Dia is Mhuire díobh go léir a chairde and welcome to my report.
The hunger for outdoor pursuits was well portrayed this past week with the huge attendance at outdoor events. The Willie Neenan five-mile race which is no stranger to great support, didn’t disappoint. Supporters filled the town on Friday evening and some lined the way along to lovely route taking in the picturesque Glebe road. The Glebe road was the real deal for the aristocrats of the town when I was a child. You had to be a certain sort of person. Know how to walk with an expensive looking walking cane. Know what to wear and have the proper company. Mostly married couples of mature years. Very staid looking never smiling, dead intend in conversation with one another. The women always wore heeled shoes, common by todays standards I suppose which could not have been that comfortable for the long trek, five miles. But perhaps the walking cane helped. Himself in his tweed suit and long gabardine overcoat and hat. The lady also wore a hat. There was an educated way of using the cane. After every few steps or more, the end of was given a little toss in the air while the knob turned in the palm of the hand. She wore her well tailored calf-length tweed coat, often topped off with and expensive looking natural fur. Very like what she wore going to Mass on Sundays. Sometimes they met up with others of their class and had a brief chat before moving on for their weekly walk around the Glebe. I’d heard of the Glebe road, but it was years before I ventured that far and when I did, it was easy to see how it attracted these town business people who were cooped up inside a counter or an office all week. The French Sisters of the Divine Jesus were in vogue back then at Drishane Castle with a upmarket boarding school for girls,(who could afford it) and a busy working farm and knitting factory which gave employment to may locals, both men and women. So there was plenty for the passers by to see. To us young mortals Drishane was something of a mystery. It was down there away from our daily lives. For one thing they could be seen walking in groups on the roads outside the Convent, which was alien to us because our nuns in the Presentation Convent couldn’t come out at all. Not that we ever encountered one of them and we were told that you addressed them as madam while we addressed ours as sister. As a child you accept many things as normal, because you don’t know how to ask questions and those whom we’d ask them of wouldn’t be able to find answers. So it’s only in later years that it dawns on you that you just settled for what was handed to you and if we could go back I bet we’d do it all again the same way. The road took the walker around a great deal of the Drishane Estate. So the scene kept changing all the time. Sometimes past the historic entry gate with it’s mini castle feature, clear views of the Castle and buildings below, then the rolling meadows and cornfields and the tillage fields providing fruit and veg for the large number of residents and staff. The historic graveyard could also be seen in the distance. Turning off the main road was a joy all of its own with the huge beach trees meeting overhead forming a cooling tunnel, a wonderland, scented by the lush greenery on all sides. The next entrance gate to Drishane brought a change of view, the cooling waters of the busy Finnow came insight as it rushed along under the road, to meet the Blackwater before they joined forces to make their way to Youghal. The humpback bridge ,I’m sure was a great place to stop and gaze into the river and get a different look at the Drishane Estate. Moving on past the home of the Doody Family, the shiny waters of one of the historic ponds couldn’t be missed. Reminder of the great lime industry which the place was famous for in the past. Trains were powered by steam on those days and you’d wonder did the strollers ever encounter a steam bath as they neared a passing locomotive as it filled the vale with it’s puffing steam. As they crocked the railway they came to the the last lap on the approach back to town which gave them a view of the McCarthy O’Leary Estate and a reminder that because of them our Railway is now a mile from town. Coming up must have been a welcome sight and an appetite for evening tea neatly prepared by the maid. A big different from the fast-moving competitors who went there last week in honour of Willie Neenan. But no matter how you look at it the now and the then, we will always have folks who will go around the Glebe.
Our Vintage Committee created a real stir in the town on Sunday when patrons gathered for the opening of their Circuit of Ireland Vintage Classic cars and Vintage Cares were all invited and they filled the town as they signed in at the Wallis Arms Hotel for a midday take off. Taking in all the rural views and reaching Glenflesk for lunch. Then continued on their mountain treks before arriving back in Millstreet for dinner at the Wallis Arms. Each participant was presented with a bumper plate.
Long before dark on Sunday evening the smoke was rising over Carriganima as they prepared for their mid-summer BBQ, always a great occasion in the popular pub. Well done to all involved.
Other outdoor events are coming on stream, The Hilltop dance in Mushera kicked off after Mass on St.John’s Day June 24 and more will follow in their cosy marquee. Also the popular venue at Laharn Cross is destined to open on next Sunday evening. Keep an eye out for all these outdoor fixtures.
This is Milltown Malbay Week that week when music lovers from all over the globe converge on the County of Clare. Following a two year break, patrons are more eager than ever to return to the place where music and dancing is thought and played and enjoyed. Old friends to meet and new ones to make, all in memory of local man Willie Clancy. Sadly the threat of the bug is casting some doubts on the plans of some die-hards and it only remains to be seen how many will brave the danger of getting infected. I’m loathe to say I’m not one of the brave ones.
The popular Mounted Games are due back at the Green Glens at the end of the month and already there is a hunger for accommodation. We all remember with pleasure when they came in former years before the you-know-what. About nine or ten countries come for this exciting three day event ,which involves teenagers on ponies engaging in many challenging games. Our Community Council puts on an impressive welcoming show for them each time ,which involves a grand parade of teams on ponies, through the town each baring their national flag while their leader gives a full commentary and led by our Pipe Band. Millstreet is the only venue in their European Circuit which gives them this grand reception and as a result they give a cash reward in appreciation of the towns kindness. People looking for accommodation here at the end of month are mainly a parent and a teen boy or girl. Horsey people are usually not fussy and it would be great if we can accommodate some of them.
Friends of Millstreet Community Hospital will hold their Church Gate Collection in Cullen, Ballydaly andMillstreet this weekend July 9/10.
Cullen and District Annual Vintage afternoon will be held on this Sunday July 10. Live Music with TR Dallas. Plus many side shows. Kenny the clown and children’s sports. Please support it well.
Day trip to Knock on July 24 with O’Callaghans Coaches, for grand parents day. Also Peggy Lynch’s Knock and Lough Derg overnight tour. Ring 064 663 1095.
Killarney Faith Summer Camp, July 18to22. Ages 5-12. Ring Sheila, 087 779 6966.
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every Tuesday after 10am to 7.30. Confessions every Saturday from 12.30 to 1.
We have great pleasure this week in welcoming the lovely Gillian Gilbourne as our new Librarian.
Legion of Mary Meeting every Tuesday night in the Parish Centre starting at 7.30.
Here are the results of this weeks lotto draw which was held on Monday night. Numbers drawn were ,5.9.26,30,and the Jackpot was not won. €100 went to Tom & Robert Carroll Drishane View. Tom was the seller and got €50 sellers prize. €50 went to Kathleen Healy Drishane View, Noreen OMahony, Park View, Kerry Gardener, Cullen, Joseph and Marian Lawlor, Lackabawn. Tim & Margaret Kiely, Killarney Rd. Margaret Rohan, Lackabawn , Eve Murphy, Dooneen, Tommy Sheehan, Main St, & Eileen Murphy,Shanaknuck. Next Draw July 10, Jackpot €20.000.
As a mark of respect on the death of Mrs.Joan Hinchion, Ballygiblin, Castlemagner, dear mother of Marie Twomey our esteemed secretary of the Lotto Committee and her husband Denis, co-chairman of the Lotto committee, the weekly draw was deferred from Sunday night to Monday night.
Gertie and Maurice O’Donoghue have raised large amounts of funding for good causes for many years by opening their prizewinning gardens in Carrignavar to the public and on next Sunday July 10 they will be doing it all again. They are signposted on the Mallow/Cork road (N20)at Rathduff. It’s open from 2-6pm and all proceeds will go to Marymount Hospice. Please support them well.
Sinn a bfuil a cairde. Slán.
