By Peg Prendeville

Peg and Jim Prendeville with daughter Lisa and grandchild Robyn at Listowel Garden Centre.

It is good to get time out and so I was lucky enough to get to have a ramble around Muckross Gardens last Sunday on my own while Jim spent the day with his daughter Lisa and grandchildren. It was a win-win for both of us. Killarney was busy with lots of families out walking and cycling and taking in the fresh air under a blue, autumn sky. It was raining leaves everywhere and I enjoyed watching them float to the ground as I walked along. (I did not have to gather them, like I do at home!) I left feeling energised. On the way home I stopped off at An Siopa Milseán in Abbeyfeale. This is the new sweet shop/convenience shop which serves Badger and Dodo coffee, tea, hot chocolate, ice-cream, home-baking and an extensive selection of sweets and groceries. It is a little heaven for children with every variety of sweet you could think of. They are doing lovely children’s sweet hampers too. Passing through Athea I took a little stroll on the river walk. All in all it was a relaxing day.

Monday was physio day in Listowel for Jim, so, again, I killed two birds with one stone and visited Listowel Garden centre with Lisa and her youngest child Robyn who will be 2 on Christmas Eve. This has become a little tradition for us every year before Christmas and is always enjoyable. We have a coffee in the café before moseying around all the Christmas decorations. This is another beautiful shop for children to indulge their fantasies. I grabbed a few extra minutes to visit Woulfe’s bookshop which I have not been in since Covid began. I love this independent bookshop and admire how Brenda is not intimidated by the giant next door. Long may she continue to thrive.

Friday night is Late Late Toy Show which has become an institution in Ireland signalling the real start of the Christmas season. Still too early for me to put up decorations but I know that many families aim for this date. Sure the children love it and they need as much fun and imagination as they can get to dampen the unceasing threat of Covid.

I am enjoying these beautiful crisp days which will not last long I believe. Wet and windy is promised for the weekend, I think. So make the best of the good days

List of Irish names and phrases by Timmy Woulfe

Timmy Woulfe, launched his book “As Tough as Tathfhéithleann”, a list of Irish words and phrases which were commonly used in the parish in the last century, at Con Colbert Community Hall on Friday Nov. 19th. Domhnall de Barra did the honours on the night and also wrote the foreword for the book. This is the foreword:

“The great Listowel  playwright, John B. Keane, once wrote a play in Irish, to the amazement of many who knew him as a prominent member of the Language Freedom Movement, a group campaigning for the abolition of compulsory Irish in the education system.  When asked, in a radio interview, why he did this he explained that while he was taking a little refreshment  at Al Roche’s Pub in Lyrecrompane one day, a young man, who had been in England for a few months, came into the bar, dressed up in  the latest London fashion with the hair jelled to the nines, and swaggered up to the counter. Two elderly men, who were enjoying a quiet pint, cast their eyes over the new arrival and one of them said to the other; “will you look at the éirí in aired on my bachach”.  On reflection he realised that half the words used were Irish and that, growing up in North Kerry he had heard the local people speak in the same manner. This was not away back in the mists of time but in the 1970s which is quite recent. I was born in 1945 and as I learned to speak my vocabulary was full of Irish words. We never even thought of them as Irish; they were just the words used to describe people, places and  objects. Because we spoke English with an Irish “blas” (look it up!) the words fitted in seamlessly and embellished the language of the time. The grammar might not be correct but, as Breandán Feiriteur, a teacher from the West Kerry Gaeltacht who taught in Athea for a while, once said; “the reason I love being in Athea is that the people of the area speak Irish through the medium of English”. It was a transition period when the English language hadn’t quite taken over completely and we were happy enough using both tongues. We brought in a “gabhál” of turf, got a “beart” of hay for the cattle, turned “bán” in the field and washed ourselves in the “cumar”. Some of the Irish words had no direct English translation e.g. “cidhrán”, a word that exists to this present day. Somehow, the nearest translation “small sod of turf” does not have the same descriptive quality. I thought it was important that a record be kept of these words and phrases but I hadn’t the time, patience or knowledge to do a proper job so I am delighted that Timmy Woulfe, in his retirement, has put pen to paper and continued a body of work he started over half a century ago in Knocknagorna School. It is a comprehensive list that gives us an insight into a time in Ireland when we were just getting used to independence in a world ravaged by two world wars, a war of independence and a civil war. It will be a valuable document for scholars of the future who have an interest if the folklore of Ireland. These Irish words, part of one of the oldest languages in Europe, are a direct link to the past.  They were handed down orally from generation to generation over the centuries, long before they were written. Alas, with the influence of television, social media and education for all, they are almost forgotten and, as a nation, we are all the poorer for that. Thanks to Timmy, we now have a booklet that will bring back memories to those of us of a certain age and introduce younger readers to the rich tapestry of Irish words that embellished our every day oral communications not all that long ago.”

ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH, ATHEA

Mass Intentions next weekend

Fri Nov 26^th 7.30pm:                     John O’Connell & his sons John and William.

Sat Nov 27^th 7.30om: Ger O’Connor (Former Parish Clerk). Denny & Bridie Ahern. Mrs Kit Flynn. Larry & Nora McAuliffe and all deceased members of the McAuliffe & Tierney families.

Sun Nov 28^th 10.30am: Fr. Gerry Roche, Tony Barrett & Johnny Collins

All masses are streamed live on https://www.churchservices.tv/athea

If you wish to book a mass etc., phone Siobhán on 087-2237858

Ministers of the Word and Ministers of the Eucharist 

Sat 27/11    Patsy Hayes & Betty Ahern Sun 28/11 M. Donovan  &  Mary Dalton

Baptismal Information: Any parent wishing to baptise their child must have completed the baptismal course. Next course Tues Dec 14^th – Please contact Theresa for further details 087 1513565

By Kathleen Mullane

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This week sees the parish newsletter online only, there is no printed version as the man at the Helm -Domhnall de Barra is over in America as are a few more people from our area, some gone to celebrate Thanksgiving along with their families, which I’m sure they were so looking forward to as they hadn’t seen their loved ones due to Covid for so long. We wish all a very happy Thanksgiving and indeed all those in our area who may have USA connections and will be thinking of the special day on this Thursday which is their Christmas Day. I’m sure Lillian will have everything in order in the Cairde Duchais office  in Domhnall’s absence.

Our temperatures have gone down these past couple of days with much cooler nights, frosty mornings, the heat on, however its beautiful during the daytime especially from mid morning to late afternoon time, so wrap up and enjoy and hopefully the frosty weather will kill off some of the bugs that are going around at the moment more especially Covid which it seems has a terrible grip on Europe especially at the moment with Austria going into total Lockdown  and its awful to see the riots with Frustration being the major element.

Offertory Boxes are being distributed at the moment to all the townlands, you are asked to note that your existing number may have changed. If by any chance you haven’t received your box you can contact Siobhán or Fr Brendan, or indeed myself and I can pass on the message to them. It’s important that as many parishioners as possible give a little each week, or indeed you can give whichever way is suitable for you, whether monthly or quarterly, as the envelope collection is the main income for the church and with the decline in priests who knows how long our church will be open and how long we will have a priest.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:-

If you never have time for anything, you never will if you don’t make time yourself for it.