Paddy Dalton, Dirreen, celebrating with his Aunt Sr. Rosarii O’Sullivan, Ardfoyle Cork and formerly Dirreen, Athea, on her 103rd birthday. Sr. Rosarrii received her 3rd special commemorative coin from the state, along with a congratulatory letter signed by the President Michael D Higgins.
Athea GAA Celebration Afternoon
You are invited to a Celebration afternoon on
Bank Holiday Monday May 1st
at 2pm at the Hall
where we will honour the appointment of
Johnny Mullane and Timmy Woulfe
as joint vice presidents of the Club,
and also honour the contribution of both
Pat O Sullivan and Paul Curry to Athea GAA.
Everyone welcome
Scrap Metal Fundraiser
Athea GAA Spring into recycling mode. What we need: Household items. Bicycles, go-karts, goal posts, swing sets, pots, pans, cutlery etc. Stoves, coal buckets, shovels, radiators, sinks, tanks, taps, copper & brass products. Farmyard & other items (examples) Gates, feeders, metal wiring, wheelbarrows, tanks, b
arrels, buckets, engines, scrap parts, batteries, RSJs, metal sheeting, & other scrap metal, old cars, farm machinery. Contact: Tina 087-9355667, Diarmuid 087-6986798. Liz 087-6699783
Duck and Swan
Will take place at Batt’s Bar at 9pm on the first Friday in May
The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
Unfortunately, Lillian is out with Covid this week so, if you find any typos or other mistakes it is because she is not here to correct my shoddy work. Hope she recovers soon. Putting the newsletter together every week is not an easy job but Lillian makes it look easy, juggling all the photos, club notices, anniversaries, advertisements etc and trying to fit them all into the space available. My job is to do this piece, the crossword, work with the photographs, help with the articles do the printing and distribution. Somehow it all comes together but I suppose it is like second nature, now that we have being doing it for so long. Doing this piece every week has its own challenges. Sometimes I sit down to write and the mind goes totally blank. When that happens I just have to leave it and come back later hoping I will get some inspiration from somewhere. Touch wood, I haven’t missed a week yet but when I do I will know it is time to give up. People often ask me if I am retired and I reply that I am trying to but find it difficult. I am only working part-time now and that is not entirely by choice. The printing industry has changed over the years and the small rural printer is in danger of extinction because of changing trends. I used to make a living printing posters, fliers, invoice books and business cards. A few years ago every event was advertised by fliers and posters. They were put in every available window and put under the wipers of cars parked in the church yard or on the street. The practice of putting them on cars was outlawed because of the litter they created but the arrival of the personal computer meant that, through social media, notices of events could be quickly posted on line with no cost and no need for printing. The business cards went the same way. I would do hundreds of invoice and quotations for big and medium firms but now they send an invoice attached to an e-mail and the customer has to print it off. There is nothing wrong with that as it saves money and paper and does not need a stamp to deliver it but it means that there is less work for printers all over the country. Times have changed and are still changing at an alarming rate. We will soon be a paperless and cashless society. Some people don’t like using bank cards instead of hard cash. I must admit I prefer using the card, especially the one on the phone when there is no limit to the amount you can “tap”. It has its drawbacks though. There is something to be said for knowing how much money you have in your pocket and not being able to spend more than you have on your person while shopping. With the card it is very easy to go into debt and this causes great problems, especially in the betting industry. Many is the person who has gone broke because they were gambling with money they didn’t have and did not realise until their cards were maxed out and they owed the banks a fortune. Betting really is a mugs game, the bookie always comes out on top in the end but there is no harm in having the odd flutter provided one is able to afford it and it does not become an addiction. I don’t go to races anymore but, when I did, I used to have a €10 bet on five races. That was the cost of my day out along with the entrance fee and I was happy if I did not win anything. If, on the other hand, I was lucky enough to back a winner, it was a bonus and I came home delighted with myself. I loved listening to the conversations between races. There were so many “experts” who knew the form and the “whispers” from the stables, giving tips to each other and running from bookie to bookie trying to get the best price. Sometimes they got it right but most of the time they got it wrong. I knew a good few of these “experts” when I used to call to the bookies in England long ago. They knew every runner’s pedigree and how fast or slow they were and what chances they really had but they all had two things in common – they hadn’t an arse in their trousers or a sole in their shoes!!
Getting back to the changes in the printing game, it is difficult to see how this newsletter can be kept going into the future with dwindling ales and rising costs. At the moment it is losing money if I included the cost of my labour and time spent on it. The changing trends mean younger generations are not buying newspapers and issues like ours anymore. News and other information are available at the touch of a button on smart phones, tablets and even watches so there is a fall off in sales which will eventually lead to closure. The decline in rural villages is also a factor. At one stage, the back page of the newsletter was full of ads from local businesses, especially the three big pubs, The Top of the Town, The Gables and Paddy Drury’s, letting people know what bands were playing at the weekends and what other activities were taking place. Now there are no ads for pubs as two of them are closed and the weekend entertainment has changed completely. We also had four outlets for sales in the village but now we have only one. I would hate to see the newsletter close but sometimes I think I am a bit like King Canute, trying in vein to keep back the tide. I really have enjoyed producing Athea & District News for the past thirty years or so and I hope we have given a voice to clubs, organisations and individuals in the parish and beyond. I am not going to close just yet but the writing is on the wall and, to be honest, at this stage of my life I haven’t got the fight in me to continue indefinitely. Maybe there is some way of keeping the newsletter alive and if any of you out there has any idea as to how it could be achieved, pleas let me know. In the meantime enjoy it while you can.
They say you will never miss the water until the well runs dry.
St. Bartholomew’s Church Notices
Saturday Apr 29th 7.30p – Intentions:
Months Mind – John Horgan.
Anniversaries :
Denny & Eileen Kelly (Coole West),
their daughters Helen & Peggy and son Joe.
Ellie & Bob Scanlon (Knocknagorna),
Richard (Dick) Woulfe,
Nora Barrett (Rooskagh),
Patrick Dalton (Gortnagross).
Ministers of the Word:
Margaret Cotter & Mike Hayes.
Ministers of the Eucharist:
Catherine Woulfe & Angela Brouder O’Byrne.
All masses are streamed live on https://www,churchservices.tv/athea
Baptisms on the 4th Saturday of the month at 2.30 from April to Oct incl. Next baptism course on Tues evening May 9th at 8pm.
Parish Office: Mon/Wed/Fri 11am-1pm. Call 087-3331459, email [email protected]
Trocaire Boxes can be handed at any mass during the week or at the weekend from now on.
Athea Community Council
Lucky Numbers Draw
24/04/2023
No’s Drawn: 8, 17, 20, 29
No Winner
Lucky Dips
€20 Liam & Angela, c/o White’s
Mike McAuliffe, Knocknagorna
Kieran Griffin, Athea
Paddy & Mags Mac, Col;lins’ Shop
Sellers Prizes:
Eilish Geoghegan & Lal Brown
Next Draw
Monday, 1st. May 2023
at Batt’s Bar
Jackpot €15,600

Marian and Jeremiah O’Connor, Upper Athea, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Perth, Australia with Diarmuid, Ellie, Aoife and Alma O’Connor. They got a fine day