A couple of weeks ago, at a meeting about the upcoming Harvest Festival in my home village, Creggs, a few of us were having a chat about how best to attract extra people to the village on, especially, the afternoon of the Bank Holiday Monday, which this year falls on the 26th of October.
Traditionally, through the years we have had loads of different events on that day, including a Street Fair, children’s football games, craft fair, tug o’war and tractor pulling, amongst other things, but we were trying to figure out some other attraction that would appeal to some of the people who for one reason or another, don’t choose to pay a visit to Creggs for our annual Harvest Festival.
And it was mostly my own idea (well it seemed like a good one at the time) that we would invite some members of the Galway Hurling and Mayo Football panels or management, to bring the McCarthy and Sam Maguire cups to Creggs on that Monday afternoon, and we fondly imagined having to help our local Garda Brian Neilan organise traffic control and parking management, and all doing our best to ensure that traffic disruption would be kept to a minimum.
However, as I write this on a very sad and depressing Monday morning I now realise that my dream of a Western double was only a dream, and the footballers from Dublin and the hurlers from Kilkenny ruthlessly put the sword to the hopes and aspirations of an entire province over what was one of the most compelling sporting weekends of all time.
I will not go into the story of either of the big games but it’s fair to say that both Connacht teams were victims of second-half muggings, and so it’s back to the drawing board for our Harvest Festival Committee – any new ideas will be more than welcome.
A Ray of Sunshine
Talking of welcomes, on Sunday evening I was sitting at the kitchen table wallowing in the misery of the hurlers’ defeat, when I heard the unmistakeable sound of Tom Connolly’s voice, as he made his way past a myriad of stationary objects like shoes and hoovers through the hall, and into the aforementioned kitchen.
Now if you don’t know Tom Connolly you are missing out on a lot, because if you needed to be brought out of a downer, Tom is your man.
He’s never in bad humour and always interesting and entertaining, and as he reminded me, he is a well-known actor, successful cattle breeder and top local farmer, and needless to say his visit was to tell me (to tell you) about a major fundraising quiz he is due to host in Mikeen’s on Friday week the 18th September.
Local man Batty Egan has got involved with the Ray of Sunshine Foundation, which basically commits itself to many different projects in Kenya, and this year’s project is to build a Rescue Home for abused girls in the city of Mombasa, where ther is a huge problem of children from the ages of 3 up to 16 years being used in the sex trafficking industry.
A retired GP, Dr. Rory O’Keeffe who practised in Ennis, Co. Clare, has teamed up on a voluntary basis with the Sisters of St. Joseph, a Kenyan-based order of nuns who will run and manage the rescue centre that the volunteers, including Batty, will build in January-February of 2016.
All the volunteers must come up with €3,000 each to partake in this very worthy cause, and so Batty enlisted the aid of Tom Connolly to help him reach his target!
The Quiz will take place at 9.30 pm on Friday the 18th of September in Mikeen’s and teams of four are only €20. Tom (who by the way also claims to be a descendant of James Connolly, the Irish Rebel) is setting the questions, and he will also be the quizmaster (despite my position as the regular quizmaster in Mikeen’s) and, in all seriousness, we would like to see a great turnout on the night! It’s a really worthy cause and deserves our support, and there will be a raffle and refreshments on the night.
Fair play, Kevin
Talking of raffles and I see on today’s papers that Labour Junior Minister Kevin Humphries won the top prize of a Skoda Fabia car in a raffle run by the Eastern Region of the St. Vincent de Paul, an organisation that is in critical need of funds.
The draw made a €30,000 profit, but the decision by the Minister to hand back the prize is a most welcome boost to the Society’s finances.
We spend a lot of time giving out about politicians and their huge salaries and pensions, so maybe when one of them does something like this we should acknowledge it as well!
Good man Kevin, fair play to you, and it’s an act that just might help you get re-elected in the forthcoming election.
In praise of Anouska!
Changing subjects entirely, and last Friday night myself and Carol travelled to Knockcroghery or more specifically Ned’s Bar, to tell Carol’s niece Anouska, who is the proprietor of Ned’s along with her husband Richard, that we would not be able to attend her 40th birthday celebrations the following night.
There was a nice crowd there on the Friday night, and it inspired us so much that, against all odds we moved Heaven and earth (only kidding) to make it back on the Saturday night. And what a night – it was absolutely wedged, great craic, great music (Crazy Corner) wonderful food, and all in all a fitting tribute to one of nature’s great people.
I know a lot of publicians (maybe I shouldn’t put that in such a widely-read paper) but, with all due respect to them all, Anouska is without doubt the best one I have ever known, and wherever she’s been success has inevitably followed.
Now that she’s pitched her tent (so to speak) in Knockcroghery, that village is all the better for it, and I wish her all the best for what will be a very bright future.
At the same time 40 is getting on a bit (I should know) but, nonetheless Happy Birthday Nookie, and here’s to many more.
And finally…
Finally for this week, as we read and hear so much about the rising crime, particularly robberies in our rural communities, a regular reader of this column (it’s hare to believe it, but such a person exists) asked me to remind you all that weddings and funerals are becoming major robbing opportunities for unscrupulous criminals, who rightly figure that a lot of houses in the specific locality will be left unattended for some hours, and who then strike while the family members are away.
He told me a story of a man who, on his deathbed, asked a neighbour not to go to the funeral, but, rather stay at home to keep an eye on the deceased man’s property! Need I say any more?
‘Till next week,
Bye for now
