Mary Leahy, Moyvane who won last week’s Athea Utd lottery draw jackpot of €5,100 being presented with her cheque last Monday night at Donie’s Bar. Included in the photo family members and Athea Utd club officials Tim O’Riordan, Denis Murphy, Pa Walsh & Pat Hayes.
Marian and Jeremiah O’Connor, Upper Athea, on the occasions of Marian’s 70th birthday, which we celebrated with extended family in Kate Browne’s in Ardfert at the weekend.
Con Colbert Memorial Service
This Sunday, May 8th, Anniversary of the death of Con Colbert. Memorial Service in Athea Church at 11.45am. Let’s be united in praying together for the happy repose of his soul.
Athea Coiste na nÓg Church Gate Collection
Coiste na nÓg will be taking up our Annual church gate collection at all masses this weekend May 7th & 8th. As always your support would be greatly appreciated.
SUMMER SOCCER SCHOOLS 2016
Athea Utd will be running a SportsDirect.com FAI Summer Soccer School camp this year. The camp will take place between Monday, July 25th and Friday, July 29th and is open to boys and girls of all abilities from 6-14 years of age.
ATHEA TIDY TOWNS
We resumed with our weekly clean ups last weekend on a beautiful Saturday morning. The morning was spent cleaning out our tubs and flower boxes in preparation for planting and cleaning the footbridge. There was a good show of support from the committee but we are always looking for new members to give a helping hand. We will continue to meet every Saturday morning at 9.30am at the hall. You would be most welcome to join!
Jim Dunn has recommenced his painting of the forge mural on Colbert Street after his recent surgery on his finger. We wish him all the best for the future and look forward to the completed masterpiece!
Next week we will have a visit from a National Tidy Towns adjudicator who will walk our village and advise us on how to best move forward in the competition. Planned projects at present are the completion of the heritage trail, working with Athea Community Council to re-roof the gazebo at the bridge and attend to our wildflower garden out the Glin Road.
After a bad winter, there are a lot of places that need attending to. We hope to attend to the unoccupied houses in the village in the coming days but we would respectfully ask those who occupy houses in the village to clean and/or paint the front of their buildings to improve their appearance. Judging is fast approaching and as usual, we want to put our best foot forward in the competition.
ABBEYFEALE NOTES
DARKNESS INTO LIGHT:
Just a few days left until the Darkness into Light next Saturday, May 7. The 5 km walk/run sets off from the Community Centre at 4.15 am and takes participants through the sunrise to a finish with refreshments. This is truly a fitting way to support the work of Pieta House Self Harm and Suicide Crisis Centre. Registration fees with t-shirt: €25 – adult; €15 – seniors, students, jobseekers; €65 – family (2 adults & 2 children); Children under 14 free – must be accompanied by an adult. You can register at the Red Door Gallery at the following times: Thursday, May 5 – 6 to 9 pm; Friday – 3 to 9 pm and last minute registration at the Community Centre from 2 am on Saturday. Online registration:
TABLE QUIZ TO AID SYRIAN REFUGEES:
A table quiz to aid Syrian refugees will take place at Thomas T.J’s, New St. on Friday, May 20. Quiz Master Lorcan Curtin. A raffle for a mega hamper will also be held on the night. All funds to the Red Cross who work in the refugee camps. We hope that you will support us and even if you’re not into quizzes come along for a chance to take home the hamper.
STRICTLY COME DANCING HITS ABBEYFEALE:
13 couples will take to the floor on Sunday, May 8 for an extravaganza of dance from the sedate foxtrot to the sexy tango and all genres in between. . A selection of the best movers in Tournafulla, Duagh, Mountcollins, Abbeyfeale and surrounding areas have come together under the umbrella of Fealeside Strictly Come Dancing with the intention of raising funds to support our local community. It’s all happening in the Devon Inn with doors opening at 6.15pm and show beginning at 7.30pm sharp. Tickets at €20 are available all over town from The Hair Company, to Betty’s Hair Salon to Moss the Farmers, Eurosavers, Esther’s Boutique and more. There will be a mega door prize, entertainment at the interval and it will all be followed by a Disco with music from the 60’s to the present day so promises to be a great night. Chief Judge Micheal Healy Rae will be joined on the judging panel by Mayor of Limerick Cllr. Liam Galvin, Anglela O’Rourke, The Square and yours truly.
NEW BUSINESS IN CHURCH ST:
Delighted to welcome a new makeup salon which has just opened in Church St., (opposite the Boys N.S.) It stocks a wide variety of makeup brands which include Loreal, MaybellIne, NYC, and the very popular Sleek. Be sure to pop in for excellent quality at a great price!
TABLE QUIZ TO AID SYRIAN REFUGEES:
A table quiz to aid Syrian refugees will take place at Thomas T.J’s, New St. on Friday, May 20. Quiz Master Lorcan Curtin. A raffle for a mega hamper will also be held on the night. All funds to the Red Cross who work in the refugee camps. We hope that you will support us and even if you’re not into quizzes come along for a chance to take home the hamper.
A Bad Experience
I was told the other day that somebody had TB. I was really surprised because I thought it had been eradicated years ago. When I was growing up in the ‘fifties there was a lot of TB in Athea, as a matter of fact it was one of the most highly infected places in the country at the time. Maybe it was the damp and the bad living conditions but whatever caused it many people from the parish had to spend many months in isolation hospitals like Edenburn. A short time before this it was a fatal disease and many people died from “consumption” as it was then known. It attacked the lungs mainly and eat away at them. A medical team came to Cratloe school to test us all and give us vaccination. The test consisted of injections in the upper arm and they were able to tell from the appearance of the marks whether we needed vaccine or not. My test showed that I did not need to be inoculated and I thought no more of it. Only afterwards did I realise that the reason my test was positive was due to the fact that I already had TB which was lying dormant. A few years later, when I was working in England, I began to feel unwell. I hadn’t much of an appetite and consequently was losing weight. I had no energy and I couldn’t get rid of a cough that plagued me night and day. I put it down to flu and colds etc and tried every kind of medication the chemist had to offer but to no avail. Then one day I was sitting by the fireside and there was a mug of tea on the mantelpiece. I wanted to drink it but did not have enough energy to take it down, I was that weak. My aunt realised there was something seriously wrong with me and insisted I go to the doctor immediately. The doctor examined me and said “Mr. Barry, you are a very sick young man. You have to go to hospital straight away”. He told me I might have TB and it was at such an advanced stage that he wouldn’t even allow me to return home but called an ambulance for me there and then. I was taken to a hospital in Tamworth, Staffordshire, that dealt with patients who were suffering from diseases like TB and Miner’s Lung. I don’t remember much about the first few days there as I was in and out of consciousness. I do remember being weighed and being surprised to discover that I tipped the scales at 6 stone 7 pounds. I hated injections but there was no escaping them every day. After a while the doctor told me I was a very lucky man to be alive. Had I been born a few years earlier I would certainly have died but Streptomycine had been discovered and was a big breakthrough in the treatment of Tuberculosis. I also had the advantage of being young enough to grow new tissue which was a big factor in my recovery. As time went by I put on a lot of weight due to the good food and the Guinness I was prescribed every day. Yes, it was a bottle of Guinness which in those days was considered good for you. We also smoked in the hospital; can’t imagine it now. When I went into the hospital I had a hole as big as a tennis ball in one of my lungs. I was taken to an outside hospital every few weeks for an x-ray as there was no such facility where I was. With each x-ray I could see the hole getting smaller and smaller until eventually there was nothing to be seen at all. After six months I was up and about but the doctor wouldn’t release me as he feared that I would be back to my old habits, playing music late into the night and not looking after myself properly so I spent another couple of months kicking my heels. That was the worst part of my stay there. Tamworth was far away from everyone I knew and consequently I didn’t have many visitors. Most of the other patients were locals and had visitors twice a day. These were the worst times for me and I used to get so depressed. It became so bad at times that I would sit staring into what I perceived was a black hole and I could see no way out of it. If, at the time, if I could have got my hands on enough pills I believe I would have tried to do away with myself. It is the worst feeling in the world and I am eternally grateful to a couple of nurses who took me under their wing and helped me through the dark patches. Things looked up one day when a beautiful blonde girl was admitted to the ladies ward which was opposite our building and as I was now in a bed on the corridor I was facing that building. I could see her through the glass doors and soon we were exchanging notes and eventually nature took its course and we began sneaking out when the night nurses went for their break. We used to meet in the boiler house and it was great to feel alive again. Needless to say it didn’t last long as we were caught in the act, so to speak. I’m sure we were reported but anyway that finished that. Soon afterwards I was allowed to leave and, thanks be to God, I have never had any problems since. A few years later there was a van in Abbeyfele doing screening for TB so I went in and was tested. No trace could be found. It was quite an experience and I am so grateful to the people who helped to make me better. It gave me an understanding of what some people go through and an insight into depression and what it can do to the mind. The scourge of TB is long gone from Athea but I bet there are many of you who either had TB or know somebody who had in the middle of the last century. At least nobody will die from it today. There is no doubt about it – “your health is your wealth”
Domhnall de Barra