By Kathleen Mullane

‘Out & About’

Well done to all those who received their Leaving Cert results on Wednesday last in our parish and beyond – they all did extremely well and I heard that Maurice Moore (who is a grandson of Timmy & Nancy Woulfe) got well over ‘600’ points, indeed a huge achievement.

Don’t forget the ‘Athea Residents’ outing on this Thursday, August 25th visiting Bunratty Folk Park and the Crescent Shopping Centre, with music, tea and sandwiches at the Top of the Town from 6pm to 8pm. Fare of €15 includes bus and lunch. If you haven’t given in your name yet do so to Peggy Casey or Rose at Brouder’s Shop.

Fr. Bowen is still looking for volunteers for the ‘Liturgy Group’. The finance and property committees have been filled as is the sacristan’s position. So if anyone in the parish would like to help out with the Liturgy Group please contact Fr. Bowen as soon as possible. It seems ‘lay people’ will be the ‘order of the day’ in all parishes from now on. In England and America this has been the case for a number of years where all parishioners help out. The Liturgy Group would do the preparing for the different Church occasions e.g. setting up the Christmas Crib and altar, organizing the ‘remembrance tree’ for our deceased in November and of course any new ideas they may have.

Sympathy is extended to Breda Keane, formerly of Upper Athea (daughter of the late Maureen and Con) whose husband has passed away recently in Dublin. ‘May he rest in peace’.

Well anyone getting up on Saturday morning last would think they were getting up to a ‘November’ day with storm, rain, wind, flowers blowing in all directions, branches down ‘what’s new’, however people are ‘gasping’ for air in some countries so let’s not complain.

Well it’s ‘back to school’ time again, can you believe it, and one thought at the beginning of the summer holidays that they would never end – ‘time flies’. Just see a fact regarding children’s exercise etc. Imagine 4 out of 5 children in Ireland are not meeting the recommended guideline of 60 minutes exercise a day. Also 34% of ‘preschool’ children have a TV in their bedroom. The average amount of time preschool kids spend watching TV daily is 2.2 hours. In 1981 50% of children walked to school, by 2014 the figure dropped to 25%. The key tips that are given to parents are:-

  • Replace screen time with active games
  • Build activity into everyday routines
  • Get involved and get active as a parent too
  • Children don’t have to do it all at once, they can build it up over the day.

Indeed good advice’!