Mr John Kenehan, (Chairperson Thurles St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee) Reports:
The Thurles Saint Patrick’s Day Parade will take place on Monday 17th March 2025, and will leave from Abbey Road at 2:15pm sharp. The main sponsors of the parade are Tipperary County Council, the Thurles Chamber of Commerce and as in previous years local Businesses. The Thurles St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee are once again seeking your support by sponsoring this event, donating funds towards organising the Parade.
Video: G. Willoughby.
The success of the Parade over the years is due to this generous sponsorship and the participation by local businesses, clubs, schools, residents’ associations and other organisations. The theme of the 2025 Parade is “Mythical Ireland, in the time of Saint Patrick”; Or “A theme of your personal choice”. Entry, as always is free and all are welcome to showcase their business or organisation. Note: As always, the Committee will advertise the names of all sponsors in local media outlets.
Video: G. Willoughby.
Prizes will be awarded as follows:
Over All Winner: €500 & Trophy Sponsored by Michael’s Jewellers.
Best Large Entry €250 & Trophy Sponsored by Thurles Supermac’s.
Best School Entry: €200 & Trophy sponsored by Thurles Shopping Centre.
Best Band Entry: €200 & Trophy.
Various Category Prizes: 12 Prizes plus Cash and 500 Medals.
For further information, please contact or text the Chairperson Johnny Kenehan @ 085 1974620 or email durlaseileparade25@gmail.com or hello@thurlestouristoffice.ie Post To: The Treasurer, Thurles St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, c/o Thurles Tourist Office, Slievenamon Road, Thurles, E41 C6W8.
Every so often the lyrics of a song, its music and vocal quality, pleasantly, makes those little hairs on the back of your neck stand up; such is the song hereunder.
Lyrics: American singer, songwriter and musician Vince Grant Gill. Vocals:Vince Gill and American bluegrass-country singer, fiddler and music producer Alison Krauss.
Whenever You Come Around.
Face of an angel, pretty eyes that shine, I lie awake at night wishing you were mine. Standin’ here holding the biggest heartache in town, Whenever you come around. I get weak in the knees and I lose my breath. I try to speak but the words won’t come I’m so scared to death, When you smile that smile, the world turns upside down, Whenever you come around. I feel so helpless I feel just like a kid, What is it about you that makes me keep my feelings hid. I wish I could tell you, but the words can’t be found, Whenever you come around. I get weak in the knees and I lose my breath, I try to speak but the words won’t come I’m so scared to death, When you smile that smile, the world turns upside down, Whenever you come around. I get weak in the knees and I lose my breath, I try to speak but the words won’t come I’m so scared to death, And when you smile that smile, the world turns upside down, Whenever you come around. And when you smile that smile, The world turns upside down, Whenever you come around. Whenever you come around. END
Plastic Bag Levy regulations in Ireland came into operation on July 1st 2007. Today, if a customer requests a plastic bag, the retailer must, generally, since that date, charge €0.22 per plastic bag supplied. Of course there are exceptions; these are for bags of certain sizes, and for bags which contain fresh fruit, unpackaged vegetables, meats and certain other products.
Hereunder, Leitrim native Seamus O’Rourke, writer, director, actor, poet and independent producer extoles the unvirtuous over use of such outer packaging, as only Seamus can.
The plastic bag levy’s primary purpose was to reduce the consumption of disposable plastic bags by influencing consumer behaviour.
Moneys gathered by this levy is, we understand, remitted into the ‘Circular Economy Fund’, which is supposedly used to support initiatives in reducing waste and to promote the reuse and recycling of goods. On a positive side, it has had a major effect on consumer behaviour since its introduction. Annual sales of lightweight plastic bags have dropped from a high of more than 130 million to just 8.3 million at the end of 2022, with all the associated benefits for Ireland’s environment.
Alternatives to disposable plastic shopping bags, such as reusable bags are now available in shops around the country, and the consumer has changed to using these alternatives. In the grocery sector, disposable plastic bags have largely been replaced by reusable shopping bags.
Plastic shopping bags designed for re-use are exempt from this levy provided the retailer charges at least 70 cent for each bag.
Singer and actress Ms Marianne Faithfull sadly died today at the age of 78 years. Marianne passed away peacefully in London, in the company of her loving family.
Born in Hampstead, London, UK in December 1946, to parents, father Major Robert Glynn Faithfull (a British intelligence officer) and mother Eva (a ballerina), in the 1960s became famously the girlfriend of ‘Rolling Stones’ frontman Mick Jagger. She rose to fame in 1964 with hit songs like ‘As Tears Go By’, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, which then reached the UK top 10. She will also be remembered for starring roles in films including the 1968 ‘The Girl On A Motorcycle’.
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.
Lyrics: Late American writer, cartoonist, songwriter and musician Shel Silverstein(1930-1999). Vocals: The late English singer and actress Marianne Faithfull[Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull], (29th December 1946 – 30 January 2025). Song featured is from her 1979 album ‘Broken English’.
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.
The morning sun touched lightly on, The eyes of Lucy Jordan, In a white suburban bedroom, In a white suburban town. As she lay there ‘neath the covers, Dreaming of a thousand lovers, ‘Til the world turned to orange, And the room went spinning round.
Chorus. At the age of thirty-seven, She realised she’d never ride, Through Paris in a sports car, With the warm wind in her hair. So she let the phone keep ringing, And she sat there softly singing, Little nursery rhymes she’d memorised, In her daddy’s easy chair. Her husband, he’s off to work, And the kids are off to school, And there are, oh, so many ways, For her to spend the day. She could clean the house for hours, Or rearrange the flowers, Or run naked through the shady street, Screaming all the way.
Repeat Chorus. The evening sun touched gently on, The eyes of Lucy Jordan, On the roof top where she climbed, When all the laughter grew too loud, And she bowed and curtsied to the man, Who reached and offered her his hand. And he led her down to the long white car, That waited past the crowd. At the age of thirty seven, She knew she’d found forever, As she rode along through Paris, With the warm wind in her hair.
END
After a period of heroin addiction in the 1970s, which at one point saw her living homeless on the streets of Soho; she resurrected her career with the classic album ‘Broken English’. The singer also had previously suffered multiple health problems, including bulimia, breast cancer and emphysema, latter caused by decades of smoking.
Ms Faithfull received the World Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Women’s World Awards, and was made a commandeur of the ‘Ordre des Arts et des Lettres‘, by the government of France.
The singer was married and divorced three times, to artist John Dunbar in 1965, Ben Brierly of the punk band the ‘Vibrators’ in 1979, and actor Giorgio Della Terza in 1988.
Lyrics: The Late American singer/songwriter John Townes Van Zandt(1944–1997). Vocals: The Late American country music singer/songwriter Don Williams(1939–2017).
I’ll Be Here In The Morning.
There’s no stronger wind than, The one that blows, Down a lonesome railroad line. No prettier sight than looking back, On a town you left behind. There is nothing that’s as real, As a love that’s in my mind. Close your eyes I’ll be here in the morning. Close your eyes I’ll be here for a while. There’s lots of things along the road, I’d surely like to see. I’d like to lean into the wind, And tell myself I’m free. But your softest whispers louder, Than the highways call to me. Close your eyes I’ll be here in the morning. Close your eyes I’ll be here for a while. All the mountains and the rivers, And the valleys can’t compare, To your blue lit dancing eyes, And yellow shining hair. I could never hit the open road, And leave you laying there. Close your eyes I’ll be here in the morning. Close your eyes I’ll be here for a while. Lay your head back easy, love, And close your crying eyes, I’ll be laying here beside you, When the sun comes on the rise. I’ll stay as long as the cuckoo wails, And the lonesome blue-jay cries. Close your eyes I’ll be here in the morning. Close your eyes I’ll be here for a while. Close your eyes I’ll be here in the morning. Close your eyes I’ll be here for a while.
Recent Comments