Athea people involved in the play
Sean Liston Donal Woulfe, Domhnall de Barra, Jason Quinn and Kay O’Sullivan
‘Highest House on the Mountain’ at Glorach, Abbeyfeale
The John B Keane classic ‘The Highest House on the Mountain’ will be starting on January 12th, with performances continuing on 14th, 15th, 17th, 20th, 21st and 22nd.
This is a wonderful play exploring the themes of identity, loneliness, addiction, wickedness and the secrets kept by all of the characters involved. There is a strong Athea presence in the cast and crew in this play produced by Donal Woulfe
Cast members back row: Michael O’Connor, Angeline O’Donnell, Damien Ahern, Roger Ryan, Tommy Denihan
Front Row: Tom O’Keeffe, Annette O’Donnell & Oliver McGrath
Athea Drama Group
Athea Drama Group have chosen to stage the hilarious comedy ‘Anyone Could Rob a Bank’ by Tom Coffey as our 2017 production.
The play, directed by Annette O’Donnell, centres around Badger Grey, a know-all shopkeeper in a small town in Ireland in the 1960’s. He has a lot to contend with – his absent minded wife Sarah, his nervey brother Jereen, and his flighty daughter Noreen, and his nephew Mikey, the would-be professional boxer.
Things take a turn for the worse when, after discussing a newspaper article about a foiled bank robbery in Dublin with his brother and their neighbour Windy, Badger boasts that if he was to rob a bank, he could do a better job.
So he invents a plan to rob a local bank, of course with no intentions to carry it out. All hell breaks out when the bank gets robbed and the three lads start pointing fingers at each other. It promises to be a show not to be missed.
The cast is made up of Oliver McGrath, Tommy Denihan, Tom O’Keeffe, Angeline O’Donnell, Annette O’Donnell, Roger Ryan, Michael O’Connor & Damien Ahern.
The play will be staged at the Con Colbert Memorial Hall on Feb 9th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th & 19th . Save the date!
Thank You
Thank you to everyone that gave so generously to the Church Gate Collection which took place on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day for The Ronald McDonald House and Parents Accommodation which is on the grounds of Crumlin’s Children’s Hospital in Dublin. The total sum of €875 was collected.
Also on Friday night last Little Christmas Theresa O’Halloran had one of her ladies nights in Brown Joe’s which was a fantastic night and hugely supported by all the ladies. Many thanks to everyone who so kindly donated spot prizes and money on the night. Thank you Theresa, Mark and your helpers. The money collected on the night was €1,550 and which will also go towards the Ronald McDonald House and Parents Accommodation.
The total sum raised was between both events was €2,425. A huge thank you to everyone.
Lip Sync Fundraiser
Tickets are available at Brouder’s Shop and Collins’ Shop for the Athea GAA Lip Sync fundraiser which takes place on February 4th in The Devon Inn Hotel. You are advised to buy early as the tickets are in great demand.
Seize the Day
The festive season has come and gone once more and we are back to normal, whatever passes for that in our lives. Christmas brings out the best in people who wish each other well both for Christmas and the New Year. The word “happy” is used quite a lot. “Happy Christmas” is the normal greeting for a while leading up to the big day. I was thinking about this lately and it got me wondering about happiness and how we perceive it. Truth be told happiness is best seen retrospectively. We can look back and say “we were happy in those days” but when we were actually living through them did we really feel the happiness ? We may have in a small way but other thoughts and problems took up our attention and we missed out. Happiness is relative. If you have a bad toothache you imagine you would be happy if you didn’t have it but for most of our lives we don’t have toothache and are we happy? Of course not. The man who has little money thinks he would be happy if he won the lottery. Money would cure all his ills but it does not. It can bring far more problems than benefits. Millionaires and billionaires have their worries and troubles as well. We think getting bigger and better things is he answer.
When I was young and walking to school I thought I would be on the pigs back if I had a bicycle. When I eventually got the bike I wanted one with a three speed gear (younger readers ask your grandparents about that!). When I had achieved that I wanted a motorbike. In the fullness of time that arrived and of course I wanted a bigger and faster one. I got that and it nearly killed me. I came off it in an accident at high speed on the M1 in England and was lucky to roll along the grass verge and suffer no more than cuts and bruises. Not much happiness there. That was the end of the motorbike and I progressed to cars. The same pattern repeated itself. Bigger cars, flashier cars, faster cars and in the end brand new cars. They brought happiness for a little while especially when driving a new car and I imagined everyone was looking at me with envy. Of course they were not and after a very short time, the shiny new car had lost its magic and was only a means of transport from A to B
When I went to school I was only just four years old. Most of the others in my class were five and many six. Added to that the fact that I was physically small anyway left me as the smallest and weakest. This had a profound effect on me and I began to wish I was older. I clearly remember walking from school on my own one day, at the age of seven, and thinking that “seven” sounded very soft. Eight had much more of a bite to it, nine was even better and ten. Oh ten was really a target to achieve; double figures. Of course when I reached ten I wanted to be a teenager and that brought all the troubles of growing up and understanding the changes of puberty and the accompanying self doubt which made me want to be out of the teens and a “man of the world” Then I wanted to get married. I always wanted to be older thinking I would be happy when that happened. We sometimes do it with our children, We are delighted when they are born but then we start to wish they were able to walk and talk. Then we want them out of nappies and going to school. We can’t wait for them to be old enough to play ball with us or some other adventure we can share. Before we know it they have grown up and formed their own friendships and we are no longer that important in their lives. We have wished their lives away instead of enjoying every day as it came.
We miss so many opportunities to be happy by trying to attain some mythical goal on the future. It is the simple things make us really happy. A smile from the right person, a hug from a young child, kisses from someone we love or even being told we matter are things that cost nothing but they have the ability to give us that elusive thing called happiness. So, let us not waste our time looking into the future and what it might bring, it may never come. All we have is today and we should seize it with all our energy and enjoy it. If you love somebody, tell them that today. How many times have we listened to eulogies extolling the virtues of someone who has just died. Wouldn’t it have been much better if we told them that when they were alive and could have made them happy? Yesterday is gone; we can’t change anything about it Tomorrow is not here yet and may never come so we can’t change that but we do have today.
There will be times and things that happen that will bring us happiness today. Grab them with both hands and each day will bring its own share of “happiness” I will be happy when I have this finished!!
Domhnall de Barra