Archive for November, 2016

News-30/11/2016

The Vixens Basketball Club would like to thank sincerely the Ladies Monthly Night Out group for their generous donation which was presented to them at Brown Joe’s Bar by Teresa O’Halloran and Mark Reidy. It was greatly appreciated.

The Vixens Basketball Club would like to thank sincerely the Ladies Monthly Night Out group for their generous donation which was presented to them at Brown Joe’s Bar by Teresa O’Halloran and Mark Reidy. It was greatly appreciated.

CFRs AGM

The AGM of the Community First Responders (CFRs) will be held in the Hall on Thursday 1st December at 8:30pm.  Everyone is most welcome.  It is a great opportunity for the public to hear of the group’s activities over the past year, new developments, and to ask about learning emergency life saving skills.

St. Vincent de Paul Church Gate Collection

The St. Vincent de Paul annual collection takes place this weekend Sat. 3rd/ Sun.4th December. Your support for this worthy cause would be greatly appreciated.

Noonan’s Lights

Tony, Hannah & Siobhán are holding their annual Children’s Christmas Party on Sunday next Dec. 4th at 4pm. Santa will arrive by sleigh with a Garda escort. There will be free presents and treats for the kids and complimentary food for the adults. The Carrigkerry Wrenboys will entertain the crowd and the family have issued an open invitation to all to come along and enjoy

Athea Senior Citizens Christmas Party

Takes place on Wednesday 7th December at the Top of the Town Bar. Starting with Concelebrated Mass in the Top of the Town at 12.30pm sharp and dinner served at 1.30pm.  Music by Blue Rhythm. Spot Prizes galore! Dinner, Afternoon Tea, Song and  Dance  all for €10 per Person! Names for Catering purposes to be given to  Rose Enright, Peggy Casey,  Mary Kelly or any Committee Member before Friday 2nd  December. There is a choice of main course this year, Turkey or  Beef so please state your choice when you give your name in.If anyone wishes to donate spot prizes it would be greatly appreciated, they can be given to any of the committee members.

Best of luck

To Athea/Mountcollins Rangers team who play the West U21 A final against St. Senans this Saturday at 3pm in Dromcollogher. Please give them your support.

Following Trends

Do we have to follow everything the Americans do? We have adopted much of their language into our vocabulary not to mention their dress code  and their eating habits. There are two American ideas that get on my nerves. One is Halloween and the other is Black Friday. Halloween was always celebrated in Ireland with the brack, nuts and a few party games such as “snap apple”. There was no such thing as “ trick or treat” ,which is tantamount to begging, and no pumpkins. There is also an unhealthy obsession with ghouls, goblins, witches and scary monsters that has nothing to do with the feast itself. This is all imported and due to the influence of American TV, especially the programmes for younger viewers. The latest import is Black Friday. This was thought up in America as a way of boosting sales after Thanksgiving Day. It was traditionally the time businesses got into the black after the Summer season.  Now we have aped that as well even though we don’t have thanksgiving day here. The idea is to give the impression that there are great bargains to be had in this big sale and one would be a fool not to avail of them. Joe Duffy devoted a lot of time to this last week and his researchers discovered that if there were any reductions they were minimal and most of the products could have been bought months ago at the same or a smaller price. I have personal knowledge of one item; a bicycle that could be bought in England for £60 was on sale at their Irish outlet at a whopping €195. Is it any wonder the likes of Tesco will not reveal the profits on their operation in Ireland. Whiz kids have been wracking their brains to find new ways of parting us from our money and they are succeeding. We are paying more for commodities without realising it. It would appear that the cost of an item has not been increased but on examination one will find that the proportions are smaller. This is true of chocolate bars, biscuits, cosmetic bottles and many other tins and cans which have all shrunk in size. Without being aware, we are forced to buy the same product more frequently.  There is also the coupon scam. Buy more than a fixed amount and you will get a coupon worth  a small amount to take off your next bill. The purpose of this is not to reduce your cost but to ensure that you return to that store for your next big shop. They will make far more out of repeated custom than the few Euro they give away.

While I am on about following trends, what is the sudden fascination with beards for young men? I suppose the role models, footballers and movie stars, are the trend setters here. A few years ago it was the bald head and young men with great hair shaved it off. Back in the ‘70s it was long hair and side locks. Now there is another silly style called the “man bun”. It is a ridiculous look and some people who have it now will look back in years to come and wonder why they were so silly. And finally I come to the ladies. Do you really all have to be perched above on six inch heels trying to balance while doing serious damage to your feet. It is funny to watch girls trying to walk the streets in these heels. The gait is totally unnatural so I hope that soon common sense will prevail and some celebrity will start a trend of more sensible footwear. That is the end of my rant for this week.

Brendan Ferriter R.I.P.

The death of Brendan Ferriter took place in his native Balliferriter, West of Dingle, last week. His wife Treasa was buried just a few months ago. Many in Athea will remember him from his time teaching here and in Knocknagorna. I got to know him through Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. He was chairman of the Munster Council when I took the job of Reachtaire na Mumhan (Munster organiser) when I returned from England in 1972. He was teaching in Castlemaine at the time and when he discovered I was from Athea he made me more than welcome in his home there. We spent many an hour (and many a glass of whiskey) talking about Athea and the people here. He loved the place and was always enquiring for people from the area. He lodged with Tom Denihan, the parish clerk. Tom was one of the great characters and Brendan was very fond of him and had many yarns about their time together. One of the reasons he liked Athea so much was the way people used to talk. He said we spoke Irish through the medium of English and that was true in the middle of the last century. He did great work for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann especially the singing. Sympathy is extended to his family. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam

Domhnall de Barra

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Kathleen’s Corner-30/11/2016

By Kathleen Mullane

‘Out & About’

Sincere congrats and good wishes are extended to Anne-Marie and Maurice Horgan (the Garage, Athea) who were blessed with their new baby last week, a little boy they are naming David Edward. His little sister Nancy is delighted with her new baby brother. Delighted all is well with mother and baby.

Sincere thanks to everyone who so kindly gave to our hall collection at the weekend. A total of €740.28 was collected. And as always this will be put to good use as maintenance is ongoing all the time. And thankfully the Bingo is a great support to the hall as is all those who rent it our for their various games etc. and we wish to remind people that the hall is available for all kinds of parties etc and with a fully fitted kitchen where you can bring or prepare your own food, it’s a great asset for everyone both young and old, so please support it.

The official launch of the forthcoming “Lip-Sync” will be on December 8th a the Top of the Town. After the last big fundraiser at Tralee Dog Track this is another ‘major’ fundraiser to reduce the debt on the fabulous new pitch and walking/running track. Tickets will be on sale at Christmas for the event and you are advised to buy early a they will go like “hot buns”. It’s going to be a great night in February with lots of surprise acts! Tickets are a great Christmas present also to give family and friends

Sympathy is extended to Nancy Langan of Glenagragra and Mary Barrett of Dirreen on the recent death of their sister Josie Leane in Duagh recently. ‘May the light of heaven be hers.

You are reminded that the annual St. Vincent de Paul collection will take place before all masses this weekend. Your support as always would be greatly appreciated as the money collected will be put to good use at Christmas time and to the needy throughout the year.

Well the ‘Countdown’ is now definitely on to Christmas, now that we have reached December and I don’t know about you, but it only seems like a few weeks ago that we put away the Christmas decorations. We had such good weather in October it made the time fly. And now we are only 3 weeks away from the shortest day of the year again. We are constantly wishing our lives away!

Thought for the Week: “We turn not older with the years, but newer every day”

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Knockdown News-30/11/2016

By Peg Prendeville

Glin Fair Day will be celebrated in Glin next Saturday. Last year was a washout so hopefully this year will be better for all concerned.  Santa will be in attendance in Ceol Corbraí from 11 to 1 pm. Santa has also told me that the Santa post box is due to arrive at Glin Post Office on Friday December 2nd, so be sure to post early, including your full name and address on the outside of the envelope. Santa is getting his sleigh ready for the long journey to Ireland on Christmas Eve but will try to reply to as many letters as possible.

Glin Tidy Towns invite you to come and enjoy a great night of entertainment in Glin Parish Church on Friday 16th December. BAGATELLE will perform their greatest hits and will be joined by our very own JOHN SHEAHAN of THE DUBLINERS fame . The tickets are priced at E25 and can be purchased from all local outlets. 

I was delighted to hear that my hairdresser Maria Vaughan/Reidy and husband Podge are new parents. Best wishes to them on their baby son Hunter.

I keep meaning to congratulate George Langan on his lovely CD released recently. He keeps me pleasant company in the car. I know George cannot come home as often as he would like but he comes home to us in his songs, some of which he wrote himself. George always credits Paddy Faley for first getting him into writing. I know my father loved to get George’s weekly telephone call and always took pride in his achievements. So keep going George!!

We are into Advent and preparation for Christmas. It is most obvious in the shopping centres. But don’t forget, when buying gifts, to support all local industries also of which we have many in this patch of West Limerick between artists and craftsmen, beauticians and bakers, florists and photographers, knitters and much more.

 

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