END OF SUMMER FESTIVAL 2006 (Full Report below courtesy of The Vale Star 31st August 2006).

Sunday night 27th August brought the curtain down on another very successful and enjoyable End Of Summer Festival organised by the Churchtown Development Association. The huge crowds in the village all through the weekend certainly added to the excitement and enjoyment of the festival. The festival kicked off on Monday night with the opening games in the inter pub 5-a-side soccer tournament which continued during the week to its conclusion on Sunday evening. Boss Murphy’s was full to capacity on Wednesday night for the table quiz and again it was a very successful and enjoyable night. Thursday night saw O’Brien’s Bar full to capacity also for the ‘Stars in Their Eyes’ talent competition where four contestants entertained us for the night and we also had a few surprise singers on the night, all in the name of making money. These two nights were thoroughly enjoyable and everybody certainly had the festive spirit.

Friday night was one of the key nights of the festival with the parade and official opening and the selection of the Churchtown Rose. In spite of the inclement weather that we had that evening a big crowd gathered to see the opening parade led by the City of Limerick Pipe Band who were followed by the vintage cars which carried the 13 rose contestants and the mayoral candidates, while one car carried Sean Donlon who would open the festival, Colette Barrett, the reigning rose and Norita Hedigan who was honoured for her gold medal win in the Special Olympics. Sean Donlon of local radio fame said in his address that he was thrilled and delighted to open the festival and was enthralled at the amount of work currently under way in Churchtown. The Community Centre was packed as the 13 roses were interviewed on stage by Ross Browne and there were great scenes of excitement as the Churchtown Rose for 2006 was announced and the winning rose was Georgina O’Callaghan representing O’Connors Newsagents in Buttevant. It was not an easy task for the judges Sean Donlon, Colette Barrett and Sharon Gregory to pick one Rose as every one of them was a rose in her own right.

A very special word of thanks to the rose organising committee of Anne Fehan, Anita Maher and Ailish O’Shea. Their organisational skills certainly made the night a memorable and thoroughly enjoyable one. Saturday was a day of sports in the local GAA field and these were also very successful and a special thanks to the Childrens Activity Club for organising these events. There was also an U/8 challenge game.

Sunday was a jam-packed day which began with the farmers market in the Community Centre. There followed a children’s fancy dress and then a children’s treasure hunt in the village environs. Mothers were not excluded either as there was a bonny baby competition in the Community Centre and here again we had a big entry. A dog show was held around the sun dial in Bruhenny with a number of dogs being put through their paces in front of the judges. Then it was up to the sports field where the rest of the afternoon was spent. There was a tug of war competition between the ladies of the Padre Pio and Windmill Nursing Homes and this was immediately after the same ladies played a soccer match, so that night it was probably a case of the patients nursing the staff, but credit and thanks are due to the staff of both homes for entering into the spirit of the weekend. The finals of the ladies 5-a-side and the mens 5-a-side soccer tournaments were also played.

On the Saturday night and Sunday night there was live music in the square with Rockabye and Altafir respectively supplying the music. For the children we had Frys Amusements nightly during the festival. The election of the Mayor of Churchtown was the final event of the festival. The candidates Willie Duggan, Pat O’Driscoll, Eddie Duncliffe and Mary Clancy had put in a huge effort over the previous weeks in an effort to be elected and huge excitement prevailed as the outgoing Mayor Liam Healy presented the chain of office to the winner Mary Clancy.

The Chairman of the Churchtown Development Association, Donagh O’Connor, in his closing address thanked all the sponsors and everyone else who helped in any small way to make the Churchtown End of Summer Festival 2006 the outstanding success that it was and already people are looking forward to its return in 2007.



CHURCHTOWN OBSERVES ITS HERITAGE

Flannery’s Quarry, Churchtown, was the venue for an interesting presentation on last Sunday, 27th August to celebrate the launch of National Heritage Week. This presentation was part of the successful and varied programme of the Churchtown Summer Festival. The presentation held in Flannery’s quarry focused on the past workings of the quarry and remembered it as the location where the execution of three whiteboys took place.

The proceedings were opened by Fr. Stephen O’Mahony P.P. and Fr. Tom McDermott. They began by leading the attendance in prayer and then imparting a blessing on the area where three men, Daniel Breen, John Mahony and Cornelius Rylahan were hanged on 25th February 1822 for suspected Whiteboy activities.

A lone piper Patsy Cahill got the programme under way with a spirited rendition of ‘Wrap the Green Flag Round Me’. This was followed by a talk by Tom Meaney, holding the large attendance spellbound with a detailed account of the Whiteboy and Rockite movements and the involvement of the former in the so-called Burning of Churchtown on 31st January 1822. Willie Relihan in his inimitable style, accompanied by master fiddler Johnny Donegan gave the chilling Australian ballad “Morton Bay” which recalled how many of the Whiteboys were transported to this brutal penal colony in Queensland, Australia. This was followed by Johnny Donegan with his fiddle, giving a rendering of the prison song “The Clock On The Tower”, a very appropriate song of the era.

Denis Hickey then gave an interesting account of the quarry from its opening in 1902 and listed many of those who worked there and the conditions they endured. Fiddler Johnny Donegan then treated the attendance to a virtuoso performance. This was followed by P.J. O’Driscoll demonstrating a number of implements and tools used by workers of the era. Piper Patsy Cahill answered the call of Master of Ceremonies, Noel Linehan and “The Minstrel Boy” floated loud and clear on the Egmont air. The event concluded with an interesting demonstration by Noel Linehan on the different forms of limestone and other types of rock to be found in the general area.

Walter Ryan-Purcell took his role as official festival week photography very seriously and was busily employed throughout the afternoon. The attendance included Councillor Dan Joe Fitzgerald, whose father was contracted to a number of quarries including Churchtown, run by Cork County Council; representatives of the Egan family whose father Owen was ganger at Churchtown Quarry in succession to Bill Twomey and a representative of the O’Dea family, Liscarroll whose father was one of a number of fellow Liscarroll men employed there.

Noel Linehan is to be congratulated for arranging yet another interesting and entertaining afternoon and in ensuring that Churchtown played its part in National Heritage Week.

Reprinted from The Vale Star 31.8.2006