Congratulations to Kathleen Mulllane celebrating her 70th Birthday
with her husband Paddy and their 11 grandchildren.
Congratulations to Kathleen Mullane who celebrated her 70th Birthday on Tuesday July 12th.Wishing her many more years of good health and happiness.
Limerick folk who were enjoying a trip to
Listowel on Thursday for the annual July horse fair were Mike and Bridie O’ Donnell from
Abbeyfeale with Kathy and Tom Collins from Athea. Photo: Moss Joe Brown.
**Dr Kieran Murphy Celebratory Tea Party Update **
On August 1st 1984 Kieran and Val Murphy chose Athea as their home and set up a GP practice in our community. Since the beginning, Kieran and his staff have taken us under their wings and cared for us all when we needed it most. As a community we are eternally grateful for all Kieran has done for us, and for his selfless commitment to the medical needs of our community.
A sub committee of Athea Community Council, made up of representatives of voluntary groups in the parish, was established tasked with planning an event to mark this important occasion. On Friday December 3rd, on Kieran’s final working day, we presented Kieran with an invitation to a future ‘Celebratory Tea Party’. We are now glad to report that the date of Sunday, August 28th has been chosen for this community celebration, and preparations are well underway!
As part of the celebrations, we are asking people to have a search through their photo albums and to send us on some photographs of Kieran for inclusion in a display on the day. Photographs can be emailed to [email protected] or dropped into Cairde Duchais ASAP.
More updates to follow…..
The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
A few really fine days at last to cheer us up, just a little bit, after what was a very wet and miserable couple of weeks. The long fine evenings brought me back to a time when carnivals were all the rage. The carnival was at least a week long festival, usually organised by the local G.A.A. club to raise funds and provide a bit of entertainment for the people of the parish. A couple of days before the start of the event the amusements rolled into town. There was great excitement amongst the young boys and girls as they watched the big lorries and trailers being manoeuvred expertly into position. The amusements played a big part in every carnival at a time when there was very little in the way of entertainment. Even watching them erect the tents and platforms for the various rides and stalls was exciting in itself. They opened up early on the evening of the first day and every other night after that. Of course they were open all day on Sundays. Unlike today’s elaborate constructions, the amusements long ago were fairly simple. There were the swinging boats, chairoplanes, bumpers, rifle range and hobby horses for the younger kids. There was also a stall filled with ornaments and useful items that were raffled every ten minutes or so. You bought your ticket and hoped your number would be drawn. If you were lucky enough to win, you would probably have spent a lot more than what the prize would cost in a shop but there was a great buzz attached to having the winning ticket. The swinging boats attracted young men who tried, by pulling hard on the rope, to make the boat go as high as possible. You could see the effort they were putting in as their ties flew in the wind behind them. In those days every young man wore a collar and tie when going out of a night especially as the trip to the amusements would be followed by a night at the dance. There was dancing nightly, usually in a marquee erected in some field, to some of the best show-bands doing the rounds at the time.. There were also various events organised for different evenings of the week such as churn rolling, slow cycle races, tossing the sheaf, donkey derby, athletics, tug-of-war, fancy dress, Carnival Queen and many more. A football or hurling tournament took place in the G.A.A, pitch and attracted teams from all the neighbouring clubs so there was something for everyone to enjoy. The pubs profited as well from the big crowds that gathered, not only from the parish but from neighbouring ones as well. They got an extension to opening hours which allowed them to keep serving a couple of hours longer than normal. My favourite was the rifle range. There would be a prize for a high score which was achieved by hitting the scorecard as near to the middle as possible at a distance of about fifteen feet. The further away from the bull’s eye, the lower the score. I was a good marksman but I learned early on that the sights on the rifles were tampered with to avoid having to give away prizes. I used to aim at the bull and then figure out how far away the shot mark was and then aim, taking this measurement into consideration. After a couple of turns I had it off pat and usually got a maximum once during the night. The man in charge soon copped on and I was banned after winning a few prizes.
The carnivals petered out at the end of the show-band and dancehall era and they were a great loss. It was good harmless fun and gave us all an opportunity to celebrate together as a community. The carnival was also the start of many a romance, some that ended up in wedlock. Yes, they were simpler days but there was a magic about them that no amount of modern technology can replace.
An article in a newspaper lately showed how much we are being screwed in this country by the big supermarkets. It compared prices for goods sold in British and Irish chains of the same stores and found that the Irish prices were far higher than those across the water, even for goods manufactured in this country. No wonder the big boys refer to Ireland as “treasure island”. This has been going on for years and we don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. It is part of a culture that says the acceptable charge for any item is what the market will take. We see this in hotel prices and the cost of renting a house. The costs soar when demand rises and supply falls but they could make a decent profit without charging astronomical prices just because they can. The price of crude oil has fallen regularly over the past couple of weeks but the price at the pumps stays well in excess of €2 a litre. If the price of crude had risen the cost at the pumps would have risen overnight. No, the market is driven by greed and the ordinary citizen is the victim. The war in Ukraine is being blamed for most of the price hikes but there are goods that are not affected by any outside influence which have risen sharply just because the opportunity is there and we have come to accept it.
My son Danjoe and his family are coming home next week for a few days holiday and, as he usually does, he tried to book a rental car. The price he was asked was over three times what it was the last time he was home last year. How can that be justified?. He told them what to do with their car and we have made other arrangements. While on the subject of rip-offs, how is the price of alcohol free beer more than the normal type? They say it costs more to extract the alcohol but what they don’t mention is the fact that there isn’t any government tax on the alcohol-free. If they are serious about reducing the consumption of alcohol and avoiding drink driving then wouldn’t it make sense to sell the product at the same margin of profit as the normal beers but, then again, that would be using common sense and that commodity is in very short supply at the moment.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH, ATHEA
Athea Parish Church Notices
Saturday Evening Mass July 16th at 7.30pm
Mass Intentions: Mary & Jimmy Dee. Margaret & Maurice Danaher. Johnny Sheehy. Bridie & Eamon Riordan. Nora Mulvihill.
Readers: Caroline Pierse & Linda Hunt
Eucharistic Ministers: Yvonne Roche & Margaret Enright.
Weekday Mass this coming week: Thursday morning at 9.30am.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the Devine Mercy Chaplet on Thursday morning.
Recent Deaths: We extend our sympathy to the family of Patrick Cotter, Cratloe West whose funeral takes place today Tuesday and the O’Halloran family on the recent death of Michael (Mike) O’Halloran, late of Beenanaspig, Athea and Staten Island, New York.
All masses can be viewed online via the following link https://www.churchservices.tv/athea
Parish office hours: (Mon – Fri) 11am to 1pm. Contact Siobhán on 087-3331459 or email [email protected] – outside of these hours please leave a voice/text message. The next baptism course will be on Tuesday July 12th.