I’m sure everyone in the parish wishes to send the very best of luck to Jim Herbert of Coole West who will be appearing on ‘Winning Streak’ on this Saturday night on RTE1. No doubt there must be great excitement when Jim’s name was called out on Saturday night last. Hopefully he will do very well and may even get to ‘spin the wheel’ – all eyes will be on Jim on the night.

Congrats also go to Katie Scanlon, daughter of Anne and John of Upper Athea, who celebrated her 30th birthday recently along with family and friends in Killarney, everyone enjoyed a great night.

Congrats and well done to John Joe Tierney who recently organised a great fund-raising Céilí for the hall. Indeed a great boost to help pay for the upkeep and running costs etc. Thanks is extended to all who attended also.

Incidentally, the AGM of the Hall will take place on Wednesday, December 19th at 7pm in the kitchen. Everyone is welcome to attend to air their views, give us new fundraising ideas and maybe join the hall committee to help out.

The AGM of Athea Credit Union is on Friday December 20th at the office at 7pm. All welcome.

Athea Church is the place to be on next Tuesday night December 17th when the pupils of Athea National School perform “The Christmas Story” which promises to be a real must. It starts at 7.30pm and there are still a few tickets available through the school at just €5 each. So come along to this great fundraiser for the school and get into the Christmas spirit.

Well, if you were watching RTE1 over the weekend – firstly you would have seen ‘Waste Watchers’ on Sunday evening and then on Monday evening Nationwide. Two programmes showing the very opposite. Waste Watchers from Killorglin and the Kerry area showed the thousands of Euro worth of food which was wasted in hotels, restaurants and supermarkets all dumped into bins. Then on Nationwide it showed hundreds of men and women in Cork who queue every day to get their ‘penny dinners’. They have around 800 for breakfast each day and give out food-parcels, all work is done by volunteers.

These are ordinary people who would be hungry only for having food given to them free. The volunteers have to go and collect the food from different companies and business people and more are availing of the free food, now more than ever since the recession. As the saying goes “Waste not – Want not”.