ADAMSTOWN LOTTO The next draw in the Adamstown Lotto takes place on Tuesday 22nd April…
2nd March, 2025
Adamstown Parish Newsletter
Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd March 2025
Volume 25. Number 8
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ADAMSTOWN LOTTO
The next draw in the Adamstown Lotto takes place this Thursday 6th March in Foley’s, Newbawn for a Jackpot of €3,900. Please leave books back in Cullen’s Gala by 8pm on draw night.
SHAMROCK VINTAGE CLUB NOTICE
The Pat Byrne Memorial Road Run will be held in Adamstown on Sunday 6th April 2025. Starting at 1. o’clock.
Full details later.
CEMETERY COMMITTEE MEETING
There will be a Cemetery Committee meeting this Monday 3rd March at 8pm in the Parochial House. All members are invited to attend.
THURSDAY NIGHT CARD GAME
The weekly Thursday night Card Game continues in the Community Centre each week at 8.00pm. Winners on Thursday 27th Feb were: Jim & Trish Wickham, Mick McLoughlin, Kay Whelan, Jer Sweeney, Tom Wickham & Pat Finn.
COLÁISTE ABBÁIN NEWS
First-Year Boys Secure Spot in the Final
A brilliant 2 – 0 win on Wednesday last for our First-Year Boys Soccer Team in the League semi-final against Glenart College, Wicklow. Goals from Bobby O’Shea and Leo Stenning sealed the victory, with a fantastic team effort from all the lads.
Well done to the whole squad for their determination and teamwork – onwards to the final!!
COMMUNITY CENTRE NOTICE
We are excited and delighted to announce that we will be hosting an Adamstown Community Indoor Market Place soon over the next few months. A space where you can meet your fellow neighbour for a cup of tea, chat and browse the stalls, sell you own produce, crafts or preloved items, even a space where you can network & promote your local business whilst supporting your local community centre in the great task of raising funds towards creating a better Community space and a fantastic facility for everyone to enjoy for many years to come.
How to book a table, confirmed date, more details & surprises to come. Watch this space!
HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY
Congratulations to Frances Doyle, Ballyvergin on the occasion of her 90th birthday on Saturday 1st March. Wishing Frances continued good health and happiness for the future.
ÉOWYN BROUGHT ME BACK TO MY CHILDHOOD
When I heard people describing the hardship their families were going through after Storm Éowyn left them without running water or electricity. I could understand it, I was raised at a time when we didn’t have many home comforts that we have today. We had no running water; we got it from a pump in the farmyard nearby. My wife’s mother who lived in Carlow had to cycle to the nearest pump and walk back with two buckets full of water hanging from the handlebars. My father got in touch with a water diviner to see if there might be a supply of spring water beneath our back yard. I remember the diviner holding out a Y-shaped twig and twisting it to see if it would turn and point downwards to indicate that there was water there. Some people today might doubt the veracity of such a method of finding water, but when the twig gave the signal, it was good enough for my father and he started digging. He encountered rock but somehow managed to hack his way through it. It was tough going, but he was rewarded with a flow of clear spring water. As a result, we had a small pump that was our source of water until, eventually the council piped in supplies to all the houses in the area. However, the lack of water was only one of the problems people had to deal with at that time. Money was tight and they had to learn to be self-sufficient. Behind the hen house, my father kept a small garden where he grew leeks, carrots and peas. As for potatoes & cabbages, it was a given that we could help ourselves to them from the fields nearby as we always gave the farmer a hand when it came to planting and harvesting. The hens were always put in at night to keep foxes from killing them. And we never killed them ourselves. They provided us with a plentiful supply of eggs for our own use and we sold the rest. We also kept bees in the meadow, but the honey wasn’t for our table but for the well-off people in the town who could afford to buy it. Having lived through World War 11, my mother was very thrifty. Nothing went to waste. If we had potatoes for a meal, she took any that were left over, then mashed and mixed them with flour to make what we called “fadge” or potato bread as it is known today. She also made soda bread and, with eggs & bacon, it made a lovely fry. There was no such thing as cooking oil. Lard was the order of the day and nobody ever complained that it might give us a heart attack. We had no telephone, no television and no car. No central heating either. Whatever heat we had came from the stove, that heated only one room and when we went to bed in winter it was with a delft hot water bottle and an overcoat. The water bottle was wrapped in a sock to keep it from burning our feet and the overcoat served as an extra blanket. It seems hard to believe now but we had no flushing toilet, just a dry toilet in a far corner of the yard. I think it’s only when storms like Éowyn smash into our modern way of life that we remember how tough life used to be.
(Tom McCaughren – Sunday Independent)
CHURCH NOTICES
IN MEMORIAM
Sat 1st March – Edward Whelan, Brocurra (A)
Sun 2nd – Greg, Annie, and Nell Bolger, Misterin (A)
Also – Jimmy Roche, Woodview Drive (A)
Sat 8th – Nicholas & Bridie Wickham, Tomgarrow (A)
Sun 9th – John O’Brien, Ballyvergin (A)
May they rest in peace.
Wed March 5th – Ash Wednesday: Mass at 9.30am & 7.30pm.
Ash Wednesday is a day of Fast & Abstinence.
Trócaire Boxes are available in the Church Porch, please take one home with you.
Mass each week day morning at 9.30am.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Thursday from 10am – 1.00pm.
READERS OF THE LITURY
Sat 1st March – Anthony McGee. Sun 2nd Mar – Betty O’Shea
Sat 8th – Annette English. Sun 9th – Cáit Bradley
Sat 15th – Eoghan Greene Sun 16th – Sheelagh Delaney
Sat 22nd – Liam Whelan. Sun 23rd – Callie Doyle
Sat 29th – Cáit Bradley Sun 30th – Brendan O’Shea
TRÓCAIRE LENTEN APPEAL
Helping people who are pushed further into poverty by the devastating effects of climate change. Please support communities through the Trócaire Box appeal this Lent.
SISTER DIANE OP AT 100 (Fr. John Harris OP)
Many of you will have visited our Dominican Nuns in Fatima at the monastery of Pope Pius X11. On February 5th, Sr. Diane celebrated her 100th birthday. She is the last surviving founding member of the monastery. I visited with her last July and while she is frail, she has lost none of her profound sense of God, her lively sense of humour and deep devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. It is always a delight to be with her. I first met her over 50 years ago when I was an altar boy and she was passing through Limerick. I wished her a wonderful birthday and I thank her for her prayers and words of encouragement over all these many years.
(Sr. Diane Roche is a native of the Parish of Davidstown)
A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“Every act of reverence, every genuflection that you make before the Blessed Sacrament is important because it is an act of faith in Christ, and act of love for Christ. And every sign of the cross and gesture of respect made each time you pass a church is also an act of faith” –
(Pope St. John Paul 11, Phoenix Park, Dublin, Sept 29th 1979)
DUNCE’S CORNER
Years ago, in the royal court, a very important figure was the court jester. Part of his job as to humour the king when he was in bad form. One day the jester rubbed up the king in the wrong way. The king was furious and he gave the jester a dunce’s hat to wear every day until he met a person more foolish than himself. Years later the king was close to death and not resigned to his fate. The jester, the king’s friend for many years, asked him” Whenever you were travelling abroad, didn’t you send your ambassador to arrange the protocol?” The king replied, “Yes, I did.” “Didn’t you carefully plan your schedule for every day?”.
“Yes, I did”. “Well, here you are on the most important journey of your life and you made no arrangements. Take back this cap you gave me, for I have found a man more foolish than myself”
“Do not store up treasures for yourself here on Earth…. for where your treasure is there will be your heart also”
SYMPATHY – Marguerite Bierney (née Roche)
The unexpected death occurred on Friday 21st February of Marguerite Bierney, Assagart. We extend our deepest sympathy to her husband Padraig, mother Mary Margaret Roche, sisters Monica, Deirdre, Patrice, Michelle and brother John, nieces, nephews, extended family, neighbours and friends. Marguerite’s funeral Mass was celebrated in The Church of The Assumption, Little Cullenstown on Wednesday last, followed by burial in Kilgarvan Cemetery. May her gentle soul rest in peace.
PRAYER FOR THE WEEK – This One House, This Earth!
Lord, grant peace to our troubled world;
Grant understanding to cultural differences;
Grant respect for the dignity of peoples and nations everywhere;
Grant recognition of our common humanity our equal citizenship on the face of the earth;
For we all live in this one home, this earth, this tent among the stars. Lord, guide us all in the way of peace! Amen.
DID YOU KNOW?
St. Patrick’s College, Carlow, Ireland’s first post-penal seminary, opened in 1793. It is thought to be the longest Seminary in continuous use – in the world!
WORDS OF WISDOM (Michael Stassfeld)
Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space.
It does not seek anything in return; it asks not whether you are friend or foe.
It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished.
