Athy Today compared to Athy of Yesteryear

I was asked recently what changes have taken place in Athy over the years. It was a question which made me think because for someone like myself who spends his working days in the town, the changes, imperceptible as they may be, pass for the most part unnoticed. How does Athy of today compare to the town as it was sixty years ago, or in the time when the Great Western and Southern Railway Guide of 1856 noted ‘few towns in Ireland are more auspiciously situated than the town of Athy’. Seven years later Thomas Lacey in his book of travels published under the title ‘Sights and Scenes in our Fatherland’ claimed that Athy was ‘a handsome regular town’. There is no question but Athy is attractively sited on the banks of the river Barrow, a waterway which is complemented by the manmade canal gracing the western side of the historic town. There is no doubt that the town centre plaza, backgrounded by the early 18th century Town Hall, gives Athy a handsome appearance which cannot be matched by any other town in County Kildare. The side streets, spreading out from the town’s main street, which latter street is recognised by archaeologists and historians as a fine example of an Anglo Norman linear type street, helped create the compact urban settlement of earlier years. That compactness was lost with the extension of the town beyond its medieval boundaries and the more recent housing developments on its outskirts. The town’s centre streetscape has not changed to any great degree in the last 100 years. While many building facades have been modified and business names have disappeared, the buildings themselves for the most part still stand, as high or as low as they were a century ago. But it is not only buildings that make a town – the life of a town comes from its people and here in Athy we can proudly claim that ours is a family friendly town. This was the unqualified view of the many persons and families who in recent years came to live in Athy. The town’s population has increased hugely in the last 25 years and the general opinion of the many new members of our community whom I have met expressed themselves as very happy living in Athy. Their only complaint is the inadequacy of the shopping experience in a town which 60 years ago was one of the best shopping towns in Leinster. There are certainly changes which have emerged over the past decade or more and they are confirmed by the number of vacant shops on our main streets. Offaly Street, the street in which I lived as a youngster, was then home to a pub, two sweet shops and a cinema, all of which are now closed up. Athy has changed, even as its streetscape remains largely unchanged. But in many ways it has changed for the better. The 1930s saw the setting up of a Distress Committee headed up by the Town Clerk and the local District Court Clerk to help families affected by flooding on the river Barrow. Flooding was an annual occurrence which particularly caused problems for families in St. Joseph’s Terrace and required the provision of a boating service to allow those families to get to the shops and attend Sunday Mass. Before the opening of the I.V.I. Foundry and the Cement factory in the 1930s emigration from Athy bled the town of many young men and women. The same St. Joseph’s Terrace witnessed an extremely high level of emigration during that decade. Athy had similarly suffered a high loss of men folk to emigration in the mid-1920s, so much so that the local GAA club had difficulty fielding a senior football team. Times have changed. The scars of emigration no longer mark our community’s life. The local men and women no longer take the mail boat. Now we welcome families to Athy, many of whom find it possible to live in the town while working in Dublin and elsewhere. This has helped to create for Athy a sense of a satellite town with all the advantages and disadvantages this brings. A major change which we tend to overlook arose with the departure of the Christian Brothers, the closure of the Mercy Convent and the departure of the Dominicans from the town. The loss of the Dominicans after so many centuries of service stretching back to the early medieval years was an unwelcome change for many locals. The loss of the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy, both of whom brought education to generations of young Athy folk, was in a way a recognition of the improvements in the Irish education system. Yes, Athy has changed over the years, but remains as a 19th century writer noted ‘a handsome town’.

Book town Hay on Wye and Athy's Lions Club Book Shop

Hay-on-Wye, a Welsh village just a step or two within the Welsh English border, is a book lovers paradise. The late Richard Booth opened his first second hand book shop in the village of Hay in 1962. He went on to open a number of other book shops in Hay and was joined there by other second hand book dealers to create the world’s best known book town. I first visited Hay-on-Wye in the early 1980s when the Welsh town with a population of about 2,000 was home to upwards of 30 second hand book shops. One of those shops was the town’s former cinema which was fitted out by Richard Booth to make what was then one of the world's largest second hand book shops. Today the cinema book shop is still in business, offering a huge variety of books for sale as do the twenty or so other book shops still located around the town of Hay-on-Wye. Amazon and other online book dealers have of course restricted the growth of book towns such as Hay-on-Wye in Wales and Wigtown in Scotland. Nevertheless both continue to thrive and Hay-on-Wye especially so during the annual Hay Festival of Literature which was founded in 1988. I was reminded of the importance of book shops in the development of our personal cultural lives when I read the headlines in the London Times on Monday ‘Return of book shops is a novel idea’. ‘A record 142 book shops opened in France last year, notably in small provincial towns’, reported the Times. Apparently there has been a steady growth in book shop openings over the past decade, a trend which has been attributed to anti-Amazon activism and demographic changes that have led city dwellers to settle in the provinces. Here in Athy we have witnessed an enormous growth in population with the town numbers increasing by over 150% in recent years. The current population of 10,000 or so far exceeds the population figures which were more or less static for more than a century, hovering as it did in or around 4,000. This increase has not brought with it the additional services which one might expect. One such missing service is a book shop and the absence of a cultural mecca for readers prompted the local Lions Club some years ago to open the Lions second hand book shop in Duke Street. It provides a wonderful service for book readers but Athy still needs a dedicated book shop offering for sale the latest publications from Irish and overseas publishers. Athy cannot hope to emulate the success of Hay-on-Wye or even Scotland’s Wigtown, but the town’s reading public presently served by an excellent town library surely deserves the opening of a new book shop. The local Lions Club which with the help of its honorary Lions Club member Alice Rowan, opens the second hand book shop five days a week, has now planned the first National Book Fair for Athy on Saturday 25th March. Opening at 10am in the A.R.C.H. on the Kilkenny Road the fair will bring together a number of book dealers offering an interesting and varying collection of books for sale. There will be one book stall devoted to books published on different aspects of Athy’s history. It offers a unique opportunity for those who came to live in Athy in recent years to learn more about the south Kildare town which they now call home. The Shackleton Museum will also have a stall at the book fair offering for sale a mixture of local and polar exploration titles, including the recently published ‘An Antarctic Affair’ by Fergus O’Gorman. A few days later Marc Guernon will give the next lecture in the Lecture Series organised by Athy’s Historical Society in the Arts Centre in Woodstock Street. Marc, who is an archaeologist and a gifted artist, will describe and illustrate some of the hidden elements of the medieval landscape of Athy which have long remained hidden. It promises to be an interesting overview of the medieval town of Athy, which because of its location played an important part in many aspects of Ireland’s medieval history. Admission is free to the lecture which starts at 8pm on Tuesday 28th March in the Arts Centre. Writing of books I must mention the book launch planned for St. Lawrence’s G.A.A. clubhouse on Saturday, 22nd April at 8pm. The book ‘A Life’s Harvest: Stories from the Home Place Loraine’ written by Tom O’Connell, a native of nearby Loraine Fontstown, is his late father’s stories of life in rural Ireland. More about this book launch nearer the event.

Heuston Station / Remembering Eamon Walsh / Noel and Carmel Reddy

I don’t know how many times I have passed through Heuston Station, Dublin but as I exited the station last week I noticed for perhaps the first time on the top of the Corinthian pillars the lettering ‘Vic vii ….. 1844’. This referred to Queen Victoria, then in the eight year of her reign, and the date 1844 I presume refers to what was the expected date of completion of work on the railway station. The building was not however completed until November 1848 due to a stonemason strike. The Great Southern and Western railway line to Athy and to Carlow was opened on 3rd August 1846 during the second year of the Great Famine. Not many, if any, of the 1,200 or so poor unfortunates who died in Athy’s Workhouse during the Famine ever had the means to travel by rail to Dublin. Railway travel was extremely expensive in those early rail days, even if the rail companies sought to engage with the poor by providing third class carriages which were open to the elements. In those days few from Athy and south Kildare ever got the opportunity to see the splendid new railway station which has been described as having the appearance of a great Renaissance House. Every time we pass through what was once called Kingsbridge Station, we can treasure the thought that the great figures of Irish history were frequent users of that same station. Charles Stewart Parnell set out from Kingsbridge Station for that fateful open-air meeting in Creggs, Co. Roscommon in September 1891 which was his last public appearance in Ireland. He would die on 3rd October after returning home to Brighton following that meeting which he had attended despite his doctor’s warning that he was not fit to travel. Padraig Pearse used the same station on many occasions when travelling to Rossmuc, Connemara where his holiday cottage was located. Reflecting on the 1844 date made me realise what great advances were in hand in Ireland at that time as various railway companies pressed on with their plans to extend railway lines across the Irish countryside. But if there were advances there was also great hardship endured on a regular basis by a majority of the people of Ireland. That same year the Athy Workhouse was opened on 9th January and the first inmates include 6 men, 15 women, 13 boys, 5 girls and 2 infants. The workhouse and the two ancillary workhouses which were opened during the height of the Great Famine would at one time in 1848 accommodate 1,254 impoverished men, women and children. It was almost three years since I wrote to the then Chairman of Kildare County Council, Councillor Mark Stafford, asking for the Council to erect a memorial to Athy’s famine dead who were buried in unmarked graves at St. Mary’s cemetery just across the road from the former Workhouse. Mark very kindly agreed to put the request to the Council and I believe the Council agreed to erect a memorial. Subsequent correspondence passed between the County Council and the HSE regarding ownership of the cemetery. Imagine my surprise to read recently that the promised memorial is now being mentioned as a memorial for the mothers and babies who died in the County Home. The County Home which was not a mother and babies home but primarily a place for the elderly and the infirm, is now being regarded as part of the Mother and Babies Home regime. It was never that and the County Council should not lose sight of the famine dead from Athy and the surrounding areas whose sad lives ended in a workhouse and whose remains were left in the ground at St. Mary’s without any recognition or identification. We need to remember our famine dead, and I hope Kildare County Council will do that by erecting a suitable famine memorial in St. Mary’s before too long. During the last few days the town lost two of its well loved and highly regarded members with the passing of Noel Reddy and Eamonn Walsh. By a strange coincidence both Noel and Eamonn were porters in the Bank of Ireland and the Allied Irish Bank respectively and both came from families with generational old connections with Athy and south Kildare. Indeed, Eamonn’s father Eddie Walsh was the porter in the Provincial Bank for 41 years and on his retirement was replaced by Eamonn who served in the same position for 34 years. Noel was an ever-optimistic supporter of Kildare in the county’s quest for an All-Ireland senior football title, while Eamonn was a musician who graced the musical scene for many decades as a member of the Spotlights and other groups with which he was associated over the years. Eamonn was the subject of an Eye on the Past No. 549. Noel’s death followed the death of his wife Carmel just a few weeks earlier. Carmel was an energetic and valuable contributor to many community-based activities, and I will remember the important role she played as secretary of Athy’s Development Group in furthering the call for an outer relief road instead of the inner relief road planned by Kildare County Council. It’s sad that she did not live to see the opening of the new road which she and many other local men and women campaigned for over many years. Like the forgotten famine dead, the true record of more recent events such as the campaign for the outer relief road and the famine memorial fade from memory as new narratives tend to give us a different and not necessarily true account of the past.

Whites Castle and the early years of medieval Athy

Last week’s Kildare Nationalist carried a news item concerning White’s Castle and an announcement of the forthcoming auction of what was described as a 2.5 acre development site in the centre of Athy. It was an unusual coincidence which highlighted on the same paper two important elements of Athy’s past history, even if the development site description might not immediately signal any historical significance. But in fact the site located off Emily Square has a history which predates that of White’s Castle by over 150 years or more. The site was correctly identified in the notice as being located within the old ‘Abbey lands’, a reminder that a few years ago it was the site of the Abbey, a fine 18th century house which was pulled down overnight. The name came down to us over the years because it was the site of the first Dominican Abbey or Friary founded in 1257. The French speaking Anglo Normans who sailed up the river Barrow and opened settlements at various locations in the Barrow valley founded one of their most important settlements at the Ford of Ae. They built a fortified castle at Woodstock around which the medieval village of Athy developed. Within a few years the Crouched Friars founded a monastery on the west bank of the River Barrow in the area still known to this day as St. Johns. A few years later the Dominicans founded their monastery on the opposite bank of the river in the area which the auction notice called the ‘Abbey lands’. The Dominicans occupied their monastery until the Reformation when Henry VIII suppressed the Irish and English monasteries and sequestered the Abbey property which was leased to Martin Pelles, constable of the castle of Athy. The Abbey consisted of a church with a bell tower, a chapter house, dormitory, kitchen, rooms and two halls in addition to an open cloister, a cemetery, an orchard and a garden. The buildings were in time destroyed and levelled to the ground leaving only, I believe, traces underground. The Abbey site has an important story awaiting to be told and it is a story which can only be fully explained after a comprehensive archaeological survey of the site has been carried out. Following the Battle of Ardscull on 26th January 1316 when the Scottish troops under Edward Bruce defeated the Anglo Normans, the Book of Howth records that ‘of the Scot side were slain Lord Fergus Anderson, Lord Walter More and many others whose bodies were buried in the Abbey of the Friars Preachers Athy.’ Also buried there were the Dominican Friars who in the first 300 years of the Abbey’s existence lived, worshipped, and prayed in Athy’s Abbey. This important historical site needs to have an archaeological assessment and investigation carried out as a matter of urgency. White’s Castle recently purchased for the third time in recent years by a private individual without any interest being expressed by Kildare County Council, has been awarded funding under the Community Monuments Fund. I understand the purpose of the funding is to help protect the historical building and facilitate access to it by the general public. White’s Castle is an iconic building at the heart of our town which stands not alone but is twinned with the adjoining Crom a Boo bridge to provide a symbolic representation of the town’s ancient history. Picture Athy in your mind’s eye and almost certainly images of the castle and the bridge will come into view. For so long at the heart of town life in Athy the Castle, as a garrison fortress, as a prison and as a police barracks has witnessed the passing of so many different generations stretching back over 600 years. I had hoped that White’s Castle would again become an integral part of community life in Athy with its development as a heritage centre/museum to complement the Shackleton Museum in the former market house. I don’t know what plans the new owner has for the castle but the successful application for Community Monument funding is an encouraging sign that private enterprise might yet take up the challenge which Kildare County Council and Athy Town Council so abysmally failed to do in the past.

Roadside Memorial for Thomas O'Connell, Carlow Kildare I.R.A. Brigade

It’s almost twenty years ago in Eye on the Past No. 600 I wrote of roadside memorials in and around Athy and mentioned a particular memorial which unknowingly I passed on many occasions. I wrote: ‘Indeed on first becoming aware of its existence some months ago I kept a careful look out for it when I drove to or from Carlow. I could not find the memorial until yesterday when returning to Athy I stopped my car near Maganey and walked the narrow road, keeping a watchful eye on the speeding cars which threatened at every bend to put a premature end to my search. Eventually I found the memorial on the side of the road where Tommy O’Connell, Officer commanding the Carlow Kildare I.R.A. Brigade was killed in a road traffic accident on 31st August 1924.’ The memorial was hidden from view by a generous growth of briars and I returned some time later to cut back the briars and reveal the inscription on the stone base into which a metal cross had been set. The inscription read:- ‘Mrs. Kearney presented this memorial cross to the staff of the I.R.A. Carlow Brigade to be erected where their gallant O.C. accidentally lost his life on 31st August 1924.’ Tommy O’Connell had succeeded Eamon Malone of Barrowhouse as Officer commanding the Carlow Brigade. He was previously Vice O.C. of the Brigade, comprising six battalions of which the fifth battalion area included Athy, Kilkea, Castledermot, Ballylinan and Barrowhouse. When the Civil War broke out he took the anti-treaty side and was subsequently captured and imprisoned but having escaped from prison went on the run for some time. Some months after I cut the briars surrounding the O’Connell memorial I was disappointed to find that the metal cross had been broken and was nowhere to be seen. I mentioned that in a subsequent Eye on the Past but there seemed little prospect of recovering the missing cross. Fast forward to three months ago when Jerry O’Toole from Kilbride, Carlow who having read my articles on Tommy O’Connell phoned me enquiring where the roadside memorial was located. Jerry told me that his late mother had a photograph of Tommy O’Connell in her home and that his father and two uncles had served in the I.R.A. under O’Connell. I gave Jerry directions to the memorial and he found it hidden behind briars and hedging. Last week Jerry phoned me again. Having enquired locally he discovered that the cross had been broken during hedge cutting arranged by the County Council but luckily enough the broken cross was kept safe by a local farmer. It turns out that the local farmer’s late father and grandfather had attended Tommy O’Connell at the accident scene in 1924. Jerry O’Toole had the memorial cross restored, the roadside memorial repainted and the surrounding hedging cut back so allowing the memorial to the former I.R.A. leader to be visible to everyone passing the scene of the accident of almost 99 years ago. An interesting fact which Jerry discovered when replacing the cross is that it was made in the foundry of Duthie Larges of Athy. Tommy O’Connell was buried at Monasteroris, Edenderry on 2nd September 1924 and as his funeral passed through Athy the Nationalist and Leinster Times noted ‘the windows in Athy were shuttered all day on Monday in token of sympathy and great numbers joined the funeral cortege as it passed through the town on its way to Edenderry.’ Jerry O’Toole has also discovered that Tommy O’Connell’s mother gave his address as c/o Mrs. Kearney, Brown Street, Carlow when she applied for a service pension. This was presumably the same Mrs. Kearney who presented the memorial cross which Duthie Larges made in their Athy foundry. Can any of my readers identify the late Mrs. Kearney and the part she may have played during the revolutionary years. Jerry O’Toole is deserving of great praise for his work in restoring the O’Connell monument and the photographs which he has copied to me and in which I reproduce here are those of the late Tommy O’Connell and the memorial at Maganey as it is today.

Poverty in Athy and the Work of Athy Lions Club

The population of Athy has increased substantially over the last 20 years or so. For over one hundred years previously the local community numbers were always around 4,000 and generally somewhat lower than that. Athy, we were told, was a prosperous market town with more than 40 pubs/grocery shops and was often described as the leading market town in Leinster. Hidden behind the main streets of the town however were many two roomed cottages let by private landlords who in the absence of any local authority housing schemes controlled the availability of housing in the town. In the census of 1901 Athy returned a population of 3,599. The majority of the local people lived in the most primitive conditions. A report prepared by the local medical officer claimed that little effort was made to keep the laneways in the town in a sanitary condition. His report continued: ‘the state of the back yards is also a danger to health ….. large accumulations of manure heaps and other refuse matters are in proximity to the houses ….. and the back yards where these accumulations exist are very small and confined and undrained and in many instances pigs are kept in them. A considerable number of houses have no back yard accommodation whatsoever.’ What part did these poor living conditions and the poverty which they indicated play in encouraging so many young Athy men to enlist in the British Army during World War I? A report in the Nationalist and Leinster Times on 9th June 1917 claimed: ‘In Ireland workers when deprived of employment have only one recourse – to join the army, a mild form of conscription is accordingly enforced in this country at the present time.’ True to tell there was widespread poverty in Athy at that time. Employment opportunities were limited to the local brickyards and seasonal work on neighbouring farms. The merchants of the town were by all accounts well off, but amongst them were a number of kind hearted individuals who came together every week to further the work of the local St. Vincent de Paul Society in helping local families in need. This generosity of spirit, which in the early years of 1900 was found in the members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, was many generations later to witness a resurgence with the foundation of Athy’s Lions Club. Today the Lions Club and the St. Vincent de Paul Society continued to work voluntarily for the betterment of those individuals and families who find themselves experiencing financial difficulties. The Lions Club, which is a member of the largest worldwide charitable organisation, was founded following a meeting in the Leinster Arms Hotel in June 1971. The first President of the Lions Club was the late Des McHugh, a pharmacist from Duke Street and with him at that first meeting was a large number of businesspeople and professionals. It was then an all-male organisation, which in recent years has welcomed female members. Indeed, the current membership of Athy Lions Club shows a majority of female members who have brought a refreshing vigour and enthusiasm to the work of the club. Over the years Athy Lions Club has been involved in many fundraising projects where all the funds collected are used for local charitable purposes. Cycle rallies, family walks, St. Stephen’s Day run, charity auctions, concerts and not to forget the annual Christmas Food Appeal are but some of the many events organised by the Lions Club. Amongst the many unique projects undertaken by the Lions Club there are two which stand out. In 1982 the Club in conjunction with St. Michael’s Parish, then led by the Parish Priest Canon Owen Sweeney, jointly purchased Dreamland Ballroom for use as a community facility. Now known as A.R.C.H. (Athy Recreational Community Hall), the parish interest in the hall has in recent times been transferred to the Lions Club and the A.R.C.H. continues to be managed by a voluntary committee on behalf of the Lions Club. The other major project undertaken by the Lions Club was the development of a sheltered housing scheme in the grounds of St. Vincent’s Hospital. The Lions Club initiated this housing project in consultation with the Eastern Health Board, which resulted in the construction of ten houses which were made available for elderly persons. The work of the Lions Club, like that of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, seldom receives publicity as their work is done quietly and discreetly. It would be remiss of me however not to pay tribute to two of the founder members of the Lions Club who with 52 years as members continue to attend the monthly meetings of the club and participate in Lions events. Michael Dwyer and Gerry Cleary are the members in question, who a few years ago were recipients of the Melvin Jones award for services to their community. Membership of the Lions Club is open to any person wishing to serve the people of Athy in a voluntary capacity. If you would like to offer your help to the Lions Club, whether as a member attending monthly meetings or as a volunteer for organised events, can I invite you to contact the current Lions Club President Brian Dooley on Ph: (086)137-8612. Don’t forget the lecture tonight [Tuesday] in the Arts Centre, Woodstock Street. David Walsh’s illustrated talk on ‘Athy and the Great War in Twenty Objects’.

Civil War in County Kildare (Part 2)

The Civil War which had commenced with the attack on the Four Courts saw continuing action in and around Athy. On 29th November 1922 the railway bridge in Athy was damaged by anti-treaty forces. The Irish Free State was formally established by the passing of legislation in the British House of Commons on 6th December and on the same day James Kenny of Dunbrin was arrested by National Army troops. Two days later four Republican prisoners, Dick Barrett, Rory O’Connor, Joe McKelvey and Liam Mellowes were executed in Mountjoy jail. On Christmas Eve the property of James Murphy, an Athy farmer, was extensively damaged. Subsequent attacks on the property of farmers John Bergin of Maybrook and Michael Mara, both of whom were members of the Kildare Farmers Union, satisfied the authorities that the local farm labourers dispute was the cause. On the first day of the new year 1923 18-year-old National Army soldier Thomas McEvoy was accidentally shot dead at Graney crossroads, just a few weeks after four of his colleagues were killed at the same location in an ambush by anti-treaty forces. The new year was ushered in with an attack on the railway companies’ office in Athy and an arson attack on the farm buildings of Frank Plewman of Woodstock. 19year old Christopher Sweeney from Nelson Street Athy was shot dead during an ambush by anti-treaty republicans at O’Connell Street Waterford on 5th January. A week later armed men attacked and damaged a dwellinghouse at Lipstown, Narraghmore, the property of Thomas Yates of Grangemellon. This was undoubtedly the result of the local farm labourers dispute which also saw sheds and crops burned at Belview, the property of Stephen Telford and a thatched cottage at Cloney, the property of Patrick Kelly. The farm labourers dispute with the Kildare Farmers Union was the principal reason for the malicious damage caused in and around the south Kildare area at this time. Thomas Hickey, Milltown House, was another victim in that dispute when barley and straw was burned overnight on January 26th. Two days later Christy Supple, secretary of the Athy branch of the Transport Union was arrested and lodged in Carlow Military Barracks. His mother Mary died suddenly in the Union Office in Duke Street 18 days later but Christy was refused parole to attend her funeral. Anti-treaty men raided Jacksons shop in Leinster Street on 2nd February and took a quantity of goods and on the following day James Kelly of Youngstown had a consignment of porter seized by what is believed to be the same raiders. The farm labourers dispute saw further malicious damage, this time to the property of Denis Morrin, farmer of Ballyroe. On the day following Tom Barry’s call for a truce which was rejected by his colleague Liam Lynch, Dr. Thomas O’Higgins, father of the Free State government minister Kevin O’Higgins, was shot and killed by anti-treaty raiders in his home at Stradbally. Armed men raised the Bank of Ireland in Athy on 21st February, while further attacks on local farmers saw the destruction of Mrs. Hayden’s house at Brownstown and damage to Hannon’s store in Athy. On March 2nd and 3rd anti-treaty forces attacked several properties in Athy, resulting in the destruction of equipment at the railway station, the Post Office, the Civic Guards barracks, as well as the shop premises of John W. Coote and Shaws. Cars were stolen from the Leinster Arms Hotel yard, Maxwells of Duke Street and Duthie Larges. At the same time hay and other crops the property of Margaret Hayden of Churchtown were destroyed. It is believed that this damage was caused by men involved in the farm labourers dispute which had entered its sixteenth week. Christy Supple, local secretary of the Transport Union and leader of the farm labourers dispute and an Urban District Councillor for Athy, was released from jail on 22nd March. Six days later there was an unsuccessful gun attack on a National Army sentry at the Town Hall. The farm labourers strike continued and on the last day of March at a public meeting held in Emily Square presided over by the ITGWU General Secretary, William O’Brien, it was claimed that upwards of 300 farm labourers were locked out by members of the Kildare Farmers Union. Civil War activities in the south Kildare area lessened as the year progressed, but on 23rd April attempts were made to disrupt rail travel when wires were cut at Athy Railway station. This was followed a few days later with the arrest of 7 Athy men who were lodged in Carlow Military Barracks. By this time almost 12,000 anti-treaty supporters had been interned by order of the Free State government and amongst them were several Athy men Paddy McNamara and his brother. In June 1923 Athy Urban District Council workers, including the weight master, refused to weigh wool delivered by local farmers. The now infrequent raids by anti-treaty forces recommenced with a raid on the railway goods store in Athy where the property of Thomas Bergin, merchant of Duke Street, was stolen. A sense of normality was evidenced when the local press announced the formation of a branch of Cumann na nGaedhael in Athy. Peter P. Doyle, formerly of Athy’s Sinn Fein Club, was elected president. A few weeks later General Sir W.B. Hickie, president of the Legion of Ex Service Men in Ireland, visited the local British legion hall. Where I wonder was that hall as the legion hall later remembered as the Social Club premises was built in 1925/’26. Many lives were lost during the Civil War and communities were traumatised by the killing and the wanton destruction which left a legacy of bitterness for years thereafter. On Tuesday 28th March at 8pm the Arts Centre will host a lecture by David Walsh titled ‘Athy and World War I in Twenty Objects’. It’s a story of an earlier worldwide conflict which had a huge impact on families in Athy. Admission Free.

Superintendent Martin Walker and Athy Garda Siochana of Old

On Friday I travelled to Newbridge to join the retirement get together for Superintendent Martin Walker who is stepping down after 40 years’ service in the Garda Siochana. On my journey I was prompted to remember the Gardai who served in Athy during my teenage years. Some of my older readers will remember Johnny McMahon, Mick Tuohy, Jim Kelly, Michael O’Connell, all men who in the 1950s were on the brink of retirement. From various parts of the country, including Mayo, Kerry and Clare they lived amongst the community they served as ‘Guardians of the Peace’. In those days Gardai were required to live in the area in which they were stationed and they were effectively on duty 24 hours a day. They and the young Gardai who were transferred for a few years to Athy were required to perform barrack orderly duties in their turn. This meant being on duty in the Garda Station for 24 continuous hours as the Barrack Orderly slept in the barracks overnight. As a result, the Garda Station was manned 24 hours a day and this, together with the daily patrolling of the streets by the Gardai, helped create an excellent relationship between the Garda Siochana and the community they served. I can remember my father who was senior sergeant in the Barracks going on patrol almost every night of the week. The Garda presence on the streets, whether day or night, was seen as an important way of fulfilling one of the Garda roles in Irish society, that of crime prevention. That with crime detection and the maintenance of public order were the core principals of police work. Today crime prevention and crime detection remain the central objectives of Irish policing but unfortunately the old established role of the patrolling Garda is no longer observed. Irish society has changed, and crime has become more widespread and complex than ever before in the last 50 years or so. To meet the new demands posed by the criminal world the Garda Siochana’s role has had to adapt and change. The man on the beat was replaced by the patrol car, now covering a wider area than the foot patrols of a previous time. Many Garda barracks are no longer manned 24 hours a day and the relationship between the policemen and the community at large has deteriorated dramatically. It was Conor Brady, later editor of the Irish Times, who in his early history of the Garda Siochana wrote that the community/Garda relationship ‘has been deteriorating steadily’. This was written a few years after the Conroy report on policing was published in 1970. The implementation of that report and the subsequent adoption of many new measures improved in many ways the working of the police and certainly benefitted its members in terms of working conditions. The 8-hour day for Gardai was introduced and the requirement for Gardai to live in the areas where stationed was abolished. Unfortunately Garda numbers were not increased sufficiently to provide 24 hour cover and many Garda stations throughout the country were closed. Street patrols became a feature of the past, adding further to the deterioration of the Garda/community relationship. That relationship was very important in terms of crime prevention and just as important was the requirement that Gardai live in their station district. With the abolition of the residential requirement, many Gardai understandably opted to live outside their district and not be part of the community where they worked. This was a loss to Garda intelligence which is so important for both crime prevention and crime detention. The net result was the fracturing of the good relationship which had been built up during the early years of the Garda Siochana between local communities and the Gardai. Public goodwill is an essential requirement if the Garda Siochana are to operate at their most effective. To gain and retain the full support of the community Gardai must be involved on a daily basis with the members of the community. By and large our only contact now with the Gardai is when we are approached by officers involved in crime detection or some other element of law enforcement. These are not relationship building contacts and may explain why many would regard their relationship with the Gardai as strained. Today in Athy which has a population of about 10,000 we have four sergeants and a number of Gardai who are grouped between detectives and road traffic corps, with one community Garda. The latter as the name implies is the Garda liaison officer with the Athy people. The detective gardai and the road traffic corps Gardai are part of the police crime detection service. What is lacking is adequate numbers to back up the community Gardai who by virtue of his working relationship with the community is the only Garda whom we can say is part of the crime prevention team. More community Gardai are required. With the retirement of Superintendent Martin Walker who was the superintendent in charge of this area, the Garda Siochana has lost one of the finest police officers it was my privilege to have known for several years. Many a time we were on opposite sides in District Court hearings, but I always found him to be an officer who presented evidence with impartiality and fairness. I wish him many happy years of retirement.

Traditional Music in Clancys and Death of Seamus Byrne, Uilleann Piper

Just a day or two after a former classmate of mine died I called into the traditional Irish music session in Clancys. It was there I last saw Seamus Byrne playing the uilleann pipes, accompanying a host of other traditional musicians, including my late colleague Tos Quinn. My visit was a pilgrimage of sorts to recall and remember the wonderful musicians who like Seamus had graced the music room over the years. It was 56 years ago that Tony Byrne, a Donegal fiddle player from Glencolumcille, with Neddy Whelan from Barrowhouse and a young Seamus Byrne came together to play the first music session in Clancys. They were welcomed by the club’s proprietors Jim and Maureen Clancy and those early sessions were held in the small bar. Pub conversations and pub noise generally did not provide the most ideal background for the musicians at play which prompted Jim and Maureen to clear a storeroom for the exclusive use of the musicians. That room is still in use for the Thursday evening Irish traditional music sessions. I first wrote of the Clancy sessions approximately 25 years ago following a visit to hear the musicians, including Seamus Byrne and Tos Quinn who were continuing a piping tradition which stretched back through Willie Clancy and Leo Rowsome to the legendary County Kildare piper William Kelly. I also mentioned Tony Byrne who came from Donegal in 1954 as principal of Ballyadams primary school. With them that night was Neddy Whelan, then an elderly man, a notable banjo player who was then playing the thin whistle, accompanied by the banjo master extraordinaire Martin Cooney. Sad to think that on my visit last week so many of the musicians of 25 years ago are no longer with us. The sessions however continue having earned the right to be regarded as Ireland’s longest running weekly Irish traditional music session. The present-day importance of the Clancy sessions is surely confirmed by the wide representation from outlining towns as the musicians from Athy were joined on Thursday last by musicians from Carlow, Abbeyleix, Newbridge, Baltinglass and Ballymount. On Saturday morning 15 members of the Clancy sessions came together at the Parish Church in Ballylinan for the burial of their friend and fellow musician Seamus Byrne. The outstanding piper Joe Byrne led off with a beautiful rendition of ‘Tabhair Dom do Lámh’ accompanied by his colleagues. During the communion the uilleann pipers Conor O’Carroll and Joe Byrne, again accompanied by the other musicians, played Seamus Byrne’s favorite tune ‘For Ireland’s sake I won’t tell her name’ and as the coffin was taken from the church three jigs were played by Joe Byrne with a wonderful expression of the young piper’s skill. At the graveside the Clancy session musicians took leave of their fellow musician and friend Seamus Byrne by playing a set of Seamus’s favourite jigs. We were reminded by Fr. Shelly of Seamus Byrne’s love of Irish traditional piping and how he followed his father, also a piper, who had died when Seamus was just a few days old. Seamus’s first piping lessons were on his father’s uilleann pipes which were repaired by Leo Rowsome and it was the famous Dublin based piper Rowsome who initially taught Seamus. Tos Quinn and Seamus Byrne were for so long leading members of the Clancy sessions, and it was Seamus who for many years was the unofficial fear an tí. He called the tunes and whenever unknown musicians joined the sessions always made them welcome and invited them to play. Uilleann piping has seen a resurgence in recent years, due in large measure to the setting up of Na Piobairi Uilleann in 1968. Here in Athy we are privileged to have a number of uilleann pipers and amongst them two of exceptional ability. Brian Hughes has given us many wonderful recordings of his uilleann piping and whistle playing and most recently Joe Byrne has produced his first piping CD. Seamus Byrne and Tos Quinn, two very good uilleann pipers, with the recently deceased Roddy Geoghegan for so long members of the Clancy music session are no longer with us. The sessions are now attracting a wide range of instrument players and the places of Seamus and Tos have now passed to uilleann pipers Conor O’Carroll and Joe Byrne. This traditional music session, like other sessions around the country, displays a great variety of instruments and a degree of musical competency which is delightful to hear. The Clancy music sessions are very much a part of the cultural reawakening of a town which over its lifetime at different stages underwent economic and social decline. Music is at the heart of that cultural movement and the session players are not alone in helping to recapture the spirit of this age. I was reminded of this during the 12 o’clock mass on Sunday having listened to the parish choir which was in splendid voice, admirably led by Anne-Maria Heskin whose solo singing was quite superb. Athy is the centre of our lives and the contribution that Irish traditional musicians such as the late Seamus Byrne and other musicians and singers make to the enjoyment and betterment of our community life cannot be underestimated.

Civil War in County Kildare (part)

Just a day or two after a former classmate of mine died I called into the traditional Irish music session in Clancys. It was there I last saw Seamus Byrne playing the uilleann pipes, accompanying a host of other traditional musicians, including my late colleague Tos Quinn. My visit was a pilgrimage of sorts to recall and remember the wonderful musicians who like Seamus had graced the music room over the years. It was 56 years ago that Tony Byrne, a Donegal fiddle player from Glencolumcille, with Neddy Whelan from Barrowhouse and a young Seamus Byrne came together to play the first music session in Clancys. They were welcomed by the club’s proprietors Jim and Maureen Clancy and those early sessions were held in the small bar. Pub conversations and pub noise generally did not provide the most ideal background for the musicians at play which prompted Jim and Maureen to clear a storeroom for the exclusive use of the musicians. That room is still in use for the Thursday evening Irish traditional music sessions. I first wrote of the Clancy sessions approximately 25 years ago following a visit to hear the musicians, including Seamus Byrne and Tos Quinn who were continuing a piping tradition which stretched back through Willie Clancy and Leo Rowsome to the legendary County Kildare piper William Kelly. I also mentioned Tony Byrne who came from Donegal in 1954 as principal of Ballyadams primary school. With them that night was Neddy Whelan, then an elderly man, a notable banjo player who was then playing the thin whistle, accompanied by the banjo master extraordinaire Martin Cooney. Sad to think that on my visit last week so many of the musicians of 25 years ago are no longer with us. The sessions however continue having earned the right to be regarded as Ireland’s longest running weekly Irish traditional music session. The present-day importance of the Clancy sessions is surely confirmed by the wide representation from outlining towns as the musicians from Athy were joined on Thursday last by musicians from Carlow, Abbeyleix, Newbridge, Baltinglass and Ballymount. On Saturday morning 15 members of the Clancy sessions came together at the Parish Church in Ballylinan for the burial of their friend and fellow musician Seamus Byrne. The outstanding piper Joe Byrne led off with a beautiful rendition of ‘Tabhair Dom do Lámh’ accompanied by his colleagues. During the communion the uilleann pipers Conor O’Carroll and Joe Byrne, again accompanied by the other musicians, played Seamus Byrne’s favorite tune ‘For Ireland’s sake I won’t tell her name’ and as the coffin was taken from the church three jigs were played by Joe Byrne with a wonderful expression of the young piper’s skill. At the graveside the Clancy session musicians took leave of their fellow musician and friend Seamus Byrne by playing a set of Seamus’s favourite jigs. We were reminded by Fr. Shelly of Seamus Byrne’s love of Irish traditional piping and how he followed his father, also a piper, who had died when Seamus was just a few days old. Seamus’s first piping lessons were on his father’s uilleann pipes which were repaired by Leo Rowsome and it was the famous Dublin based piper Rowsome who initially taught Seamus. Tos Quinn and Seamus Byrne were for so long leading members of the Clancy sessions, and it was Seamus who for many years was the unofficial fear an tí. He called the tunes and whenever unknown musicians joined the sessions always made them welcome and invited them to play. Uilleann piping has seen a resurgence in recent years, due in large measure to the setting up of Na Piobairi Uilleann in 1968. Here in Athy we are privileged to have a number of uilleann pipers and amongst them two of exceptional ability. Brian Hughes has given us many wonderful recordings of his uilleann piping and whistle playing and most recently Joe Byrne has produced his first piping CD. Seamus Byrne and Tos Quinn, two very good uilleann pipers, with the recently deceased Roddy Geoghegan for so long members of the Clancy music session are no longer with us. The sessions are now attracting a wide range of instrument players and the places of Seamus and Tos have now passed to uilleann pipers Conor O’Carroll and Joe Byrne. This traditional music session, like other sessions around the country, displays a great variety of instruments and a degree of musical competency which is delightful to hear. The Clancy music sessions are very much a part of the cultural reawakening of a town which over its lifetime at different stages underwent economic and social decline. Music is at the heart of that cultural movement and the session players are not alone in helping to recapture the spirit of this age. I was reminded of this during the 12 o’clock mass on Sunday having listened to the parish choir which was in splendid voice, admirably led by Anne-Maria Heskin whose solo singing was quite superb. Athy is the centre of our lives and the contribution that Irish traditional musicians such as the late Seamus Byrne and other musicians and singers make to the enjoyment and betterment of our community life cannot be underestimated.

Athy Rugby Club Players of the Past including Jack Doyle

Sports clubs in Athy did well in 2022. To the successes of the soccer players of Clonmullin AFC and the underage players of Athy GFC can now be added the recent achievement of the senior rugby players of Athy Rugby Club. Weeks ago the rugby team won the Hosie Cup, last won by the club 36 years ago. Competition wise the Rugby Club has gone through a relatively lean period in recent years. Founded, it is believed in 1880, the club won the Provincial Towns Cup in 1938, 1940, 1978, 1981, 1983 and 1984 and were winners of many other trophies over the years. Winning the Hosie Cup for 2022 was important for the club which had made great strides in recent years by extending the club’s playing facilities and opening rugby playing opportunities for youngsters and females. In the earlier years of the club’s history Athy Rugby Club had several players who won junior provincial caps. So far as I am aware the first Athy players to be honoured in this way were Jerry O’Neill and Robert Anderson in the 1920s and Dan Carbery in the early 1930s. The club’s successes in the 1938 and 1940 Towns Cup saw several club players gain junior provincial caps for the province. These included Norman Plewman, Des McHugh, Laurence Curran and they were followed in later years by many other players, including Cyril Osborne and Jack Ryan. John Minch of Athy, who played for a time with the local club, won five international caps playing for Ireland in 1912, while his brother Sydney was a reserve. Paddy Lawler who won many international caps playing for Ireland, came to Athy after his international playing career ended and played rugby with the Athy club. Another player who won four international caps for Ireland in 1921 was J.J. Bermingham, who following his short international career played for the Athy club. And of course, the present international Joey Carbery lived in Athy for many years and played for the Athy club, as did his Munster teammate Jeremy Loughman. Perhaps one of the more interesting players who played for Athy Rugby Club was Jack Doyle, known to generations of Athy folk as ‘Skurt’ Doyle. Jack as a young man joined the British Army and served in Alexandria, Malta and India. He played Gaelic football with Athy before enlisting and during his army career participated in many sports. He won the British army novice cruiser weight championship and came second in a marathon run over the Egyptian desert. He was also quite a useful cricket player and joined officers in regimental cricket matches. The first World War saw Jack Doyle, his brother Patrick and stepbrother Andrew Reilly serving overseas. The Doyle brothers were captured following the Battle of Mons and spent the rest of the conflict as prisoners of war. Jack on his release returned to his army base in England and during that time he played soccer on an English army team with first division team players Dickie Bond of Bradford City and Steve Bloomer of Derby County. After his discharge from the army in 1919 Jack returned to Athy and resumed his Gaelic football career with Athy GFC. His ability as a Gaelic footballer was recognised and he served as goalkeeper for Kildare senior county team from 1920 to 1922 and last played for Kildare in Croke Park in April 1922. He later took up rugby playing and was a member of the Athy Towns cup finalist losing teams of 1928, 1929 and 1930. Of the 1928 final a local newspaper noted ‘of the forwards the veteran Doyle who could be a father to any of the players, was without doubt the best.’ Jack continued to play rugby with Athy until 1934 when he retired, aged approximately 50 years. After that he continued his involvement with the local rugby club and with the Gaelic football club as a team trainer. The legendary Jack Doyle, better known and remembered as ‘Skurt’ Doyle died on 18th July 1953 aged 69 years. He made a remarkable contribution to Athy’s Rugby Club and the Athy Gaelic Football Club both as a player and as a team trainer. The sporting complex off the Dublin Road which houses Athy Rugby Club, the Gaelic Football Club, Athy’s Soccer Club, the Tennis Club and Badminton Club all on grounds formerly owned by the County Showground Committee is impressive for the extent and range of its facilities. Athy can surely claim to be the sporting capital of County Kildare in terms of its playing grounds and indoor sporting facilities. The town’s successes in the soccer, rugby and Gaelic football during 2022 are a source of great pride for the townspeople of Athy. The lecture series in Athy’s Arts Centre restarts after the Christmas break with an illustrated talk on ‘Athy and the Norman Invasion’ to be delivered by Clem Roche on Tuesday, 31st January at 8pm. Admission free.

Books reviewed. No Middle Ground - the Civil War in Kerry, Owen O'Shea, History of the Quakers of Limerick 1655-1900, Hiram Wood

‘Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested, that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.’ So wrote the English philosopher and Statesman Francis Bacon who served as Attorney General and later as Chancellor of England under King James I. With Christmas just passing over the horizon of memory I look back over an all too short holiday period when I immersed myself in reading many books keeping in mind Bacon’s advice, while recalling just two of those books. ‘No Middle Ground – the Civil War in Kerry’ was written by Kerry native Owen O’Shea who is the media, communications, and customer relations officer with Kerry County Council. Published by Merrion Press, O’Shea’s book is the best account I have read of the bitter and violent events in the Kerry kingdom during 1922/’23. The writer’s research allowed him to deal with the atrocities which marked the Civil War in Kerry with convincing detail. Names are given, individuals involved are named, with an objectivity and impartiality which is commendable. Of interest to Athy readers was the involvement of Eddie Flood, one of six Dublin brothers who fought in the War of Independence. He was a brother of Frank Flood who was executed in Mountjoy jail in March 1921 and the younger brother of Tom Flood who was captured and imprisoned following the burning of the Custom House two months later. Tom Flood came to live in Athy in 1927 after he purchased the Railway Hotel in Leinster Street. Tom was a Fine Gael Urban Councillor for Athy when he died in October 1950. Tom’s brother Eddie was a captain in the Free State Army under the now notoriously regarded Major General Paddy O’Daly. O’Daly, or Daly as he was then known, and his Dublin troops were responsible for many of the atrocities committed by Free State forces in Kerry during the Civil War. Eddie Flood’s involvement in the Ballyseedy massacre is recorded by O’Shea, while a Military Court of Enquiry established by Richard Mulcahy, Minister for Defence, found Flood guilty of involvement in a horrific attack on two young women who were believed to have been friendly with members of the British crown forces during the War of Independence. Eddie Flood emigrated to Australia sometime after the Civil War where he died in 1951. Interestingly his twin brother Peter who also served in the Free State army, later joined the Marist Order and served as a Marist Brother in China for many years. The Civil War has been the subject of several books over many years, with Dorothy McArdle’s ‘Tragedies in Kerry’, the first somewhat partial account of a sorry chapter in our history which was published in 1924. Eoin O’Shea’s book is highly recommended for anyone interested in the revolutionary Kerry story. Another book which I read over the Christmas holiday was Hiram Woods ‘History of the Quakers of Limerick 1655-1900’. This book is a significant addition to our understanding of the religious group which emerged during the English Civil War which in Ireland resulted in the Cromwellian settlement of the mid-17th century. Many of the early members of the Quakers, correctly known as the Religious Society of Friends, were Cromwellian soldiers who settled in Ireland. The first Quakers arrived in Limerick in the summer of 1655 just sixteen years before a Quaker meeting was settled in Athy. Quakers are unique among Christians in not having clergy, consecrated buildings or sacraments. They refuse to swear oaths or bear arms and consequently are opposed to war and violence. In the post Reformation period Quakers, like their Catholic neighbours and other dissenters, suffered prosecution and restrictions. They played a hugely significant part in providing relief for distressed Irish families during the Great Famine. Their work in that regard is documented in ‘Transactions of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends during the Famine in Ireland in 1846 and 1847’. Two interesting references in Hiram Woods book relate to Quaker figures in the nearby village of Ballitore. Abraham Shackleton started a religious controversy after claiming that the God of the Old Testament could not be a loving God as he intervened in violent wars. Shackleton was disowned by the Quaker community yet appears to have remained allied with them for the rest of his life. The Quaker writer Mary Leadbeater’s daughter Lydia, according to Woods, was in love with the Irish writer Gerald Griffin, who after publishing his most famous novel ‘The Collegians’ joined the Irish Christian Brothers. These interesting insights and the book generally give its readers an overview of a religious group which prepares its members for their own way to God and salvation.

Ribbon man activity in and around Athy

Two hundred years ago Athy, like many other parts of Ireland, was the scene of ribbon men type activity. The so called Ribbon Society was an agrarian secret society formed in opposition to the Irish landlords system. Their members got the name ribbon men from the green ribbon worn about the neck as they went about their nocturnal activities. It is uncertain whether ribbonism was organised in the South Kildare area or whether the various ribbon like actions were uncoordinated activities of unrelated local groups. Following the suppression of the 1798 Revolutionaries and the Emmett insurrectionist five years later the Irish countryside remained relatively peaceful for a decade or two. Overseas visitors felt sufficiently encouraged to visit Ireland and one such visitor was Rev. James Hall, a Church of England Minister who arrived in Ireland in 1813. He visited Athy having travelled from Dublin by the canal boat which berthed overnight at Cloneybeg. Travelling into Athy he first visited the Catholic chapel of St. Michael’s on the Monasterevin Road the building of which had started some years previously. In those days the Church of England adherents worshipped in churches while dissenters and the unreformed Catholic Church were designated as worshipping in chapels. Rev. Hall describes the Catholic Chapel as quite new but not yet finished. It had no seats or pews which he claimed was a common feature in Irish Roman Catholic chapels of the time. When he visited the Church of England church at the rear of the Town Hall he described it as “small and very ill attended”. He wrote “indeed as I afterwards found the Established clergy in this as well as many other parts of the country get their money for doing little better than nothing”. Athy was a poor town having suffered the loss of tanyards and the winding down of the local distilleries and breweries. Unemployment and wretched living conditions nourished the seeds of social discontent and criminality in the area. Thomas Rawson, captain of the Athy local yeomanry constantly reminded the officials in Dublin Castle of the need for vigilance for it was claimed by another local “the system of swearing in the lower classes is going forward”. Following the arrest of a number of men in Kildare the ever vigilant Thomas Rawson wrote to Dublin Castle in January 1814 requesting additional troops for Athy “as the Protestant minds of Athy are in great alarm”. The Dublin Castle authorities sent a company of infantry to join the 6th Dragoons and the members of the Clare militia who were already stationed in the town. Shortly afterwards Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine House forwarded a number of resolutions to Dublin Castle which had been passed at meetings of the local people of Athy in July 1814. The resolutions noted that “the towns people were annoyed at the idle, wicked and ill founded reports which were allowed to be circulated day after day following the Kildare’s men arrest”. In addition to the usual garrison Fitzgerald claimed a field officer party of the 6th Dragoons marched in while all night guards and sentries were posted at all the entrances to the town of Athy. This Fitzgerald said was unnecessary and only served to keep Athy in a state of alarm for upwards of ten days. The extra troops were removed from the town and around the same time the Peace Preservation Force (forerunners of today’s An Garda Siochana) was established. Its members took the place of the local yeomanry which was abolished. Within a year a number of incidents in or around Athy were the first indication of the resurgence of ribbon men activity in South Kildare. Attacks on the homes and buildings of local farmers were noted with concern and Thomas Rawson was again to the forefront in informing the Dublin Castle authorities of ribbon men activity in and around Athy. He informed the authorities in December 1822 of a meeting “in Murphy’s public house in Athy on Saturday, 21st of December at which there were 12 men who agreed to take up arms”. Rawson’s information was apparently correct for in a short time thereafter the farmhouse of a mill owner located within two miles of Athy was attacked by 15 men. The farmers servant was viciously assaulted and the dwellinghouse extensively damaged. Further reports noted the houghing of cattle belonging to the Duke of Leinster’s agent and that of Reverend Charles Bristow, the local Church of England curate. A local man Patrick Brady who was transported to Australia for stealing pigs in early 1825 wrote an account of the ribbon men activity in South Kildare. He claimed that William Murphy publican swore in men to take the life of Captain Lefroy. He named them as James Hutchinson, Thomas Ging, Michael Ryder, James Anderson, Daniel Bryan and Terry Neil. He further claimed that a committee calling themselves the Knights of St. Patrick’s met quarterly at Murphy’s public house and that their object was an uprising all over Ireland in 1825. What action the authorities took on foot of this letter is unclear but the successful prosecution of several local men for cattle houghing apparently had a salutary effect on the local ribbon men. The following years gave rise to only sporadic outbursts of ribbon men type activity such as the burning of the Athy residence of the Chief Constable Dolman in 1825 for which two local men, King and Hutchinson were arrested.

World War I refugees in Monaghan

Recent large-scale objections in Dublin to the State’s continuing efforts to accommodate Ukrainian refugees reminded me of similar opposition mounted by many persons in Oughterard a few years ago. That west of Ireland community successfully stopped plans to use a nearby hotel as a refugee centre, even though the hotel had been vacant for several years. I was surprised by their action and by that of the Dubliners, remembering how many communities throughout Ireland acted speedily and with commendable charity to help families who fled their homeland at the start of World War I. I first became aware of the help given to Belgian refugees in 1914 when I lived in Monaghan town in the late 1960s during my time there as town clerk. One of the many roles performed by a town clerk is to manage council housing estates of which there were many in Monaghan at that time, with names honouring noteworthy persons of the past. One housing scheme stood out, simply because its name clearly had no connection with either Irish personages of past importance or the commonly known Monaghan place names. I knew the estate as Belgium Square, but in fact its correct name was Belgian Square. Intrigued as how the name arose I approached Paddy Turley, the long serving editor of the local newspaper ‘The Monaghan Standard’ to be told the full story behind the naming of Belgian Square. A call went out at the start of World War I for Irish local authorities to accommodate Belgian refugees fleeing from German troops advancing into Belgium. One of the many Councils who responded to the call was Monaghan Urban District Council. The Council members hosted a meeting in the local courthouse, following which a Belgium refugee committee was formed. This followed a decision of the Urban Council two years previously to convert the then vacant Monaghan Military Barracks, the former home of the Monaghan Militia, into Council houses or as they were known in those days ‘artisan houses’. In addition to the Barracks conversion the Council also agreed to build 16 three-bedroom cottages on what had been the military barracks parade ground. The cottages were nearing completion in October 1914 when the Belgium refugee crisis arose. In what might be seen as an extraordinary generous act, Monaghan Urban District Council decided to make a number of the newly built cottages available to accommodate refugees. The ‘Northern Standard’ reported as follows:- ‘The party of Belgian refugees allocated to Monaghan arrived here on Friday morning by the 9.50 train from Belfast. News of their coming had got through the town and there was quite a large crowd present at the station, and prominently displayed in the button hole or on the breasts of practically every person were the Belgian colours.’ The local refugee committee provided the families with furniture and food and a collection was later taken up at all churches in Monaghan parish on behalf of the refugees. The Belgian refugees had a very good relationship with the local people in Monaghan, so much so that at an Urban District Council meeting in 1915 the Council members agreed to call the newly called housing scheme ‘Belgium Square’. This is a name I remember, although a wall plaque at the entrance to the square, has the name Belgian Square. Monaghan Urban District Council’s response to the refugee crisis of 1914 was replicated in other parts of Ireland at a time when many young Irish men had enlisted to fight in the war. About 3,000 Belgian refugees came to Ireland in the last months of 1914 where they were accommodated in Workhouses in Ardee, Dunshaughlin, Balrothery and I believe several families found shelter in Naas and Celbridge. The Celbridge Workhouse accommodated 36 Belgian refugees from October 1914 until the spring of the following year when they were transferred to the Workhouse in Dunshaughlin. The refugees accommodated in Monaghan, with one or two exceptions, returned to their homeland at the end of World War I. However, Belgian Square Monaghan was to house up to 20 Catholic families who fled from Belfast during the anti-Catholic riots of the early 1920s. Kildare County Council officials have been engaged in finding accommodation for refugees for the past year and Athy today hosts several individual refugee families. The difficulties faced by these families, uprooted from their homes and separated from their own communities, is difficult to imagine. They can only look to us for help and unlike those communities who had turned their backs on refugees, the people of Athy, will I am sure, welcome the displaced families from Ukraine and other war torn countries into our community. 2022 will shortly pass, leaving behind memories of happy days, but also less happy memories which are an inevitable part of our daily lives. Lets look forward to a new year with a promise of happiness and good health for all. Happy Christmas to all readers of Eye on the Past.

St. Vincent de Paul Society Athy

The local conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society is the oldest voluntary organisation in Athy. While I don’t have a record of when the Athy conference was founded, I have come across references to it in local newspapers as long ago as 110 years ago. At the start of the last century adults of working age in Athy had limited opportunities for full time or even part time employment. The brickyards, of which there were many in this area, provided mostly summertime work for both men and women. The farmers in this area also provided seasonal employment for agricultural labourers, but there were no jobs available for the majority of the adult males of the town. Families living in the privately rented houses which lined the alleyways of Athy were extremely poor. The houses they occupied were generally two roomed cottages which the Urban District Council of a generation later would demolish under the Slum Clearance Programmes of the 1930s. The then St. Vincent de Paul Society members in Athy provided comfort and financial assistance for the many needy families in the town as the charitable organisation continues to do so to this day. An entry in the minute book of the local Urban District Council for 21st February 1933 can give us some understanding and appreciation of the difficulties facing many Athy families at that time. The minute book reads: ‘A special meeting of Athy Urban District Council was held to meet a deputation from the local St. Vincent de Paul Society to discuss the stress prevailing among the poor of Athy caused by the bad weather. The Vincent de Paul Society was represented by T.J. Brennan, Dan Carbery and Fintan Brennan. It was agreed to set up a Distress Committee consisting of the members of the Urban District Council and representatives of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The town clerk and Fintan Brennan were appointed secretaries of the committee.’ Last week the local Lions Club held its annual food appeal to help the St. Vincent de Paul Society here in Athy and the generous response of so many was acknowledged by the Lions Club President Brian Dooley. The family needs which the St. Vincent de Paul Society seek to meet can at times seem overwhelming, but the continuous generosity of the local people is of great help to the society. Many thought that the harsh times of the past had gone, but the Ukrainian war and the difficulties created by inflation have created enormous problems for many families within our own community. Families, many of whom never expected to have to call on St. Vincent de Paul Society for help, are now experiencing great financial difficulties. For more than 177 years local conferences of the St. Vincent de Paul Society throughout Ireland have been helping the less fortunate in Irish society. Sad to say their services are needed even more today than ever before. Last year St. Vincent de Paul Societies throughout Ireland gave assistance amounting to almost one hundred million euro to families in need. The escalating cost of rent, food, electricity, and fuel is affecting us all but having a devasting effect on families surviving on inadequate pensions or income. The Mission Statement of the Society of the St. Vincent de Paul shows that it is a Christian voluntary organisation, working with people experiencing poverty and disadvantage. Inspired by their principal founder Frederic Ozanam and their patron St. Vincent de Paul, the Society members seek to respond to calls for help in a non-judgemental and dignified manner. No work of charity is alien to the Society members, but they cannot continue their good work without the contribution of those within our community who are in the position to do so. The Society members are always open to applications from persons in need and they are committed to respecting the dignity of those they assist and fostering self-respect. The Society is also committed to identifying the root causes of poverty and social exclusion and in solidarity with people experiencing poverty and disadvantage, to advocate and work for the changes required to create a more just and caring society. The Lions Club Food Appeal in aid of St. Vincent de Paul has already passed and the collection at church services on Sunday will have taken place before this article appears. However, there is still an opportunity for anybody who was not in a position to contribute to the Lions Club collection or to the church collections to make donations at the St. Vincent de Paul shop in William Street, Athy or to send donations directly to the St. Vincent de Paul headquarters in Dublin, which contributions I understand will be redirected to the local conference here in Athy. Christmas is a terrible time to be poor. With your help the Athy conference of St. Vincent de Paul Society can reach out to the local parents and children in need and help them share in the enjoyment of the Christmas season.

Clonmullin Soccer Club

The local newspapers headlined Clonmullin’s AFC latest victory as ‘Clonmullin’s Magical Treble’, while another newspaper more sedately described the winning of the Senior Division Cup Final as ‘Record for Clonmullin’. The soccer match played in Clane saw the Athy team defeat the Coill Dubh AFC team on the score line of 3 goals to nil. It marked the end of an extraordinary season which saw Clonmullin AFC become the first team in the Kildare Division Football League since the League’s foundation in 1994 to complete the treble of Senior Division League Champions, Lumsden League Cup Champions and by virtue of the win in Clane, Senior Division Cup winners. The Clonmullin Soccer Club, founded in 1995, known locally as ‘The Mull’, has succeeded remarkably well, particularly so in recent years and this year’s treble success marks a new high for the club which had to wait until 10 years ago to have a clubhouse built next to their Clonmullin pitch. The club chairman is Joe Robinson and club secretary/treasurer is Eddie Hennessy, both of whom, with an energetic club committee have overseen the great strides made by Clonmullin AFC in recent years. The current senior team is captained by Michael Lawless who received the Karina Donnelly Cup on behalf of his teammates as winners of the Senior Division Cup Final. His teammates are Keane Cully, Jonathan Fennell, Timmy Doyle, Mark Hughes, Gary Comerford, Lee Doyle, Nathan Robinson, Cody Mulhall, Jodie Dillon and Danny Thompson. Substitutes on the final match day included Nathan Germaine, Lee Day, Evan Phillips, Lee Foley, Corey Moore and Richie Moriarty. The victory was secured by goals scored by Cody Mulhall, Jodie Dillon and Lee Foley who scored the last goal within a minute of his introduction during the closing stages of the match. All of the team members are talented players, but I might be excused if I mention one player who has been the subject of a previous Eye on the Past. Cody Mulhall, grandson of my friend Ber Foley and son of Ber’s daughter Caroline, from an early age displayed a wonderful footballing talent. It’s a talent which he now displays in the Clonmullin team shirt as the team vice-captain and true to form it was Cody’s goal in the 19th minute of the game in Clane which set the Clonmullin team on the way to a historic win. Cody won international caps at U-16, U-16 and U-17 and previously played for Hibernian in the Scottish League, Shamrock Rovers and Longford Town in the Irish Premier League. He has formed a prolific partnership on the Clonmullin team with Jodie Dillon. The longest serving player on the team is Ross Cardiff who has played for Clonmullin for 15 years, while the most decorated player in the history of the Kildare League and Clonmullin’s oldest player is the inspirational Timmy Doyle. Two other players with League of Ireland experience are Mark Hughes and Gary Comerford, both of whom joined the Clonmullin club last year. The management team for the club’s most successful season ever were Brian Kenny, Barry Hughes, Martin Redmond and Derek Brophy. Congratulations to the players, mentors and members of Clonmullin AFC on a wonderful season which has brought them a remarkable and history making success. Congratulations also to the Castlemitchell girls’ minor team which on the same day as the Clonmullin AFC win were victors in their final. The girls team was captained by Erin Brereton Foley, who played for the Kildare County Minor team which won this year’s Leinster championship. Also on the Castlemitchell team was Amy Larn who captained the Kildare County minor team and has been selected for the Ireland’s women 7’s rugby squad. Some weeks ago when writing Eye No. 1557 I drew attention to Dara English, captain of Athy’s U-16 championship winning team and his great grandfather Tommy Buggy who was a member of the Athy Senior Football Championship team of 1937. I did not realise when writing the article that the goalkeeper for the Under 16 team was Rory Chanders whose great great grandfather was the legendary Patrick ‘Cuddy’ Chanders who played in goal for the Athy championship winning teams of 1933 and 1934. Cuddy was also the goalkeeper on the Kildare Senior County team between October 1934 and August 1935. However, he was sensationally dropped for the 1935 All Ireland Final which Kildare lost to Cavan. Cuddy was a substitute on the Kildare team for that All Ireland Final, as was his Athy teammates Jim Fox and Barney Dunne. Athy footballers who played in that final were Tommy Mulhall and Paul Matthews, with Paddy Martin and Patrick Byrne, both from Castledermot. Cuddy was allegedly not selected for the final because it was claimed that the Kildare selectors wanted a collar and tie man for the USA trip which was to follow the expected Kildare victory. Cuddy was restored as the county goalkeeper two months later and featured for the last time in the county colours in 1936. Interestingly it was another Athy man, Johnny McEvoy, who featured as the County Kildare senior goalkeeper between 1937 and 1939. Athy has an enviable history in terms of sporting successes over the years and 2022 has seen Clonmullin AFC, Athy GFC and neighbours Castlemitchell add to that long list of successes.

Joey Carbery and Jeremy Loughman

My reference last week to the absence of community notice boards in Athy prompted a quick response from several readers who like me bemoaned the information vacuum which surrounds many events held in the town. It just wasn’t the need for notice boards which attracted the public’s attention. Many queried why it was so difficult to find out what organisations, clubs, associations and societies existed in the town. It prompted me to think to a time some decades ago when Athy’s Junior Chamber of Commerce published a town directory. Such a publication would today be of immeasurable benefit to the many young families who came to live in Athy in recent years. Unfortunately Athy no longer has a Chamber of Commerce as a result of a regrettable decision some years ago to amalgamate with the County Chamber of Commerce. I wonder if the local Municipal Council would take on the responsibility of employing a person to undertake the task of compiling a much-needed town directory. The past week also saw two former members of Athy’s rugby club win international caps as members of Ireland’s rugby team. This was a unique occurrence and one seldom enjoyed, if ever, by an Irish provincial rugby club. Joey Carbery and Jeremy Loughman are former pupils of Ardscoil na Tríonóide, successors to my old Christian Brothers School of St. John’s Lane. Both attended the Athy’s secondary school at the same time and figured on the same local rugby club team. Their achievements as rugby players give all of us here in Athy further reason to be proud of our town. The Carbery and Loughman family names go back many generations and my older readers particularly will remember Joey’s great grandparents, Joe and Betty Carbery and Jeremy’s grandparents, David and Pauline Loughman. Achievements on the playing field, whether that of Clonmullin AFC or the Athy GFC underage teams, have been noteworthy this year. Great strides have been made over the years by various sporting clubs in Athy to provide facilities for the young people of the town. A few generations ago Athy offered little by way of recreational sporting activities for its young people. These were the same youngsters whom we honoured on Remembrance Sunday as we stood in the shadow of St. Michael’s Medieval Church to honour the memory of the Athy men who died in wars, especially the Great War of 1914-18. When that war ended a substantial part of the town’s younger adult generation had died fighting overseas. 144 men and one woman from Athy have been identified as fatal casualties of the Great War. The ceremony on Remembrance Sunday at which the names of the Athy dead were read aloud brought home to those gathered in St. Michael’s Cemetery the futility of war. It also helped to remind us of the consequential family and wider social problems which inevitably resulted from the loss of fathers, sons, husbands and brothers. How can we imagine did parents, James and Brigid Byrne of 3 Chapel Lane, overcome the loss of three sons in war between April 1915 and March 1916. Their next door neighbours John and Mary Kelly of 4 Chapel Lane also lost three sons in that war between May 1915 and September 1916. They were not the only Athy families to lose three sons in the 1914-18 war, a sad experience suffered by the Curtis family of Quarry Farm and the Doyle/Reilly family of Athy. With a population of less than 4,000 at the start of the war the loss of so many young persons brought hardships which affected some local families for generations thereafter. St. Michael’s Cemetery with its ruined medieval church is perhaps our most honoured and respected reminder of Athy’s past. Woodstock Castle and the White Castle are medieval companions of the cemetery where recent preservation work on the church has been completed. The cemetery holds the remains of seven participants in the Great War and their family members stretching back over several generations. It also holds the remains of various Carbery and Loughman families, including the great grandparents and grandparents I mentioned earlier. The past week has been a time to enjoy and take pride in the achievements of two young men of a generation separated by more than 100 years from an earlier lost generation. Athy is a town where families suffered hardships for many years as a result of deaths on the battlefields of France and Flanders. It is now a town which has recovered and takes pride in the successful sporting careers of Joey Carbery and Jeremy Loughman, while at the same time remembering with pride the young men who did not have the means or the opportunities to enjoy sporting lifes so many years ago.

Athy Tidy Towns Committee

The recently announced Tidy Town competition results for this year show that Athy has made substantial gains in its overall marks and elicited from the adjudicator the welcome comment ‘Athy is blessed with many wonderful amenities’. Our town has been involved in the Tidy Towns competition for the past 24 years and this year’s results, so far as I know, gave us the highest marks achieved to date. It’s a result which reflects the public’s greater awareness of our surroundings and the need to keep our town as litter free as possible. The local Municipal District Council, funded by local businesses and tax payers, has statutory responsibility for street cleaning. Their work in that regard is hugely helped by the activities of the volunteers who make up the local Tidy Towns Committee. That committee, headed up by Ger Kelly, was established the same year Athy first entered the nationwide Tidy Towns competition. The first chairman of the committee was the late Noel Scully and Ger Kelly took over from Noel many years ago. You will have seen the volunteer workers cleaning and tidying different areas of Athy, particularly during the summer months. They usually meet at Emily Square at 6pm on Fridays during the period March to September and sometimes twice a week, before setting off with brushes, shovels and bags to begin their voluntary work on behalf of the local community. The Tidy Towns volunteers are the unsung heroes of our town and are fully deserving of our praise and thanks for the generous and time-consuming role they play in our community. With Ger Kelly are Patricia Berry, Martina Donnelly, Hilary May, Deirdre Germaine, Bill Lawler, Jim Fitzpatrick, Brendan Moloney, Brian Fitzpatrick, Joe Mullaniff and Geraldine Murphy. This year’s Tidy Towns adjudicator was full of praise for Athy’s efforts, but expressed some disappointment at the amount of litter found in the People’s Park. The park, opened sometime in the middle of the 19th century and gifted to the people of Athy by the Duke of Leinster, is endowed with many splendid mature trees. It is a wonderful space on which Kildare County Council, with the assistance of a government grant, recently spent considerable funds to improve footpaths and seating. It is unfortunate that the opportunity was not taken at the same time to supply the children’s playground with suitable fencing so as to deter adults from using the children’s play equipment. I was particularly interested in the adjudicator’s remarks regarding the use of a community notice board in the town. This was a subject I raised in an Eye on the Past earlier this year as I felt there was a pressing need for community notice boards to be provided in the town. There was no immediate response by the Municipal Council to my suggestion, but strangely the one notice board which was located in Emily Square was removed, presumably by the local authority. Since then it has been brought to my attention by several persons that local families are not aware of events in the town and so miss the opportunity of being involved. Maybe the Municipal Councillors, successors to the Urban District Councillors of old, will consider the desirability, indeed the necessity, of providing a community notice board in the centre of the town? Ger Kelly, chairman of the Tidy Towns Committee, tells me that a noticeable worrying trend is the increase in illegal dumping, mainly on the outskirts of the town. In addition, the refuse bins in and around the town are often used by some individuals to dispose of household rubbish. All of this is a direct result of the Council’s decision some years not to provide bin collection services for households as a public utility service. I felt then, and I still do, that Kildare County Council’s decision in that regard was a short sighted one which would lead to the dumping problems we are now experiencing. The adjudicator’s comments in relation to Edmund Rice Square, which I look out on every day, brought home to me that as locals we need to look at our town through visitor’s eyes. The report noted ‘Duke Street car park was disappointing, especially since it is in a gorgeous location, with views of the castle and the river. The planters are too high to be easily watered and managed. They were not being managed and brings a dilapidated look to the area which is a shame.’ Overall the adjudicator’s report was a good report for Athy and ended with the references to the ‘great social capital in Athy’ and the town’s ‘many beautiful aspects such as the river, canal and many heritage buildings.’

World War I and Athy

Next Sunday, November 13th at 3.00pm we will gather in St. Michael’s Cemetery to remember the young men from Athy and district who died in the first World War. It is a commemoration ceremony which was first started over 30 years ago. Those early services were held at a time when public commemoration of our war dead was not a common feature of Irish life. Indeed remembering the Irish men who died fighting in an English uniform on foreign battle fields was not thought appropriate. Clem Roche in his excellent book ‘Athy and District World War I Roll of Honour’ lists 226 men from our town and outlying areas who died in that war. They enlisted for a variety of reasons. Unemployment and poverty provided sufficient reason for many of the young men who enlisted. All of them were encouraged by Athy’s church and civic leaders to enlist and they were treated as heroes as they marched behind the Leinster Street Fife and Drum Band on their way to the local railway station from where many of them travelled to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Barracks in Naas. The soldiers demobbed at the end of the war found that public attitudes had changed dramatically compared to the recruiting days of a few years earlier. The execution of the 1916 Rebellion leaders led that change and it was amplified by the demands for Home Rule and the developing demand for Irish independence. Many decades were to pass before the Irishmen who died in World War I were acknowledged. So many families in south Kildare were affected by the deaths of husbands, fathers, sons and brothers. Indeed the loss of so many young men from a relatively small Irish provincial town created social and family problems which were evident for generations afterwards. The people of Athy have made amends for the decades of silence surrounding the victims of World War I. Clem Roche’s book of Athy war dead was published in 2016 and subsequently a very fine World War I memorial was unveiled in St. Michael’s Cemetery. Further research has revealed the names of Athy men not previously known who died in the 1914-18 war and their names have recently been added to the Athy memorial. The List of Athy’s war World War I dead has now reached 256. Recent generations of Irish people have lived through peaceful times and for many of us it is difficult to appreciate the heartfelt sense of loss endured by wives, parents and children following the death of a loved one. Here in Athy there were accounts of multiple deaths within the same families. Three sons of John and Mary Kelly of 4 Chapel Lane were killed in the war. They were joined in death by the three sons of John and Margaret Curtis of Quarry Farm and the three sons of James and Bridget Byrne of Chapel Lane. How could we measure the sorrow and loss of those families or any of the families who like the Staffords of Butlers Row and the Hannons of Ardreigh House, each of whom suffered the loss of two sons. The deaths of 26-year-old John Coulson Hannon and his 20-year-old brother Norman Leslie were to cause their father John to commit suicide and was largely responsible for the closure of the Hannon Mill shortly thereafter. Yet as I sat in school in the Christian Brothers in St. John’s Lane taking history lessons, I never heard of Athy men’s involvement in the First World War. History lessons in the 1950s ended with the 1916 Rebellion and so an important part of the town’s story was never told. Indeed the families of the dead soldiers felt unable for decades to commemorate their dead or to give public expression to their loss. Thankfully the sacrifices shared by the local families who lost loved ones in war can now be acknowledged. We can take pride in understanding why young men from Athy went to war over 100 years ago. Most of all we can acknowledge the hardships suffered by those men while in the trenches and the hardship and deprivation suffered by the families who lost loved ones in war. The commemoration for Athy men who died in the First World War and in all wars takes place on Sunday next at 3pm in St. Michael’s Cemetery. The next lecture in Athy’s Arts Centre History Series will be given by Kevin Kenny, who will speak of the life and adventures of the Kilkea born polar explorer, Ernest Shackleton. Kevin will give his talk under the title ‘Get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton’. Admission to the lecture, which will take place on Tuesday 15th November at 8pm in the Arts Centre, Woodstock Street is free.

Athy's Under 16 G.A.A. team County Champions 2022

Athy’s young footballers won the under 16 Division A County Championship final last week. The team captain was Dara English, grandson of my much missed friend and former Urban Councillor, Frank English. Dara unlike his grandfather who never featured on a Gaelic football team was good enough to play on the minor winning team which defeated Clane in the Minor A Championship Final the previous week. He played corner back on the minor team and filled the full back position for the Under 16 final. There is footballing blood in the English family veins, for Athy’s 1937 County Championship senior winning team featured Dara’s great grandfather, Tommy in the left corner back position. Tommy Buggy he was called, reared as he was by a family of the same name but in fact he was Tommy English and is shown in the photograph lying in front on the right hand side. I am told that the last time Athy’s under 16’s won the County Championship was 48 years ago. This year has been a very successful footballing year for the underage footballers from Athy Gaelic football club. The mentors for the under 16’s team are Barry Dunne, Colm Byrne and James Eaton who can rejoice in a club success with links stretching back over 85 years ago to what were the glory days of Athy Gaelic Football and a time which saw Athy senior teams win four County Championship finals between 1933 and 1942. Dara English visited his grandfather’s grave following the County final and in the second photograph is shown with the champions cup at Frank’s last resting place. The two photographs showing footballers three generations apart signal the importance of Gaelic games in our family lives and of our shared memories of the past.

Shackleton Autumn School 2022

The October Bank Holiday weekend sees the return to Athy of the SHACKLETON AUTUMN SCHOOL. The Autumn School, now in its 22nd year, returns to an in-person format, after being online for the last two years. There is a growing sense of anticipation that this might be one of the best Autumn Schools ever as there is an appetite for such gatherings post Covid. The programme curated by the Shackleton Autumn School Committee is one of the finest I have seen in many years. It combines lectures, exhibitions, book launches and a documentary showing. Given the rich and diverse programme offered by the Shackleton Autumn School it is difficult to pick out the highlights. There are a few lectures that stand out. Last November I wrote about the visit of Mensun Bound, the Falkland Island born marine archaeologist to Athy to visit the museum. At that time Mensun was preparing to depart for the Antarctic and as head of exploration on a daring mission to locate the wreck of Shackleton’s expedition ship ‘Endurance’. This was Mensun’s second attempt to find the ship after a previous expedition was unsuccessful back in 2019. When the news came through of the discovery of the wreck there was huge excitement worldwide. Few can forget the first images released in the media showing the stern of the ship with the lettering ‘Endurance’. As you can imagine Mensun has become a media star since then and this Thursday sees the launch of his book – ‘The Ship beneath the Ice’ about the discovery of the ship. Athy will be hosting one of his first public lectures since the discovery of the ship and as I understand it tickets are selling out extremely fast. Other lectures which caught my attention include Doug Allan’s on Sunday morning. The Scottish-born Doug Allan has been one of the principal cinematographers on David Attenborough’s wildlife documentaries in the frozen parts of our planet over the last 30 years and has a wealth of experience behind him. His ‘A Life on Thin Ice’ talk will reflect on his adventures in both the Arctic and the Antarctic and it is sure to draw a big crowd for what is going to be a visually spectacular presentation. Other speakers will include Astrid Furholt, the Norwegian woman who was the first woman to follow in the footsteps of Roald Amundsen to the South Pole on foot and Katherine MacInnes who will talk about the lives of the wives of the men lost on Captain Scott’s expedition to the South Pole in 1912. On Friday morning Leaving Certificate art students from the town and Carlow will be able to participate in a masterclass with sculptor Mark Richards who created that hugely evocative statue of Shackleton which has graced the Back Square since 2016. A regular feature of the Autumn School has been the launch of books on Polar topics. The Autumn School is spoiled with two book launches this year. The first is Fergus O’Gorman’s ‘Antarctic Affair’, an account of his time spent in the Antarctic in the late fifties. His book is being published by locally based Harvest Press. That book launch will occur in the Museum that Friday evening and that will be followed by another book launch in O’Brien’s pub where Russell Potter and his fellow authors will launch ‘May we be spared to meet on Earth: letters from the lost Franklin Expedition’. This book focuses on the expedition which disappeared in the Arctic. The participation of Norway in Polar affairs will also be reflected on by Geir Klover, the Director of the Fram Museum from Oslo, perhaps the greatest polar museum in the world, when he takes a look back on the reputation of Norway’s greatest polar explorer, Roald Amundsen 150 years after his birth. Other lectures include Naas man Kevin Kenny’s introduction to Ernest Shackleton and environmentalist Sadbh O’Neill’s reflection on what Ernest Shackleton can teach us about resilience and leadership in the age of climate crisis. Other events will include an Autumn School dinner in the Green Barn at Burtown, a bus tour of Shackleton country led by local writer John MacKenna and myself and the final event of the weekend will be a showing of the wonderful documentary, ‘Shackleton’s Cabin’ which aired on RTE back in May and that will be shown in the Athy Arts Centre on Sunday night at 8pm. The showing will then be followed by a question-and-answer session with Sven Habermann, the conservator who restored Shackleton’s cabin, and also with Shane Brennan, the producer and director of the documentary. There is a little something for everybody in the weekend and I would encourage people in the town to have a look at the brochure which is available on the museum website, www.shackletonmuseum.com as there is bound to be something of interest to every age and background.