Musicians taking part in a Trad Session in Donie’s Bar on Easter Sunday night

Athea Community Games

Will have their Sports Day  on Sunday April 28th at Athea GAA Pitch starting at 2pm. All are welcome races for U5 to U16 and fun novelty races.

Memorial Mass

A Memorial Mass will be said for the late John Hunt of Chicago (and formerly of Athea)  in St. Bartholomew’s Church, Athea on Tuesday, May 7th at 7pm.

Ladies Monthly Night Out

The next Ladies Monthly night out will take place on Friday, May 3rd at Brown Joe’s at 9.30pm. This will be a fundraiser for the Lourdes Fund. All the usual games, quiz, bingo and fun. Your support would be appreciated.

Athea BranchComhaltas CeoltoiríEireann

The County Fleadh takes place in Athea over the June Bank Holiday weekend.  There will be a meeting at the Top of the Town on Monday night, April 29th at 9pm to continue making arrangements. We will need a lot of help to run this Fleadh so please, if you can at all, come along to the meeting. This is about promoting Athea and all its businesses so if we all pull together we will have a very successful Fleadh Cheoil

Afternoon Tea Dance

There will be an afternoon tea dance in Fr. Casey’s Clubhouse on Sunday, May 19th with dancing to Mike Condon.  All funds will go to Laura O’Donoghue’s volunteering trip to Zambia with Suas.

Fleadh by the Feale

Abbeyfeale is gearing up for one of the biggest weekends of the year with people travelling from all over Ireland and further afield to attend and some to participate in Fleadh by the Feale over the May Bank Holiday weekend. This promises to be a great gathering with lots of entertainment to suit all tastes.

A Few Thoughts 

By Domhnall de Barra

Memorial Mass for the late John Hunt will be celebrated in St. Bartholomew’s Church, Athea, on May 7th at 7pm.  John lived most of his life in Chicago but was a regular visitor home up to last year. He made the headlines when he appeared on the Late Late Show at the time of the All-Ireland hurling final having flown from America to see his beloved Limerick lift the McCarthy Cup. He caught everyone’s attention with his mental ability and his ready wit and humour.  When asked  if he was nervous about flying at his advantaged age he said that he had asked his doctors advice on the matter and the doctor said “don’t worry, if anything happens to you during the flight, you will be that bit nearer to Heaven”.  John was one of the most interesting men I ever met. I ran into him at Batt’s Bar one evening and, though we had never met before, we got into conversation and I never missed the next couple of hours going by. We discussed various topics from places I knew in America to politics, religion and the general state of the planet.. When he found out I was from Cratloe and who my grandparents were, he went back over the years and I was amazed by his knowledge of the neighbourhood and who lived in each house. He could trace those who had left for America and England and was able to tell me their progress. He had a wealth of funny stories about various people we knew in common and I came away that night wondering how one head could contain all the knowledge he had.  I met him occasionally since then but not nearly enough times. He was very proud of his Irishness and particularly his roots in Athea. The world is a poorer place for his passing but we can rejoice in the fact that he lived a long and eventful life and got to see Limerick win the All-Ireland before he finally went to his eternal reward. I have no doubt he is now in deep conversation with some of his many friends who have gone before him. May he rest in peace.

The year is flying by and we have  just enjoyed the Easter holidays. It was a glorious weekend for a change and gave us all an opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities. It is hard to imagine that it is less than a week ago when we were experiencing winter conditions –  life in Ireland.  As time flies by the dates for the County Fleadh are rushing towards us and preparations are well under way. This is the ninth time Athea has held a county fleadh but times have changed a lot since the last time we hosted the event in 2002.  Like other villages some of our shops and pubs have disappeared so it is all the more important now that we make a success of the event and bring some revenue into the village.  The Comhaltas Committee have been working hard gathering sponsorship for the programme and once again the support from the business community has been fantastic. The running of the fleadh is a huge undertaking and needs a lot of manpower to see it through. We are looking for assistance from anyone who has a couple of hours to spare on either the Saturday or Sunday to fill the roles of door stewards, traffic controllers, wrist band sellers, programme sellers etc. It would be great if we could get enough people so that anybody would not be required except for a couple of hours. If you can help us in any way please let one of the committee know or contact myself on 087 6758762.

Now that the weather has changed we will be faced with another problem; grass cutting. With the best will in the world, our CE scheme will not be able to cover all the work that is necessary, especially if the Tidy Towns are to make a good impression in this year’s competition.  At one time there were two men employed in the village cleaning the streets every day and the Co. Council regularly mowed all the grass in the public areas. That day, however, has gone. Firstly the street cleaners weren’t replaced when they retired and now I am told that the council will no longer be mowing the park areas. This will definitely cause problems for us. We have a programme of work outlined that we just can’t get around to doing what the county council should be doing. Athea Community Council does its best to assist the hall, the Church, Tidy Towns, GAA, graveyards, school and any other organisation that needs help but there is only so much that can be done. The County Council needs to come on board and either get contract workers to keep the grass down or give us extra resources to do so. It would be such a pity if all the good work the Tidy Towns Committee has done was spoiled because the place wasn’t well kept.

Maybe, as council elections are coming up, it would be no harm if people from Athea put pressure on those seeking election to try and get us the help we need. It is surely worth a try

By Kathleen Mullane

Well its’ been a busy week here in Athea since the last week’s newsletter. On Wednesday night last a huge crowd thronged the Memorial Hall for the annual Athea Tidy Towns Fashion Show and what a great night it was, as usual. Well done to the organisers who put so much effort into the show and of course the models both men, women and children were brilliant including Fr. Duggan who “strutted his stuff”. A huge amount of spot-prizes were given out for the raffle and “the best dressed lady” on the night went to Noreen Long sponsored by O’Riordan’s Pharmacy. In all a great night was enjoyed by all.

The Good Friday – Limerick Clean-up had men, women and kids out on the roads gathering up the rubbish, which was collected by the Tidy Towns people that day. Well done to everyone who helped. It’s made a great difference to all the approach roads and byroads into Athea. However the very next morning I picked up 2 cans and more papers that had yet been thrown out again. It’s a pity that these people can’t be “named and shamed” – it might stop them from destroying our roads.

Congrats to Conor Mulvihill and his partner Jane Wrenn who have been blessed with their new baby girl Meabh Mia, a little sister for Saoirse and Dáithí. Congrats also to the proud grandparents Mary T. and Denny Mulvihill, Colbert St.

Well the Easter ceremonies were lovely and well attended on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. The Easter Vigil Mass at 9pm on Saturday night had the paschal fire burning and the altar was adorned with beautiful flowers – thanks to our local florists.

The open AA meeting at the hall on Good Friday night was, as always, very well attended and well done to the speakers and organisers who do so much good work and thanks to those in the kitchen who gave us all lovely tea etc after.

On Tuesday, May 7th there will be a special Memorial Mass for the late John Hunt of Chicago and formerly of Athea who passed away recently at a great age. John, as we know, travelled home to see Limerick win the All-Ireland hurling final last year and featured on the ‘Late Late Show’. He will be remembered fondly here in Athea and beyond by his many friends. Mass will be at 7pm.

Enjoy the glorious weather for the rest of the Easter holidays. It’s been so glorious up to now and Ballybunion  etc thronged. It was also a great day on Saturday last for Rás na Mumhan that passed  by and finished here in Athea. The sight of the pack of bikes and all the different colours “was a sight to behold”. Well done to all who took part.

Well don’t forget to join ‘Split the Bucket’ for the next draw coming up this weekend. Put your €2 in the envelopes provided with your name and number and who knows you may be lucky like our 1st winner Bibi Gleeson who won €100. Buckets are in the pubs, hairdressers, Collins’ etc and the money raised will go towards sending our volunteers and invalids to Lourdes in a few weeks time.

By Peg Prendeville

The fine weather was much appreciated for the Easter weekend. But even though we had lovely sun most days the sun kept a low profile for the Dawn Mass in Kilteery on Easter Sunday morning so we saw no dancing sun but we heard the chirping birds and we admired the mirror-like still water and appreciated the fact that we were all together in prayer in a beautiful setting where the miracle of nature was all around us. Thanks to Gerard Reidy and his friends who prepare the altar there every year, setting up sound and light. At the end of the Mass Gerard, on behalf of all parishioners, thanked Fr Austin for celebrating the Mass which may be the last one as who knows what the situation will be next year with the shortage of priests in the Diocese.

The lovely weather was instrumental in bringing out a large crowd of parents, grandparents and children to the fun run/walk up the Knight’s Walk in Glin on Monday morning. A short walk into the castle grounds and some warm up exercises got everybody fit and ready to get to the top in no time at all. Water, fruit, tea and coffee was at hand at the end of the race which was appreciated by all. It was lovely to see everybody in holiday mood.

I noticed a few poems in last week’s Observer which was nice to see. One by Michael Herbert had mention of lots of local places around the Ballyhahill area. It is amazing what talent can be hidden in people that we are unaware of most of the time. I believe Michael has written a lot of short little poems, many of them relating to local events as well as some nature poems.

I saw that, last week, Domhnall was writing about our local poets who have passed on and thought I would mention that my own father Paddy Faley was born 100 years ago this week – on 25^th April. It is good to see that his name lives on in all the stuff he wrote.

Lots of volunteers in Loughill and Glin and Ballyhahill turned out last Friday to collect the rubbish that others throw freely in our roadsides and ditches. I collected along my own road and next day I noticed that somebody had thrown chip boxes and coke cans on the same stretch again. I will never understand it.

It was nice to see the Ras na Mumhan cyclists passing down through Glenbawn on Saturday at great speed. Well done to Ballyhahill man Barry FitzGerald who was among them. They were lucky with the fine weather for the occasion.