I have heard many emigrants declare that Christmas Eve is always remembered by those with a special nostalgia and affection and maybe with a tinge of loneliness for the joys of yesteryear, in the homeland.
Waiting For Santa. Pic: G. Willoughby.
I can empathise with them, for I remember one Christmas in London, in the World Cup year of 1966. On that Christmas Eve, I recall passing by many English homes, with their gaily illuminated Christmas trees in the windows and feeling not a little nostalgic for Christmas Eve in Thurles, my hometown and wondering what the craic might be like, ‘a long way to Tipperary’.
One of my most memorable Christmas Eve’s was as a boy of five years, trying desperately and unsuccessfully to keep awake in my bed, beside that open hearth fire and waiting for the embers to die down, so it would be safe for ‘Santy’ to descend with his presents and hoping that I could have a ‘heart to heart’ chat with him. I tried so hard to keep awake, but ‘Santy‘s’ appearance eluded me, as it continued to do for a couple of other magical years. However, disappointment always gave way to sheer delight the following morning, when I realised, he had brought me the set of trains and tracks, which I had asked for by letter, communicated to that generous giant, dressed in red, residing permanently at the North Pole. Oh what magic! Oh what joy!
Earlier, on that Christmas Eve, my excited mother had been to the grocer for the messages, and the butcher for a goose or turkey, latter that would tide us over the Christmas period. She traditionally received a nice ‘handsel’(Latter a gift given at Christmas in gratitude for continued custom and rarely practised today), of an iced, colourfully decorated Christmas cake, from the local corner shop. My father would have brought me to a pub/grocery premises, where I would have been treated to lashings of lemonade and orange and colourful biscuits. He too, received the ‘handsel’ of a free pint for his continued custom and I, a sixpenny piece or a ‘bob’ (a shilling) for just being a good boy, whatever that meant.
On Christmas Eve, my mother put up the decorations which consisted of holly and ivy and the placing of a candle in our front window, making our home seem, to my brothers and me, a jolly colourful fairyland. In not so affluent times people in the fowl business contributed to the local Christmas income, by employing “pluckers”, latter employed to remove feathers from soon to be consumed, Christmas turkeys and geese.
Down the town, this Christmas, the older townies from New York, London, Dublin, and from nearer home will be rambling around the streets of their childhood, in quest of old friends, remembering memories of other days spent in the hotels and pubs in the town. There will be music in the pubs and old melodies like “White Christmas”, which I first heard sung in a local cinema, by Bing Crosby; will be again resurrected. Carol singers in the main street will sing their carols for local charities and our wonderful Christmas lighting, all over the town, will illuminate our streets and our hearts and also the hearts of non-returning emigrants, to whom we will send photographs via social media.
Later, folks will attend midnight Mass to hear the choir sing all the old Christmas favourites, “Joy to the World”; “Oh, Holy Night”; “While shepherds watched their flocks by night” and of course, “Silent Night” which enthrals all age groups. In a hushed and emotional congregation I have known so called “hard men” to be in tears at such a hallowed gathering; though, perhaps, it might have been their first visit to a church for a long time.
Of course Christmas is a time to remember the folks who went before us and the innocence and simplicity of yesteryear. It can be a lonely time for some. But I hold, that the whole message of Christmas is ‘joy to the world’. Commercialism aside, this is the real Christmas. People say Christmas is now every day, meaning that today everybody has full and plenty all year round. However, I loved Christmas, even when I had not a penny in my pocket and my parents at times not much more. It never stopped us enjoying the ‘Spiorad of Mi Na Nollag’, (Irish – Spirit of December) and on Christmas Eve, as a child, I enjoyed watching all the toys and Annuals in shop windows on Christmas Eve and made fervent wishes and prayed to ‘Santy’ for my heart’s desire. I was always, like so many other children of that time, ecstatic with whatever little gift ‘Santy’ was good enough to bring me on Christmas Eve. I learned very early one of life’s lessons – ‘there is nothing so wonderful or exciting as looking forward to something’ and that ‘seldom’, is always truly wonderful. Maybe in life, today, ‘much is too little for some’ and ‘much today wants more’. More is never enough, but the joy of a child on a Christmas Eve, in a happy home, is more magical than anything even ‘Santy’ could bring. In the eyes of a child, Christmas should truly celebrate another Child, latter born in a humble stable two thousand years ago.
“Nollaig fe shean is faoi mhaise dhiobh”, (Irish – Merry Christmas to them), particularly to those who could not make it home to Ireland for Christmas Eve or are in prison or hospital, but who undoubtedly will carry the spirit of all their Christmas thoughts and feelings, deep in their hearts.
Tom Ryan, “Iona”, Rahealty, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Residents and visitors from the counties of Tipperary, Clare and Limerick (Ireland’s Mid-West Region) are expected to gather in large numbers, to watch Ireland’s largest Christmas parade which will roll through the municipality of Bunratty, on Thursday November 28th next; as the County Clare village is transformed into a winter wonderland.
Bunratty Castle, in Ireland’s Mid-West Region will host Ireland’s largest Christmas parade in 2024.
Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, supported by the local business community and Clare Co. Council, has announced that 400 parade participants will wind their way through the village to the courtyard of Bunratty Castle, where the annual switching on of the Folk Park’s Christmas lights will take place.
The procession will feature more than 100 elves, Christmas characters, the Tulla Pipe Band, animals from the Folk Park, members of the All-Ireland winning Clare senior hurling team, and Santa Claus, (whose sleigh will be drawn by six horses). Additional musical entertainment will be provided on the evening by the Bunratty Brass Band and two local choirs.
The parade marks the beginning of ‘Christmas at Bunratty 2024’ with 35,000 people expected through the gates of the popular 26-acre visitor attraction during these festivities.
Santa Claus will be making a welcome return to his grotto on the Village Street on Friday, 29th November. Visitors will have full access to Bunratty Folk Park Trail of Lights Experience and can enjoy puppet and magic shows and traditional Christmas tales with Bunratty’s resident Seanchaí, drop into the festive themed shops, meet and greet in the Ice Queen’s Cottage, and take a ride on the Polar Express. The ‘Breakfast with Santa’ event and Christmas-themed castle banquets also return for 2024.
Councillor Mr Alan O’Callaghan, Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council commented, “It is wonderful to see local businesses and the community of Bunratty coming together to support what will be an incredible spectacle for the village. Bunratty never does anything in half measures and this Christmas parade will be no different as the village prepares for its busiest time of the year.”
Ms Charlotte Rebers, Head of Operations at Bunratty Castle & Folk Park said, “We wanted to do something completely different this year by bringing the entire community together to celebrate the magic of the Christmas season. Months in the making, this parade will light up the village up with colourful characters, festive music and a joyful procession along the 700-metre route. Everyone is welcome to attend.”
Following the parade, Bunratty Castle and Folk Park will present a donation to this year’s nominated charity, Down Syndrome Clare.
Spokesperson Ms Bríd Hayes commented, “We are very excited about attending this festive event and we are grateful to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park for their fundraising efforts on our behalf. Such donations enable us to deliver vital services and supports for our members and their families to thrive and for the professionals who work to support them.”
The Bunratty Christmas Parade commences from JP Clarke’s at 6.00pm on Thursday, November 28th. The village main street will be closed to vehicular traffic for the duration of the parade, while public parking will be available throughout the village and at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in advance.
All businesses in Bunratty will remain open before, during and after the parade. Bunratty Castle and Folk Park will be closed to the public after the parade in line with standard winter operating hours.
Extract from the poem “Aftermath” by Siegfried Sassoon.
“Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz. The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets? Do you remember the rats; and the stench, Of corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench, And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain? Do you ever stop and ask, ‘Is it all going to happen again? Have you forgotten yet? Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you’ll never forget.“
The Irish General Election will take place on November 29th 2024. This week local people on social media were extremely reticent about the direction in which Thurles town was heading, describing same as “A dead horse town”, and “A sh#t hole with nothing in it”. Despite 90% of second level students educated in the town, moving on into third level education and following diploma courses, some people saw the idea of a proposed Drive-Thru McDonald’s as “giving huge employment” and putting Thurles “back on the map”.
(This upcoming General Election will now give these same commentators an opportunity to vote. But most likely they will once again vote for the same ineffectual lunatics to take over this picturesque rural Tipperary asylum, for yet another 4 years. Even worse, they will protest, voting for persons who were once members of, or, at the very least, known associates of proscribed organisations.)
But perhaps the social media comment, which I felt had the most ring of truth, read as follows, “There’s nothing left in the town”. (Thurles).
With tomorrow being Remembrance Sunday (Sun November 10th 2024), a day on which we commemorate the anniversary of the end of hostilities in World War I (1918) and commemorate the contribution made by Irish soldiers in that war; allow me to elucidate further. On April 16th, 2020, we wrote about Thurles born Cpl. John Cunningham VC (Victoria Cross), under the heading “Lest Thurles Forgets Cpl. John Cunningham VC”. Please FirstRead the Post in full Here.
Missing – The Cpl. John Cunningham Plaque. Pic: G. Willoughby.
Following from that, we were contacted very recently (October 27th, 2024) by a family descendant of Cpl. John; namely Ms Susannah Cunningham, who kindly brought us up to date, as to the whereabouts of his missing Victoria Cross.
Ms Cunningham wrote; “The Victoria Cross medal is now in the Imperial War Museum in London, in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery. Lord Ashcroft collected Victoria and George Crosses and paid for the dedicated museum within a museum. The medal was on loan, but I noticed it had been bought by Lord Ashcroft recently. It is an excellent display and in a place that it will be appreciated, as is his grave in France, which is well attended, but a shame the medal is both out of Ireland and has been sold. I don’t know what happened to John’s service medals or Patrick’s WWI medals. My father-in-law, Freddie Cunningham, is John’s nephew, via his younger brother Joseph.”
As Thurles residents will be well aware, a plaque commemorating Cpl. John Cunningham VC; positioned at were his family home once existed, [at the junction of Sarsfield Street and Stradavoher (R659)], was erected, at considerable expense, many years ago, by the then existing North Tipperary Council, with the necessary permissions granted by the property owner. Some 18 months or so ago, it was deliberately demolished by a jack hammer, without, as far as I am aware, any public consultation or debate. Its absence went unnoticed by the powers that be, latter who currently rule over us. (See Photograph above.) Following enquiries made, I am now promptly informed by Ms Sharon Scully, (Administrator Thurles Municipal District Council) that, quote “I can confirm that Tipperary County Council were not involved in the removal of the Cunningham Plaque”.
This being the accepted case, (which I believe); I would like to know where the removed plaque can be currently located, so that same can be re-erected at an alternative location nearby, which does not cause either interference or disorderliness.
I now also hope, nay, expect, that Thurles Municipal District Council officials and recently elected councillors, will follow up on finding and re-locating same.
The great Leitrim native Seamus O’Rourke, writer, director, actor, poet and independent producer (Big Guerilla Productions) takes us back to 1922.
The year 1922 in Ireland marked the beginning of the final phase in Ireland’s revolution. It saw the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty; the establishment of the Irish Free State; the outbreak of the civil war; and the consolidation of partition as Northern Ireland opted out of the Free State settlement.
Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) will mark its 140th birthday in Thurles today, Friday, 1st November, 2024.
The GAA was founded on November 1st 1884 at a meeting in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, by a group of spirited Irishmen, latter who had the foresight to realise the importance of establishing a national organisation to make athletics more accessible to the masses and to revive and nurture traditional, indigenous sports and pastimes.
Michael Cusack 1847- 1906.[GAA’s first President elect.]
Irish teacher and founder Michael Cusack, latter born in 1847, (during the Great Irish Famine 1846-1849), a native of the parish of Carron on the eastern fringe of the Burren, in Co. Clare, would become its first President.
To mark today’s birthday, the GAA’s History Committee will attend at Hayes’ Hotel for a meeting at 12:00 noon, to make a presentation to the hotel. They are expected to be joined by Munster GAA President and GAA Vice President Mr Ger Ryan(Tipperary), as well as other Tipp GAA officials including Mr Patrick McKay, great grandson of John McKay, the former who was elected first secretary in 1884. To mark the event a meeting will be held in the same room where the Association was initially founded.
All are welcome to attend this event in Hayes Hotel.
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