Tag: GoFundMe

Hugely Successful GoFundMe Project Now Concluded

Dear Friends….our hugely successful GoFundMe project in aid of Millstreet Museum and Millstreet Community Website has now ended as promised on 30th Nov. 2025. We’ve yet to express personal thanks to many of our supremely generous Donors. Over the next fortnight we hope to have made contact with all who so very kindly supported our fundraising. The amazing response has been way beyond our expectations. Together with substantial further donations received through bank transfer, by hand and by post, (separate from our GoFundMe project) it now appears that our expenses for the next four years will be fully covered. Sincere thanks for helping to make this a splendid reality. It is greatly appreciated. We thank the GoFundMe Company for making available such a magnificent platform for important fundraising. A very special word of thanks to our wonderfully dedicated Team of Volunteers who, free of charge, assist on such a regular basis to provide both services – Millstreet Museum and Millstreet Community Website. Heartfelt thanks to our website Founder and to our two Museum Trustees who will have full accessibility to all accounts so as to ensure transparency and security for our overall funds. Within the next fortnight a final update will be shared. Renewed heartfelt thanks for your superbly generous support. Every good wish. Míle buíochas. Kindest regards – Seán Radley, Fundraising Coordinator on behalf of our entire Team. (30th Nov. 2025) 

As we conclude our GoFundMe fundraising our GoFundMe platform stands at a hugely inspiring €13,127.00 (less GoFundMe expenses of approx. €470.00) while even further wonderfully kind contributions have also been received which include the following: 

Transfers to our Bank of Ireland account ( BIC: BOFIIE2DXXX  IBAN: IE22BOFI 905 803 340 53143 ).    Delivered by Hand – €20.00 from Anonymous;  €100.00 from Anonymous;  €20.00 from Anonymous;   €40.00 from Anonymous;  €250.00 from Millstreet GAA Club; €200.00 from Teddy Herlihy;  €50.00 from Anonymous.  Renewed thanks for such greatly appreciated generous support for our two voluntary run Community Services – Millstreet Museum and Millstreet Community Website.   We’re gradually making contact with all those who have been so superbly supportive to express our heartfelt thanks.  Tap on the image to enlarge.  (Seán Radley)

Christmas 2020 at West End, Millstreet – Such colourful magic!

Drishanebeg Train Ambush….Feb. 11th 1921…Supporting the Commemoration

Drishanebeg Ambush Site looking west towards Millstreet.  Tap on images to enlarge (S.R.)

Drishanebeg Train Ambush….Feb. 11th 1921 

In anticipation of the quickly approaching centenary commemoration of the Drishanebeg Train Ambush of Feb. 11th 1921, members of the Committee, including Tom Meaney, recently visited and surveyed the Ambush site which is located at a railway cutting 400 metres west of the Railway Bridge on the Millstreet to Mallow road just 2 miles from the town. For many of the Committee, it was the first time they looked down the steep slopes to the railway tracks where the ambush had occurred and where local volunteers of the Millstreet Battalion and Flying Column successfully stopped a train containing British Troops, forcing their surrender and relieving them of their arms, ammunition and equipment before allowing it to continue to Killarney.

This successful and morale boosting encounter with the soldiers of the British Empire led the way in what was a very successful few months for the Irish Volunteers in Cork.

Just three weeks later the Clonbanin Ambush took place near Derinagree and in mid-June one of the largest ambushes of the entire conflict took place at Rathcoole. The rifles and ammunition captured at Drishanebeg were crucial to the success at both Clonbanin and Rathcoole.  These events all occurred within a few miles of each other and together were a significant contributory factor to the Truce which emerged between the Irish Volunteers and the British Government on July 11th 1921.

So you might wonder why should events from a war fought 100 years ago, be commemorated?  

One of the reasons we might like to commemorate historical events such as this is because the ordinary men and women involved in the War of Independence displayed extraordinary bravery, fearlessness and courage.  They were farmers, schoolteachers, students, shopkeepers and labourers who believed that the injustice of British occupation of an Irish people was wrong and they were prepared to put their lives on the line for the cause of Irish freedom.

Like Pádraig Pearse in the GPO in 1916, they must have doubted their ability to win this conflict against the might and resources of the British Empire. This doubt, however, did not prevent them from trying, succeeding and finally establishing the Irish Nation that we enjoy today.

It is interesting to note that the Irish success inspired Nationalists across the globe from India and Malaya to Palestine and many African nations.   

The inspirational courage of our forefathers and the immensity of their achievement is worth remembering and should be cherished.  On February 11th 2021, the centenary anniversary, we have the ideal time and opportunity to remember their struggle and reflect on the nation we have become.  

One hundred years after the event the Commemoration Committee now plan to commemorate the Drishanebeg Ambush,

  • Firstly by erecting an INFORMATION BOARD at the Railway bridge near the ambush site which will provide a synopsis of the key events and personnel,
  • Secondly, by COMPILING A BOOK which will examine the circumstances leading up to the event, the Ambush itself in detail, the personnel involved and the events of the aftermath.

For the onerous task of researching and compiling the book on ‘The Drishanebeg Ambush’ and designing the Information Board for the centenary commemoration….Noreen Meaney, Séamus Buckley, Tim Murphy, Cathal O’Callaghan, Donough Reardon and Declan Crowley deserve great accolades and our thanks.

The Drishanebeg Ambush Centenary Commemoration Committee offer you the opportunity to support this project by making a donation towards the cost of this venture.  The Committee is a community based, non-political group of volunteers who wish to commemorate the local men and women who were involved in this event.

To facilitate contributions for this project a GoFundMe page has been set up under the name of:

The Drishanebeg Train Ambush Commemoration Project.   Please click on this highlighted link to enter GoFundMe page so as to Donate.

An Account has also been opened in Mallow/Millstreet Credit Union for this purpose.

Account Name:    The Drishanebeg Train Ambush Commemoration Project.

                 IBAN:     IE72MATN99221206224002

                   BIC:      MATNIE21XXX.

The Officers of the Committee are as follows.

President:  Mr. Tom Meaney

Chairman:   Mr. David Crowley   

Secretary:   Mrs. Elaine Crowley-Dennehy

Treasurer:    Mr. Tomás Meaney/ Noel Crowley

P.R.O:          Mr. Michael Thornton