Jim Flavin’s Work on Display in Limerick
The Hunt Museum
“It was a special occasion today as we held the official unveiling of the late Jim Flavin’s bronze sculpture “Wave Form” in our museum’s garden!
From Athea in Co. Limerick, Jim Flavin was known by the visual art community of Ireland for his dedication to the art of bronze casting. In 1993 he founded Bronze Art Ltd. together with his wife Rosemary and silversmith Niall Bruton.
We were honoured to have Jim’s wife, Rosemary, and their son Michael present at the unveiling, along with Limerick’s Mayor Gerald Mitchell and Eileen Coleman of Limerick City and County Council, along with other representatives from L.C.C.C.
Wave Form is now a proud permanent fixture to our garden on display with our Museum in a Garden sculptures, open for the public to visit”
Jim’s wife Rosemary sent me the following
“Jim was from Templeathea and he was very pleased to be invited to do the sculpture for ‘The Giant’s Garden’s and the other commemorating the Aherne brothers.
He made a work in bronze for Limerick City in 1987. It had been sited by the Potato Market. The area evolved with urban signage, bicycle park etc and no longer suited.
Limerick City and County Council worked with myself and my son Michael Flavin to have the work refurbished. The bronze was cleaned and repatinated and given a new base in native stone, Wicklow granite. The piece was unveiled in its new home on Tuesday last. The official PR release went out only today from Limerick City.”
Athea will be forever grateful to Jim for sharing his great talent with us and leaving us with such fantastic art work.
Renewing Search for Jack Keane
Following a recent meeting, a further attempt to find Jack Keane, who has been missing for the past three years, will be undertaken on June 15th. Meeting at the Hall at 9.30am and making way to the water tower for 10.00am. The organisers are appealing to anyone who can spare a few hours to come along and help.
The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
The news of a murder in nearby Knockanure over the weekend has cast a great shadow over the parish. One hears of these happenings on the radio and TV every day but when it happens to someone well known locally it is a different matter entirely. Our hearts and prayers are with the Kennelly family in this tying time for them and our hope is that the perpetrator will be brought to justice without delay.
Once again I want to appeal to the G.A.A. to stop playing our National Anthem before football and hurling games. These are our national games, of which we are all really proud, and the idea of playing the anthem is a good one but unfortunately the attention given to it by players and spectators alike is nothing short of insulting. Once upon a time there was a ban by the G.A.A. on so-called “foreign games”, rugby and soccer and even attending one of their games was enough to get a player suspended yet, when the anthem is played at a rugby or soccer match, the proper respect is give to it. Gaelic players don’t stand to attention but continuously move and fidget while the song is being played or sung and then they don’t wait for the final few bars before breaking off. The spectators too ignore the last part of the anthem and drown it out with shouts of encouragement for their teams. The anthem should have great significance to us as a nation. Just listen to the Welsh, Scottish, French, English and many more nations singing their anthems with pride to the very last note. I get sentimental every time I hear them and I would dearly love to hear the same at Croke Park or at any of the stadiums around the country where our games are played. I don’t believe the players mean any disrespect but it has worsened over the years so it is now time to either change the way we behave or not play the anthem at all. It will take a lot to re-educate both players and spectators but it is a job worth doing. Many people gave their life’s blood so that we might be a free nation. We should never take that for granted. I wouldn’t like anyone to think I am anti G.A.A., far from it. The happiest times of my young days were playing for Athea and I must give credit to the local club for the vast improvements they have made over the years. The pitch is in great shape and the facilities are second to none. The latest work on the car park is the icing on the cake with parking spaces clearly outlined on a beautiful tarmac surface. I also notice a lot of people using the walk path around the perimeter. It is a great facility for young and old alike and takes away the danger of walking on the roads.. Fair play to the committee; it is a far cry from the times when we used to tog out under bushes. I remember well cycling into the village for an u-14 match somewhere and then having to walk out the road a little to climb onto the back of an open lorry with turf rails on. When we got to the field of play it might be covered in cow dung because, at certain times of the year it would be used for grazing. The same thing applied to our home venue, the old “high field” directly across the road from the current pitch. At times you might have to hunt the cattle off the pitch before commencing the match. Though the field was uneven and had a slope sideways, there was a great spring in the ground and many is the good match was played on it. Anyway it is good to see the great facilities that our young sports people enjoy today. Well done to all.
In recent years there has been a great push to send everyone to university to study for degrees. The result is there is now a shortage of people in various trades and professions. There is an old saying “he who has a trade has an estate” and it is quite true. The world will always need trades persons and there is good money to be made and great satisfaction to be had from a job well done. I was listening to a story this week on the radio about a young lad at school, many years ago, who had problems with written words and, even though he was quite intelligent, he just couldn’t grasp reading. In today’s world he could get the help necessary to overcome this problem but things were different back then so he was left at the back of the class. His father was the local gravedigger so when he died suddenly the son applied to take over the job. During his interview it was discovered that he could not read so he was told he couldn’t have he job because reading the inscriptions on gravestones was important otherwise people would be buried in the wrong graves. He worked for a farmer for a while and eventually went to America where he did various jobs before going to Texas at a time when people were drilling for oil. He was one of the lucky ones and soon found the “black gold”. He became one of the wealthiest oil tycoons in America and had a great life. One day he was with one of his financial advisors who asked him to read a document. “I can’t read” he said which astonished his employee who said: “you made all this money without being able to read. Imagine how much you could have made if you could read”. “No”, he replied, “if I could read I would be a grave digger back in Ireland”. Over the years I have met many people who were very successful in life despite having very little formal education so having lots of letters after your name is not necessarily the only road to success. The university of life is the best educator of all and lessons learnt in at are never forgotten.
Church Notices
Parish Pastoral Unit (Athea, Abbeyfeale, Mountcollins, Templeglantine and Tournafulla).
Canon Tony Mullins 087 2600414, Fr. Willie Russell 087 2272825, Fr. Denis Mullane 087 2621911 and Fr Dan Lane 087 2533030 (retired).
Masses this week- Tuesday morning 9.30am and Thursday evening 7pm.
Eucharistic Adoration and The Devine Mercy Chaplet on Tuesday morning after mass.
Mass Intentions: Thurs May 30th 7pm – Moss Brouder – 1st Anniversary.
Sat June 1st 7.30pm: Joan O’Connor. Thomas Broderick & Joan Pyke. Margaret O’Connell.
Connie O’Sullivan (1st A/v). Thomas & Kit Woulfe.
All masses are streamed live on https://www.churchservices.tv/athea
Baptisms take place on the fourth weekend of the month. The next baptismal preparation meeting takes place in the sacristy Templeglantine on Tuesday evening June 11th at 8pm.
Parents who wish to baptise their child in the next few months should contact Siobhan on
087-3331459 for further details. First Holy Congratulations to the boys and girls of second class who celebrated their First Holy Communion last weekend. Thank you to their parents, teachers, the school choir, and Margaret Carroll and all who helped prepare the children for the Sacrament. Thanks also to those who helped prepared the church for the occasion.
The annual Corpus Christi Procession through the village will take place on Sat June 9th.
Parish Administration: Tues-Fri 11am-1pm. call Siobhan on 087-3331459, outside these hours text or email [email protected]
Athea Community Council
Lucky Numbers Draw 27/05/2024
No’s Drawn: 7, 8, 16, 18. No Winner
Lucky Dips
Christopher Barrett, Lower Road
Noreen O’Connor, Gortnagross
Rae O’Carroll, Upper Athea
Mike Fitzgibbon, c/o Batt’s Bar
Sellers Prize: Agatha Barrett & Lal Browne
Next Draw: 03/06/’24 Venue: Brown Joe’s
Jackpot €21,000
A very Happy Birthday to Timmy Woulfe who celebrates a significant birthday on June 1st. Timmy is pictured with his beginners set dancing students at Athea Library on Monday night. Wishing Timmy many more years of good health and dancing!
