Colm Hassett putting the finishing touches to the re-decorating of The Gables lately.
It is great to see this building , which was an eyesore in the middle of the village, getting a facelift.
Best of Luck to Colm.

Bodhran Competition

 

The Annual Bodhrán Competition takes place this Saturday night, Nov. 2nd at Batt’s Bar starting at 7.30pm.

It is a night of fun with experts on the goatskin vying for the coveted trophies followed by a session of music and song. A night not to be missed.

 

Athea Gun Club

It’s that time of year again and with the pheasant season fast approaching we would like to encourage people to clean and check their guns thoroughly before use. On Friday November 1st we will hold our annual long tail competition in Batt’s Bar. Not only members but all are welcome on the night for anyone who would like to see exactly what we do on the night. Last entries will be taken at 7.15 and measurements start at 7.30 sharp. I would like to thank farmers and land owners for allowing us to hunt on their lands and on that note I would urge all members to be respectful of landowner’s property and close gates and fences while passing through. Keep membership and insurance with you at all times as you may be asked to produce. I would also ask anyone who has any problems with vermin not to hesitate asking a gun club member for some assistance. Finally, safe shooting and happy hunting

Secretary

 

Thank You

To everyone who supported the Athea Drama Group production in aid of the  Playground Development over the Bank Holiday weekend. It was a fantastic success.

 

The Way I See It

By Domhnall de Barra

I am all for recycling and putting household waste into the proper bins and I try as bet I can to do so but, there is one advance in the attempt to limit harmful waste that is driving me crazy and that is the lids attached to milk and other bottles by a short piece of plastic.  I suppose the idea is good but I find the corks very hard to deal with. It is almost impossible to drink straight from a bottle without splashing liquid all over yourself and trying to re-screw the cork back on is another challenge. Sometimes the cork will not go back on the original grooves without a whole pile of effort so that one might be tempted to say to hell with it and leave the bottle half open. Since I am on the subject of bottles, and milk bottles in particular, has anyone noticed that you cannot rely on the “best before” dates  to be 100% accurate. Two bottles with the same date, sitting beside each other in the same fridge should go sour at the same time but that does not always happen. Is there anything worse than putting milk into tea first thing in the morning and watching the curdled liquid float to the top of the cup, or even worse, not noticing it and taking that first sip of the day to find it gone off. At one time in my life I used to collect milk from farmers for Kerry Co-op. Some farmers were very good at keeping the milk at proper temperatures etc. but there were others who weren’t so hygienic and sometimes the milk would be almost sour before it was collected. There was a test once a month and those who weren’t so good were fined but the milk was going into the same lorry, good and bad. How then would it be possible to say for how long that milk would stay fresh?   Buying fruit, at this time of the year and from now on, is also pot luck. The fact is that most of the fruit we buy should not be ripe now, especially the fruits that are imported from the other side of the world. Once the packet is open there is a very short window before it starts to go bad which results in a lot of fruit being thrown out or put in the bin so keep an eye on the sell by date and if it is down to a day or two, forget it.

A lot of discussion lately about kids and mobile phones at school. Some say they should be banned while others say they are a necessity for contact between parents and children. There is merit to both sides of the argument. Experts tell us that we are all spending too much time scanning our screens and that too much exposure is harmful. There is the problem that young people are open to all kinds of abuse on line so I think that children under a certain age should not have smart phones. I have no problem with them having a simple device that will make and receive calls and text but do nothing else. Then they  are able to call somebody if they need to and they won’t be subject to constant messaging from Snapchat, Tic Toc, Instagram and all the other apps that are now used all the time by the younger generation in particular. It wasn’t a problem in my young days. Not only did we not have mobile phones; we had no phones at all. Contact between people was made by writing letters and the news was got from the postman or somebody who was lucky enough to have a daily paper. The writing of letters was so important that we were taught how to compose them at school. They always started with “Dear so-and-so “ and ended up with “Yours sincerely,  yours truly, yours faithfully” or “your loving son or daughter”. Communication wasn’t instant as letters from abroad often came by boat which took a few weeks sometimes and even local ones took a couple of days. If an urgent message needed to be sent, the telegraph system could be used. This was called sending a telegram or, as we said locally, sending a wire. An operator tapped out a code and this was received at the nearest post office to the recipient and there was a  person waiting to cycle as fast as they could to deliver the message. Nobody wanted to see the “telegram boy” coming as they normally brought bad news such as deaths or accidents. Sometimes they were harmless like the one that was sent by a man who was coming home suddenly and he wanted somebody to meet him at the train station. The message read  “ arriving on the train tomorrow. Can someone meet me. Thady.” but when it was sent over the wires there was no way of writing the symbol for a full stop so it had to be spelled out. It then read “arriving on the train tomorrow stop can someone meet me stop Thady stop”. His mother got the telegram boy to read it for her and when he was finished she said, “what was that devil Thady doing that they had to keep telling him to stop!”   Then there was the woman who, just before Christmas wanted to sent a goose to her relations in Killarney. She enquired off a neighbour as to what was the fastest way  to send a message to Killarney. The neighbour said to wire it from the post Office if it was urgent so she arrived into her local Post Office and put a big parcel on the counter and said to the postmaster “can you wire this goose to Killarney please”.  Times have changed a lot since then but I still think we would all be better off if we had some phone free time every day and they should definitely not be allowed in any classroom.

Church notices

Parish Pastoral Unit (Athea/ Abbeyfeale/ Mountcollins/ Templeglantine/ Tournafulla).

Fr. Tom Mangan 087-2348226, Fr. Willie Russell 087 2272825, Fr. Dan Lane 087 2621911.

Masses this week- Fri. evening 7pm (Feast of all Saints). Sat. morning 10am (All Soul’s Day).

Weekend Mass change to Sunday at 11am commencing next weekend November 3rd

Eucharistic Adoration and The Devine Mercy Chaplet on Tuesday morning after mass.

Confessions any Friday evening after 7pm mass.

Annual Remembrance Mass on Friday November 8th at 7pm. During Mass a candle will be lit for those who died during the past twelve months. For those whose relatives died outside the parish and you wish to remember them on that evening please contact the parish give the name to Siobhan or Theresa (or contact the parish admin – details below).

Bible Study continues in Athea Library every Wednesday evening at 7.30pm.

Mass Intentions- Sunday November 3rd 11am. Hannah Scanlon (months mind).

Elizabeth & Patrick O’Sullivan. Matthew Tierney. Billy Collins. Cathy Moran, her son Tommy and grandson Sean, all deceased members of the Moran family.

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

Baptisms take place on the fourth weekend of the month. Parents who wish to baptise their child in the next few months should contact Siobhan on 087-3331459.

Parish Administration: Tues-Fri 11am-1pm. call Siobhan on 087-3331459, outside of these hours text or email [email protected]     Facebook:  Athea Parish Church Community

 

Athea Community Council

Lucky Numbers Draw 28/10/2024

No’s Drawn: 1,  16, 24,  32.  No Winner

Lucky Dips

Bernie Higgins,                 Glasha

Ann & Jerry Sheehan,      H/Side Drive

Margaret Fitzgerald, Coole East

Andrew Barrett, Mrk. Park

Sellers Prize:  Francie Flavin & D. De Barra

  Next Draw:  04/11/’24  Venue:  White’s

Jackpot €23,200

 

Fundraising Event

at the Clounmacon Community Centre

on Friday 15th November at 8pm

doors open at 7.30pm

Two films will be screened on the night

  1. Nightmare,  first time screened

a horror film 30 mins long filmed in and around clounmacon in 1979 starring Kathleen Egan, Eleanor O’Sullivan, Listowel,

Gerard Moran and Jerry O’Connor, Knockanure,

Joe Stapleton, Athea and Eileen Cronin, Moyvane.

 

  1. Rolling Back the Years

this is the story of 12 children that attended clounmacon school in 1962. original footage of the local people.

Children coming to school, walking along the black ditch.

this film runs for 80 mins.

refreshments will be served   adm €10

 

Grow Mental Health 

0818-474 474         Www.grow.ie

Friendly Community based, peer support groups for anyone experiencing mental health issues. Connection, Hope and Identity by empowering members to nurture their positive wellbeing and personal growth.

Ennis- Maria Assumpta Hall Monday 8pm/ Tuesday 4pm.

Limerick-33 Henry Street(morning and evening groups).

Contact Celia 086-1526966/ Danielle 086-1588626