I recently came across some photographs of parades through the town
featuring a number of businesses which are no longer trading. I use the word ‘parades’ in the plural as the photographs which at first sight
seem to record one parade show the participants travelling and parading in the
opposite direction, leading me to believe that two parades at least were
captured on film.
The first parade featured tractor drawn floats advertising the
Trailer Manufacturing and McCormick Agency of Glespen Brothers of Athy. Glespens operate from premises at Duke Street
which I believe are now occupied by Pizza Pan.
John Farrell, Licensed Carrier, Athy with a Dublin depot at Mary
Street had one of his lorries in the parade.
John, who started business in Ballylinan, eventually passed it on to his
son Freddie. Glespens and Farrell have
long ceased business. Another exhibitor
was Asbestos Cement Limited who are still in Athy but now operate under the
name Tegral.
There is nothing to indicate the year the parade took place, or
indeed the occasion. Was it perhaps a
St. Patrick’s Day Parade sometime in the 1950s?
I am showing a photograph from that parade of one of the Glespen
Brothers floats as it climbed up Crom a Boo Bridge from the Leinster Street
direction.
The second parade shows the participants approaching from the
William Street direction and were photographed near Deegans premises of Duke
Street. The shop has in the meantime
changed hands, as have two of the participants photographed in the parade,
Flemings Fireclays and D. & J. Carbery Ltd.
Senior students from Scoil Mhuire also paraded, while a horse drawn
brake had what appears to be actors in period dress advertising a forthcoming
drama. The I.N.F. St. Patrick’s Branch
Athy banner was carried behind an unnamed pipe band. The photograph I have chosen to show from
this parade may hold the key to identifying the year it was held. The year 1853 appears on the banner held by
the lone marcher in front, with further banners bearing the dates 1883 and 1933
following on. Was this parade held in
1953 as part of the An Tostal Festival?
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