that’s a hard one or in other words – “ana deachair”
Daffodil Day
Coffee morning in aid of Daffodil Day this Friday morning 23rd March in O’Riordan’s Pharmacy from 10am – 2pm . All baking donations kindly accepted. Thanking you in advance.