By Kathleen Mullane

“Enthralling”

Oh my God – I don’t know what adjectives to use to describe the “teenage mass” that was celebrated here in our Church on Saturday night last. I could go on and on! Bernadine Enright was ‘the woman at the helm’ and congrats to her in organizing the event. It was great so see our youth involved, and more especially ‘the boys’ who might sometimes think it wasn’t ‘macho’ to be involved! Fr. Duggan hopes that it will be one of many and if Saturday night is anything to go by we could see a great return to a full church. Each and every one of the volunteers did their part and the singing was second to none with Rosie Connelly’s guitar playing and singing evoking a stillness in the church – you could hear “a pin drop”. I’m sure Jade McMahon and Ciara Hunt will do a great job as volunteers in Lourdes with the invalids and no doubt their singing will be enjoyed by everyone. Again well done to all as Fr. Duggan said “we now have the Athea N.S. choir, the Adult choir and now the Teenage choir. And I also think Fr. Duggan must be praised for allowing our young people “to do their own thing” and give them full control – these are the changes that are needed to bring people back to the church – another example was the Lourdes fundraising concert.

And of course don’t forget on this Thursday, April 26th, a Coffee Morning will be held in the hall from 9am-1pm in aid of the Lourdes Invalid Fund – so please come along and support the cause.

West Limerick 102fm wish to thank the people of Athea for supporting their recent church gate collection in aid of W.L.C.R. The amount collected €524.80.

First Communion for the boys and girls of Athea N.S. takes place on this Saturday, April 29th at 11am. Hopefully it will be a nice day for their special occasion.

The closing date for new children starting primary or secondary school this coming September (for school transport) is this Friday 27th April. Only new pupils need apply. Existing pupils will be contacted in July re payments.

There will be no Yoga for the next few weeks until May 21st as Linda Mumbray will be having knee surgery. We wish her all the best.

Frank McNally recently wrote in the ‘Irish Times’ with regard to the famous Dan Ahearne (of Athea fame) who was born 130 years ago on April 12th. An outstanding Irish/American athlete whose hop-skip and jump, with a combined leap of over 50feet got him the World Record in New York in 1910. His older brother Tim won gold in the event at the 1908 Olympics representing Great Britain. The lovely winged bronze feet displayed here near Markievicz Park is a tribute to them.