In the cold of a dark January evening, we walked behind the coffined remains of Sr. Angela as the hearse wound its way down Church Road on the first stage of its journey to the Parish Church. A community’s shame was in some measure erased by the coming together of so many local men and women to pay tribute to one of their own who 46 years ago joined the Sisters of Mercy. For shame it was we felt when we heard of the dastardly deed which culminated in the sudden death of Sr. Angela. Born Maudie Flanagan in Rathangan in 1926, her parents were Richard Flanagan, a native of Stanhope Street, Athy and Mary Cahill, a nurse from Tramore in County Waterford. Richard was former Master of the Athy Union and as such had been in charge of the Poorhouse which was opened in Athy on the 9th January 1844 as part of the Poor Law system established under the Irish Poor Relief Act of 1838. Bridie, Attracta, Dickie and Eileen Flanagan were born in the Masters quarters before Richard Flanagan left Athy to take up employment in Rathangan in or about 1924. Four more members of the family were born in Rathangan, Maudie, Angela, Danny and Tessie. In 1931, the Flanagan family returned to Athy on being appointed tenants of a new house in St. Patrick’s Avenue which had just been built by D. & J. Carbery Limited for Athy Urban District Council.
Maudie, after completing her schooling with the Sisters of Mercy in Athy took up a nursing career and qualified in Bedford Royal Infirmary, England. She later returned to Ireland to gain further qualifications and experience in Peamount Hospital and in September 1955, she entered the religious life as a postulant in the Convent of Mercy, Athy. Her first profession took place in April 1958 and as Sr. Angela, she continued her work as a Sister of Mercy and as a nursing sister in St. Vincent’s Hospital until she retired in 1991. During her 36 years in St. Vincent’s Hospital she tended, as did her colleagues, to the sick, the infirm and the elderly.
In those few sentences are encapsulated the life and career of Sr. Angela, a member of the congregation of the Sisters of Mercy which has served the town of Athy and several generations of its people since the first Sisters of Mercy arrived here in 1851. Then their primary mission was to provide an education for young Catholic children just 22 years after the granting of the Act of Catholic Emancipation. It was a mission the Sisters of Mercy would continue to pursue long after the Irish State had developed an educational policy and structures geared to the needs and aspirations of the Irish people. It was but one of the many roles undertaken by the Sisters of Mercy in the intervening 150 years. Their stewardship of the County Home now St. Vincent’s Hospital was one of those new roles. In the 1870’s when there were no nurses employed in the workhouse, the Sisters began to visit patients in the Workhouse Infirmary on Sunday afternoons. Before long, the Board of Guardians made a request to the Superioress of the local Convent for nuns to take over responsibility for the Infirmary. This they did and in time the position of Matron was to be held by successive members of the Sisters of Mercy and most recently by Sr. Dominic and Sr. Peig.
But the legacy of the Sisters of Mercy is to be found not only in the primary and secondary schools of our town or in St. Vincent’s Hospital. It is to be seen also in the women, who as young girls were educated in St. Michael’s National School or St. Mary’s Secondary School. The well spring of affection for the Sisters of Mercy is based on experiences born in the classrooms of yesteryear and those who experienced the guiding hand of the good Sisters can never forget their kindness.
The Missionary spirit of the Sisters of Mercy, freed in recent years from the straight jacket of rules largely devised in the previous century, allowed members of the local Convent to become actively involved in other areas of charitable work. The local Wheelchair Association owes much to the dynamism of Sr. Carmel while the Travellers Club is forever indebted to Sr. Rosarii. The Youth Clubs were grateful for the involvement of Sr. Joseph and Sr. Carmel O’Leary while the courage and foresight of Sr. Consilio in her work for alcohol and drug addiction is widely acknowledged. These are just some of the many ways in which the local Sisters of Mercy continued to contribute to the well-being of local community here in Athy.
Last week as we walked behind the remains of Sr. Angela we were not to know that within days we would re-trace our steps to follow the remains of Sr. Paul. One of three Cosgrave sisters from Co. Galway who entered the religious life in the local Convent of Mercy Sr. Paul was a well-loved member of the Mercy congregation. She taught in St. Mary’s Secondary school until she retired 20 years ago and for many years was an active member of Athy’s Art Group. She was pre-deceased by her own family members, Sr. Rose and Sr. Xavier.
The loss of two members of the Mercy Sisters within the same week has been a sad blow for the local community. Last year saw the Convent of Mercy close for the last time as the aging community of nuns left to take up a new life living amongst the local people of which they had been a part for so many years. Last week a parting hymn, Salve Regina, was sung for the second time within a few days at the graveside in St. Michael’s new cemetery. Those of us who stood in silence nearer to the wall separating the cemetery from the Glebe lands of an earlier age could not but realise that an era in which the Sisters of Mercy had paid a prominent part is slowly but inexorably coming to an end.
Thursday, December 28, 2000
Thursday, December 21, 2000
Teddy Kelly
Last week, work colleagues of Teddy Kelly gathered in the offices of Athy’s second oldest industry to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of his joining the firm. Forty years ago it was Asbestos Cement Limited and the biggest employer in Athy, today, Tegral Building Products has a smaller but still very substantial workforce. I was slightly taken aback to learn that my friend Teddy had 40 years work experience under his belt until I realised with some astonishment that I myself had achieved the same milestone the previous week.
Teddy and I were pals from the time we were in short trousers. We both lived in Offaly Street at the time when vehicular traffic was minimal and presented no danger to young fellows who used the road as a playground. I can remember playing football with Teddy and others up and down Offaly Street without posing any difficulty for anyone, pedestrian or otherwise. Our watchful eyes were on the approach of the local Gardai in the form of either of our fathers or the St. Patrick’s Avenue contingent of Gardai on their way home for dinner. Football was not our only activity on the local Street. Pellet guns figure prominently in my memory of those days, especially on one occasion when I stood at Tuohy’s door facing Leopold Kelly who from Tom McHugh’s front door on the far side of the street took aim and fired a pellet gun at me. My left ear, for it was there I was hit, confirmed that indeed, the pellet gun was loaded and my earlier confident claim “I betcha its not loaded” seemed then so far off the mark, unlike Leopold’s assured aim.
Leopold Kelly later to be ordained a priest and to die tragically so young, was the leader of the Offaly Street gang and here I use the word “gang” not in any criminal sense but to describe a group of innocent fun loving ragamuffins whose lives revolved around each other. Teddy Kelly, Willie Moore, Tom Webster, Basil White and myself were the core group of the gang which in its more generous moods allowed the youngsters, Mickey Moore and Seamus Taaffe to tag along with us. I don’t think either of them were involved in the battle of Offaly Street when we defended our home base against an incursion from a group (from where I cannot now recall) who attacked us with well aimed stones. I still vividly recall that afternoon when with every conceivable size of stone, we pelted our assailants and they responded, both groups facing each other from opposite end of Offaly Street. There was a similar battle on the Crib Road (Church Road) near Dr. Kilbride’s, (now Dr. O’Neill’s) where the stones flew back and forth and Basil White ended up with a split head. The large lime trees which were then growing at either side of the Crib Road afforded cover for the combatents but proved inadequate for the luckless Basil White.
When I look back on those occasions, I wonder how we ever escaped with life and limb intact or indeed how we even managed to escape the critical notice of parents and adults generally. If the same thing happened today in Offaly Street or Church Road, the riot squad would be called and all the protagonists would end up in Court on assault charges and public order offences. Luckily enough, neither Teddy’s career or my own were blighted by our exuberant and combatitive attitude to life in our younger days.
Youthful energies in so far as Teddy Kelly and myself were concerned did not limit us to potential breaches of the common law in relation to assaults but also saw us stretching our credibility as law abiding citizens with our penchant for robbing local orchards. The glorious harvest of fruit always arrived just in time to banish the back to school blues which descended on us youngsters when after almost three months of summer freedom found ourselves corralled for another term of school lessons.
Sylvester’s Orchard at the end of Butler’s Row was our favourite target. The lush green undergrowth which marked years of neglect provided the perfect backdrop for the aging apple and pear trees which each year provided a fruitful bounty for eager young lads with time and opportunity on their hands. The orchard is now gone having given way to a scheme of Council houses but in the 1950’s was a haven enclosed by high walls. Those same walls provided no match for the agile and nimble team of fruit pickers who worked furtively and with tremendous speed. Not for us the leisurely paced motions of the legitimate fruit pickers in Lambe’s fruit farms. We had self imposed deadlines to meet which required pockets and turned up pullovers to be filled before speedily making our, hopefully unencumbered way, over the high wall at the back of the orchard. If our luck was in, and more often than not it was, the few minutes spent in frantic orchard raiding activity would give us a few hours measured enjoyment of healthy apple crunching. That’s how Teddy Kelly, now forty years in gainful employment spent his young days with his friends from Offaly Street.
He will remember the one occasion Mrs. Sylvester caught the youthful apple thieves in action and the mad scramble which ensued for the one well tracked exit over the high wall. Then it was everyone for himself, and the mad scramble for the wall and the freedom beyond, banished all thoughts of comradeship and togetherness which vanished with the twinkle of an eye or more appropriately with the swish of Mrs. Sylvester’s ash plant. In any event, the only hostage taken that day was the youngest member of the gang, my late brother Seamus who was grabbed by Mrs. Sylvester and duly paraded down Butler’s Row towards number 5 Offaly Street and my mother. Teddy and the rest of the gang by now had travelled as far away as possible from the scene of the crime hoping against hope that the young convict would not tell names. He didn’t have to. The make up of the Offaly Street gang was as well known as “Coy” Moore himself. All was well however, the cowering would be apple stealer was presented to his surprised mother (“surprised that he was caught, not that he was robbing an orchard”) and the traditional punishment was expected. In one of those almost surreal moments reminiscent of a lottery win, it so happened that a visitor from Mayo had arrived that day for a holiday with the result that the lucky young lad escaped all punishment.
Teddy and I were never caught although we came close to it one afternoon when in an unusual excursion well outside our normal territory, we found ourselves in Cyprian Holland’s orchard on the Dublin Road thinning the lush apples on the obviously overburdened fruit trees. We were tossing the results of our labours over the hedge to Tom Webster and Willie Moore who were standing outside on the Dublin Road. Suddenly we heard a roar, the disembodied voice coming from the same roadway “I know you Taaffe and Kelly, come out here immediately”. It was Garda Dunne, not the easiest man to encounter in such circumstances but we did not wait around for a formal introduction. We escaped through the hedge on the opposite side and high tailed it out of there in a panic. Fair dues to the same Garda Dunne, he did not appear to have mentioned our proclivity for apple stealing to our parents as the incident was never again mentioned.
I could go on recounting memories of times shared with Teddy Kelly and my friends in Offaly Street and maybe I will some other day. For the moment, let me wish the not so young former orchard robber and my good friend, Teddy Kelly many more happy years.
Teddy and I were pals from the time we were in short trousers. We both lived in Offaly Street at the time when vehicular traffic was minimal and presented no danger to young fellows who used the road as a playground. I can remember playing football with Teddy and others up and down Offaly Street without posing any difficulty for anyone, pedestrian or otherwise. Our watchful eyes were on the approach of the local Gardai in the form of either of our fathers or the St. Patrick’s Avenue contingent of Gardai on their way home for dinner. Football was not our only activity on the local Street. Pellet guns figure prominently in my memory of those days, especially on one occasion when I stood at Tuohy’s door facing Leopold Kelly who from Tom McHugh’s front door on the far side of the street took aim and fired a pellet gun at me. My left ear, for it was there I was hit, confirmed that indeed, the pellet gun was loaded and my earlier confident claim “I betcha its not loaded” seemed then so far off the mark, unlike Leopold’s assured aim.
Leopold Kelly later to be ordained a priest and to die tragically so young, was the leader of the Offaly Street gang and here I use the word “gang” not in any criminal sense but to describe a group of innocent fun loving ragamuffins whose lives revolved around each other. Teddy Kelly, Willie Moore, Tom Webster, Basil White and myself were the core group of the gang which in its more generous moods allowed the youngsters, Mickey Moore and Seamus Taaffe to tag along with us. I don’t think either of them were involved in the battle of Offaly Street when we defended our home base against an incursion from a group (from where I cannot now recall) who attacked us with well aimed stones. I still vividly recall that afternoon when with every conceivable size of stone, we pelted our assailants and they responded, both groups facing each other from opposite end of Offaly Street. There was a similar battle on the Crib Road (Church Road) near Dr. Kilbride’s, (now Dr. O’Neill’s) where the stones flew back and forth and Basil White ended up with a split head. The large lime trees which were then growing at either side of the Crib Road afforded cover for the combatents but proved inadequate for the luckless Basil White.
When I look back on those occasions, I wonder how we ever escaped with life and limb intact or indeed how we even managed to escape the critical notice of parents and adults generally. If the same thing happened today in Offaly Street or Church Road, the riot squad would be called and all the protagonists would end up in Court on assault charges and public order offences. Luckily enough, neither Teddy’s career or my own were blighted by our exuberant and combatitive attitude to life in our younger days.
Youthful energies in so far as Teddy Kelly and myself were concerned did not limit us to potential breaches of the common law in relation to assaults but also saw us stretching our credibility as law abiding citizens with our penchant for robbing local orchards. The glorious harvest of fruit always arrived just in time to banish the back to school blues which descended on us youngsters when after almost three months of summer freedom found ourselves corralled for another term of school lessons.
Sylvester’s Orchard at the end of Butler’s Row was our favourite target. The lush green undergrowth which marked years of neglect provided the perfect backdrop for the aging apple and pear trees which each year provided a fruitful bounty for eager young lads with time and opportunity on their hands. The orchard is now gone having given way to a scheme of Council houses but in the 1950’s was a haven enclosed by high walls. Those same walls provided no match for the agile and nimble team of fruit pickers who worked furtively and with tremendous speed. Not for us the leisurely paced motions of the legitimate fruit pickers in Lambe’s fruit farms. We had self imposed deadlines to meet which required pockets and turned up pullovers to be filled before speedily making our, hopefully unencumbered way, over the high wall at the back of the orchard. If our luck was in, and more often than not it was, the few minutes spent in frantic orchard raiding activity would give us a few hours measured enjoyment of healthy apple crunching. That’s how Teddy Kelly, now forty years in gainful employment spent his young days with his friends from Offaly Street.
He will remember the one occasion Mrs. Sylvester caught the youthful apple thieves in action and the mad scramble which ensued for the one well tracked exit over the high wall. Then it was everyone for himself, and the mad scramble for the wall and the freedom beyond, banished all thoughts of comradeship and togetherness which vanished with the twinkle of an eye or more appropriately with the swish of Mrs. Sylvester’s ash plant. In any event, the only hostage taken that day was the youngest member of the gang, my late brother Seamus who was grabbed by Mrs. Sylvester and duly paraded down Butler’s Row towards number 5 Offaly Street and my mother. Teddy and the rest of the gang by now had travelled as far away as possible from the scene of the crime hoping against hope that the young convict would not tell names. He didn’t have to. The make up of the Offaly Street gang was as well known as “Coy” Moore himself. All was well however, the cowering would be apple stealer was presented to his surprised mother (“surprised that he was caught, not that he was robbing an orchard”) and the traditional punishment was expected. In one of those almost surreal moments reminiscent of a lottery win, it so happened that a visitor from Mayo had arrived that day for a holiday with the result that the lucky young lad escaped all punishment.
Teddy and I were never caught although we came close to it one afternoon when in an unusual excursion well outside our normal territory, we found ourselves in Cyprian Holland’s orchard on the Dublin Road thinning the lush apples on the obviously overburdened fruit trees. We were tossing the results of our labours over the hedge to Tom Webster and Willie Moore who were standing outside on the Dublin Road. Suddenly we heard a roar, the disembodied voice coming from the same roadway “I know you Taaffe and Kelly, come out here immediately”. It was Garda Dunne, not the easiest man to encounter in such circumstances but we did not wait around for a formal introduction. We escaped through the hedge on the opposite side and high tailed it out of there in a panic. Fair dues to the same Garda Dunne, he did not appear to have mentioned our proclivity for apple stealing to our parents as the incident was never again mentioned.
I could go on recounting memories of times shared with Teddy Kelly and my friends in Offaly Street and maybe I will some other day. For the moment, let me wish the not so young former orchard robber and my good friend, Teddy Kelly many more happy years.
Thursday, December 14, 2000
Paddy McEvoy - Greyhound Trainer
Paddy McEvoy’s success with “Daws Dancer” in the 23rd Greyhound Derby at White City London in June 1953 was a unique occasion for both dog and trainer. “Daws Dancer”, not then yet two years old, was the youngest greyhound ever to win the English Derby and its trainer, Athy born Paddy McEvoy was the first County Kildare person to win this most coveted prize in greyhound racing.
The joy of Paddy’s success was shared with his many friends and in the suburbs of Ealing London, Fr. Tommy Doyle, formerly of Woodstock Street and John Blanchfield, formerly of Leinster Street were but two of those who celebrated Paddy’s success. John Blanchfield had a betting shop in Ealing where his brother Christy Blanchfield also worked. The Blanchfield’s sister Bella married Paddy Gibbons of St. Martin’s Terrace whose mother taught Paddy McEvoy to play the piano when he was a young lad and still living in Woodstock Street. Mrs. Gibbons who was a reporter for a local newspaper had two other sons, Frank who later married Josephine Horgan and Joe who died at a young age of TB. Now 83 years of age Paddy McEvoy still recalls how he envied Joe Gibbons who during the summer months lived in a tent in a field next to the present Tegral factory. Paddy was not then to know that Joe’s ill health required him to live in this way in a vain attempt to arrest the onward progress of the deadly TB.
In 1956 Paddy McEvoy had his second winner in an English Derby. By then he was attached to Clapton Stadium in the East End of London where he managed the racing kennels and trained dogs on his own behalf. The 1953 winner of the premier classic was “Dunmore King”. His final career total of three Derby winners was achieved with the success of “Palms Printer” at White City on 21st June, 1961. Paddy had attended dog trials in Shelbourne Park the previous November and bid 250 guineas for a dog which had impressed him in the morning trials. When the dog was withdrawn from sale Paddy contacted its owner Nick Breen of Ferns in Co. Wexford and agreed a price of £400 for Palms Printer to be delivered to him in London. He sold on the dog and successfully brought him through the first four rounds of the English Derby before achieving the satisfaction of winning his third English classic in the space of eight years.
Paddy and his family left London that same year and returned to Athy having bought a shop in Leinster Street. The shop now owned by Tom Jacob was home to the McEvoy family for the next four years and during that time Paddy had breeding kennels and a paddock built at Russellstown on the Dublin road. With the McEvoy family on their return to Ireland was the now retired winner of the 1953 Derby “Daws Dancer”. An affectionate dog, he was particularly fond of children and was apt to wander down town on occasions. Paddy always rewarded with a few sweets the youngsters who brought the Derby winner back to the shop. Only now he wonders if his generosity was in itself an encouragement to the youthful entrepreneurs to entice the over-friendly greyhound away from his base in the expectation of the usual sweet-toothed reward so beloved of youngsters.
In 1965 the shop was sold to Andy Conlon and the McEvoys returned to England, this time Paddy taking the management of Wimbledon Stadium. This was the most prestigious position available in the greyhound racing world, and that same year Paddy trained the winner of the Laurels. It was a success he repeated in 1968 while at the same time winning the Scurry Cup on two occasions. Dogs trained by Paddy McEvoy won many races over the years including the Produce Stakes in Catford but he can never forget his greatest racing disappointment in the same Produce Stakes final. On that occasion Paddy had four dogs in the six-dog final. However, they came in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th and to this day Paddy cannot understand why the expected victory eluded him. For Paddy, a lifetime spent in breeding and training greyhounds has taught him that a greyhound can only be a good running dog if it is genuine, intelligent and speedy or as the late Pat Mehigan once described a greyhound in his sporting column,
“Head like a snake, neck like a drake,
Back like a beam, side like a bream,
Heart room in plenty allow -
Tail like a rat, feet like a cat,
And breast to the ground like a plough”.
When Paddy finally retired from greyhound racing in May 1993 Wimbledon Stadium Chairman John Cearns made a presentation to him following the last race at Wimbledon that evening calling Athy-born Paddy as “one of greyhound racings greatest trainers”. That same day “Sporting Life” in announcing Paddy’s retirement after 33 years as a greyhound trainer referred to him as “gentle, kind, helpful and a fountain of knowledge, he is one of the world’s leading experts on greyhound breeding with which he has been closely involved throughout his career”.
Paddy and his Australian-born wife Patricia returned to Athy where they continue to live. Their grown-up family of four are all living abroad, Jim, a Computer Consultant in England, Patrick, a dentist in California, Tim, a Company Director in England and Mary, a Public Relations Consultant in California.
The eighty-three year old Paddy has retained a remarkably sharp memory of Athy in the 1930’s. He recalls the times when working on the Curragh he cycled over there and back each day. Mick Johnson of Convent View was then in the Army and like Paddy cycled there each day, calling Paddy, then living in Geraldine, as he passed his house each morning. The young athletic Paddy would invariably catch up with and pass Mick at Booleigh. It was the same athleticism and power which on one occasion permitted Paddy as a young man to cycle to Baldoyle races for afternoon horseracing and from there to Shelbourne Park for an evening dog meeting, leaving for Athy at 10 o’clock at night.
While interviewing Paddy I went through a list of local greyhound owners stretching back over the last 65 years. Without a moment’s hesitation he recalled for me the names of the various dogs owned or trained by those named, indicating important races won and identifying the better dogs involved. I was intrigued to hear his account of Fr. Maurice Browne, who while a curate in Athy in the 1930’s owned a series of greyhounds, all of which he raced under the name “W. Twyford”. The reverend gentleman, later to be Parish Priest in Ballymore-Eustace and author of The Big Sycamore used the nom-de-plume to avoid the critical scrutiny of his Bishop who did not allow his clerics to indulge in such pastimes. The success of Joe Daly’s dog “Cheeky Robin” in the coursing derby in Clonmel was remembered, as was the duo of Nellie Holland and Grace Carty, one a Catholic, the other a Protestant who shared a belief in the efficacy of holy water in improving a dog’s performance in Shelbourne Park.
The stories of dogs, owners and trainers come easily to the man whose working
life revolved around the chasing of the hare and the explosive break from the trap of the noble and graceful greyhound.
The joy of Paddy’s success was shared with his many friends and in the suburbs of Ealing London, Fr. Tommy Doyle, formerly of Woodstock Street and John Blanchfield, formerly of Leinster Street were but two of those who celebrated Paddy’s success. John Blanchfield had a betting shop in Ealing where his brother Christy Blanchfield also worked. The Blanchfield’s sister Bella married Paddy Gibbons of St. Martin’s Terrace whose mother taught Paddy McEvoy to play the piano when he was a young lad and still living in Woodstock Street. Mrs. Gibbons who was a reporter for a local newspaper had two other sons, Frank who later married Josephine Horgan and Joe who died at a young age of TB. Now 83 years of age Paddy McEvoy still recalls how he envied Joe Gibbons who during the summer months lived in a tent in a field next to the present Tegral factory. Paddy was not then to know that Joe’s ill health required him to live in this way in a vain attempt to arrest the onward progress of the deadly TB.
In 1956 Paddy McEvoy had his second winner in an English Derby. By then he was attached to Clapton Stadium in the East End of London where he managed the racing kennels and trained dogs on his own behalf. The 1953 winner of the premier classic was “Dunmore King”. His final career total of three Derby winners was achieved with the success of “Palms Printer” at White City on 21st June, 1961. Paddy had attended dog trials in Shelbourne Park the previous November and bid 250 guineas for a dog which had impressed him in the morning trials. When the dog was withdrawn from sale Paddy contacted its owner Nick Breen of Ferns in Co. Wexford and agreed a price of £400 for Palms Printer to be delivered to him in London. He sold on the dog and successfully brought him through the first four rounds of the English Derby before achieving the satisfaction of winning his third English classic in the space of eight years.
Paddy and his family left London that same year and returned to Athy having bought a shop in Leinster Street. The shop now owned by Tom Jacob was home to the McEvoy family for the next four years and during that time Paddy had breeding kennels and a paddock built at Russellstown on the Dublin road. With the McEvoy family on their return to Ireland was the now retired winner of the 1953 Derby “Daws Dancer”. An affectionate dog, he was particularly fond of children and was apt to wander down town on occasions. Paddy always rewarded with a few sweets the youngsters who brought the Derby winner back to the shop. Only now he wonders if his generosity was in itself an encouragement to the youthful entrepreneurs to entice the over-friendly greyhound away from his base in the expectation of the usual sweet-toothed reward so beloved of youngsters.
In 1965 the shop was sold to Andy Conlon and the McEvoys returned to England, this time Paddy taking the management of Wimbledon Stadium. This was the most prestigious position available in the greyhound racing world, and that same year Paddy trained the winner of the Laurels. It was a success he repeated in 1968 while at the same time winning the Scurry Cup on two occasions. Dogs trained by Paddy McEvoy won many races over the years including the Produce Stakes in Catford but he can never forget his greatest racing disappointment in the same Produce Stakes final. On that occasion Paddy had four dogs in the six-dog final. However, they came in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th and to this day Paddy cannot understand why the expected victory eluded him. For Paddy, a lifetime spent in breeding and training greyhounds has taught him that a greyhound can only be a good running dog if it is genuine, intelligent and speedy or as the late Pat Mehigan once described a greyhound in his sporting column,
“Head like a snake, neck like a drake,
Back like a beam, side like a bream,
Heart room in plenty allow -
Tail like a rat, feet like a cat,
And breast to the ground like a plough”.
When Paddy finally retired from greyhound racing in May 1993 Wimbledon Stadium Chairman John Cearns made a presentation to him following the last race at Wimbledon that evening calling Athy-born Paddy as “one of greyhound racings greatest trainers”. That same day “Sporting Life” in announcing Paddy’s retirement after 33 years as a greyhound trainer referred to him as “gentle, kind, helpful and a fountain of knowledge, he is one of the world’s leading experts on greyhound breeding with which he has been closely involved throughout his career”.
Paddy and his Australian-born wife Patricia returned to Athy where they continue to live. Their grown-up family of four are all living abroad, Jim, a Computer Consultant in England, Patrick, a dentist in California, Tim, a Company Director in England and Mary, a Public Relations Consultant in California.
The eighty-three year old Paddy has retained a remarkably sharp memory of Athy in the 1930’s. He recalls the times when working on the Curragh he cycled over there and back each day. Mick Johnson of Convent View was then in the Army and like Paddy cycled there each day, calling Paddy, then living in Geraldine, as he passed his house each morning. The young athletic Paddy would invariably catch up with and pass Mick at Booleigh. It was the same athleticism and power which on one occasion permitted Paddy as a young man to cycle to Baldoyle races for afternoon horseracing and from there to Shelbourne Park for an evening dog meeting, leaving for Athy at 10 o’clock at night.
While interviewing Paddy I went through a list of local greyhound owners stretching back over the last 65 years. Without a moment’s hesitation he recalled for me the names of the various dogs owned or trained by those named, indicating important races won and identifying the better dogs involved. I was intrigued to hear his account of Fr. Maurice Browne, who while a curate in Athy in the 1930’s owned a series of greyhounds, all of which he raced under the name “W. Twyford”. The reverend gentleman, later to be Parish Priest in Ballymore-Eustace and author of The Big Sycamore used the nom-de-plume to avoid the critical scrutiny of his Bishop who did not allow his clerics to indulge in such pastimes. The success of Joe Daly’s dog “Cheeky Robin” in the coursing derby in Clonmel was remembered, as was the duo of Nellie Holland and Grace Carty, one a Catholic, the other a Protestant who shared a belief in the efficacy of holy water in improving a dog’s performance in Shelbourne Park.
The stories of dogs, owners and trainers come easily to the man whose working
life revolved around the chasing of the hare and the explosive break from the trap of the noble and graceful greyhound.
Thursday, December 7, 2000
Paddy McEvoy - Greyhound Trainer
To train a winner of the English Greyhound Derby is a mark of greatness within the ranks of those whose sport is greyhound racing. To have done so on three occasions gives one a special place in the pantheon of sporting greats. It is an achievement which today can only be claimed by an Irishman - Athy man Paddy McEvoy, formerly of Woodstock Street and Geraldine Road. Born one year after the Easter Rising of 1916, Paddy, the son of local boatman James McEvoy, known locally as “Valley” McEvoy and his wife Margaret attended the Christian Brothers School in Athy. Classmates of his in the 1920’s included Tony and Des Whelan of Barrowhouse, Frank Carolan of Leinster Street, Tommy Prendergast, the younger brother of Paddy or “Darkie” Prendergast of horse-training fame and Mick Mullery. Now 84 years of age Paddy is living in retirement in Athy with his charming wife Patricia after a lifetime’s involvement in the training and breeding of greyhounds.
Paddy’s great grand-parents were some of the Landsdowne tenantry evicted from their Luggacurran holdings during the evictions in that area of the late 1880’s. Like so many more of those evicted they eventually moved into the town of Athy and lived in the house (now demolished) immediately next to the Catholic Curate’s thatched cottage in Woodstock Street. It was here that Paddy as a very young boy heard gunshots reverberating from the nearby military barracks as the IRA launched an attack during the War of Independence. Another memory from the old days in Athy is the jingle which in the 1920’s and later was part of the folk repertoire of the time.
“Oh Doctor dear Doctor dear Doctor John
Your Cod Liver Oil is so pure and so strong
I’m afraid of my life she’ll go down in the soil
If my wife stops drinking your Cod Liver Oil.
I got her a bottle for her just to try
The way she drank it you’d swear she was dry
I got her another, it vanished the same
Oh how can I ever keep up with this game.”
The doctor in question was Dr. John Kilbride, medical officer of health for Athy who spent four years in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the first World War. He was an energetic man whose concern for the local people was such that his was the prominent voice in promoting the need for better-class houses and improved town water and sewerage facilities in Athy at a time when disease regularly took it’s toll on the local community.
On leaving the Christian Brothers school Paddy joined local building contractors D. & J. Carbery of St. John’s Lane where he was apprenticed to carpenter Mick May who lived at St. Martin’s Terrace. Coincidentally, the Carbery firm had been set up following the eviction of Dan Carbery (Snr.) from his farm holding in Luggacurran at the same time as the McEvoys. On qualifying as a carpenter Paddy joined Mick May to work with a firm in Kildare town and later still joined the Board of Works in the Curragh, finally ending his carpentry career with Bord na Mona.
Paddy’s boyhood friend was Tommy Prendergast, commonly known as “The Red Lad” to distinguish him from his older brother Paddy Prendergast who was called “Darkie”. Tommy’s father was a horse trainer and animals including greyhounds were always part of the young Prendergast boys’ lives. So it was inevitable that the canal worker’s son from Woodstock Street joined his friend Tommy Prendergast in coursing greyhounds in the fields around Prussellstown. Paddy enjoyed the sport and soon acquired an interest in greyhound racing, getting his very first racing dog when as a school-boy he swapped his pet rabbits for a greyhound. Unknown to him his future was now to be intrinsically linked with the training and breeding of greyhounds, one of the most ancient of sporting animals whose association with the ancient Egyptians was noted as far back as 10,000 B.C. But first of all Paddy had to spend some years earning a living as a carpenter, and finally ended up working for Bord na Mona, erecting huts for workers during the Second World War.
Paddy’s record as a trainer officially started in 1938 while he was still employed as a carpenter. His first notable success was with a dog named “Shake Yourself”, previously owned by Sadie Lynch, formerly Sadie Young of Castlemitchell, wife of the local Provincial Bank Manager. The dog which was to be the first of many great greyhounds trained by Paddy McEvoy over the next forty five years, was of a nervous disposition. Paddy decided to breed from the dog and a succession of some brilliant greyhounds resulted. One of the better hounds from the litter was “Negroes Fire”, subsequently owned by Fingletons of Ballinclea which won many races on the track. Both bitch and daughter shared what was then a unique double when both won races on the same night in Harold’s Cross. Paddy’s success as a trainer and breeder did not go unnoticed and one day in 1945 local G.P. Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill brought a Brigadier Murray to Paddy’s house in Geraldine Road. “Would Paddy agree to meet Brigadier Critchley of the Greyhound Racing Association in the Hibernian Hotel in Dublin?” The all-expenses-paid trip to Dublin resulted in a job offer which the young part-time greyhound trainer could not refuse. The Racing Association was to open greyhound breeding kennels in Maudlins, Naas and invited Paddy to be its first manager. It was an offer too good to miss and so Paddy moved from Athy in 1945 to take up full-time employment in the sport to which he had been first drawn as a result of a boyhood friendship with Tommy Prendergast.
The kennels in Maudlins bred many dogs for the English market, but the success expected of many of the better dogs deserted them soon after they went across to England. Paddy was asked to investigate and quickly discovered that the dogs bred and reared in the best conditions possible in Ireland were not properly fed when sent abroad. The matter was soon resolved but Paddy was encouraged by Lord Brabazon and others to bring his skills across the Irish sea and so in 1950 he obtained his Private Trainers Licence and established his kennels at Longcross in Surrey. The next stage of Paddy’s career was about to start. He was not long there before he had his next winner, with the oddly named “Little Isle Cuchalainn”. Within a year he had a runner in the Greyhound Derby Final with “Rapid Choice”. Success, however, eluded him on that occasion but “Rapid Choice” was to provide Paddy with his first big successes in Britain when he won The Key at Wimbledon, the West Ham Summer Stakes and the Wembley Gold Cup, all in the same year. Paddy’s success with “Rapid Choice” was particularly pleasing for him as the dog had been bred by him at the Maudlins Kennels in Naas.
In 1953 the blue riband of greyhound racing was to fall to Paddy McEvoy of Athy when 10-1 chance “Daws Dancer” won the 23rd Greyhound Derby at White City, London. In winning the Derby that year Paddy’s dog emulated the immortal “Mick The Miller” as only the second dog to leave Ireland and win the British Greyhound Derby in the same year. “Mick The Miller” achieved his Derby success in 1929, the third year of the running of that famous race.
Paddy’s McEvoy’s star was now in the ascendancy, but as we shall find out next week, even greater success awaited him in the years ahead.
Paddy’s great grand-parents were some of the Landsdowne tenantry evicted from their Luggacurran holdings during the evictions in that area of the late 1880’s. Like so many more of those evicted they eventually moved into the town of Athy and lived in the house (now demolished) immediately next to the Catholic Curate’s thatched cottage in Woodstock Street. It was here that Paddy as a very young boy heard gunshots reverberating from the nearby military barracks as the IRA launched an attack during the War of Independence. Another memory from the old days in Athy is the jingle which in the 1920’s and later was part of the folk repertoire of the time.
“Oh Doctor dear Doctor dear Doctor John
Your Cod Liver Oil is so pure and so strong
I’m afraid of my life she’ll go down in the soil
If my wife stops drinking your Cod Liver Oil.
I got her a bottle for her just to try
The way she drank it you’d swear she was dry
I got her another, it vanished the same
Oh how can I ever keep up with this game.”
The doctor in question was Dr. John Kilbride, medical officer of health for Athy who spent four years in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the first World War. He was an energetic man whose concern for the local people was such that his was the prominent voice in promoting the need for better-class houses and improved town water and sewerage facilities in Athy at a time when disease regularly took it’s toll on the local community.
On leaving the Christian Brothers school Paddy joined local building contractors D. & J. Carbery of St. John’s Lane where he was apprenticed to carpenter Mick May who lived at St. Martin’s Terrace. Coincidentally, the Carbery firm had been set up following the eviction of Dan Carbery (Snr.) from his farm holding in Luggacurran at the same time as the McEvoys. On qualifying as a carpenter Paddy joined Mick May to work with a firm in Kildare town and later still joined the Board of Works in the Curragh, finally ending his carpentry career with Bord na Mona.
Paddy’s boyhood friend was Tommy Prendergast, commonly known as “The Red Lad” to distinguish him from his older brother Paddy Prendergast who was called “Darkie”. Tommy’s father was a horse trainer and animals including greyhounds were always part of the young Prendergast boys’ lives. So it was inevitable that the canal worker’s son from Woodstock Street joined his friend Tommy Prendergast in coursing greyhounds in the fields around Prussellstown. Paddy enjoyed the sport and soon acquired an interest in greyhound racing, getting his very first racing dog when as a school-boy he swapped his pet rabbits for a greyhound. Unknown to him his future was now to be intrinsically linked with the training and breeding of greyhounds, one of the most ancient of sporting animals whose association with the ancient Egyptians was noted as far back as 10,000 B.C. But first of all Paddy had to spend some years earning a living as a carpenter, and finally ended up working for Bord na Mona, erecting huts for workers during the Second World War.
Paddy’s record as a trainer officially started in 1938 while he was still employed as a carpenter. His first notable success was with a dog named “Shake Yourself”, previously owned by Sadie Lynch, formerly Sadie Young of Castlemitchell, wife of the local Provincial Bank Manager. The dog which was to be the first of many great greyhounds trained by Paddy McEvoy over the next forty five years, was of a nervous disposition. Paddy decided to breed from the dog and a succession of some brilliant greyhounds resulted. One of the better hounds from the litter was “Negroes Fire”, subsequently owned by Fingletons of Ballinclea which won many races on the track. Both bitch and daughter shared what was then a unique double when both won races on the same night in Harold’s Cross. Paddy’s success as a trainer and breeder did not go unnoticed and one day in 1945 local G.P. Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill brought a Brigadier Murray to Paddy’s house in Geraldine Road. “Would Paddy agree to meet Brigadier Critchley of the Greyhound Racing Association in the Hibernian Hotel in Dublin?” The all-expenses-paid trip to Dublin resulted in a job offer which the young part-time greyhound trainer could not refuse. The Racing Association was to open greyhound breeding kennels in Maudlins, Naas and invited Paddy to be its first manager. It was an offer too good to miss and so Paddy moved from Athy in 1945 to take up full-time employment in the sport to which he had been first drawn as a result of a boyhood friendship with Tommy Prendergast.
The kennels in Maudlins bred many dogs for the English market, but the success expected of many of the better dogs deserted them soon after they went across to England. Paddy was asked to investigate and quickly discovered that the dogs bred and reared in the best conditions possible in Ireland were not properly fed when sent abroad. The matter was soon resolved but Paddy was encouraged by Lord Brabazon and others to bring his skills across the Irish sea and so in 1950 he obtained his Private Trainers Licence and established his kennels at Longcross in Surrey. The next stage of Paddy’s career was about to start. He was not long there before he had his next winner, with the oddly named “Little Isle Cuchalainn”. Within a year he had a runner in the Greyhound Derby Final with “Rapid Choice”. Success, however, eluded him on that occasion but “Rapid Choice” was to provide Paddy with his first big successes in Britain when he won The Key at Wimbledon, the West Ham Summer Stakes and the Wembley Gold Cup, all in the same year. Paddy’s success with “Rapid Choice” was particularly pleasing for him as the dog had been bred by him at the Maudlins Kennels in Naas.
In 1953 the blue riband of greyhound racing was to fall to Paddy McEvoy of Athy when 10-1 chance “Daws Dancer” won the 23rd Greyhound Derby at White City, London. In winning the Derby that year Paddy’s dog emulated the immortal “Mick The Miller” as only the second dog to leave Ireland and win the British Greyhound Derby in the same year. “Mick The Miller” achieved his Derby success in 1929, the third year of the running of that famous race.
Paddy’s McEvoy’s star was now in the ascendancy, but as we shall find out next week, even greater success awaited him in the years ahead.
Thursday, November 30, 2000
Flu Epidemic 1919 - Late Noel Finn
The flu knocked me for six over the Christmas break but mercifully modern medical science came to my rescue allowing me to enjoy the festivities. How different it was when the flu epidemic struck Ireland in 1918 while the First World War was still raging. I was reminded of this while going through back issues of the Irish Independent for the last years of the Great War where daily accounts were given of the fatalities resulting from the flu. Entire families were wiped out and soldiers who had miraculously survived the War succumbed to the dreadful disease for which there was then no known cure. The daily newspapers referred to the flu epidemic which first started in Belfast, as a plague, and cautioned its readers to take the following precautions.
“Don’t use public telephones. If fairly young and strong ride outside rather than inside trams. Don’t get wet feet - if you do, walk home, if possible, to avoid packed conveyances. Wear warm loose woollen clothing. Drink hot milk or lemonade when going to bed.”
Such was the state of medical knowledge just over eighty years ago. Another report which caught my eye was in the Irish Independent of Tuesday, 3rd December 1918.
“The first cases that Dr. T.J. Browne, Medical Inspector to the Local Government Board met outside Belfast were in Athy about the end of July when workmen who had gone there from Belfast were stricken with the disease which the doctors thought was typhus fever.”
Athy suffered great loss of life during the flu epidemic of 1918 and the flu vaccine which was even then being tested came too late to save many people. Indeed Dr. Brown, the Local Government Board Medical Inspector made a point of declaring that “the vaccine treatment was as yet more or less in the experimental stage and it was hardly proper for the Local Government Board to recommend it.”
In November 1918 the local Urban District Council asked the Board of Guardians who had charge of the local Poorhouse to engage more nurses to attend to the sick poor during the influenza epidemic. At the same time the Councillors extended thanks on behalf of the townspeople to Miss M. Murphy, Emily Square and Miss Brigid Darby of Leinster Street for “their unselfish attention bestowed without hope of monetary reward and irrespective of class or creed on our afflicted townspeople during the present terrible epidemic.” It would appear that the two good ladies were instrumental in forming a “Committee of Ladies to the Sufferers from the Influenza Epidemic in the town” whose members visited the poor people and provided them with food and drink. Amongst those who died in Athy at that time was Thomas Keating, a native of Kilcarroll, Kilrush in Co. Clare who was employed as a Customs Officer in the town. I am uncertain as to why customs officials were based in Athy but whatever it was, it indicated a level of commercial activity to which we have not been accustomed for some time. What about the workmen who came from Belfast to Athy in 1918? I surmise but perhaps incorrectly that they were engaged in the building of the Wolfhill Railway Line.
Another man whose links with Athy are unclear was John Roache, a Private in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Some years ago a medal won by Private J. Roache for the D. Company Hockey League in 1911 was found in the back garden of a house in Pairc Bhride. John Roache won the medal while his Battalion was stationed in India where it had gone in January 1910. The Dublin Fusiliers remained there until they were brought back to bolster the British Expeditionary Force in France during World War I. The Battalion arrived back in Plymouth Harbour just four days before Christmas 1914. John Roache, Regimental Number 9070 was killed in action in France on 1st March, 1917. The Irish War Memorial records state that he was born in Dublin and I cannot find any connection with Athy to explain why his hockey medal was found in a local back garden some years ago. Can anyone help to throw some light on Private John Roache and his connections, if any, with Athy?
Just before Christmas I attended the funeral in Naas of Noel Finn, a retired local Government official who was the first of many superiors I worked under during the first half of my working life. I was a scrawny red-haired brass-necked youngster fresh out of school when I presented myself in January 1961 at the County Council offices located in what was the former Fever Hospital in Naas. I can still recall that first day when I was brought into the County Secretary’s general office and given a few welcoming words by the then County Secretary Johnny Mullaney before starting my first task. It was, would you believe, to repair to the boiler house and there to rummage through a few sacks of envelopes in a vain search for a postal order which was apparently missing from a letter. I can’t recall if I managed to find the elusive postal order but I certainly earned my keep that day.
Thereafter I was assigned to the Health Section which was under the control of Noel Finn, the youngest staff officer in the Council at a time when staff officerships were seldom in the offering. Indeed the total compliment of staff officers in the County Council at that time was three, Jimmy Tully and John Miley being the other two.
Noel Finn was a superb public official, a man blessed with intelligence allied with energy and enthusiasm which he brought whole-heartedly to bear on his job. He was kind and considerate to his staff and well I remember the way in which he sought to pass on his knowledge and experience to me as the youngest member of his team. In those days medical cards (we remember them as blue cards - why I don’t know) were a very important part of family support at a time when many earned incomes as well as welfare benefits bordered, more than they do now, on the poverty line. Noel had to recommend to the County Manager whether Medical Card Applications should be granted or refused and although the final decision was the County Managers, the Staff Officers recommendation was invariably followed. Noel went through each of the Applications with a thoroughness and a fairness which impressed me as I stood alongside his desk while he explained to me in each case the basis of his recommendations. This was his way of training a young clerical officer who even then had little hope of aspiring to the rank of Staff Officer.
Later on when Pat Herity and myself took ourselves off each night to attend night classes in Earlsfort Terrace, Noel was on most nights a fellow passenger in the Volkswagen Beetle which shuttled us between Naas and Dublin. Noel was then stepping out with his future wife Nancy. After I left the Local Government service I met Noel at various meetings over the years and always saw in him the same energy and enthusiasm I first noticed all those years ago. He was a superb Local Government official, who recognised the importance of public service in the life of local communities and who always sought to use his experience and knowledge for the benefit of the people he served. May he rest in peace.
“Don’t use public telephones. If fairly young and strong ride outside rather than inside trams. Don’t get wet feet - if you do, walk home, if possible, to avoid packed conveyances. Wear warm loose woollen clothing. Drink hot milk or lemonade when going to bed.”
Such was the state of medical knowledge just over eighty years ago. Another report which caught my eye was in the Irish Independent of Tuesday, 3rd December 1918.
“The first cases that Dr. T.J. Browne, Medical Inspector to the Local Government Board met outside Belfast were in Athy about the end of July when workmen who had gone there from Belfast were stricken with the disease which the doctors thought was typhus fever.”
Athy suffered great loss of life during the flu epidemic of 1918 and the flu vaccine which was even then being tested came too late to save many people. Indeed Dr. Brown, the Local Government Board Medical Inspector made a point of declaring that “the vaccine treatment was as yet more or less in the experimental stage and it was hardly proper for the Local Government Board to recommend it.”
In November 1918 the local Urban District Council asked the Board of Guardians who had charge of the local Poorhouse to engage more nurses to attend to the sick poor during the influenza epidemic. At the same time the Councillors extended thanks on behalf of the townspeople to Miss M. Murphy, Emily Square and Miss Brigid Darby of Leinster Street for “their unselfish attention bestowed without hope of monetary reward and irrespective of class or creed on our afflicted townspeople during the present terrible epidemic.” It would appear that the two good ladies were instrumental in forming a “Committee of Ladies to the Sufferers from the Influenza Epidemic in the town” whose members visited the poor people and provided them with food and drink. Amongst those who died in Athy at that time was Thomas Keating, a native of Kilcarroll, Kilrush in Co. Clare who was employed as a Customs Officer in the town. I am uncertain as to why customs officials were based in Athy but whatever it was, it indicated a level of commercial activity to which we have not been accustomed for some time. What about the workmen who came from Belfast to Athy in 1918? I surmise but perhaps incorrectly that they were engaged in the building of the Wolfhill Railway Line.
Another man whose links with Athy are unclear was John Roache, a Private in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Some years ago a medal won by Private J. Roache for the D. Company Hockey League in 1911 was found in the back garden of a house in Pairc Bhride. John Roache won the medal while his Battalion was stationed in India where it had gone in January 1910. The Dublin Fusiliers remained there until they were brought back to bolster the British Expeditionary Force in France during World War I. The Battalion arrived back in Plymouth Harbour just four days before Christmas 1914. John Roache, Regimental Number 9070 was killed in action in France on 1st March, 1917. The Irish War Memorial records state that he was born in Dublin and I cannot find any connection with Athy to explain why his hockey medal was found in a local back garden some years ago. Can anyone help to throw some light on Private John Roache and his connections, if any, with Athy?
Just before Christmas I attended the funeral in Naas of Noel Finn, a retired local Government official who was the first of many superiors I worked under during the first half of my working life. I was a scrawny red-haired brass-necked youngster fresh out of school when I presented myself in January 1961 at the County Council offices located in what was the former Fever Hospital in Naas. I can still recall that first day when I was brought into the County Secretary’s general office and given a few welcoming words by the then County Secretary Johnny Mullaney before starting my first task. It was, would you believe, to repair to the boiler house and there to rummage through a few sacks of envelopes in a vain search for a postal order which was apparently missing from a letter. I can’t recall if I managed to find the elusive postal order but I certainly earned my keep that day.
Thereafter I was assigned to the Health Section which was under the control of Noel Finn, the youngest staff officer in the Council at a time when staff officerships were seldom in the offering. Indeed the total compliment of staff officers in the County Council at that time was three, Jimmy Tully and John Miley being the other two.
Noel Finn was a superb public official, a man blessed with intelligence allied with energy and enthusiasm which he brought whole-heartedly to bear on his job. He was kind and considerate to his staff and well I remember the way in which he sought to pass on his knowledge and experience to me as the youngest member of his team. In those days medical cards (we remember them as blue cards - why I don’t know) were a very important part of family support at a time when many earned incomes as well as welfare benefits bordered, more than they do now, on the poverty line. Noel had to recommend to the County Manager whether Medical Card Applications should be granted or refused and although the final decision was the County Managers, the Staff Officers recommendation was invariably followed. Noel went through each of the Applications with a thoroughness and a fairness which impressed me as I stood alongside his desk while he explained to me in each case the basis of his recommendations. This was his way of training a young clerical officer who even then had little hope of aspiring to the rank of Staff Officer.
Later on when Pat Herity and myself took ourselves off each night to attend night classes in Earlsfort Terrace, Noel was on most nights a fellow passenger in the Volkswagen Beetle which shuttled us between Naas and Dublin. Noel was then stepping out with his future wife Nancy. After I left the Local Government service I met Noel at various meetings over the years and always saw in him the same energy and enthusiasm I first noticed all those years ago. He was a superb Local Government official, who recognised the importance of public service in the life of local communities and who always sought to use his experience and knowledge for the benefit of the people he served. May he rest in peace.
Thursday, November 23, 2000
John Henry's History of Athy
During the years of the Great Famine John Henry, a citizen of Athy, began to write his history of the town which he called Athy and its Recollections. An extract from his history appeared in the local newspaper The Eastern County’s Herald on St. Patrick’s Day 1849. His manuscript which he subsequently presented to the Duke of Leinster makes for interesting reading, even if some of his claims for the medieval town cannot be substantiated.
The following extract relating to the castle and bridge of Athy are from Henry’s manuscript.
“The castle never appears to have been an extensive building, one square tower, with the usual out works was found sufficient to command the bridge, for which purpose it was evidently erected, but by whom there are now no means of ascertaining. It may however be reasonably concluded that it was built about the time of the first bridge, and that it underwent alterations and improvements from time to time, suitable to the advanced state of military science, and to the taste or necessities of the parties who successively occupied it. Its position will at once discountenance the supposition that it was erected at an early period to protect the town, and it is equally improbable that it was built to command the ford. Such structures were very rarely used for purposes of the kind, and would be almost unnecessary at the ford of Athy, because Ardreigh, Dunbrin and Maganey fords lay only a little to the southward, and Barrowford, Shrowland and Bertfords within the short distance to the north, none of which were defended by a castle, although they were nearly as available to be passed as that of Athy. There was no ford at Woodstock, for the river there must have always formed a deep pool, on the margin of which the Castle of Woodstock was built, for the sake of the additional security such a position afforded.
From a careful examination of the materials available for enquiry, it is pretty certain that the first bridge was built by either or both of the religious houses, long established on each bank of the river. As an instance that this was the practice of such community, Maurice Jakes, a Cannon of Kildare, erected the bridge of Kilcullen, St. Wolstans and Leighlin. The tolls or duties however as pontage, payable by the passengers, formed a considerable part of the revenue of those establishments in latter years, and the religious authority of the brotherhood was a sufficient protection from violence until the rivalry of parties introduced licentiousness, and a thirst for reprisals and bloodshed that had small respect for any law or religion whatever. When interest was to be served or vengeance satiated, under those circumstances a Military defence was called for, and accordingly the Castle was built and successively strengthened as occasion required. The letter already quoted, having reference to Lord Furnival, mentions the erection of a “New Tower” for a ward to Athy bridge, with a great fortification about the same for resistance of enemies, “by which bridge” it is said “your faithful lieges were often times preyed and killed”.
Maurice, the fourth Earl of Kildare, attended Edward III at the Siege of Calais, and was knighted for his valour on the occasion by that monarch, who afterwards in 1350 appointed him to the Government of Ireland at a salary of £500 a year. This Earl had great experience in military affairs on the continent and in England, and when appointed Governor of Ireland, his knowledge was of the greatest importance in strengthening the defences of the Pale, and from him the Castle of Athy may be said to have first received anything like the appearance of a regular fortification.
It is very probable also that it was about this time it received the name of the White Castle, perhaps in contradistinction to the Black Castle, which, as already stated stood near the present site of the Reverend John Lawlers residence, or, as the Black Castle was for a long time in the possession of the Knights Hospitallers, a half religious, and half military order, it is not unlikely. Neither is it unsupported by some authority, that from the circumstance of the usual costume of those Knights being black, the Castle received its name, and for the same reason, the White Castle might be so called from the colour of the livery worn by the retainers of the Earl of Kildare. From authentic records, it is known that Gerald, the fifth Earl built a castle at Leighlin Bridge in 1408, which was named the White Castle, another building which previously existed being called, as in Athy, the Black Castle.
About eighty years ago, the fragment of a stone bearing a certain inscription was found in the old mill attached to the Castle. This stone can now be seen in the castle wall, near the former entrance door, and from the inscription on it, a writer in the Anthologia Hibernica, imagined that he had discovered the reason the castle received its present name, and since, in almost all the accounts of this building, this error has been followed.
As has been stated, the stone is but a fragment, and the portion of the inscription remaining scarcely conveys any sense, but admitting that it does record the setting of that stone by William White at the repairing of the Castle in 1575, it surely cannot be contended that the Castle received its name from this William White, when it was known as the White Castle for upwards of two hundred years before, and subsequently in the charter granted by James I to Athy, the Castle is correctly called the White Castle and not Whites Castle. The writer in the Anthologia Hibernica alluded to was a Mr. William Beauford who was a schoolmaster of no ordinary abilities residing in Carlow at one time, but afterwards a creditable inhabitant of Athy, where he also was the principal of a highly respectable school.
Although possessed of great versatility of talent, he appears to have held erroneous opinions of the ancient history of Ireland and its antiquities. To establish a favourite hypothesis he has sometimes been known to adopt a process of etymological investigation unparalleled in the annals of antiquarian research of which his translation of the inscription on the stone in question, is a thoughtless and glaring instance.”
Obviously local historians, of whatever age, were like politicians, never assured of acceptance by their own colleagues. I wonder what someone will say of me in 60 years time!
The following extract relating to the castle and bridge of Athy are from Henry’s manuscript.
“The castle never appears to have been an extensive building, one square tower, with the usual out works was found sufficient to command the bridge, for which purpose it was evidently erected, but by whom there are now no means of ascertaining. It may however be reasonably concluded that it was built about the time of the first bridge, and that it underwent alterations and improvements from time to time, suitable to the advanced state of military science, and to the taste or necessities of the parties who successively occupied it. Its position will at once discountenance the supposition that it was erected at an early period to protect the town, and it is equally improbable that it was built to command the ford. Such structures were very rarely used for purposes of the kind, and would be almost unnecessary at the ford of Athy, because Ardreigh, Dunbrin and Maganey fords lay only a little to the southward, and Barrowford, Shrowland and Bertfords within the short distance to the north, none of which were defended by a castle, although they were nearly as available to be passed as that of Athy. There was no ford at Woodstock, for the river there must have always formed a deep pool, on the margin of which the Castle of Woodstock was built, for the sake of the additional security such a position afforded.
From a careful examination of the materials available for enquiry, it is pretty certain that the first bridge was built by either or both of the religious houses, long established on each bank of the river. As an instance that this was the practice of such community, Maurice Jakes, a Cannon of Kildare, erected the bridge of Kilcullen, St. Wolstans and Leighlin. The tolls or duties however as pontage, payable by the passengers, formed a considerable part of the revenue of those establishments in latter years, and the religious authority of the brotherhood was a sufficient protection from violence until the rivalry of parties introduced licentiousness, and a thirst for reprisals and bloodshed that had small respect for any law or religion whatever. When interest was to be served or vengeance satiated, under those circumstances a Military defence was called for, and accordingly the Castle was built and successively strengthened as occasion required. The letter already quoted, having reference to Lord Furnival, mentions the erection of a “New Tower” for a ward to Athy bridge, with a great fortification about the same for resistance of enemies, “by which bridge” it is said “your faithful lieges were often times preyed and killed”.
Maurice, the fourth Earl of Kildare, attended Edward III at the Siege of Calais, and was knighted for his valour on the occasion by that monarch, who afterwards in 1350 appointed him to the Government of Ireland at a salary of £500 a year. This Earl had great experience in military affairs on the continent and in England, and when appointed Governor of Ireland, his knowledge was of the greatest importance in strengthening the defences of the Pale, and from him the Castle of Athy may be said to have first received anything like the appearance of a regular fortification.
It is very probable also that it was about this time it received the name of the White Castle, perhaps in contradistinction to the Black Castle, which, as already stated stood near the present site of the Reverend John Lawlers residence, or, as the Black Castle was for a long time in the possession of the Knights Hospitallers, a half religious, and half military order, it is not unlikely. Neither is it unsupported by some authority, that from the circumstance of the usual costume of those Knights being black, the Castle received its name, and for the same reason, the White Castle might be so called from the colour of the livery worn by the retainers of the Earl of Kildare. From authentic records, it is known that Gerald, the fifth Earl built a castle at Leighlin Bridge in 1408, which was named the White Castle, another building which previously existed being called, as in Athy, the Black Castle.
About eighty years ago, the fragment of a stone bearing a certain inscription was found in the old mill attached to the Castle. This stone can now be seen in the castle wall, near the former entrance door, and from the inscription on it, a writer in the Anthologia Hibernica, imagined that he had discovered the reason the castle received its present name, and since, in almost all the accounts of this building, this error has been followed.
As has been stated, the stone is but a fragment, and the portion of the inscription remaining scarcely conveys any sense, but admitting that it does record the setting of that stone by William White at the repairing of the Castle in 1575, it surely cannot be contended that the Castle received its name from this William White, when it was known as the White Castle for upwards of two hundred years before, and subsequently in the charter granted by James I to Athy, the Castle is correctly called the White Castle and not Whites Castle. The writer in the Anthologia Hibernica alluded to was a Mr. William Beauford who was a schoolmaster of no ordinary abilities residing in Carlow at one time, but afterwards a creditable inhabitant of Athy, where he also was the principal of a highly respectable school.
Although possessed of great versatility of talent, he appears to have held erroneous opinions of the ancient history of Ireland and its antiquities. To establish a favourite hypothesis he has sometimes been known to adopt a process of etymological investigation unparalleled in the annals of antiquarian research of which his translation of the inscription on the stone in question, is a thoughtless and glaring instance.”
Obviously local historians, of whatever age, were like politicians, never assured of acceptance by their own colleagues. I wonder what someone will say of me in 60 years time!
Thursday, November 16, 2000
Some Past Pupils Get Together - Late Paddy Flanagan
I had a surprise visitor last Sunday evening. He had travelled all the way from Beijing in China and yet looked as un-Chinese as you might expect of someone who had spent his school days in the Christian Brothers school in Athy. My visitor was Seamus Ryan, now a Doctor in charge of a Medical Centre in China’s capital, in which city he has been a resident for a number of years. We have kept in touch in recent years through the extraordinary agency of the internet. Indeed the genius of the system allows one to communicate at once with several persons, all receiving the same message with the press of a button. So it is that Seamus Ryan in China and Mike Robinson in Australia can be kept up-to-date with the local Athy news. It all depends however on their old school mate raising his energy levels to a sufficient height to make use of the latest electronic wizardry.
Unexpected as it was, Seamus Ryan’s visit presented an opportunity for a get-together with some of his old school friends which was speedily arranged. Later that Sunday night eight former pupils of the St. John’s Lane Academy of Excellence met to renew acquaintances and chin-wag their way through years of absence. George Robinson travelled from Athlone at short notice to attend and journeyed back there later that same night to prepare for a journey the following morning to Galway. George, as ever, was in scintillating form, reminding us of many forgotten episodes in our school lives which ended forty years ago. On such occasions the ageing youths of yesteryear belie their age and life experiences and indulge in youthful dreams of what seems like another age.
Times have certainly changed since as young lads we bounded up the metal stairs of the Christian Brothers School in St. John’s Lane to take our place behind the school benches which even then carried the crudely carved marks of generations long gone to their maker. It was indeed an old school with a history stretching back to 1862 when the Christian Brothers first arrived in Athy.
Last Sunday night as eight past pupils gathered for a chat and a drink the talk was of what seemed like another age. We talked of Brother Brett, noted without any dissenting voice as a gentleman and his colleague Brother Kehoe, better known to all his pupils as Johnny Boris. How or where he got the name I do not know but Boris [now long dead] still raises controversy amongst his former pupils.
We could all recall the horrific beatings which three of our school mates received at his hands during our secondary school days. Nowadays such physical beatings would merit possible legal action but in those days, now over forty years ago, little was thought of the sometimes ritual head-banging and leather slapping antics of school teachers. It is remarkable how incidents such as these had different effects on the young onlookers of the time, some of whom still feel, after so many years, a revulsion which finds expression in the condemnation of such callous behaviour. Others regard the occasional brutality of those days as a symptom of the times in which we lived and push the unpleasantness to the backs of minds where it remains submerged by the good memories.
No such condemnation was aired in relation to the two lay teachers who during the second half of the 1950’s laboured sometimes in vain to inculcate a modicum of learning into our unreceptive minds. Bill Ryan whom we had as a teacher for our entire secondary school life and Bill Riordan, our teacher for a few short years, were and still are, fondly recalled and remembered. Bill Ryan was a particularly good teacher who shared his experiences and his knowledge in a way and a manner which engaged his youthful charges. Thus encouraged they worked harder at his subjects than any others and in some cases maintained a life-long interest in the subjects which Bill Ryan taught with such success.
When we came together on Sunday night it was as a bunch of young fellows clothed in the garb of middle-aged men and burdened with the accumulated knowledge of 57 years. Pat Flinter, Ted Wynne and Teddy Kelly see much of each other every week day, working as they do within the confines of the Tegral industrial complex. Billy Browne and Frank English are two more of the locals who never left their home town, unlike Seamus Ryan, George Robinson and even myself who spent 20 years out of Athy in the 1960’s and 1970’s. We hadn’t previously got together in this way and Seamus Ryan’s unexpected visit gave us both the opportunity and the reason to indulge ourselves.
I marvel at the ability of some of my school pals to recall names and events of over 40 years ago with unerring accuracy. It is when faced with the encyclopaedic knowledge of local life and lore by somebody like Teddy Kelly that I wonder how it is that I ever get the courage to write of times past, especially when there are so many events and people I cannot remember any longer. One man whom I do remember passed away last week. He was Paddy Flanagan, a great cyclist and a native of County Kildare who was my first sporting hero. I can still recall the excitement experienced as I read in the late 1950’s of Paddy’s exploits in Ras Tailteann. He excelled at his sport at a time when sporting heroes were scarce enough and Irish sporting heroes virtually unheard of. In those pre-television days sporting excellence received its quota of coverage within the pages of the National newspapers and the Irish Independent was then my eyeglass on the world of sport. Nothing else interested me in the Newspapers those days other than the sport pages and for many summers the name of Paddy Flanagan and his brother were writ large on those same pages. Paddy was a Kildare man and gave us a pride in the County at a time when the sporting pages of the National Press had little cause to extol the achievements of the County footballers.
How sad to think that he passed away at such a relatively young age. Paddy Flanagan will always be, for me, one of the great sporting heroes of my schooldays.
When the school pals of 40 years ago broke up on Monday morning it was with the promise to have a class reunion next year with as many of our class mates as can be gathered together from all corners of the world. The Christian Brothers’ boys have still more stories to share and enjoy.
Unexpected as it was, Seamus Ryan’s visit presented an opportunity for a get-together with some of his old school friends which was speedily arranged. Later that Sunday night eight former pupils of the St. John’s Lane Academy of Excellence met to renew acquaintances and chin-wag their way through years of absence. George Robinson travelled from Athlone at short notice to attend and journeyed back there later that same night to prepare for a journey the following morning to Galway. George, as ever, was in scintillating form, reminding us of many forgotten episodes in our school lives which ended forty years ago. On such occasions the ageing youths of yesteryear belie their age and life experiences and indulge in youthful dreams of what seems like another age.
Times have certainly changed since as young lads we bounded up the metal stairs of the Christian Brothers School in St. John’s Lane to take our place behind the school benches which even then carried the crudely carved marks of generations long gone to their maker. It was indeed an old school with a history stretching back to 1862 when the Christian Brothers first arrived in Athy.
Last Sunday night as eight past pupils gathered for a chat and a drink the talk was of what seemed like another age. We talked of Brother Brett, noted without any dissenting voice as a gentleman and his colleague Brother Kehoe, better known to all his pupils as Johnny Boris. How or where he got the name I do not know but Boris [now long dead] still raises controversy amongst his former pupils.
We could all recall the horrific beatings which three of our school mates received at his hands during our secondary school days. Nowadays such physical beatings would merit possible legal action but in those days, now over forty years ago, little was thought of the sometimes ritual head-banging and leather slapping antics of school teachers. It is remarkable how incidents such as these had different effects on the young onlookers of the time, some of whom still feel, after so many years, a revulsion which finds expression in the condemnation of such callous behaviour. Others regard the occasional brutality of those days as a symptom of the times in which we lived and push the unpleasantness to the backs of minds where it remains submerged by the good memories.
No such condemnation was aired in relation to the two lay teachers who during the second half of the 1950’s laboured sometimes in vain to inculcate a modicum of learning into our unreceptive minds. Bill Ryan whom we had as a teacher for our entire secondary school life and Bill Riordan, our teacher for a few short years, were and still are, fondly recalled and remembered. Bill Ryan was a particularly good teacher who shared his experiences and his knowledge in a way and a manner which engaged his youthful charges. Thus encouraged they worked harder at his subjects than any others and in some cases maintained a life-long interest in the subjects which Bill Ryan taught with such success.
When we came together on Sunday night it was as a bunch of young fellows clothed in the garb of middle-aged men and burdened with the accumulated knowledge of 57 years. Pat Flinter, Ted Wynne and Teddy Kelly see much of each other every week day, working as they do within the confines of the Tegral industrial complex. Billy Browne and Frank English are two more of the locals who never left their home town, unlike Seamus Ryan, George Robinson and even myself who spent 20 years out of Athy in the 1960’s and 1970’s. We hadn’t previously got together in this way and Seamus Ryan’s unexpected visit gave us both the opportunity and the reason to indulge ourselves.
I marvel at the ability of some of my school pals to recall names and events of over 40 years ago with unerring accuracy. It is when faced with the encyclopaedic knowledge of local life and lore by somebody like Teddy Kelly that I wonder how it is that I ever get the courage to write of times past, especially when there are so many events and people I cannot remember any longer. One man whom I do remember passed away last week. He was Paddy Flanagan, a great cyclist and a native of County Kildare who was my first sporting hero. I can still recall the excitement experienced as I read in the late 1950’s of Paddy’s exploits in Ras Tailteann. He excelled at his sport at a time when sporting heroes were scarce enough and Irish sporting heroes virtually unheard of. In those pre-television days sporting excellence received its quota of coverage within the pages of the National newspapers and the Irish Independent was then my eyeglass on the world of sport. Nothing else interested me in the Newspapers those days other than the sport pages and for many summers the name of Paddy Flanagan and his brother were writ large on those same pages. Paddy was a Kildare man and gave us a pride in the County at a time when the sporting pages of the National Press had little cause to extol the achievements of the County footballers.
How sad to think that he passed away at such a relatively young age. Paddy Flanagan will always be, for me, one of the great sporting heroes of my schooldays.
When the school pals of 40 years ago broke up on Monday morning it was with the promise to have a class reunion next year with as many of our class mates as can be gathered together from all corners of the world. The Christian Brothers’ boys have still more stories to share and enjoy.
Thursday, November 9, 2000
Handbook for Travellers in Ireland 1878
I have always been fascinated by old guide books and enjoy the opportunity to read what travellers to this part of the country have to say about our area. One such book I bought recently was an 1878 edition of Handbook for Travellers in Ireland published by John Murray of London. In the preface to that book we are advised that it was based “in great part on personal visits and research made by the editor on the spot in order or render it as trustworthy as possible”. The editor’s subsequent faint praise for the inn-keepers of Ireland of 125 years ago is circumscribed with an admonishment that “if facilities for travelling in Ireland were greater and more attention were paid to order and cleanliness by the Irish Inn-keeper he would have a fair chance of diverting into that beautiful Ireland a large portion of the tourist flood which now streams for the continent.”
Irish Railways described in the book as “by no means luxurious” were stated to have carriages which were antiquated and occasionally ragged. The railway stations themselves were regarded as even more primitive than the carriages, and the Station Masters and their assistants throughout provincial Ireland were regarded as “curiously unsophisticated although imbued with genuine civility and eagerness to render the best possible service.”
Where the railways had not yet penetrated, transport was provided by coaches or public cars. Here the editor offered advice to his readers as to how best to travel on an Irish outside car.
“Ascertain which way the wind is blowing, if the weather is cold or likely to be bad and choose your side accordingly … Aprons are provided in the car, at the same time a private waterproof apron is a great convenience and added to which the traveller should obtain a strap by which he can buckle himself to the seat during night journeys and thus go safely to sleep without fear of being jerked forward”.
Irish Hotels with some exceptions were regarded as inferior to those of England, Scotland or the continent. One of the features of most Irish Hotels, even in the 1870’s, was the exaulted position occupied by “the boots”. He generally was to be found in provincial town hotels, and almost always was a native of the district who could direct you to all the best eating and drinking houses within the area. The broken bells, ragged wallpaper and carpets and ruptured sofa cushions were even in the most inferior of hotels, or so the editor would have us believe, accompanied by substantial good food, reasonably clean sleeping accommodation and always with good humoured civility and attention.
When travelling by the Great Southern and Western Railway from Dublin to Kilkenny the intrepid travellers passed by, as they approached Athy, the large mansion known as Bert Hall (as it was then styled). The land around Kilberry was described as “low, wet and boggy” and by all accounts was lying very little above the levels of the River Barrow. A description of Athy in the 1870’s as noted in this English publication will be of interest to modern day readers.
“It was in early times a place of importance as a neutral ground between the territories of Leix and Caellan, which as a matter of course were always at desperate feud, and struggled hard with each other for possession of Athy or Ath-legar, ‘the ford towards the west.’ Subsequent to the English invasion the Lords Justices regarded it with equal jealousy, from its being on the frontier of the Kildare Marches, and a castle, now called White’s Castle, was accordingly erected for its defence by Fitzgerald Earl of Kildare, at the commencement of the 14th century. It is a massive rectangular and embattled building, flanked at each corner by a small square turret, and overlooks the bridge that crosses the Barrow. This bridge bears the curious name of Crom-aboo, from the ancient war-cry of the Fitzgeralds, and is in itself worth notice. A little distance to the North of the town by the river-side is another square fortress, called Woodstock Castle, which, although usually ascribed to the Earl of Pembroke, is considered, with more probability, to have been built in the 13th century by an Earl of Kildare, who received the manor of Woodstock by marriage with the daughter of O’Moore of Leix. It is remarkable for the thickness of its walls, its square mullioned windows, and a round-headed gateway adjoining the tower. Formerly a monastery existed for Crouched Friars and another for Dominicans, both established in the 13th century. There are also the remains of Preston’s Gate leading into the town. Athy is a well-built little place, and is, jointly with Naas, the assize town of Co. Kildare. Its situation in the middle of a rich plain, together with facilities of water and land carriage, commands for it a large agricultural business.
A branch of the Grand Canal from Monasterevan here joins the Barrow, forming the commencement of the Barrow navigation, by which water communication is maintained between Athy, Carlow, Bagenalstown, Borris, New Ross, and the sea.
Kilberry is 3 miles to the North, between the railway and the river, and near Lord Downes’ seat at Bert. On this spot 2 strong castles and an abbey formerly stood, of the latter of which there are slight ruins; and on the other side of the river is Rheban Castle (Righ-ban), “the House of the King,” one of the fortresses of Richard de St. Michael (the same who founded the monastery for Crouched Friars in Athy). But it is probably that he only enlarged or rebuilt it, as not only the name appears to be of an early date, but it is even mentioned by Ptolemy as an inland town of some note.
The Moat of Ardscull, 3½ miles on the road to Kilcullen, is a high mound (now planted), supposed to have been raised to commemorate a desperate battle in the 3rd century between the men of S. Leinster and those of Munster. About 2 miles to the East, by a cross-road, is another historical spot, the Rath of Mullaghmast (Mullach-Maistean, Ir. ‘the Hill of Decapitation’). It was formerly known as ‘the Carmen,’ where, on 16 conical mounds, many of the elders of the province of Leinster held their councils; but it derived its other name in consequence of the act of some English adventurers in the 16th century, who, being resisted in their encroachments by some of the Irish chieftains, invited the latter to a conference on New Year’s Day, fell upon them unawares, and slew them. In consequence of the anathematization of Carmen the place of assembly was removed to the rath at Naas. Visible in the West is the tower of Inch Castle, one of King John’s fortresses, which was the locale of a severe engagement in 1642 between the armies of Ormond and Mountgarrett.”
The visitor today could without difficulty retrace the steps of his predecessor of 175 years ago using the same guide book. The only differences noticeable today arise from the since destroyed mullioned windows of Woodstock Castle and the round-headed gateway of the same Castle removed, as was Preston’s Gate. The stones taken from these medieval buildings were presumably used for building purposes elsewhere in the town.
Irish Railways described in the book as “by no means luxurious” were stated to have carriages which were antiquated and occasionally ragged. The railway stations themselves were regarded as even more primitive than the carriages, and the Station Masters and their assistants throughout provincial Ireland were regarded as “curiously unsophisticated although imbued with genuine civility and eagerness to render the best possible service.”
Where the railways had not yet penetrated, transport was provided by coaches or public cars. Here the editor offered advice to his readers as to how best to travel on an Irish outside car.
“Ascertain which way the wind is blowing, if the weather is cold or likely to be bad and choose your side accordingly … Aprons are provided in the car, at the same time a private waterproof apron is a great convenience and added to which the traveller should obtain a strap by which he can buckle himself to the seat during night journeys and thus go safely to sleep without fear of being jerked forward”.
Irish Hotels with some exceptions were regarded as inferior to those of England, Scotland or the continent. One of the features of most Irish Hotels, even in the 1870’s, was the exaulted position occupied by “the boots”. He generally was to be found in provincial town hotels, and almost always was a native of the district who could direct you to all the best eating and drinking houses within the area. The broken bells, ragged wallpaper and carpets and ruptured sofa cushions were even in the most inferior of hotels, or so the editor would have us believe, accompanied by substantial good food, reasonably clean sleeping accommodation and always with good humoured civility and attention.
When travelling by the Great Southern and Western Railway from Dublin to Kilkenny the intrepid travellers passed by, as they approached Athy, the large mansion known as Bert Hall (as it was then styled). The land around Kilberry was described as “low, wet and boggy” and by all accounts was lying very little above the levels of the River Barrow. A description of Athy in the 1870’s as noted in this English publication will be of interest to modern day readers.
“It was in early times a place of importance as a neutral ground between the territories of Leix and Caellan, which as a matter of course were always at desperate feud, and struggled hard with each other for possession of Athy or Ath-legar, ‘the ford towards the west.’ Subsequent to the English invasion the Lords Justices regarded it with equal jealousy, from its being on the frontier of the Kildare Marches, and a castle, now called White’s Castle, was accordingly erected for its defence by Fitzgerald Earl of Kildare, at the commencement of the 14th century. It is a massive rectangular and embattled building, flanked at each corner by a small square turret, and overlooks the bridge that crosses the Barrow. This bridge bears the curious name of Crom-aboo, from the ancient war-cry of the Fitzgeralds, and is in itself worth notice. A little distance to the North of the town by the river-side is another square fortress, called Woodstock Castle, which, although usually ascribed to the Earl of Pembroke, is considered, with more probability, to have been built in the 13th century by an Earl of Kildare, who received the manor of Woodstock by marriage with the daughter of O’Moore of Leix. It is remarkable for the thickness of its walls, its square mullioned windows, and a round-headed gateway adjoining the tower. Formerly a monastery existed for Crouched Friars and another for Dominicans, both established in the 13th century. There are also the remains of Preston’s Gate leading into the town. Athy is a well-built little place, and is, jointly with Naas, the assize town of Co. Kildare. Its situation in the middle of a rich plain, together with facilities of water and land carriage, commands for it a large agricultural business.
A branch of the Grand Canal from Monasterevan here joins the Barrow, forming the commencement of the Barrow navigation, by which water communication is maintained between Athy, Carlow, Bagenalstown, Borris, New Ross, and the sea.
Kilberry is 3 miles to the North, between the railway and the river, and near Lord Downes’ seat at Bert. On this spot 2 strong castles and an abbey formerly stood, of the latter of which there are slight ruins; and on the other side of the river is Rheban Castle (Righ-ban), “the House of the King,” one of the fortresses of Richard de St. Michael (the same who founded the monastery for Crouched Friars in Athy). But it is probably that he only enlarged or rebuilt it, as not only the name appears to be of an early date, but it is even mentioned by Ptolemy as an inland town of some note.
The Moat of Ardscull, 3½ miles on the road to Kilcullen, is a high mound (now planted), supposed to have been raised to commemorate a desperate battle in the 3rd century between the men of S. Leinster and those of Munster. About 2 miles to the East, by a cross-road, is another historical spot, the Rath of Mullaghmast (Mullach-Maistean, Ir. ‘the Hill of Decapitation’). It was formerly known as ‘the Carmen,’ where, on 16 conical mounds, many of the elders of the province of Leinster held their councils; but it derived its other name in consequence of the act of some English adventurers in the 16th century, who, being resisted in their encroachments by some of the Irish chieftains, invited the latter to a conference on New Year’s Day, fell upon them unawares, and slew them. In consequence of the anathematization of Carmen the place of assembly was removed to the rath at Naas. Visible in the West is the tower of Inch Castle, one of King John’s fortresses, which was the locale of a severe engagement in 1642 between the armies of Ormond and Mountgarrett.”
The visitor today could without difficulty retrace the steps of his predecessor of 175 years ago using the same guide book. The only differences noticeable today arise from the since destroyed mullioned windows of Woodstock Castle and the round-headed gateway of the same Castle removed, as was Preston’s Gate. The stones taken from these medieval buildings were presumably used for building purposes elsewhere in the town.
Thursday, November 2, 2000
Book Launch
I was overwhelmed by the response to the book launch last Thursday. There was such a large attendance, I was afraid the library authorities might ban similar events from using their facilities again. Thanks to everybody who attended on the night. It was for me a memorable occasion made even more memorable by the people who came out in support. It all goes to prove that there is enormous interest in local history. This interest is growing all the time and in the case of Athy, no doubt indicates a growing sense of civic pride in the town which has taken a number of knocks over the years.
It was while looking through the book that I realised how many of the good people I had interviewed in the early years of Eye on the Past have passed away. Paddy Keenan, a delightful man, Brother Brett, a generous teacher and Sean MacFheorais, gaelic poet and brother of Joe Bermingham were some of the people who appeared in the early articles. Hester May, that wonderful old lady who had packed into her early life associations with the men and women who across the stage of Irish, Rebellion and Politics was another. Stephen Bolger and Tosh Doyle were two local men who lived into old age and shared with me their experiences of life in Athy of years gone by. So too did Mary Carr of Quarry Farm who lived for a while in the gate lodge of the house where I am now writing this piece. Jack MacKenna, father of John who launched the book last week was the subject of an Eye on the Past when he recounted for me many of the forgotten stories of Republican activity in South Kildare during the War of Independence. Jack Kelly, musician and Jack Murphy a worker from the halycon days of Duthie Larges spoke to me of the lives of the Athy people they grew up with and knew so many years ago. Michael Moore, shop keeper and bee enthusiast, provided me with another insight into the towns past with his detailed knowledge of the early years of the South Kildare Beekeepers Association. Finally there was Julia Mahon whom I did not interview but wrote about after she passed away. Julia was the touchstone for many local Athy people and embodying as she did so much of what it is that makes Athy not only a place in which we all live out our lives but also the place which embraces and nurtures our hopes and our ambitions. Athy is our place and as John MacKenna said in his eloquent and much appreciated launch address, “all lives are of consequence - and poverty and anonymity, a rural way of life or indeed a quietness does not amount to a lack of consequence”.
The first article in the new book was on the Sisters of Mercy and I was delighted to meet during the night of the launch several members of the local Sisters of Mercy Community. I suppose the word “community” is still appropriate despite the emergence from the Convent life of the Sisters of Mercy who now live within the community they served for so long. Sister Paul was not able to be at the launch and sent me a letter beforehand with her good wishes as did Sr. Dominic of St. Vincent’s. It’s quite extraordinary the affection with which the Sisters of Mercy are held by the local people but indeed it is quite understandable why it should be so. Lives devoted to the service of a local people over generations creates its own reservoir of gratitude and the people of Athy have never, and will never, forget the debt owed to the Sisters of Mercy.
For the second time, Noreen Ryan and Georgina O’Neill attended the book launch. On the first occasion, the doors of the Town Hall stoutly resisted their attempts to enter but neither Noreen or Georgina were to know that the launch first scheduled for last September had been postponed. It was good to see both of them back again in company with so many others of their generation whose love for and knowledge of the town and its people is founded on long lives spent in the South Kildare town on the Marches of Kildare.
Derek Tynan, son of the former owner of the Leinster Arms Hotel and now one of the leading Architects in this country was a surprise attender. His mother is living in Beechgrove and in the past kindly sent me on some details of a local involvement in the design of the badge for the Garda Siochana. The sharing of information is an essential element of piecing together the towns story and a recent example of that was the kind lady who brought to my attention the forgotten story of “The Knights of the Plough”. If you knew anything about this organisation founded by a local man nearly sixty years ago, I would welcome hearing from you. And incidentally, it was not J. J. Bergin the founder of the Ploughing Association who set up the Knights of the Plough.
During the Book Launch, an unexpected surprise was the presentation made by Tommy Keegan. I have to say that Tommy’s kind gesture was a remarkable display of friendship and generosity and one which I much appreciated. The Master of Ceremony for the night was a man who has taken over the mantle of the late M.G. Nolan and with whom I have shared many experiences over the last forty years. Frank English was himself the subject of an Eye on the Past in December 1993 when his colleagues on the local Urban Council celebrated his 26 years on that Council. Since then, he has clocked up another seven years making his tenure one which threatens to surpass the record of Thomas Plewman who was a Town Commissioner and later an Urban Councillor between 1866 and 1920. Only another 21 years to go Frank!. Frank’s kind words on the night were much appreciated and I particularly liked the story of the Athy man returning to Australia who asked for the Nationalist to be sent to them so they could read “Taaffe’s Article”.
Fiona and Liam Rainsford of Data Print deserve special thanks for their courteous help in bringing out the book. They have done a good job and I am particularly pleased that a local printer has been involved in producing this book of local reminiscences. Shaw’s sponsored the wine reception and as one of the oldest businesses in Athy, it was appropriate, yet generous of them to be associated with the venture in this way.
So many people helped in so many ways over the years that inevitably I could not hope to name all of them in this short piece. Suffice to say that I thank everyone who has contributed in any way to the Eye on the Past articles and to the subsequent book, Eye on Athy’s Past. I will leave the last word to John MacKenna, the local writer whose talents have earned him an audience beyond the confines of the County and whose eloquent speech at the Book Launch was as ever generous and kind.
“The lives recovered and recounted in the book are the lives of ordinary people. Sometimes that phrase is thrown around as though the ordinary couldn’t possibly be of significance. But as this book proves --- everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a sorrow to bear or a joy to celebrate”.
I hope that together we can continue to give voice to the lives of the local people for many years to come.
It was while looking through the book that I realised how many of the good people I had interviewed in the early years of Eye on the Past have passed away. Paddy Keenan, a delightful man, Brother Brett, a generous teacher and Sean MacFheorais, gaelic poet and brother of Joe Bermingham were some of the people who appeared in the early articles. Hester May, that wonderful old lady who had packed into her early life associations with the men and women who across the stage of Irish, Rebellion and Politics was another. Stephen Bolger and Tosh Doyle were two local men who lived into old age and shared with me their experiences of life in Athy of years gone by. So too did Mary Carr of Quarry Farm who lived for a while in the gate lodge of the house where I am now writing this piece. Jack MacKenna, father of John who launched the book last week was the subject of an Eye on the Past when he recounted for me many of the forgotten stories of Republican activity in South Kildare during the War of Independence. Jack Kelly, musician and Jack Murphy a worker from the halycon days of Duthie Larges spoke to me of the lives of the Athy people they grew up with and knew so many years ago. Michael Moore, shop keeper and bee enthusiast, provided me with another insight into the towns past with his detailed knowledge of the early years of the South Kildare Beekeepers Association. Finally there was Julia Mahon whom I did not interview but wrote about after she passed away. Julia was the touchstone for many local Athy people and embodying as she did so much of what it is that makes Athy not only a place in which we all live out our lives but also the place which embraces and nurtures our hopes and our ambitions. Athy is our place and as John MacKenna said in his eloquent and much appreciated launch address, “all lives are of consequence - and poverty and anonymity, a rural way of life or indeed a quietness does not amount to a lack of consequence”.
The first article in the new book was on the Sisters of Mercy and I was delighted to meet during the night of the launch several members of the local Sisters of Mercy Community. I suppose the word “community” is still appropriate despite the emergence from the Convent life of the Sisters of Mercy who now live within the community they served for so long. Sister Paul was not able to be at the launch and sent me a letter beforehand with her good wishes as did Sr. Dominic of St. Vincent’s. It’s quite extraordinary the affection with which the Sisters of Mercy are held by the local people but indeed it is quite understandable why it should be so. Lives devoted to the service of a local people over generations creates its own reservoir of gratitude and the people of Athy have never, and will never, forget the debt owed to the Sisters of Mercy.
For the second time, Noreen Ryan and Georgina O’Neill attended the book launch. On the first occasion, the doors of the Town Hall stoutly resisted their attempts to enter but neither Noreen or Georgina were to know that the launch first scheduled for last September had been postponed. It was good to see both of them back again in company with so many others of their generation whose love for and knowledge of the town and its people is founded on long lives spent in the South Kildare town on the Marches of Kildare.
Derek Tynan, son of the former owner of the Leinster Arms Hotel and now one of the leading Architects in this country was a surprise attender. His mother is living in Beechgrove and in the past kindly sent me on some details of a local involvement in the design of the badge for the Garda Siochana. The sharing of information is an essential element of piecing together the towns story and a recent example of that was the kind lady who brought to my attention the forgotten story of “The Knights of the Plough”. If you knew anything about this organisation founded by a local man nearly sixty years ago, I would welcome hearing from you. And incidentally, it was not J. J. Bergin the founder of the Ploughing Association who set up the Knights of the Plough.
During the Book Launch, an unexpected surprise was the presentation made by Tommy Keegan. I have to say that Tommy’s kind gesture was a remarkable display of friendship and generosity and one which I much appreciated. The Master of Ceremony for the night was a man who has taken over the mantle of the late M.G. Nolan and with whom I have shared many experiences over the last forty years. Frank English was himself the subject of an Eye on the Past in December 1993 when his colleagues on the local Urban Council celebrated his 26 years on that Council. Since then, he has clocked up another seven years making his tenure one which threatens to surpass the record of Thomas Plewman who was a Town Commissioner and later an Urban Councillor between 1866 and 1920. Only another 21 years to go Frank!. Frank’s kind words on the night were much appreciated and I particularly liked the story of the Athy man returning to Australia who asked for the Nationalist to be sent to them so they could read “Taaffe’s Article”.
Fiona and Liam Rainsford of Data Print deserve special thanks for their courteous help in bringing out the book. They have done a good job and I am particularly pleased that a local printer has been involved in producing this book of local reminiscences. Shaw’s sponsored the wine reception and as one of the oldest businesses in Athy, it was appropriate, yet generous of them to be associated with the venture in this way.
So many people helped in so many ways over the years that inevitably I could not hope to name all of them in this short piece. Suffice to say that I thank everyone who has contributed in any way to the Eye on the Past articles and to the subsequent book, Eye on Athy’s Past. I will leave the last word to John MacKenna, the local writer whose talents have earned him an audience beyond the confines of the County and whose eloquent speech at the Book Launch was as ever generous and kind.
“The lives recovered and recounted in the book are the lives of ordinary people. Sometimes that phrase is thrown around as though the ordinary couldn’t possibly be of significance. But as this book proves --- everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a sorrow to bear or a joy to celebrate”.
I hope that together we can continue to give voice to the lives of the local people for many years to come.
Thursday, October 26, 2000
Book Launch
I was overwhelmed by the response to the book launch last Thursday. There was such a large attendance, I was afraid the library authorities might ban similar events from using their facilities again. Thanks to everybody who attended on the night. It was for me a memorable occasion made even more memorable by the people who came out in support. It all goes to prove that there is enormous interest in local history. This interest is growing all the time and in the case of Athy, no doubt indicates a growing sense of civic pride in the town which has taken a number of knocks over the years.
It was while looking through the book that I realised how many of the good people I had interviewed in the early years of Eye on the Past have passed away. Paddy Keenan, a delightful man, Brother Brett, a generous teacher and Sean MacFheorais, gaelic poet and brother of Joe Bermingham were some of the people who appeared in the early articles. Hester May, that wonderful old lady who had packed into her early life associations with the men and women who across the stage of Irish, Rebellion and Politics was another. Stephen Bolger and Tosh Doyle were two local men who lived into old age and shared with me their experiences of life in Athy of years gone by. So too did Mary Carr of Quarry Farm who lived for a while in the gate lodge of the house where I am now writing this piece. Jack MacKenna, father of John who launched the book last week was the subject of an Eye on the Past when he recounted for me many of the forgotten stories of Republican activity in South Kildare during the War of Independence. Jack Kelly, musician and Jack Murphy a worker from the halycon days of Duthie Larges spoke to me of the lives of the Athy people they grew up with and knew so many years ago. Michael Moore, shop keeper and bee enthusiast, provided me with another insight into the towns past with his detailed knowledge of the early years of the South Kildare Beekeepers Association. Finally there was Julia Mahon whom I did not interview but wrote about after she passed away. Julia was the touchstone for many local Athy people and embodying as she did so much of what it is that makes Athy not only a place in which we all live out our lives but also the place which embraces and nurtures our hopes and our ambitions. Athy is our place and as John MacKenna said in his eloquent and much appreciated launch address, “all lives are of consequence - and poverty and anonymity, a rural way of life or indeed a quietness does not amount to a lack of consequence”.
The first article in the new book was on the Sisters of Mercy and I was delighted to meet during the night of the launch several members of the local Sisters of Mercy Community. I suppose the word “community” is still appropriate despite the emergence from the Convent life of the Sisters of Mercy who now live within the community they served for so long. Sister Paul was not able to be at the launch and sent me a letter beforehand with her good wishes as did Sr. Dominic of St. Vincent’s. It’s quite extraordinary the affection with which the Sisters of Mercy are held by the local people but indeed it is quite understandable why it should be so. Lives devoted to the service of a local people over generations creates its own reservoir of gratitude and the people of Athy have never, and will never, forget the debt owed to the Sisters of Mercy.
For the second time, Noreen Ryan and Georgina O’Neill attended the book launch. On the first occasion, the doors of the Town Hall stoutly resisted their attempts to enter but neither Noreen or Georgina were to know that the launch first scheduled for last September had been postponed. It was good to see both of them back again in company with so many others of their generation whose love for and knowledge of the town and its people is founded on long lives spent in the South Kildare town on the Marches of Kildare.
Derek Tynan, son of the former owner of the Leinster Arms Hotel and now one of the leading Architects in this country was a surprise attender. His mother is living in Beechgrove and in the past kindly sent me on some details of a local involvement in the design of the badge for the Garda Siochana. The sharing of information is an essential element of piecing together the towns story and a recent example of that was the kind lady who brought to my attention the forgotten story of “The Knights of the Plough”. If you knew anything about this organisation founded by a local man nearly sixty years ago, I would welcome hearing from you. And incidentally, it was not J. J. Bergin the founder of the Ploughing Association who set up the Knights of the Plough.
During the Book Launch, an unexpected surprise was the presentation made by Tommy Keegan. I have to say that Tommy’s kind gesture was a remarkable display of friendship and generosity and one which I much appreciated. The Master of Ceremony for the night was a man who has taken over the mantle of the late M.G. Nolan and with whom I have shared many experiences over the last forty years. Frank English was himself the subject of an Eye on the Past in December 1993 when his colleagues on the local Urban Council celebrated his 26 years on that Council. Since then, he has clocked up another seven years making his tenure one which threatens to surpass the record of Thomas Plewman who was a Town Commissioner and later an Urban Councillor between 1866 and 1920. Only another 21 years to go Frank!. Frank’s kind words on the night were much appreciated and I particularly liked the story of the Athy man returning to Australia who asked for the Nationalist to be sent to them so they could read “Taaffe’s Article”.
Fiona and Liam Rainsford of Data Print deserve special thanks for their courteous help in bringing out the book. They have done a good job and I am particularly pleased that a local printer has been involved in producing this book of local reminiscences. Shaw’s sponsored the wine reception and as one of the oldest businesses in Athy, it was appropriate, yet generous of them to be associated with the venture in this way.
So many people helped in so many ways over the years that inevitably I could not hope to name all of them in this short piece. Suffice to say that I thank everyone who has contributed in any way to the Eye on the Past articles and to the subsequent book, Eye on Athy’s Past. I will leave the last word to John MacKenna, the local writer whose talents have earned him an audience beyond the confines of the County and whose eloquent speech at the Book Launch was as ever generous and kind.
“The lives recovered and recounted in the book are the lives of ordinary people. Sometimes that phrase is thrown around as though the ordinary couldn’t possibly be of significance. But as this book proves --- everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a sorrow to bear or a joy to celebrate”.
I hope that together we can continue to give voice to the lives of the local people for many years to come.
It was while looking through the book that I realised how many of the good people I had interviewed in the early years of Eye on the Past have passed away. Paddy Keenan, a delightful man, Brother Brett, a generous teacher and Sean MacFheorais, gaelic poet and brother of Joe Bermingham were some of the people who appeared in the early articles. Hester May, that wonderful old lady who had packed into her early life associations with the men and women who across the stage of Irish, Rebellion and Politics was another. Stephen Bolger and Tosh Doyle were two local men who lived into old age and shared with me their experiences of life in Athy of years gone by. So too did Mary Carr of Quarry Farm who lived for a while in the gate lodge of the house where I am now writing this piece. Jack MacKenna, father of John who launched the book last week was the subject of an Eye on the Past when he recounted for me many of the forgotten stories of Republican activity in South Kildare during the War of Independence. Jack Kelly, musician and Jack Murphy a worker from the halycon days of Duthie Larges spoke to me of the lives of the Athy people they grew up with and knew so many years ago. Michael Moore, shop keeper and bee enthusiast, provided me with another insight into the towns past with his detailed knowledge of the early years of the South Kildare Beekeepers Association. Finally there was Julia Mahon whom I did not interview but wrote about after she passed away. Julia was the touchstone for many local Athy people and embodying as she did so much of what it is that makes Athy not only a place in which we all live out our lives but also the place which embraces and nurtures our hopes and our ambitions. Athy is our place and as John MacKenna said in his eloquent and much appreciated launch address, “all lives are of consequence - and poverty and anonymity, a rural way of life or indeed a quietness does not amount to a lack of consequence”.
The first article in the new book was on the Sisters of Mercy and I was delighted to meet during the night of the launch several members of the local Sisters of Mercy Community. I suppose the word “community” is still appropriate despite the emergence from the Convent life of the Sisters of Mercy who now live within the community they served for so long. Sister Paul was not able to be at the launch and sent me a letter beforehand with her good wishes as did Sr. Dominic of St. Vincent’s. It’s quite extraordinary the affection with which the Sisters of Mercy are held by the local people but indeed it is quite understandable why it should be so. Lives devoted to the service of a local people over generations creates its own reservoir of gratitude and the people of Athy have never, and will never, forget the debt owed to the Sisters of Mercy.
For the second time, Noreen Ryan and Georgina O’Neill attended the book launch. On the first occasion, the doors of the Town Hall stoutly resisted their attempts to enter but neither Noreen or Georgina were to know that the launch first scheduled for last September had been postponed. It was good to see both of them back again in company with so many others of their generation whose love for and knowledge of the town and its people is founded on long lives spent in the South Kildare town on the Marches of Kildare.
Derek Tynan, son of the former owner of the Leinster Arms Hotel and now one of the leading Architects in this country was a surprise attender. His mother is living in Beechgrove and in the past kindly sent me on some details of a local involvement in the design of the badge for the Garda Siochana. The sharing of information is an essential element of piecing together the towns story and a recent example of that was the kind lady who brought to my attention the forgotten story of “The Knights of the Plough”. If you knew anything about this organisation founded by a local man nearly sixty years ago, I would welcome hearing from you. And incidentally, it was not J. J. Bergin the founder of the Ploughing Association who set up the Knights of the Plough.
During the Book Launch, an unexpected surprise was the presentation made by Tommy Keegan. I have to say that Tommy’s kind gesture was a remarkable display of friendship and generosity and one which I much appreciated. The Master of Ceremony for the night was a man who has taken over the mantle of the late M.G. Nolan and with whom I have shared many experiences over the last forty years. Frank English was himself the subject of an Eye on the Past in December 1993 when his colleagues on the local Urban Council celebrated his 26 years on that Council. Since then, he has clocked up another seven years making his tenure one which threatens to surpass the record of Thomas Plewman who was a Town Commissioner and later an Urban Councillor between 1866 and 1920. Only another 21 years to go Frank!. Frank’s kind words on the night were much appreciated and I particularly liked the story of the Athy man returning to Australia who asked for the Nationalist to be sent to them so they could read “Taaffe’s Article”.
Fiona and Liam Rainsford of Data Print deserve special thanks for their courteous help in bringing out the book. They have done a good job and I am particularly pleased that a local printer has been involved in producing this book of local reminiscences. Shaw’s sponsored the wine reception and as one of the oldest businesses in Athy, it was appropriate, yet generous of them to be associated with the venture in this way.
So many people helped in so many ways over the years that inevitably I could not hope to name all of them in this short piece. Suffice to say that I thank everyone who has contributed in any way to the Eye on the Past articles and to the subsequent book, Eye on Athy’s Past. I will leave the last word to John MacKenna, the local writer whose talents have earned him an audience beyond the confines of the County and whose eloquent speech at the Book Launch was as ever generous and kind.
“The lives recovered and recounted in the book are the lives of ordinary people. Sometimes that phrase is thrown around as though the ordinary couldn’t possibly be of significance. But as this book proves --- everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a sorrow to bear or a joy to celebrate”.
I hope that together we can continue to give voice to the lives of the local people for many years to come.
Thursday, October 19, 2000
Eye on the Past - Book Launch
This column has been coming to you for over eight years. I can still vividly recall the occasion when Barbara Sheridan, then the Nationalist reporter for the Athy area, phoned me with an invitation to write a weekly article on local history for the Athy page. My immediate reaction was to demur, not I may say out of my false sense of modesty but rather out of concern at my ability to keep to the strict requirements of a weekly deadline. So it was that I left Barbara’s request unanswered for a few weeks, prompting a letter from her followed up by another phone call. Eventually almost three months after the initial request was made I agreed to try my hand at producing a weekly column for your local newspaper.
Preparing Eye on the Past each week has proved to be an enriching and rewarding experience. After all I had spent several years before then researching the history of my home town in the expectation, that this would result in a published work on the town of Athy. That research never seemed to end, every new line of enquiry leading to previously unknown elements of the towns story. Inevitably that same research was to form the basis for many of the articles produced in the Eye on Athy page. However, the need to get away from the sometimes impersonal detail which clouds the horizon of our local history prompted an appraisal of new elements of the towns social history. This, of course, led to a line of enquiry which sought to clarify and record the story of the men and women who worked, played, lived and died in our home town. This change in the course of my historical research was due entirely to the demands of a weekly column which, to be of interest to the readers had to be topical, and familiar, even commonplace, to the extent of making connections for the local readership.
I have enjoyed enormously the opportunity this has given me of accessing the local people whose stories and experiences form the backdrop against which Eye on the Past has been written. My thanks and gratitude must go to those kind people who have responded so openly to requests for interviews leaving themselves open to question and answer sessions which I trust have been enjoyable to all. I know that I certainly have enjoyed the company of those generous people who in most cases have been elderly and consequently of most interest to someone like myself looking for an insight into the past.
Many people have written to me over the years, and with every letter comes information to fill in the patchwork of the towns story or in some cases a request for help in locating details of a lost family history. Every interview, every letter and sometimes even the shortest conversation carried on at the kerbside unfolds a nugget of information which adds to the store of local knowledge of people and times past. To everyone involved in whatever capacity, I am extremely thankful and grateful for the help and assistance proffered.
All this by way of letting you know that after 424 Eyes on the Past, I have at last succumbed to the temptation to see my weekly jottings produced in a more permanent form than this weekly newspaper. On Thursday, 23rd November, the local Town Hall will be the venue for the launch of my book entitled “Eye on Athy’s Past” consisting of 99 weekly articles printed in the Kildare Nationalist between 1992 and 1994. The book will, I hope, meet the demand for a permanent record of elements of our town’s story.
I would like to extend an invitation to any of my readers, who will be free on Thursday night to come along to the Town Hall at 8.00pm. Even if the book does not live up to expectations, you are likely to enjoy meeting Castledermot born, but Athy-based fiction writer John MacKenna whose literary successes to date are numerous. John has kindly agreed to launch the book and if nothing else, his launching address is sure to be both interesting and dare I say, enjoyable.
Writing of interesting speeches reminds me of wise words recently spoken by Kildare County Manager Niall Bradley. You and I will take heart from what he says when he spoke of how “the bypass route will improve living and safety conditions for local residents and will also complement the urban renewal and heritage initiatives being promoted in the town. It will provide a major boost for local business and will help to secure the towns future as a market town and a tourist destination”.
Niall has in the past been a strong advocate of the Inner Relief Road for Athy [sorry Editor, that dreadful subject again] but his recently delivered speech as reported in last week’s edition of this Newspaper shows that he clearly has had a change of heart. The Inner Relief Road must now surely give way to the Outer Relief Road for the town which has been the centre of my Articles for the past eight years. One has to congratulate the County Manager for what must have been a very difficult decision for him following on his earlier acceptance of the 26 year old Inner Relief Road plan for Athy. Well done Niall, I always knew that any intelligent re-examination of the discredited plan prepared in the hair shirt days of the 1970’s would lead to a rethink on the relative merits of an Inner as against an Outer Relief Road.
What’s that you say Niall? Your remarks as reported in the Newspaper are correct, but not so far as Athy is concerned. Your references were made in the context of Kildare town and do not apply to Athy. Okay, I’m sorry Niall, I didn’t realise that the short distance between the ancient seat of St. Brigid and the monastery town of Athy was such as to make the elegantly stated and sensible benefits of traffic diversion non-transferable.
Well you live and learn, and mercifully I have learnt more than most over the past eight years from listening to these great Athy men and women who have shared their experiences with me. I promise not to mention the Inner Relief Road next Thursday ….. honest!
Preparing Eye on the Past each week has proved to be an enriching and rewarding experience. After all I had spent several years before then researching the history of my home town in the expectation, that this would result in a published work on the town of Athy. That research never seemed to end, every new line of enquiry leading to previously unknown elements of the towns story. Inevitably that same research was to form the basis for many of the articles produced in the Eye on Athy page. However, the need to get away from the sometimes impersonal detail which clouds the horizon of our local history prompted an appraisal of new elements of the towns social history. This, of course, led to a line of enquiry which sought to clarify and record the story of the men and women who worked, played, lived and died in our home town. This change in the course of my historical research was due entirely to the demands of a weekly column which, to be of interest to the readers had to be topical, and familiar, even commonplace, to the extent of making connections for the local readership.
I have enjoyed enormously the opportunity this has given me of accessing the local people whose stories and experiences form the backdrop against which Eye on the Past has been written. My thanks and gratitude must go to those kind people who have responded so openly to requests for interviews leaving themselves open to question and answer sessions which I trust have been enjoyable to all. I know that I certainly have enjoyed the company of those generous people who in most cases have been elderly and consequently of most interest to someone like myself looking for an insight into the past.
Many people have written to me over the years, and with every letter comes information to fill in the patchwork of the towns story or in some cases a request for help in locating details of a lost family history. Every interview, every letter and sometimes even the shortest conversation carried on at the kerbside unfolds a nugget of information which adds to the store of local knowledge of people and times past. To everyone involved in whatever capacity, I am extremely thankful and grateful for the help and assistance proffered.
All this by way of letting you know that after 424 Eyes on the Past, I have at last succumbed to the temptation to see my weekly jottings produced in a more permanent form than this weekly newspaper. On Thursday, 23rd November, the local Town Hall will be the venue for the launch of my book entitled “Eye on Athy’s Past” consisting of 99 weekly articles printed in the Kildare Nationalist between 1992 and 1994. The book will, I hope, meet the demand for a permanent record of elements of our town’s story.
I would like to extend an invitation to any of my readers, who will be free on Thursday night to come along to the Town Hall at 8.00pm. Even if the book does not live up to expectations, you are likely to enjoy meeting Castledermot born, but Athy-based fiction writer John MacKenna whose literary successes to date are numerous. John has kindly agreed to launch the book and if nothing else, his launching address is sure to be both interesting and dare I say, enjoyable.
Writing of interesting speeches reminds me of wise words recently spoken by Kildare County Manager Niall Bradley. You and I will take heart from what he says when he spoke of how “the bypass route will improve living and safety conditions for local residents and will also complement the urban renewal and heritage initiatives being promoted in the town. It will provide a major boost for local business and will help to secure the towns future as a market town and a tourist destination”.
Niall has in the past been a strong advocate of the Inner Relief Road for Athy [sorry Editor, that dreadful subject again] but his recently delivered speech as reported in last week’s edition of this Newspaper shows that he clearly has had a change of heart. The Inner Relief Road must now surely give way to the Outer Relief Road for the town which has been the centre of my Articles for the past eight years. One has to congratulate the County Manager for what must have been a very difficult decision for him following on his earlier acceptance of the 26 year old Inner Relief Road plan for Athy. Well done Niall, I always knew that any intelligent re-examination of the discredited plan prepared in the hair shirt days of the 1970’s would lead to a rethink on the relative merits of an Inner as against an Outer Relief Road.
What’s that you say Niall? Your remarks as reported in the Newspaper are correct, but not so far as Athy is concerned. Your references were made in the context of Kildare town and do not apply to Athy. Okay, I’m sorry Niall, I didn’t realise that the short distance between the ancient seat of St. Brigid and the monastery town of Athy was such as to make the elegantly stated and sensible benefits of traffic diversion non-transferable.
Well you live and learn, and mercifully I have learnt more than most over the past eight years from listening to these great Athy men and women who have shared their experiences with me. I promise not to mention the Inner Relief Road next Thursday ….. honest!
Thursday, October 12, 2000
General Elections - Athy Candidates of the Past
A recent visit to York Minster Library to seek out background information on William Burgh, a one-time Member of Parliament for Athy prompted me to look this week at Parliamentary election results going back to 1918. I first became electorally aware [so to speak] when in 1957 local teacher Paddy Dooley was elected as a Fianna Fail TD for County Kildare. The election itself is not otherwise remembered by me but what I do recall is our teacher, Brother Brett who was Superior of the Christian Brothers, congratulating my class colleague Enda Dooley on his father’s election on the previous day. Paddy Dooley had previously stood as a Fianna Fail candidate in the 1954 General Election when he polled a very respectable 4791 votes in a three seat constituency contest. He stood successfully for re-election in 1961 before losing out in the general election of 1965. At that election Paddy Dooley was joined by another local man, Charles Chambers, who represented Fine Gael as he had done in the 1961 General Election.
The first local man elected to the Dail was Sydney Minch, a member of the Minch family of malting fame. His father, Matthew J. Minch, had represented Athy as an MP in the British House of Commons from 1892. To give him his full name, Captain Sydney Basil Minch represented the Cumann na Gaedhael party [now Fine Gael] and as such was first elected to the Dail in 1932. The Kildare constituency was then a three seater and his fellow T.D.’s for the constituency were Tom Harris, Fianna Fail and William Norton, Labour. Minch was re-elected in 1933 and for the last time in 1937. Those last two general election saw local teacher Brigid Darby of Leinster Street stand for the Fianna Fail party. In 1932 when the Fianna Fail party was for the first time elected to government, Darby poled 2636 votes and four years later increased her tally to 4021 votes. By then the constituency was joined with Carlow and was a four-seater and Brigid Darby’s colleagues, Tom Harris and Francis Humphries shared the seats with Bill Norton of Labour and Sydney Minch of Fine Gael. For old-timers in the town Sydney Minch was remembered for the part he played in having the soldiers’ houses built at The Bleach, and for a long time these houses were known as Sydney’s Parade.
Brigid Darby did not stand again and missed out the 1938 General Election when Sydney Minch lost his Dail seat. Another ten years were to pass before an Athy-based candidate again stood for the Dail. 1948 saw M.G. Nolan, draper of Duke Street and Michael Cunningham, a publican of Upper William Street stand for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael respectively, with Nolan polling 2452 first preference votes and Cunningham polling 548 votes. Nolan again put his name before the electorate at the 1951 General Election and increased his vote to 3987. He did not contest any further Dail Elections and in 1954 gave way to Paddy Dooley who was elected at his second attempt in 1957.
The 1969 General Election saw Joe Birmingham of the Labour Party putting his name before the Dail Electorate for the first time. Joe got 2711 votes, but not enough to get one of the three Dail seats on offer. A bye-election the following year following the death of Gerard Sweetman in a road traffic accident gave Joe an opportunity to copper-fasten the Labour vote in a contest which was won by Paddy Malone of Fine Gael. Eamon Kane of Castledermot contested that bye-election for Fianna Fail and topped the poll with 10,754 first preference votes. However, the distribution of Birmingham’s 5,923 votes was sufficient to give victory to Paddy Malone of Fine Gael.
In 1973 no less than three Athy men stood in the General Election, each of them representing the main political parties. Paddy Dooley in what was to be his national politics swan song stood for Fianna Fail, with Jim McEvoy of Leinster Street for Fine Gael and Joe Birmingham for Labour. Joe was elected for the first time after his two previous unsuccessful attempts. He retained his Dail seat in 1977, 1981 and twice in 1982 before stepping down prior to the 1987 election. Local Fontstown man, Martin Miley, was Fianna Fail candidate in 1977 and again in 1981 but was unable to increase his vote in that latter election.
Lenore O’Rourke-Glynn of Shamrock Drive, Athy, a nurse in St. Vincent’s Hospital stood in the first of the 1982 elections while in the November election of the same year Michael McManus as a non-party candidate polled rather poorly. Five years later the election of 1987 saw the emergence of the Progressive Democrats and their local candidate was Frank Masterson who shared the Ballot Paper and a similar lack of success with local Sinn Fein Councillor, Paddy Wright.
The first Athy-based candidates to stand for the Dail so far as I have been able to trace was J.J. Bergin who represented Farmers in the General Election of 1922. Kildare/Wicklow was then a five-seater and the election was contested by no less than ten candidates including Art O’Connor who represented south Kildare in the first Dail and who with Erskine Childers represented the Kildare/Wicklow constituency in the second Dail. J.J. Bergin, a local Engineer from Maybrook, Athy, later stood with another local man, George Henderson, both as Independent Farmer candidates in the June 1927 Election. Both Bergin and Henderson who were members of Kildare County Council were unsuccessful in that General Election.
All of the mainstream political parties have been represented by Athy-based Dail Deputies since the 1922 Election. Fine Gael held an Athy-based Dail seat between 1932 and 1938, a total of six years, while Fianna Fail were represented locally for eight years between 1957 and 1965. The Labour Party has had a greater measure of success, having no less than two locally based T.D.’s in Joe Bermingham from 1973 to 1987 and Jack Wall from 1997 to date. In the years since the 1922 Election Kildare has been at different times a three-seat, a four-seat and a five-seat constituency. The changes reflect the annexing of the County, with parts of Wicklow later still with Carlow and in recent years the sundering of the County into North and South divisions. South Kildare is now a three-seater constituency and sends to the Dail the same number of T.D.’s as did the entire county of Kildare up to 1957.
As I am writing this piece I received through the Nationalist Newspaper a letter from a lady in England who is a grand-niece of Brigid Darby. Brigid who was very active in the Athy community for decades from the 1920’s was a formidable lady with powerful political connections who worked assiduously for the local people of Athy. She was one of the first women to stand for elective office in Athy and successfully contested both Urban and County Council elections during the 1930’s.
The visit of the Taoiseach Bertie Aherne to Athy last week was but one of the very few occasions the town has paid host to the head of the Irish Government. John Bruton visited Athy in recent years on the occasion of the official opening of the County Show and on the same day was granted a civic reception by the local Urban District Council. So far as I can ascertain these are the only two occasions on which a serving Taoiseach visited the town. I know that Eamon de Valera addressed an election rally in Athy in 1932 but this was while he was leader of the opposition. If any of my readers can recall any other occasion when the town welcomed the head of the Irish Government I would be delighted to put the record straight.
The first local man elected to the Dail was Sydney Minch, a member of the Minch family of malting fame. His father, Matthew J. Minch, had represented Athy as an MP in the British House of Commons from 1892. To give him his full name, Captain Sydney Basil Minch represented the Cumann na Gaedhael party [now Fine Gael] and as such was first elected to the Dail in 1932. The Kildare constituency was then a three seater and his fellow T.D.’s for the constituency were Tom Harris, Fianna Fail and William Norton, Labour. Minch was re-elected in 1933 and for the last time in 1937. Those last two general election saw local teacher Brigid Darby of Leinster Street stand for the Fianna Fail party. In 1932 when the Fianna Fail party was for the first time elected to government, Darby poled 2636 votes and four years later increased her tally to 4021 votes. By then the constituency was joined with Carlow and was a four-seater and Brigid Darby’s colleagues, Tom Harris and Francis Humphries shared the seats with Bill Norton of Labour and Sydney Minch of Fine Gael. For old-timers in the town Sydney Minch was remembered for the part he played in having the soldiers’ houses built at The Bleach, and for a long time these houses were known as Sydney’s Parade.
Brigid Darby did not stand again and missed out the 1938 General Election when Sydney Minch lost his Dail seat. Another ten years were to pass before an Athy-based candidate again stood for the Dail. 1948 saw M.G. Nolan, draper of Duke Street and Michael Cunningham, a publican of Upper William Street stand for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael respectively, with Nolan polling 2452 first preference votes and Cunningham polling 548 votes. Nolan again put his name before the electorate at the 1951 General Election and increased his vote to 3987. He did not contest any further Dail Elections and in 1954 gave way to Paddy Dooley who was elected at his second attempt in 1957.
The 1969 General Election saw Joe Birmingham of the Labour Party putting his name before the Dail Electorate for the first time. Joe got 2711 votes, but not enough to get one of the three Dail seats on offer. A bye-election the following year following the death of Gerard Sweetman in a road traffic accident gave Joe an opportunity to copper-fasten the Labour vote in a contest which was won by Paddy Malone of Fine Gael. Eamon Kane of Castledermot contested that bye-election for Fianna Fail and topped the poll with 10,754 first preference votes. However, the distribution of Birmingham’s 5,923 votes was sufficient to give victory to Paddy Malone of Fine Gael.
In 1973 no less than three Athy men stood in the General Election, each of them representing the main political parties. Paddy Dooley in what was to be his national politics swan song stood for Fianna Fail, with Jim McEvoy of Leinster Street for Fine Gael and Joe Birmingham for Labour. Joe was elected for the first time after his two previous unsuccessful attempts. He retained his Dail seat in 1977, 1981 and twice in 1982 before stepping down prior to the 1987 election. Local Fontstown man, Martin Miley, was Fianna Fail candidate in 1977 and again in 1981 but was unable to increase his vote in that latter election.
Lenore O’Rourke-Glynn of Shamrock Drive, Athy, a nurse in St. Vincent’s Hospital stood in the first of the 1982 elections while in the November election of the same year Michael McManus as a non-party candidate polled rather poorly. Five years later the election of 1987 saw the emergence of the Progressive Democrats and their local candidate was Frank Masterson who shared the Ballot Paper and a similar lack of success with local Sinn Fein Councillor, Paddy Wright.
The first Athy-based candidates to stand for the Dail so far as I have been able to trace was J.J. Bergin who represented Farmers in the General Election of 1922. Kildare/Wicklow was then a five-seater and the election was contested by no less than ten candidates including Art O’Connor who represented south Kildare in the first Dail and who with Erskine Childers represented the Kildare/Wicklow constituency in the second Dail. J.J. Bergin, a local Engineer from Maybrook, Athy, later stood with another local man, George Henderson, both as Independent Farmer candidates in the June 1927 Election. Both Bergin and Henderson who were members of Kildare County Council were unsuccessful in that General Election.
All of the mainstream political parties have been represented by Athy-based Dail Deputies since the 1922 Election. Fine Gael held an Athy-based Dail seat between 1932 and 1938, a total of six years, while Fianna Fail were represented locally for eight years between 1957 and 1965. The Labour Party has had a greater measure of success, having no less than two locally based T.D.’s in Joe Bermingham from 1973 to 1987 and Jack Wall from 1997 to date. In the years since the 1922 Election Kildare has been at different times a three-seat, a four-seat and a five-seat constituency. The changes reflect the annexing of the County, with parts of Wicklow later still with Carlow and in recent years the sundering of the County into North and South divisions. South Kildare is now a three-seater constituency and sends to the Dail the same number of T.D.’s as did the entire county of Kildare up to 1957.
As I am writing this piece I received through the Nationalist Newspaper a letter from a lady in England who is a grand-niece of Brigid Darby. Brigid who was very active in the Athy community for decades from the 1920’s was a formidable lady with powerful political connections who worked assiduously for the local people of Athy. She was one of the first women to stand for elective office in Athy and successfully contested both Urban and County Council elections during the 1930’s.
The visit of the Taoiseach Bertie Aherne to Athy last week was but one of the very few occasions the town has paid host to the head of the Irish Government. John Bruton visited Athy in recent years on the occasion of the official opening of the County Show and on the same day was granted a civic reception by the local Urban District Council. So far as I can ascertain these are the only two occasions on which a serving Taoiseach visited the town. I know that Eamon de Valera addressed an election rally in Athy in 1932 but this was while he was leader of the opposition. If any of my readers can recall any other occasion when the town welcomed the head of the Irish Government I would be delighted to put the record straight.
Thursday, October 5, 2000
Jack Deegan and Cathal Moore
Last Saturday many of us passed and repassed on the road leading to St. Michael’s cemetery, trying as best we could to pay our respects to two local men who were buried that same morning within an hour of each other. One was a young man who was not to have the opportunity of living beyond his prime, while his townsman had lived a full and rewarding life. Both Cathal Moore and Jack Deegan were natives of Athy and members of families which have made major contributions over the years to the social and commercial life of our town.
Jack Deegan was laid to rest in Old St. Michael’s cemetery, only a few yards from the last resting place of Charles Moore Senior of Bray, Grandfather of Cathal Moore who was interred in St. Michael’s new cemetery. The coincidence was not lost on those of us who remember the Deegan and Moore families of the past and the part they played in the life of our town. Jack Deegan and his brothers Joe and Michael lived in Duke Street in a premises which their father, a former policeman, purchased in the early decades of the last century. Jack’s brother Joe was a member of Athy Urban District Council and for many years carried on business as a milk supplier, while another brother, Monsignor Patrick Deegan, was a Parish Priest in County Donegal.
The Moore brothers, Eddie and Michael, uncles of Cathal Moore, carried on business for many years at the corner of Offaly Street and Emily Square. The neighbourhood grocery shop was also a pet shop and one of the few places where Athy Honey could be bought locally. Their brother Charlie, father to Cathal, was a chemist who carried on business for many years in Duke Street, just two doors away from the premises now occupied by his son Ger.
Cathal was a young man not long married who in recent years started and developed a carpentry business. He had overcome some personal difficulties before achieving business success and his quite demeanour readily acknowledged the inherent goodness in everyone with whom he had dealings. He was engaged in building a new house for his wife and family in Arles and was returning from the building site when an unfortunate traffic accident put an end to his life. The cruelty of that accident which cut short a young life was magnified by the knowledge that another moment or two would have been sufficient to save him and his family from the tragedy which unfolded that day.
While the townspeople mourned the passing of a young man with a promise largely unfulfilled, the death of Jack Deegan was announced. Jack was a man who had spent his life in South Kildare and who had an abiding love of the town of Athy and its people. He was a rich fund of knowledge of the past and those who had peopled his home town over the years. With his wife Peg he moved back to Athy some years ago from their former home in Fontstown and took up residence in Emily Square. Their three story house was at the beginning of the 19th century the location of the Parish School operated by the local Church of England Rector. Directly opposite where Jack and Peg lived was, what was then known as Moore’s Corner, the site of Moore’s grocery shop and the family home of Michael Moore and his sisters Claire and Molly. This close proximity emphasised the strangeness of the coincidence which saw members of the two families buried on the same day, with Jack Deegan’s internment just a few yards away from the doyen of the Moore family, Charles Moore Senior.
A few weeks ago and while I was away from Athy, Josephine Gibbons, a next door neighbour of Jack Deegan in Emily Square passed away. Jo as she was known locally featured in a previous Eye on the Past. She was a wonderful person who delighted in sharing her memories of times past. However, I was never to unlock the secrets of her husband Frank, a man who played a significant part in Republican affairs long after the War of Independence had passed into folk memory. While not originally from Athy (she was in fact a railway master’s daughter from Harristown) Jo Gibbons, like Cathal Moore and Jack Deegan, was an intrinsic part of the fabric of the town of Athy, a town which, despite all its failing, was for them, as it is for us, our own place.
For all its history and all its unique physical attributes Athy remains an enigma to many, even to those of us who have spent many years under the aura of mystery and intrigue which is the hallmark of Irish provincial life. The loss posed by the passing of one as young as Cathal Moore can but be imagined, while the legacy of the old timer such as Jo Gibbons and the relatively younger Jack Deegan reaffirms our knowledge of the past which they once inhabited.
Later this week we will have an opportunity to remember the dead of another generation when the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony takes place in St. Michael’s Cemetery. Ten years ago or thereabouts Athy based writer John MacKenna organised the first commemoration service for the men of this area who died during World War I. I remember that occasion as one where those involved felt somewhat isolated, faced as they were with indifference bordering on disrespect for the forgotten menfolk of an earlier generation. Since then the annual ceremony in St. Michael’s has helped to revive the memory of those local men who died in past wars, especially the 1914/18 War. Attitudes have changed in the intervening 10 years and nowhere is this more apparent than in the generous way we remember our War dead, irrespective of the uniforms worn when they fell in battle.
On Sunday next, 12th November at 3.00 p.m. you are invited to come to St. Michael’s Cemetery to remember the men from our town whose lives, like Cathal Moores, were cut off before their prime. They died violent deaths on foreign soil, far from their families and friends, and many of them were buried in unmarked graves. Only six of the 200 or so local men killed in World War I are buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery and their graves will provide the focal point for the ceremony during which the local men who died during World War I and other Wars will be remembered. Next Sunday therefore affords all of us an ideal opportunity to honour and remember those young men who so many years ago left Athy and were never again to see their families and friends.
Jack Deegan was laid to rest in Old St. Michael’s cemetery, only a few yards from the last resting place of Charles Moore Senior of Bray, Grandfather of Cathal Moore who was interred in St. Michael’s new cemetery. The coincidence was not lost on those of us who remember the Deegan and Moore families of the past and the part they played in the life of our town. Jack Deegan and his brothers Joe and Michael lived in Duke Street in a premises which their father, a former policeman, purchased in the early decades of the last century. Jack’s brother Joe was a member of Athy Urban District Council and for many years carried on business as a milk supplier, while another brother, Monsignor Patrick Deegan, was a Parish Priest in County Donegal.
The Moore brothers, Eddie and Michael, uncles of Cathal Moore, carried on business for many years at the corner of Offaly Street and Emily Square. The neighbourhood grocery shop was also a pet shop and one of the few places where Athy Honey could be bought locally. Their brother Charlie, father to Cathal, was a chemist who carried on business for many years in Duke Street, just two doors away from the premises now occupied by his son Ger.
Cathal was a young man not long married who in recent years started and developed a carpentry business. He had overcome some personal difficulties before achieving business success and his quite demeanour readily acknowledged the inherent goodness in everyone with whom he had dealings. He was engaged in building a new house for his wife and family in Arles and was returning from the building site when an unfortunate traffic accident put an end to his life. The cruelty of that accident which cut short a young life was magnified by the knowledge that another moment or two would have been sufficient to save him and his family from the tragedy which unfolded that day.
While the townspeople mourned the passing of a young man with a promise largely unfulfilled, the death of Jack Deegan was announced. Jack was a man who had spent his life in South Kildare and who had an abiding love of the town of Athy and its people. He was a rich fund of knowledge of the past and those who had peopled his home town over the years. With his wife Peg he moved back to Athy some years ago from their former home in Fontstown and took up residence in Emily Square. Their three story house was at the beginning of the 19th century the location of the Parish School operated by the local Church of England Rector. Directly opposite where Jack and Peg lived was, what was then known as Moore’s Corner, the site of Moore’s grocery shop and the family home of Michael Moore and his sisters Claire and Molly. This close proximity emphasised the strangeness of the coincidence which saw members of the two families buried on the same day, with Jack Deegan’s internment just a few yards away from the doyen of the Moore family, Charles Moore Senior.
A few weeks ago and while I was away from Athy, Josephine Gibbons, a next door neighbour of Jack Deegan in Emily Square passed away. Jo as she was known locally featured in a previous Eye on the Past. She was a wonderful person who delighted in sharing her memories of times past. However, I was never to unlock the secrets of her husband Frank, a man who played a significant part in Republican affairs long after the War of Independence had passed into folk memory. While not originally from Athy (she was in fact a railway master’s daughter from Harristown) Jo Gibbons, like Cathal Moore and Jack Deegan, was an intrinsic part of the fabric of the town of Athy, a town which, despite all its failing, was for them, as it is for us, our own place.
For all its history and all its unique physical attributes Athy remains an enigma to many, even to those of us who have spent many years under the aura of mystery and intrigue which is the hallmark of Irish provincial life. The loss posed by the passing of one as young as Cathal Moore can but be imagined, while the legacy of the old timer such as Jo Gibbons and the relatively younger Jack Deegan reaffirms our knowledge of the past which they once inhabited.
Later this week we will have an opportunity to remember the dead of another generation when the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony takes place in St. Michael’s Cemetery. Ten years ago or thereabouts Athy based writer John MacKenna organised the first commemoration service for the men of this area who died during World War I. I remember that occasion as one where those involved felt somewhat isolated, faced as they were with indifference bordering on disrespect for the forgotten menfolk of an earlier generation. Since then the annual ceremony in St. Michael’s has helped to revive the memory of those local men who died in past wars, especially the 1914/18 War. Attitudes have changed in the intervening 10 years and nowhere is this more apparent than in the generous way we remember our War dead, irrespective of the uniforms worn when they fell in battle.
On Sunday next, 12th November at 3.00 p.m. you are invited to come to St. Michael’s Cemetery to remember the men from our town whose lives, like Cathal Moores, were cut off before their prime. They died violent deaths on foreign soil, far from their families and friends, and many of them were buried in unmarked graves. Only six of the 200 or so local men killed in World War I are buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery and their graves will provide the focal point for the ceremony during which the local men who died during World War I and other Wars will be remembered. Next Sunday therefore affords all of us an ideal opportunity to honour and remember those young men who so many years ago left Athy and were never again to see their families and friends.
Thursday, September 28, 2000
Rural Electrification Scheme Kilmead
Do you remember the Rural Electrification Scheme of the 1940’s? It was before my time but
I recall reading an excellent account of it some years ago written by a retired ESB Engineer, Michael Shiel. He called his book “The Quiet Revolution” and indeed the title succinctly described the social and economic revolution which came about when electricity was brought to the homes of rural Ireland.
I was reminded of the events of over forty years ago when I met Alo Brady, a retired ESB executive who spent some time in Athy in 1954 while working on the Rural Electrification Scheme in the Kilmead area. Alo played inter-county football for Offaly during 1949/’50 and for Sligo for the following two years but as he says himself he was not a patch on his brother Michael who starred for Offaly and Leinster during his playing days.
The Rural Electrification Scheme followed on the extension of electricity to provincial towns in Ireland during the 1930’s. Sean Lemass when Minister for Industry and Commerce in 1942 encouraged the ESB to bring forward its plans to extend electricity into the rural areas. The Scheme started in 1946 at the end of the Second World War when once-scarce materials were again becoming available. The country Parishes were to be the focus for all activity in connection with the Rural Electrification Scheme. This ensured that the local clergy played an important role in the entire process as they were an essential part of the marketing team to persuade the local people of the benefits which would follow from linking up to the national electricity grid. When the scheme was planned for Kilmead early in 1954 a group of ESB officials moved into the area office which was specially set up for that purpose. In charge was Frank Kelleher as Area Engineer, with Frank White as Area Superviser, Paddy Fogarty as Area Organiser and the young Alo Brady as Area Clerk.
The Area Organiser had the difficult job of getting the locals signed up to take the electricity supply before the ESB crew arrived to put up the relevant poles and lines which would eventually traverse the entire country. The local Parish Priest spoke from the pulpit in favour of rural electrification, while the Area Organiser and his staff held local meetings and called on houses in the Kilmead area to get the all-important application forms signed. Eventually four hundred and eleven local households indicated their agreement to connect up to the electricity. One of the many frustrating problems facing the ESB at that time was what in organisational terms was referred to as “back sliders”. These were the people who signed the application forms to take the electricity supply but changed their minds when the ESB crew arrived to make the connection. Kilmead was no different than anywhere else in that regard and when the Scheme was completed in October 1954 three hundred and eighty one householders had availed of the service. A total of 30 “back sliders” resisted all attempts by the local Parish Priest and the ESB Area Organiser to get them to go ahead with their original commitment. One substantial farmer in the area who agreed to have electricity poles on his lands refused to take the electricity on a matter of some unexplained principle or other.
Construction work on the Kilmead Scheme which commenced on 27th March 1954 and finished on 2nd October of the same year afforded local men the opportunity for well-paid work. Indeed the ESB found that the wages paid in the local Asbestos, IVI and Wallboard factories made it difficult for them to get a full complement of labourers. Another problem was that posed by the creosote poles put up on farmlands which proved unusually attractive to calves. Apparently the calves licked the creosote, becoming sick in the process and resulted in three fatalities which were the subject of compensation claims against the Electricity Supply Board.
The total cost of the Kilmead Scheme was £44,181, a very substantial sum in those post-War days. The sale of ESB electrical equipment to private households netted £920, most of which was expended on water pumps and electric cookers. Two washing machines, one Bosch refrigerator, ten electric kettles and six electric irons were also purchased from the ESB by Kilmead householders. It is believed that electrical contractors in Athy sold a similar number of electrical appliances in the area.
The ESB officials while working on the Kilmead Scheme lodged in Athy. Alo Brady, originally from Edenderry, stayed in digs with Mr. and Mrs. Andy Cleary in Janeville, while the Area Engineer Frank Kelleher lodged with the Staffords of Emily Square. Another important member of the ESB team was Ned Ryan, a linesman who was subsequently to win two All-Ireland hurling medals with Tipperary in 1949 and 1950. Ned drove a model Y Ford car which was commissioned every morning and evening to transport his colleagues between the work site and the town of Athy.
The story of the Rural Electrification Scheme of 46 years ago in Kilmead results from my recent meeting with Alo Brady who is now retired and living in Dublin. I spent an enjoyable afternoon in his company as we both shared in the celebration of my eldest sibling’s 40th Wedding Anniversary in the Midlands.
Alo Brady who was a boarder in Knockbeg College when Carlow won its only Provincial football title at senior level in 1944 recalled for me the song composed to celebrate the Carlow mens victory over Dublin in the Leinster final which was played in Geraldine Park, Athy.
“In the year of ’44 towards the end of July
The Great Leinster Final was played at Athy
This game of fine football was listed between
The lads from the Liffey and the Carlow fifteen.
I’ll never forget ‘til the day that I die
The crowds that went tramping that day to Athy
They peddled and walked it, excitement was keen
And proud the supporters of the Carlow fifteen.”
The match played on 28th July saw Carlow defeat Dublin on the score of 2-6 to 1-5, but one month later the men from Kerry beat Carlow by 3-3 to 0-10. If any of my readers remember the Leinster Football Final of 1944 played in Athy I would like to hear your memories of that day.
Writing of Athy’s association with the Leinster Final of 1944 reminds me of another Athy connection which arose when I received a most interesting letter some weeks ago from London. With the letter was a photocopy of a book plate relating to “Athy School”. It was a handsome engraving showing Apollo awarding laurels to a worthy young fellow, with a temple surmounted by Fame in the background. I was able to identify it as the book plate of Rev. Nicholas Ashe’s school which he conducted in the town prior to 1798. Ashe who was licensed as a Church of England Curate for Fontstown in October 1794 served as Sovereign Borough during 1797/’98. He suffered greatly during the 1798 Rebellion at the hands of the Loyalists as a result of his supposed sympathy for the rebels. The book plate which bears Ashe’s signature will be included in a future book on the history of book plates. I wonder if any further examples of Ashe’s book plate can be found in this area.
I recall reading an excellent account of it some years ago written by a retired ESB Engineer, Michael Shiel. He called his book “The Quiet Revolution” and indeed the title succinctly described the social and economic revolution which came about when electricity was brought to the homes of rural Ireland.
I was reminded of the events of over forty years ago when I met Alo Brady, a retired ESB executive who spent some time in Athy in 1954 while working on the Rural Electrification Scheme in the Kilmead area. Alo played inter-county football for Offaly during 1949/’50 and for Sligo for the following two years but as he says himself he was not a patch on his brother Michael who starred for Offaly and Leinster during his playing days.
The Rural Electrification Scheme followed on the extension of electricity to provincial towns in Ireland during the 1930’s. Sean Lemass when Minister for Industry and Commerce in 1942 encouraged the ESB to bring forward its plans to extend electricity into the rural areas. The Scheme started in 1946 at the end of the Second World War when once-scarce materials were again becoming available. The country Parishes were to be the focus for all activity in connection with the Rural Electrification Scheme. This ensured that the local clergy played an important role in the entire process as they were an essential part of the marketing team to persuade the local people of the benefits which would follow from linking up to the national electricity grid. When the scheme was planned for Kilmead early in 1954 a group of ESB officials moved into the area office which was specially set up for that purpose. In charge was Frank Kelleher as Area Engineer, with Frank White as Area Superviser, Paddy Fogarty as Area Organiser and the young Alo Brady as Area Clerk.
The Area Organiser had the difficult job of getting the locals signed up to take the electricity supply before the ESB crew arrived to put up the relevant poles and lines which would eventually traverse the entire country. The local Parish Priest spoke from the pulpit in favour of rural electrification, while the Area Organiser and his staff held local meetings and called on houses in the Kilmead area to get the all-important application forms signed. Eventually four hundred and eleven local households indicated their agreement to connect up to the electricity. One of the many frustrating problems facing the ESB at that time was what in organisational terms was referred to as “back sliders”. These were the people who signed the application forms to take the electricity supply but changed their minds when the ESB crew arrived to make the connection. Kilmead was no different than anywhere else in that regard and when the Scheme was completed in October 1954 three hundred and eighty one householders had availed of the service. A total of 30 “back sliders” resisted all attempts by the local Parish Priest and the ESB Area Organiser to get them to go ahead with their original commitment. One substantial farmer in the area who agreed to have electricity poles on his lands refused to take the electricity on a matter of some unexplained principle or other.
Construction work on the Kilmead Scheme which commenced on 27th March 1954 and finished on 2nd October of the same year afforded local men the opportunity for well-paid work. Indeed the ESB found that the wages paid in the local Asbestos, IVI and Wallboard factories made it difficult for them to get a full complement of labourers. Another problem was that posed by the creosote poles put up on farmlands which proved unusually attractive to calves. Apparently the calves licked the creosote, becoming sick in the process and resulted in three fatalities which were the subject of compensation claims against the Electricity Supply Board.
The total cost of the Kilmead Scheme was £44,181, a very substantial sum in those post-War days. The sale of ESB electrical equipment to private households netted £920, most of which was expended on water pumps and electric cookers. Two washing machines, one Bosch refrigerator, ten electric kettles and six electric irons were also purchased from the ESB by Kilmead householders. It is believed that electrical contractors in Athy sold a similar number of electrical appliances in the area.
The ESB officials while working on the Kilmead Scheme lodged in Athy. Alo Brady, originally from Edenderry, stayed in digs with Mr. and Mrs. Andy Cleary in Janeville, while the Area Engineer Frank Kelleher lodged with the Staffords of Emily Square. Another important member of the ESB team was Ned Ryan, a linesman who was subsequently to win two All-Ireland hurling medals with Tipperary in 1949 and 1950. Ned drove a model Y Ford car which was commissioned every morning and evening to transport his colleagues between the work site and the town of Athy.
The story of the Rural Electrification Scheme of 46 years ago in Kilmead results from my recent meeting with Alo Brady who is now retired and living in Dublin. I spent an enjoyable afternoon in his company as we both shared in the celebration of my eldest sibling’s 40th Wedding Anniversary in the Midlands.
Alo Brady who was a boarder in Knockbeg College when Carlow won its only Provincial football title at senior level in 1944 recalled for me the song composed to celebrate the Carlow mens victory over Dublin in the Leinster final which was played in Geraldine Park, Athy.
“In the year of ’44 towards the end of July
The Great Leinster Final was played at Athy
This game of fine football was listed between
The lads from the Liffey and the Carlow fifteen.
I’ll never forget ‘til the day that I die
The crowds that went tramping that day to Athy
They peddled and walked it, excitement was keen
And proud the supporters of the Carlow fifteen.”
The match played on 28th July saw Carlow defeat Dublin on the score of 2-6 to 1-5, but one month later the men from Kerry beat Carlow by 3-3 to 0-10. If any of my readers remember the Leinster Football Final of 1944 played in Athy I would like to hear your memories of that day.
Writing of Athy’s association with the Leinster Final of 1944 reminds me of another Athy connection which arose when I received a most interesting letter some weeks ago from London. With the letter was a photocopy of a book plate relating to “Athy School”. It was a handsome engraving showing Apollo awarding laurels to a worthy young fellow, with a temple surmounted by Fame in the background. I was able to identify it as the book plate of Rev. Nicholas Ashe’s school which he conducted in the town prior to 1798. Ashe who was licensed as a Church of England Curate for Fontstown in October 1794 served as Sovereign Borough during 1797/’98. He suffered greatly during the 1798 Rebellion at the hands of the Loyalists as a result of his supposed sympathy for the rebels. The book plate which bears Ashe’s signature will be included in a future book on the history of book plates. I wonder if any further examples of Ashe’s book plate can be found in this area.
Thursday, September 21, 2000
Knights of Malta
The Athy unit of the Knights of Malta were founded fifty years ago by Eamon McCauley with the help and assistance of members of the Kilkenny City unit. Eamon was employed by D. & J. Carbery Building Contractors at St. John’s Lane and his father had operated a public house at the corner of Barrow Quay in what is now Ann’s Florist. Mr. McCauley Snr. sold the business known as the Barrow Bar to Bobby Flood in 1948 and moved to The Shamrock Bar, Parliament Street, Kilkenny but I believe that Eamon who was then working in Athy continued to live in the town. His brother Jack was a member of the Knights of Malta in Kilkenny and he first encouraged Eamon to set up a unit of the organisation in Athy. Eamon paid a number of visits to Kilkenny City to acquaint himself with the work of the Knights of Malta and it was during these visits that he met his future wife Maura Brophy, whom I believe was a member of the Knights of Malta in the Marble City.
I am told that the foundation date of the Athy unit was 13th August, 1950 but there is no doubt whatsoever as to the man whose energy and initiative brought the ancient organisation of the Knights of Malta to the town. Eamon McCauley was to remain as head of the Athy unit of the Knights of Malta until his untimely death in 1980. By then he had reached the rank of Captain and was employed as a clerk of works with the Office of Public Works.
The early meetings of the Knights of Malta were held in the CYMS building at the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place. Some of the earliest members of the Knights of Malta included Paddy Timpson of St. Patrick’s Avenue, Anthony Dunne, a barber who worked with O’Rourke Glynn’s in Duke Street and Joe Moloney who worked in the local asbestos factory. These men who devoted so much of their leisure hours to the Knights of Malta are now all dead. Mick Ryan of William Street and Kevin Fingleton of Grangemellon were also early members and happily they are still with us. Two other men also involved were Pat Dunleavy of Foxhill and Paddy Cowman of Pairc Bhride.
As the organisation expanded, meetings were held in the Social Club’s rooms in St. John’s Lane and when the Cadet unit was founded in 1956 the Christian Brothers school building was also used. I remember as a young teenager enrolling for first aid classes with many of my classmates almost 45 years ago. Pat Flinter of The Bleach, Anthony Pender of St. Patrick’s Avenue, Mick Robinson of McDonnell Drive, Pat Timpson of St. Patrick’s Avenue, Frank (Harry) English of St. John’s Lane and Mick O’Neill of Cardenton were just a few of the names I can recall. We learned as best we could how to deal with the different emergencies we were likely to encounter as full fledged members of the Knights of Malta. The units medical officer was, and still is, Dr. Joe O’Neill and it was he who examined all of us youngsters on our medical knowledge. I can still recall the day the oral examination took place in the ground floor classroom of the old Christian Brothers school. We all waited in one of the classrooms and were called in one by one to be examined by the good doctor. God fearing young lads as we were, and apprehensive at the test we were about to undergo, we readily agreed to Pat Flinter’s suggestion to kneel down and say a prayer to ensure our success. I couldn’t imagine a gang of teenagers doing that today but, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to do and highlights the change in attitudes and beliefs in the intervening 45 years. Yes Pat, it was you who lead us in prayer that day, a fact which impressed itself on my mind, never to be forgotten. Indeed Pat Flinter was the natural leader of the group, a fact reinforced when he was subsequently appointed team leader of the Cadet First Aid team of 1957.
Dr. O’Neill, kindly, as ever, passed all of us and later on we were formally inducted as Cadet members of the Knights of Malta. Each Cadet was kitted out in bulls wool trousers, a shirt and a beret, the latter two items bearing the insignia of the Knights of Malta. A kit bag was also provided, containing bandages, cotton wool, dettol, smelling salts, and this with the legendary water bottle was all we needed to rescue the world from any calamity. The one thing I can remember about the Cadet’s uniform is that the trousers supplied were never quite long enough to cover youthful legs which were still growing. So it was that many of us had our trousers legs ending six inches from the ground long before it became fashionable to wear pedal pushers. Despite this sartorial handicap the Cadets, numbering 20 or more, assembled in the yard of the Christian Brothers school in St. John’s Lane every Sunday where we practised our drill under the watchful eye of Cadet Master Anthony Dunne.
Duty for the Knights of Malta Cadet consisted of attendance at inter county football matches in Geraldine Park or if one was extremely lucky the local Grove Cinema. The latter duty, not normally entrusted to the Cadets, allowed you to watch the latest cinemagraphic offering free of charge. However, until the lights went out, you were required to stand at the back of the cinema poised to jump to the assistance of anyone foolish enough to pass out during your tour of duty.
Geraldine Park in the late 1950’s was the scene of many inter-county matches, all of which required the attendance of the Knights of Malta. As a Cadet I remember sitting on the sideline with a senior member of the unit, nervously wondering what I could possibly do if any of the players got injured. My limited medical knowledge was never put to the test, as fortunately, I was only ever required to run onto the pitch, with hands clasping the medicine bag and the water bottle at my side, invariably reaching the injured player as he got up off the ground.
I mentioned in a recent Eye on the Past the Knights of Malta Cadet team’s success in the provincial First Aid Competition in 1957 or 1958. Pat Flinter was team captain and Anthony Pender, Pat Timpson, Frank English and myself were on the team which won the Leinster title in Navan. I can still remember the euphoria of that day and the disappointment when we failed to win the All-Ireland title in Limerick which we contested as Leinster Champions. One other school friend who was a Cadet in those days was Mick Robinson and I gather that Mick who went to Australia many years ago brought with him his Knights of Malta membership scroll. Mick, I can’t find my membership scroll nor indeed the medal won in 1958 which was one of only two medals I won in my entire life. If you must ask, the first medal was won when I was no more than 8 or 9 years of age and it was as a member of a ‘tug of war team’!
The Knights of Malta is still going strong after 50 years and now operates out of its own premises formerly owned by Minch Nortons at the end of Nelson Street. The unit now has George Robinson and Pat O’Rourke as Lieutenants, while George’s son and namesake is Unit Sergeant and Officer commanding the Athy unit. Other members today include Sergeant Catherine Foley and Volunteers Nicola Phillips, Chris Moran, Francis Moran, Nigel Kelly, Michéal Brennan, Michael Schofield, Bernadette Prendergast, Sharon Foley and Charlene Molloy. This weekend sees the 50th anniversary celebration of the Knights of Malta which will be held in Teach Emanuel. Thoughts will be of the men now gone, especially Eamon McCauley who devoted so much time and energy in the 1950’s in bringing to the town of Athy the Order of Malta which was originally established in 1085 as a community of Monks to look after the Hospital of St. John’s in Jerusalem. By a strange coincidence Athy had its medieval origins in the 12th century and had a hospital of St. John’s operated by Monks of the local monastery which is still recalled in the place name St. John’s Lane.
I am told that the foundation date of the Athy unit was 13th August, 1950 but there is no doubt whatsoever as to the man whose energy and initiative brought the ancient organisation of the Knights of Malta to the town. Eamon McCauley was to remain as head of the Athy unit of the Knights of Malta until his untimely death in 1980. By then he had reached the rank of Captain and was employed as a clerk of works with the Office of Public Works.
The early meetings of the Knights of Malta were held in the CYMS building at the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place. Some of the earliest members of the Knights of Malta included Paddy Timpson of St. Patrick’s Avenue, Anthony Dunne, a barber who worked with O’Rourke Glynn’s in Duke Street and Joe Moloney who worked in the local asbestos factory. These men who devoted so much of their leisure hours to the Knights of Malta are now all dead. Mick Ryan of William Street and Kevin Fingleton of Grangemellon were also early members and happily they are still with us. Two other men also involved were Pat Dunleavy of Foxhill and Paddy Cowman of Pairc Bhride.
As the organisation expanded, meetings were held in the Social Club’s rooms in St. John’s Lane and when the Cadet unit was founded in 1956 the Christian Brothers school building was also used. I remember as a young teenager enrolling for first aid classes with many of my classmates almost 45 years ago. Pat Flinter of The Bleach, Anthony Pender of St. Patrick’s Avenue, Mick Robinson of McDonnell Drive, Pat Timpson of St. Patrick’s Avenue, Frank (Harry) English of St. John’s Lane and Mick O’Neill of Cardenton were just a few of the names I can recall. We learned as best we could how to deal with the different emergencies we were likely to encounter as full fledged members of the Knights of Malta. The units medical officer was, and still is, Dr. Joe O’Neill and it was he who examined all of us youngsters on our medical knowledge. I can still recall the day the oral examination took place in the ground floor classroom of the old Christian Brothers school. We all waited in one of the classrooms and were called in one by one to be examined by the good doctor. God fearing young lads as we were, and apprehensive at the test we were about to undergo, we readily agreed to Pat Flinter’s suggestion to kneel down and say a prayer to ensure our success. I couldn’t imagine a gang of teenagers doing that today but, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to do and highlights the change in attitudes and beliefs in the intervening 45 years. Yes Pat, it was you who lead us in prayer that day, a fact which impressed itself on my mind, never to be forgotten. Indeed Pat Flinter was the natural leader of the group, a fact reinforced when he was subsequently appointed team leader of the Cadet First Aid team of 1957.
Dr. O’Neill, kindly, as ever, passed all of us and later on we were formally inducted as Cadet members of the Knights of Malta. Each Cadet was kitted out in bulls wool trousers, a shirt and a beret, the latter two items bearing the insignia of the Knights of Malta. A kit bag was also provided, containing bandages, cotton wool, dettol, smelling salts, and this with the legendary water bottle was all we needed to rescue the world from any calamity. The one thing I can remember about the Cadet’s uniform is that the trousers supplied were never quite long enough to cover youthful legs which were still growing. So it was that many of us had our trousers legs ending six inches from the ground long before it became fashionable to wear pedal pushers. Despite this sartorial handicap the Cadets, numbering 20 or more, assembled in the yard of the Christian Brothers school in St. John’s Lane every Sunday where we practised our drill under the watchful eye of Cadet Master Anthony Dunne.
Duty for the Knights of Malta Cadet consisted of attendance at inter county football matches in Geraldine Park or if one was extremely lucky the local Grove Cinema. The latter duty, not normally entrusted to the Cadets, allowed you to watch the latest cinemagraphic offering free of charge. However, until the lights went out, you were required to stand at the back of the cinema poised to jump to the assistance of anyone foolish enough to pass out during your tour of duty.
Geraldine Park in the late 1950’s was the scene of many inter-county matches, all of which required the attendance of the Knights of Malta. As a Cadet I remember sitting on the sideline with a senior member of the unit, nervously wondering what I could possibly do if any of the players got injured. My limited medical knowledge was never put to the test, as fortunately, I was only ever required to run onto the pitch, with hands clasping the medicine bag and the water bottle at my side, invariably reaching the injured player as he got up off the ground.
I mentioned in a recent Eye on the Past the Knights of Malta Cadet team’s success in the provincial First Aid Competition in 1957 or 1958. Pat Flinter was team captain and Anthony Pender, Pat Timpson, Frank English and myself were on the team which won the Leinster title in Navan. I can still remember the euphoria of that day and the disappointment when we failed to win the All-Ireland title in Limerick which we contested as Leinster Champions. One other school friend who was a Cadet in those days was Mick Robinson and I gather that Mick who went to Australia many years ago brought with him his Knights of Malta membership scroll. Mick, I can’t find my membership scroll nor indeed the medal won in 1958 which was one of only two medals I won in my entire life. If you must ask, the first medal was won when I was no more than 8 or 9 years of age and it was as a member of a ‘tug of war team’!
The Knights of Malta is still going strong after 50 years and now operates out of its own premises formerly owned by Minch Nortons at the end of Nelson Street. The unit now has George Robinson and Pat O’Rourke as Lieutenants, while George’s son and namesake is Unit Sergeant and Officer commanding the Athy unit. Other members today include Sergeant Catherine Foley and Volunteers Nicola Phillips, Chris Moran, Francis Moran, Nigel Kelly, Michéal Brennan, Michael Schofield, Bernadette Prendergast, Sharon Foley and Charlene Molloy. This weekend sees the 50th anniversary celebration of the Knights of Malta which will be held in Teach Emanuel. Thoughts will be of the men now gone, especially Eamon McCauley who devoted so much time and energy in the 1950’s in bringing to the town of Athy the Order of Malta which was originally established in 1085 as a community of Monks to look after the Hospital of St. John’s in Jerusalem. By a strange coincidence Athy had its medieval origins in the 12th century and had a hospital of St. John’s operated by Monks of the local monastery which is still recalled in the place name St. John’s Lane.
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