July 11th, 2021

Adamstown Parish Newsletter

Weekend of Sat 10th & Sun 11th July 2021      

Volume 22.  Number 26

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SYMPATHY

We extend our deepest sympathy to Dr. John Curran, and family on the death of his sister, Sally Curran, The Rower, Co. Kilkenny on Saturday 3rd July. A private family funeral Mass was celebrated in The Church of the Assumption, The Rower on Monday 5th July with burial in the Rower Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

ADAMSTOWN LOTTO RETURNS

After a Covid forced hiatus of 16 months and following

a meeting of all clubs involved in the Adamstown Lotto, it was decided to resume the Lotto with the first draw on Friday 6th August. Tickets for the local lotto will be available in Cullen’s this week. Please take an envelope with your book and enclose all tickets and money when returning for the draw. All tickets need to be in by 8pm on the night of the draw. Online sales will also be available on www.smartlotto.ie. just select Adamstown as the club.

Remember we are starting the draw at €9,600, which is a fantastic sum of money to win.

We look forward to your support for the returning lotto, and remember it provides vital funds for the parish, soccer and GAA clubs. Best of luck all.

ADAMSTOWN ATHLETICS

The first round of the Mr. Oil weekend County Track and Field Championships took place recently in D.M.P. grounds in Wexford. Congratulations to Ryan Carthy Walsh who came second in the Senior Men’s High Jump.

ADAMSTOWN GAA NEWS

Adamstown GAA’s initiative of getting younger children involved in the game has begun in the area, with their Tiny Tiggers Club, which started recently on their fabulous new astro turf pitch. Chairperson Lizzie Kent was delighted with the turn out of children aged 3 – 5 years and currently they have over 50 children signed up. The eight-week programme, which is all about fun and GAA activities, and the emphasis, is about putting hurls and footballs into young hands. The session begins at 10.00am on Saturday mornings for 45 minutes. Currently the club also has 130 children signed up for Cul Camps. Well done everyone and continued success.

The Adamstown Club as part of their development plan, has embraced Wexford’s GAA’s  ‘Caman Everybody Initiative’ by giving hurls to children from Junior Infants to first class in Adamstown, Raheen & Newbawn National School recently.

The twelve-inch hurls were painted by the children with help from teachers and marked the spot where the sliotar should be struck. Adamstown GAA club funded the hurls for the local schools in total 170 were delivered to the three schools and the children had great fun designing their own.

With the Covis-19 lockdown over the past months, it’s all about getting out and exercising and having fun as much as you can.

A BIT OF HISTORY  Part 1

(History of Adamstown Show 1946-1996 – Mick Delaney)

At this time of year we would be enjoying the many Agricultural Shows throughout the county including our own Adamstown Show, unfortunately all these events have been cancelled for the second year. We look back and remember

with nostalgia our Show History.

Adamstown in 1946 was a place of very little activity like many other villages in the post war years. The annual races were the main sporting event at that time. One of the wettest years on record caused the cancellation of the races earlier in the year, they were finally staged on July 28th on the lands of John Cullen. Later that year came the appointment of Frank Barry, a rural science teacher to the local Vocational School. One of his early concerns was to promote activity in the rural areas. He arranged a meeting in the Vocational School on Monday night, 7th October 1946. The main purpose of the meeting was to form a young farmers club. The following were elected: Chairman – Jim Redmond; Vice Chairman – James Power. Committee:

Denis O’Brien, James Kelly, Martin Furlong, Frank Barry and Bertie Delaney. It was agreed at the meeting that an agricultural and horticultural show be held the following year.

They immediately set about fund raising, a dance was organised for the Patron night, 27th October at Knockreigh. The dance was a huge success. Dave Moyinhan’s band with loud speakers supplied the music; admission was three shillings and six pence with supper extra. A heavy snowfall in February 1947 left the countryside white until March. July 24th was the date fixed for the first show; the venue was John Cullen’s Church meadow and the Vocational school. Paddy Moore recalls going to a wood in Carrigbyrne to cut poles for the jumps. Early morning rain caused concern for the committee, but the sky cleared and allowed the show to go ahead as planned. It was the main conversation for weeks the success of this new venture, the show dance was held at the Barrack’s, Martin O’Brien having responsibility for the lighting, toured the countryside on his bicycle collecting Tilley lamps. There was a big increase in entries for the show of 1948, the venue remained the same until the early fifties, three well-known gents from the Camross area collected first prize for a sow. The spent the rest of the week celebrating. The show dance was held in Kellystown. People attending the show in 1949 would have travelled by pony and trap bringing their produce and leading their ponies behind. Cars were scarce as few as half dozen per parish. John O’Brien cycled to Enniscorthy with the entries to get the catalogue printed. The show dance was held in Old Ross. Jim Redmond remembers 1950, money was scarce. A man would work a long hard week for 10 shillings; a horseman on a farm would get extra. A shilling bought two bottles of stout, 5 pence for a packet of cigarettes, the show was already making a name for itself attracting entries from outside the county. The show dance was held in Camross in 1950.

CHURCH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAM

Sat 10th – Eamonn & Martin Furlong, Greenview (A)

Sun 11th – The People of the Parish.

Pray for Bridget Kealy, Glenour (A)

Pray for Betty McGrath who died recently & her sister 

Anne Nolan, New Ross.

May they rest in peace.

Feast Day this week;

Friday 16th July – Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

People observe this day in a variety of different ways. Some people go to services dedicated to our Lady of Mount Carmel, others enrol in the Brown Scapula – which allows them to wear it as a sign of their devotion to the Virgin Mary.

ORDINATION OF NEW BISHOP

Bishop Elect Ger Nash will be ordained to the episcopate at 3pm on Sunday 5th September 2021 at St. Aidan’s Cathedral. The ceremony will likely be limited in terms of attendance capacity as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.

Here is a prayer that you might recite between now and the date of ordination.

Prayer:

God, eternal shepherd, you tend your Church in many ways and rule us with love.

You have chosen you servant, Ger to be the shepherd of your flock in the Diocese of Ferns.

Give him a spirit of courage and right judgement, a spirit of knowledge and love.

By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care, may he build your Church as a sign of salvation for the world.

Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, Pray for us,

 St. Aidan, Pray for us.  Amen.

ABORTION NUMBERS RISE (Mary Kenny – Irish Catholic)

Sadly, one of the social trends emerging from the lockdown, in England and Wales, is yet another rise in the number of abortions, which have increased to their highest point ever recorded. The greatest increase is among women over 30, rather than associated with teenage pregnancies. The reasons given are the uncertainties of life under lockdown.

The birth control pioneer Marie Stopes claimed that abortion would be reduced to virtually nil once reliable contraception was available to all women – women could control their fertility by preventative, not destructive, measures. I wonder what she would say to the inexorable increase in terminations?

6,577 abortions in Ireland last year, Government report shows. (Ruadhán Jones – Irish Catholic)

The Dept of Health’s annual report on abortion statistics shows that of the 6,577 abortions carried out in 2020, just 122 were carried out in situations where the life of the child or mother was in danger. A further 194 women travelled to the UK to have an abortion in 2020, which brings the figure to 6,771 abortions. More abortions took place in 2020 as a proportion of live births than in 2019 – 12.3% of pregnancies ended in abortion in 2020, compared with 10.96% in 2019.

ALL THE KING’S HORSES

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and, we are told, putting him together again – even with the help of the king’s horses and men – would not be possible. There is a sadness in the old nursery rhyme and a reality too. I sometimes think there is a bit of Humpty Dumpty at work in our Church, not least in the lingering shadow of Covid and the even more lingering shadows of the worst of our past. It strikes me mending and rebuilding needs to take place but maybe we are looking in the wrong place – perhaps it is not the king’s horses or the king’s men we need but the everyday man and woman of every parish, every church area, every towns land to carefully gather, stitch together and rebuild what all too easily could fall shattered to the floor.

(Fr Vincent Sherlock – Irish Catholic)

DID YOU KNOW: – ‘Mayday’ (Kevin O’Callaghan, Pioneer Magazine)

Fredrick Stanley Mockford, a senior radio office at London’s Croydon Airport was the originator of the uniform international distress signal we know today as ‘Mayday!’

In the 1920s, when air traffic between England and continental Europe increased following the end of the first World War, he was asked to think of an appropriate code that would be understood by both airborne pilots and emergency workers on the ground in case of emergency.

A typical distress call begins with the word ‘Mayday’ said three times so it is not mistaken for another or phrase or incoherent by surrounding noise or a bad radio signal.

‘Mayday’ was officially adopted by the International Radiotelegraph Convention in 1927 as a distress signal in place of ‘SOS’. Unfortunately, SOS for radio communications was unsatisfactory, since the ‘S’ sound could be mistaken for the sound of an ‘F’, hence the development of the more suitable and current internationally recognised, thrice repeated ‘Mayday’. The word ‘Mayday’ is derived from the French ‘m’aider’, meaning ‘help me’, or a still shortened version of ‘venez m’ aider’ – come and help me’

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK –  (Pioneer Magazine)

What We Can Learn From a Dog?

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Never pretend to be something you’re not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close and nuzzle them gently.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t pout – run right back and make friends.

When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Leave room in your schedule for a good nap.