We congratulate the U18 girls who are members of the Athea Vixens basketball club and who took part at the weekend in the U18 National Cup in Waterford. Unfortunately they were defeated in the semi-finals by the very talented  “Waterford Wildcats”. Those from Athea who played in this very important game were Aimee & Rachel Griffin, Laura Quille, Áine O’Sullivan and  Louise Healy. It was a huge achievement for them all being in the ‘top 16’ in Ireland U-18, what an achievement.

We here in Ireland complain about our weather, especially when we get an abundance of rain – however, after seeing the awful bushfires that enveloped homes recently in Australia with the very high temperatures they experienced and now these past few day out in the Philippines we see the utter devastation that the typhoon had on the Filipino people, leaving them without homes and loved ones and their livelihoods just washed away – thousands dead, hospitals levelled to the ground, children looking for their parents, everyone seeking shelter and food. We think of the many people here in Ireland, a lot of them nurses who work here from the Philippines and who may at the moment be trying to make contact with their families and loved ones, we should be eternally grateful for our ‘damp’ wet weather with no hurricanes, volcanoes, typhoons, forest fires or tsunami’s. We remember in our prayers the Filipino people who are a deeply religious and a very humble people, who have little or nothing.

It’s that time of the year when it’s time to put together the shoe-boxes for those much less well off than our children. They will be taken from all over Ireland to children for Christmas and won’t there be delight on their faces when they open their boxes. You can give your filled box into the school or alternatively to area co-ordinator Teresa Flavin in the next few days, to have them in time for the trucks that will be transporting them to the needy.

Having attended a family event in Killarney on Saturday night last who would have thought that on a wet night in November that everywhere was packed to capacity – no recession there no matter what time of the yea one visits!