Christopher Finucane, grandson of Pauline and Patsy Kellegan, Knocknagorna who graduated from U.L. Recently with a Bachelor of Technology (Education) in Materials & Engineering Technology
Eileen Woulfe, Stephen Milne, Joan Lane, Mary Duff and Mary Woulfe at the INEC concert in Killarney on Sunday night last.
Mary Duff is a patron of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland and will be walking in Montenegro next week with C.F. Ireland
SET AND SOCIAL DANCE CLASSES
Set’s and social dance classes for beginners at Top of the Town Athea on Monday nights starting Monday, September 21 from 8-30 to 10-30pm. Set dancing for advanced dancers at the GAA Clubhouse, Abbeyfeale on Wednesday nights starting September 23 from 8-30 to 10-30pm. Social dance classes at The Railway Bar Abbeyfeale on Tuesday nights starting September 29 from 8-30 to 10-30pm. For further information contact 087-9267037/087-6101936.
SINGING CLUB
On Friday, September 18 West Limerick singing club are hosting a traditional night in the Ramble Inn Bar, Abbeyfeale for Culture night with a variety of traditional singing, storytelling and music, all welcome. Also at 9pm on this night we are holding the press launch for the 7th annual Garry McMahon singing weekend which takes place this year from October 16-18. A brochure with all events during the weekend is available in the Ramble Inn Bar.
West Limerick Singing Club are now holding their monthly singing session on the first Friday of each month at the Ramble Inn, Church St., Abbeyfeale from 9pm.
Coffee Morning
The annual Coffee Morning in aid of Milford Hospice will take place on this Thursday, September 17th in the Con Colbert Community Hall from 9.30am. As always your support would be greatly appreciated for this very worthy cause.
Athea Community Council Ltd. A.G.M.
The AGM of Athea Community Council Ltd will take place on Monday, September 21st at the Top of the Town. Everybody welcome
Comfort Keepers Home Care
Comfort Keepers Home Care are now recruiting for Home Care Assistants in the Athea area. Please call 061 490760 for more information, apply online at www.comfortkeepers.ie/careers<http://www.comfortkeepers.ie/careers or post your CV to Comfort Keepers, Charlotte House, Charlotte Quay, Limerick
“The Hills of Old Kilcolman” is the debut Irish Traditional music album from siblings John and Jacki O’Connor, Kilcolman. This album is dedicated to their late father, Jackie O’Connor who passed away from cancer in 2008. Jackie spent some time in Milford Hospice before his passing and net proceeds from the sale of this album are going to Milford Hospice, Limerick. This traditional music album is representative of the music and song of West Limerick and in particular the music their late dad loved to hear them play. John (button accordion) and Jacki (concertina) are joined by some accomplished guest musicians on the album. These include Martin O’Malley (guitar), James O’Connor (bodhrán), Jack O’Connor (cajon) and Paddy Donovan (bones). It also features four songs.
The title track of the album “The Hills of Old Kilcolman Where Our Forefathers Lie” was written by John and Jacki’s granduncle, Jim Keane and is sung beautifully by Maura Nolan. Donie Nolan sings a poignant version of “Shanagolden” and a rendition of “Down by Glensharrold Side” which was penned by John and Jacki’s grandfather, Patrick T. Aherne. The final song on the album is sung by a good family friend, Tadhg Maher from Co. Offaly. The song is entitled “The Mountainy Men” and is a song which has rarely (if ever) been recorded before. The album is currently being featured on West Limerick 102FM, where Jacki presents “The Trad Scene” every Saturday evening between 6-8p.m.
Launch nights for this album will take place in West Limerick and North Tipperary. Dates and venues as follows: Friday September 25th, Flag Floor Rambling House, Carrickerry at 9:30pm, Friday October 2nd, Devon Inn Hotel, Templeglantine at 9:30pm and Saturday October 10th in Killoscully Community Centre, Killoscully, Co. Tipperary at 9pm. There is an open invitation to all to come along to the Launch nights and enjoy some West Limerick traditional music and song.
This album is currently for sale at Moloney’s Daybreak, Carrickerry; Curley’s Post Office and Shop, Ardagh; Buckley’s Shop, Devon Road, Templeglantine; The Ramble Inn, Abbeyfeale; Mullane’s Costcutter, Shanagolden; MACE, Shanagolden; Trade Electric, Newcastle West and O’Connors Londis, Churchtown, Newcastle West. Net proceeds in aid of Milford Hospice, Limerick. All support greatly appreciated.
It’s The Way We Tell ‘em
Or should that be “the way we say them”. We might not think it but people from this area are very difficult to understand when they travel abroad (or beyond Limerick even!). We speak at a rate of knots and we very seldom separate our words from each other. We also have different pronunciations to other areas. “How are the men” is spoken as “howrdamin”. We generally replace e with I therefore men become min, we write with a pin, a den is a din etc. We also drop the g at the end of words ending with ing so we have mornin, evenin walkin etc. Contrast this with the people of Brosna and Mountcollins who really pronounce their ”ings” sometimes even putting a g where it shouldn’t be. A young boy once told me he was out on the “mounting” chasing hares. And a man in Newmarket used to ask me how the Askeating wrenboys were getting on. There is also a tendency in this area to broaden some vowels. “leave me alone” becomes “lavemealone” we feel the hate, not heat, we drink “tay”, go to the “craymery” and eat a “male”. We do all this with a lovely lilt but to the outsider it is very difficult to understand. I discovered this when I left home and went to England and even when I returned to Ireland, working for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, I had to consciously slow down and try to pronounce my words properly. There were two other men from Lixnaw working in headquarters at the time and when we got together at the dinner table we forgot ourselves and lapsed into our normal way of talking. A Dublin man, John Keenan, pulled us up one day and told us it was very rude to be conversing in Irish when there were others there who didn’t understand the language. He was convinced we were talking in Irish!! We got a good laugh out of that. I wouldn’t change the way we speak for the world. It is our own unique style and we are happy with it. Just be mindful when talking to people from outside the area and slow down a bit. Regional accents are in danger of disappearing in the not too distant future. Peg Prendeville alluded to it in her column last week and I wholeheartedly agree with her. Do we really want to talk with “TV accents” and just mimic everything that seems to be in vogue at the moment. There is nothing wrong with regional accents. Some of our most successful people never lost their native “blas” The Moriarty brothers, Paddy and Micheál from West Kerry, are two who made it to the top in their chosen profession without ever changing their accents. Their neighbour, Daithí O’Shea is another proud Kerry man who is a joy to listen too. Denis O’Connell from Moyvane was head of banking in Ireland but the minute he started to speak you could tell where he came from. I have never met somebody from Donegal that didn’t have that lovely rolling style of speaking and this is true of most counties in the North of Ireland so why should we ape what is a contrived accent and lose something that makes us different from others. TV has a lot to do with it. There is a kind of uniform accent in Montrose that is probably looked on as necessary for success. In England, many years ago, the BBC presenters all had what could be called “home county” accents. They realised that regional accents were in danger so they changed their policy and employed presenters and newscasters with strong regional accents. It worked. John B. Keane told the story of a time when he was having a pint in Al Roche’s bar in Lyreacrompane. A young fellow came in dressed in modern gear having just returned from England where he had spent six months. He asked for a drink in a strong London accent which prompted one of the locals to turn to John B. and remark “will you look at the eirí in áirde on my bocach” Enough said.
Domhnall de Barra