Mar/25

News – 11/3/25

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Play Comes to an end

Members of Athea Drama Group pictured with Billy & Joanne Keane

And that’s a wrap!

The curtain came down for the final time Sunday night on our 2025 production of ‘Sharon’s Grave’ by John B. Keane. In the early days, the late great Oliver McGrath RIP had organised a bus to Cork for the members of that time to see a production of ‘Sharon’s Grave’. Since then, a seed was sown and it always remained in the back of the minds of some of our members. In 2024 Tommy Denihan came with a vision for this play, and could see potential to cast it.

The cast was made up of 12 individuals who rehearsed together since last October to bring this play to the stage. We are all delighted with the feedback received and the reception from the audience each night. Each character took the part and made it their own.

As always crowds came from all over to the home of Athea Drama Group – Con Colbert Memorial Hall to attend our offering this year. Unfortunately we were unable to offer a seat for everyone who wished to attend , but remember our next production will be in the making after the summer and our advice will continue to be – book early!

Anyone involved in Drama will know that staging a play requires a huge team effort including parking, front of house, raffle ticket sellers, ushers etc etc. It is our view that your experience begins when you meet Roger or Kieran in the Car Park and does not end until you are escorted from the hall and wished on your merry way home post production from our front of house team.

We are fortunate to have so many willing volunteers in our community, hugely talented individuals who are happy to share their skills with us including artists, actors, trades people amongst many more.

Thank you to everyone who helped out and was involved in this production, and to you our audience for attending in such large numbers. Thank you to all the sponsors of our raffle, we hope that in turn you will support all these generous local businesses / individuals.

We were delighted to welcome Billy and Joanne Keane from Listowel to our closing night, and we were all delighted to hear their positive feedback.

Peadar and Trassie are now off to live their happy ever after, and as a group we look forward to celebrating this production and our achievements together in the coming weeks.

See you all in 2026!

Mass for Fr. Kelly

Fr. Kelly, who served here in Athea for many years, will be remembered at the 11 o’clock Mass on Sunday next, March 16th.

Have you noticed the light at Holy Cross Graveyard is back in order? Huge thanks to John Geoghegan & Co at South West Solar for servicing the light and replacing parts. Long may it shine!

The Way I See It

By Domhnall de Barra

Ós rud é gurb í seo Seachtain ne Gaeilge, táim ag tosú le cúpla focal inár dteanga dhúchais. Is fada an lá ó scríobh mé i nGaeilge mar sin maith dom aon bhotúin a dhéanfaidh mé. Bhí an Ghaeilge ar cheann de na hábhair ab ansa liom sa mheánscoil agus fuair mé marcanna an-ard san Ardteist ach ansin chuaigh mé go Sasana agus chaill mé teagmháil léi ar feadh na mblianta go dtí gur fhill mé abhaile le post Reachtaire na Mumhan a ghlacadh le Comhaltas. Bhí orm snas a chur ar mo chuid Gaeilge ansin mar, mar chuid de mo phost, bhí orm cuairt a thabhairt ar na ceantair Ghaeltachta sa cúige. Is maith liom a bheith ag éisteacht le TG4 ach caithfidh mé a admháil go bhfuil mé ag brath go mór ar na fotheidil, go háirithe agus daoine as Conemara nó as Dún na nGall ag caint le chéile. Is disciplín difriúil ar fad í an scríbhneoireacht, áfach. Tá borradh mór faoi úsáid na Gaeilge i gcuid mhaith de na cathracha ar fud na tíre mar gheall ar an tóir atá ar Ghaelscoileanna den chuid is mó. Chuaigh mo gharchlann féin chuig gaelscoil agus bhí grá acu don Ghaeilge agus ní raibh fadhb ar bith acu í a úsáid gach lá. Is mór an trua go múintear é mar ábhar scrúdaithe toisc go gcasann sé as a lán daltaí a bhfuil fuath acu air i ndáiríre. Dá nochtfaí dóibh é ar bhealach difriúil d’fhéadfadh sé a bheith níos coitianta. Is teanga álainn í, ceann de na teangacha is sine san Eoraip agus is fiú meas a léiriú uirthi mar ár dteanga.

It took me longer to write that bit n Irish than it usually does but I do feel strongly about the language and I hope there will be a vast improvement in the way it is taught from now on.

People often ask me how I manage to put the newsletter together and how everything fits into place. The answer is: with great difficulty!. The process begins on Wednesday when I do the crossword. Sometime words fit into place but there are times when I have myself painted into a corner and I am looking for impossible words to finish the grid. It all works out in the end and I set the clues and put them into page 11. From then on I am waiting for items to come in. People may want an anniversary remembrance included or have an item for sale so these are done up and left to one side. Items of news are put on the front page and I like to have a photo to go with them. Sometimes I don’t have one and then at other times I have too many. I have six regular contributors who send in their copies up to Monday night. Some do not arrive until Tuesday morning which makes life more difficult for me because I like to go to print before lunchtime. Jer Kennelly is always the first with his Knockanure notes and Marian Harnett sends accounts of the the Abbeyfeale happenings next. I have to edit both those contributions because they are very long and I just don’t have room for them all. I try to keep the ones of local interest but the complete articles can be found on the online version at Athea.ie. Kathleen Mullane, Peg Prendeville, Tom Aherne, Siobhán Barrett and Margeret O’Connor come in over the weekend. Some may have attachments that have to be taken into the photo shop and resize or cropped to fit in certain places. There may be other pieces of news or photographs submitted and these have all to be made ready for inclusion. Once I have everything I start putting them all into place. It is not easy but with years of practice and the ability to control the size of objects and the spread of text plus the inclusion of public notices etc., it finally all comes together. It was much easier when Lillian was working with me but now that she is enjoying her well earned retirement there is no one to check my work so you can be sure that there will be mistakes and typos every week. For this I apologise and beg forgiveness and I will try harder in the future. The next bit is the actual printing which is no problem and then I just have to put the newsletters in the shops and hope they are bought before the next week. It is a job I love doing, even if it drives me around the bend sometimes, but the pity is that there aren’t enough sales to make it profitable enterprise for anyone to take over once I have finished. If it wasn’t for the support of Athea & District Credit Union and the fact that the shops do not take any percentage I would have to close. At the moment it just about breaks even if I don’t take my work time into consideration. I don’t know how long more I will be able to continue because the world is changing fast and all printed communications are facing difficulty with everything now online. The younger generations are not buying papers and magazines like the older ones did. There was something great about opening the papers and reading all the news, especially on a Sunday morning. We trusted what was printed. As they used to say: “it must be true – ‘twas in the paper”. Sadly, nowadays, papers are aligned with certain political parties and have no problem bending the truth or filling their columns with misinformation. Athea & District News hasn’t any problem like that but I like to think what is published in its pages is of some importance to our community and we will never stray from the truth. We have a very special community and our own weekly newsletter is a part of it.

Big birthday celebrations this week in Chicago, USA honouring Denis Casey (formerly Lower Athea) and Christy Roche (formerly Fairy St., Athea) who both turned the great young age of 90 recently. Also pictured is Ellen Ann Roche (formerly of Bridge House, Athea) who celebrated her 88th birthday last week. Wishing these three great friends many more years of health and happiness

Church Notices

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

Masses this week- Tuesday morning 9.30am & Friday evening 7pm and Sunday 11am.

Intentions: Sunday 16^th Mary (Babe) & Tom White. Mary O’ Halloran.

Eucharistic Adoration and the Devine Mercy Chaplet every Tuesday morning after mass.

To book a Mass intention contact the sacristy after mass or contact Siobhan on 087-3331459.

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.

ALONE are seeking volunteers in the ATHEA area. Full training and support provided. If interested, please contact Caroline on 086-4040910.

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 Remembers and Celebrates the Life of Canon Patrick Kelly RIP – Sunday Mar 16^th at 11am at St. Bartholomew’s Church Athea.