The Ahern Family, Gortnagross, pictured on the occasion of Mick’s 60th Birthday. Jim, Mary, 
Mick,
Margaret
& Tom.   

Dr. Murphy Retirement

Sunday August 28th will be a special day for the parish, and indeed for Kieran and his family, as we gather to mark the retirement of Dr. Murphy and to honour his selfless commitment to the parish and his many patients. A working group made up of many voluntary organisations have come together to plan a Celebratory Tea Party & Community Presentation, funded with pleasure by our voluntary organisations.

This is an open invite for all to attend to show your appreciation for all Kieran

 and his family has done for Athea and the surrounding areas. Any bakers willing to provide goods on the day are asked to contact Helen O’Connor on 087 2311064. There will also be a ‘wall of gratitude’ where we will be inviting people to come and leave a message for Kieran in the days leading up to the Tea Party – more information on this later.

Athea Drama Group

Our AGM will take place on August 31st at 8pm at Con Colbert Memorial Hall. We hope to put plans in place for our 2023 production & hit the stage in Spring 2023. Come along to our AGM. New members especially welcome.

Athea Vintage Club on the Road Again September 4th

Athea Vintage Club are on the road again with their annual Charity Road Run on Sunday September 4^th 2022.

Firstly, we would like to thank everyone who has supported the club and our various charities. The last few years have been turbulent for everyone, covid has taught people to appreciate each other more than ever. Last year the committee made the decision to thank our frontline local health workers. The committee were delighted to present a small token of appreciation to Áine O’Riordan of O’Riordans Pharmacy and Dr. Kieran Murphy of Westbury Medical Centre to thank them and their staff for supporting our community during the pandemic.

Another organisation that worked tirelessly in Athea last year was Abbeyfeale & District Search and Rescue. It is a service no family want to utilise but when they are needed, the dedication of the volunteers is unsurpassed. The committee wanted to again give a gesture to this outstanding organisation who work tirelessly during the most difficult of situations.

While last year was a fantastic success we are hoping that this year will again bring a day of fun & laughter for the whole family.

Sunday September 4th Athea Vintage Club will hold its annual Road Run. The club is based in scenic West Limerick and each year holds this event to benefit local charities. We hope that all friends, supporters & participants will enjoy the day & have a smile on their face as beautiful vehicles of years past parade throughout the route. We are looking forward to welcoming vintage cars, tractors, bikes and modern tractors once again to our lovely village.

Sunday September 4th will prove no different as the club have identified routes that not alone have amazing views but are a pleasure to drive for all Vintage lovers.

Registration will begin at 11.30am in the Top of the Town Bar and a hearty welcome to all is guaranteed.

Once again, we will hold our “Junior Road Run”, all children are welcome once again to bring their Go Karts, Tractors, Bikes & Trikes. This was a great success last year and we hope to have even more fun this year. Our Juniors will be assembling in the Church car park at 12pm.

The day is a treat for all to view the amazing array of cars, tractors and bikes from bygone years, each being preserved by their owners.

So polish that vehicle, grab your keys and rev that engine and join us in Athea  Sunday Sept 4th at 11.30am to see what treats Athea Vintage Club have to offer for all vehicle enthusiasts.

For further information please see Facebook  Athea Vintage Club or phone Francie on 0876666850

The Way I See It

By Domhnall de Barra

The media, this week paid much attention to Puck Fair in Killorglin and the fact that the goat, “King Puck”, was suspended up in the air in a cage for a period that would last for three days. Concern for the animal’s welfare in the midst of a heat wave started the controversy but it soon developed into animal’s rights and whether a wild animal should be removed from his natural environment and held captive for three days. Assurances that the animal was well looked after and attended by a vet regularly got short shrift from those who believe that all animals should be allowed roam free, unhindered by human interference. This idea that animals have a great time in the wild and frolic gaily from morning to night is very far from reality. The animal world is a savage, eat or be eaten place where the smaller you are, the cuter you have to be to survive. If some of the people who took part in the discussion were alive when I was growing up there wouldn’t be much work done. Farmers used animals for centuries to draw carts and heavy farm machinery. It was far worse for a horse to be tackled to a plough or a mowing machine, all day long and day after day, than for a puck goat to be fed and found in a cage for three days. The old donkey earned his keep as well, going to the creamery or drawing out turf in the bog and sometimes he had to be encouraged with a belt of a stick. Even today, animals are regularly kept in confinement to be used for people’s entertainment. Wild horses and bulls are a big part of rodeos in America and there was bull fighting in Spain. Today we have horses who are bred and trained for racing. Their whole life is managed and when they are racing they have to take a jockey on their backs and will get beaten with a whip to make them go faster. They won’t have the luxury of being released after three days. I am not saying it is right but I just want to make the comparison with Puck Fair and the “over the top” comments of some of the contributors to the debate. This tradition, of hoisting a goat over the fair, goes back some four hundred years and yet this is the first time I have heard anyone complaining about it.  I agree with points made about the excessive heat and that the animal should not be unduly exposed to it and maybe it is time to look at replacing the living animal with a statue. Those who are completely opposed to it are alerted now and will be watching out next year. It is all great publicity for the festival in Killorglin which is enjoyed every year by so many visitors to the town. On one occasion, back in the 1960’s, I was home on holidays at this time of the year. My mother asked me if I would bring some meat from town so I went to Louis Ahern’s butcher’s shop and got what she wanted. I put it into the back seat of the car and turned for home. As was the custom at the time, I pulled up at Jim Lane’s Bar to have one drink so as not to take the curse of the town with me!  My neighbour, Donie Cusack, God be good to him, was inside and he asked me if I would go for a bit of a drive with him. I said Ok, locked my own car and we headed off out the Killarney road. Every time I asked him where we were going he said it wouldn’t be long now until we eventually finished up at Puck Fair which was in full swing. Two days later we arrived back in Abbeyfeale after having a whale of a time. but my mother wasn’t too impressed, I can tell you. I can’t let the topic of Puck Fair go without mentioning the behaviour of Joe Duffy on the Liveline programme that hosted the debate. Anyone who reads this column will know that I am not Joe’s biggest fan and this time around he gave me more cause to dislike the way he conducts himself. Instead of facilitating the debate in an impartial manner he came down strongly on the side of those who are totally against using the goat at the fair. The show should give everyone an opportunity to express their opinions but Joe succeeded in shouting down a member of the Killorglin organising committee and wouldn’t let him be heard. There were more than enough people to make the case for the prosecution without Joe becoming judge, jury and executioner. He could learn a lot from Katie Hannon and how she runs the show when he is absent.  Maybe the animal rights people are correct but when I hear of  animals being “stressed” I can’t believe it I don’t think it is right for us to attribute  emotions to them as if they were human. No animal should be mistreated and the majority of owners take great care of their stock but when you think of all the animals who are regularly killed so that people may eat, the keeping of a goat away from his natural environment for a few days pales into insignificance.

On the lighter side, a holiday maker in Madrid  during the bull-fighting season, asked for the delicacy of the house on his first night in the hotel restaurant. The waiter brought him what looked like two big meat balls on a plate. They were delicious and when he asked what was in them the waiter told him they were the testicles of the bull who had died in the ring that day. The next two evenings he had the same but on the third evening the contents of the plate were much smaller. When he asked the waiter if they were from the bull fight he was assured they were. “Why are they so small?”  he asked, to which the waiter replied, “Sadly, Senor, the Matidor, he do not always win”.  Food for thought!!

ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH, ATHEA

Athea Parish Church Notices

Mass Intentions next weekend Sat Aug 20^th at 7.30pm:

Patsy Brosnan – Month’s Mind. Eileen Tierney.  Ned & Delia Langan. Michael & Sean Quinn. Sr. Ann Ahern and her parents Tom & Johanna. Josephine Luibheid (nee Griffin, Glenagragra).

Readers: Yvonne Roche & Mairead Donovan.

Eucharistic Ministers: Eilish Geoghegan & Pat Higgins.

Morning mass Friday at 9.30am followed by Eucharistic Adoration and the Devine Mercy Chaplet.

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.