Melvin Jones Awards for four Lions Club stalwarts

In May 1971 twenty four young men gathered for a meeting in the Leinster Arms Hotel at the corner of Leinster Street and Emily Square.  They were there at the request of local pharmacist Des McHugh who in conjunction with his Kilkenny based brother-in-law Paddy Reynolds wanted to explore the possibility of establishing a Lions Club in Athy.  Lions Club International was founded in 1917 and is recognised today as the global leader in community and humanitarian service.  Its mission statement is ‘to empower volunteers to serve their communities, meet humanitarian needs, encourage peace and promote international understanding through Lions Clubs.’ 

During the meeting which was sponsored by the Kilkenny City Lions Club it was decided to form a Lions Club in Athy.  The names of the founding members of the club, now known as charter members, were Tully Curry, Des Perry, Michael Prendergast, John King, Jim Loughrin, Des McHugh, Ken Turner, Michael Dwyer, Dick Barrett, Kieran O’Grady, Michael Walsh, Ger Moriarty, John Perry, Gerry Carbery, Richard Norris, Liam Porter, Michael Cunningham, Gerry Cleary, Johnny Watchorn, Michael Wall, Barry Donnelly, Trevor Shaw, William Cade and Liam Owens.

It was then an all male organisation, unlike today when women play a prominent role in the running of the club.  Forty three years after its foundation Athy Lions Club through its members is still heavily committed to fundraising for local charities, as well as being involved in many community enhancing projects.  Within the present Lions Club membership there are four members who were involved in the initial meeting held in the Leinster Arms hotel 43 years ago.  They attend the monthly Lions Club meetings, as well as involving themselves in the club’s fundraising activities which in recent months included a cycle rally, a charity auction and the annual Christmas Food Appeal.  Their commitment and dedication over the 43 years of the club’s existence was marked last week with the presentation of Melvin Jones Awards to Gerry Cleary, Michael Dwyer, Ken Turner and Trevor Shaw. 

The Melvin Jones Award is the highest award that can be granted by a Lions Club and in the case of Athy Lions Club this is only the second occasion that such awards were made.  Previously the late Johnny Watchorn was the recipient of the Award for his work over many years on the governing body of the National Lions Club organisation.  The award to the four local Lions Club members was a unique event marked by the presence of the Lions District Governor who travelled from Cork to present each of the recipients with a Melvin Jones plaque.

 The members of Athy Lions Club have made a huge contribution to the local community during the 43 years of the Club’s existence.  Perhaps the most visible reminder of the Club’s work is the sheltered housing scheme in the grounds of St. Vincent’s Hospital.  That was a project headed up by Athy Lions Club, funded in part by government grants and funds raised locally by the Lions Club members.  Another major project was the purchase in conjunction with St. Michael’s Parish of Dreamland Ballroom on the Kilkenny Road which is now used for sporting and other community based activities. 

If you are interested in the work of the Lions Club and would like to be involved as a Lions Club member in raising funds for local charities I would welcome hearing from you.

Ken Sale from Graysland and originally from London passed away a few days ago at 80 years of age.  Ken came to Athy with his wife, the former Maisie Day from Dooley’s Terrace, Athy and his two daughters in 1981.  I returned to Athy the following year.  I first met Ken when he volunteered to help the newly established Museum Society to get ready its first premises in the vacant classrooms in Mount St. Marys.  That was in 1983/’84 and I recall with gratitude the outstanding help Ken gave during the weeks involved in setting up that first local Museum.  At the funeral Mass on Sunday his daughter Katie gave an eloquent touching eulogy which surpassed anything I had previously heard on such occasions in our Parish Church.  It was a wonderful tribute to a man whose path first crossed mine 30 years ago.

Coming to the end of 2014 I want to thank the people who have contacted me during this year offering information and help with the stories which have appeared in this column.  I am always delighted to hear from you. 

Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year to all the readers of Eye on the Past.

Ernest Shackleton's Christmases

Christmas is a time for home and hearth when we welcome back to our shores those of our extended families whom live abroad.  But we should give a moment’s pause to those of our country men and women who are unable, for various reasons, to return home.  The Kilkea born Polar explorer Ernest Shackleton was one of those whose life was mostly lived outside the country of his birth and because of his pursuit of discovery in the Antarctic regions many of his Christmas’s were spent in the icy wastes of the Polar regions.  Just one hundred years ago Shackleton's ship  Endurance left the island of South Georgia on the 5^th of December heading towards the pack ice of the Weddell Sea.  He was embarking upon his ambitious plan to cross the Antarctic from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea.  Ultimately the expedition ended in heroic failure and Shackleton and his men would spend two Christmas’s in the Antarctic before returning to civilisation.

Christmas for Shackleton invariably meant time away from hearth and home and with companions in the windy wasteland of the Antarctic.  His Christmas of 1902 was spent on the Antarctic barrier with his companions Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Dr. Edward Wilson, both of whom would die later on a trek back from the South Pole in 1912.  Christmas was important to Shackleton and unbeknownst to his colleagues to supplement their standard lunch of Bovril, chocolate, biscuits and Plasmon he had stowed away in his spare socks a small plum pudding weighing 6 ounces which he produced as a surprise on Christmas day with a piece of holly.  Although he spent much of his life away he understood the importance of observing the rituals of home life.  Christmas in 1908 would again find Shackleton in the Antarctic this time on the Antarctic Plateau at a height of 9,500 ft. almost 250 miles from the Pole. 

In his book The Heart of Antarctic he wrote about Christmas day in 1908 ‘we had a splendid dinner.  First came hoosh, consisting of a pony ration boiled up with pemmican with some of our emergency oxo and biscuit.  Then in the cocoa water I boiled our little plum pudding.  This with a drop of medicinal brandy was a luxury, then came cocoa and lastly cigars and a spoonful of crème de menthe’. 

As for many of us at Christmas time food was an important part of the celebration but never more so for those explorers starving themselves in their endeavours to reach the holy grail of the South Pole.  To return to Shackleton’s expedition of 1914, December 25^th of that year found the Endurance battling its way through the ice but Shackleton was able to have a full sit down meal with his fellow crew members in the Mess cabin of the ship.  One of the ship’s officers decorated the mess with flags and Christmas presents were exchanged.  This was later followed by a luxurious dinner consisting of turtle soup, whitebait, jugged hare, Christmas pudding, mince pies, dates, figs and crystallised fruits with rum and stout as drinks.  The evening concluded with a sing song amongst the men but one can only imagine the variable quality of the voices after a day of indulgence!

The last few Christmas’s of Shackleton’s life were spent abroad.  In Christmas 1919 he was coming to the end of his service with the British army in Northern Russia where it was fighting in support of the White Russians against the Bolsheviks.  Shackleton's expertise had been required in assisting the British troops in training for cold weather conditions.  Embarking upon a royal navy ship HMS Mars he met A.S. Griffiths an old school pal of his from Dulwich College days with whom he had played truant more than 30 years before.  Christmas day was spent in reminiscence with his Griffiths while that night Shackleton joined the sailors of HMS Dublin for a Christmas party aboard their ship. 

Christmas 1922, found Shackleton in the Southern Oceans on his expedition ship the Quest.  Sadly for Shackleton the man who placed such importance on the rituals of everyday life Christmas celebrations were not possible as no cooking could be done in the difficult atrocious conditions that the ship encountered.  It would be Shackleton’s last Christmas as he died just over a week later at South Georgia in the early hours of the morning of the 5^th of January.