By Peg Prendeville

St Brigid’s Day has come and gone and so we celebrate the start of spring. It is lovely to see the stretch in the days and to see the daffodils peeping up and even flowering in some places already.

Congratulations to Estuary Rollers who presented Milford Hospice with a cheque to the value of €6515, from the first ever Christmas Tractor Run. This was presented in Knockdown on Saturday night. They wish to extend a huge thank you to participants, sponsors, volunteers and spectators. Well done to all involved.

Ballyhahill Going Strong continues its Aqua-aerobics in Askeaton on each Monday at 2.15 pm. All welcome.

Ballyhahill NS Parents Association would like to thank all those who bought lines in the Christmas Raffle in December. Congratulations to the Winners: Pat Massey, Martin McSweeney , Noelle Leahy , Brigid Hayes , Sarah Walsh, Katie Taylor and Rita O Connell. There are still some Parish Calendars for sale if anyone is looking for one. €10. Your support is much appreciated.

A huge crowd attended the first anniversary Mass in memory of Liam Finucane last Saturday night in Ballyhahill. Liam died on St Bridget’s Day 2019 and is sadly missed by all who knew him. His mother Breda expressed her gratitude at all the help and support they have gotten through the year from family, neighbours, friends and working colleagues. It has helped them to cope with their grief. It has often been said that we Irish deal well with grief in comparison to our English neighbours and I have to agree. We are more anxious to talk about it and in that way help to ease the pain of it whereas the people I know from the UK tend not to want to talk about it or to visit funeral parlours in the way we do in Ireland.

I heard the following information on the radio on Monday and thought I should share it. A new 24-hour mental health phone line has been launched to assist people access supports and services. Callers to the ‘Your Mental Health’ information number will be connected to the most appropriate service provider for their needs, nationally or locally, by trained National Ambulance Service (NAS) personnel. The freephone service can be contacted on 1800 111 888.