July 18th, 2021

Adamstown Parish Newsletter

Sat 17th & Sun 18th July 2021
Volume 22. Number 27.

ADAMSTOWN TIDY TOWNS NEWS
Adamstown Tidy towns have entered the Tidy Towns competition again this year. We would like to thank all the Committee members and volunteers who recently offered their time planting, painting and sweeping the footpaths; your help was much appreciated. We would also like to thank Barry, Ian and Larry for clearing ivy off the stonewall opposite the church.
Bicycle stands have been positioned outside Cullen’s Gala supermarket through the Arts and Amenity Grant 2021, a special thanks to Councillors Pat Barden and John Fleming from Wexford County Council. Four self-watering hanging planters were also acquired from the Community Enhancement Grant 2021. Even through the pandemic, we have been very fortunate with our grant applications, so a special thank you to Wexford County Council.

ADAMSTOWN LOTTO RETURNS
Adamstown Lotto returns 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 Mr. Oil Wexford Track & Field Championships took place on Friday 9th July in Enniscorthy. Silver Medal winner in the Hurdles and 100m was Jack O’Shea, Adamstown.
Well done Jack.

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK – When We Feel Vulnerable
Under the threat of virus infections
Especially when they last so long
For months on end around the world,
We can so easily feel insecure,
Or vulnerable, even fearful
Of what may lie ahead.

Facing each day under constant strain
Can be so demanding, even exhausting.

Lord, at such times help us
To keep calm and not to panic,
Trusting in your loving care. Amen.

A BIT OF HISTORY – Part 2
History of Adamstown Show 1946-1996 – Mick Delaney
The early fifties saw great changes in rural Ireland; tractors began to appear in fields. A slow clumsy machine to pull implements. The show was going great adding new classes each year. The venue had now also changed to the back avenue field of Sam Rothwell. The next two shows saw the appearance of some national figures in horse and livestock businesses. Entries were coming from Munster, to win with a horse in Adamstown meant you could stand in with the best in Dublin. Show dances were now held in a marquee. At a show meeting early in 1954 a discussion took place about building a hall, a big undertaking at the time but this committee knew no boundaries. The mid fifties saw the electric bulb, a tractor that could lift a machine off the ground; combines were around for a few years, still not trusted to give a good sample to the older generation. There was also mass emigration from Ireland to Britain.
St. Abban’s Hall called after the Patron Saint was opened in 1955. It remained the venue for the show dances until the eighties. Adamstown Hall was where love stories began. Even the most seasoned campaigner who searched for a wife for years like the old fisherman landed one in Adamstown. Towards the late fifties the local press wrote high standards all round at Adamstown Show. It is now one of the leading rural shows in the country, the harvest of 1958 was a disaster for the country, the only year this century that crops rotted in the fields. It was the following spring before combines and binders were removed from where they bogged down the previous harvest. Then came the swinging sixties, the show had gone beyond all expectations. The show dance was attracting all the leading show bands, The Royal, Capital, Miami and the Clipper. If you were not at the show or show dance you were not living.
A heavy snowfall on New Year’s Day 1963 remained until the first week of March, the same year doctors were warning young people about engaging in a new dance called ‘the twist’. The high standards at Adamstown Show were finally reaping rewards. A horse bred by local man Mosie McCabe was victorious at Wembley. The nineteenth annual show in 1965 was described as high entries and high standards all round, the venue was still the back avenue field. The sixty’s were a boom period, wages had doubled, everyone had money to spend and cars were very plentiful. During the late sixties the show was having a great run of success and if you did not arrive early for the show dance there was no guarantee that you would be admitted. Into the seventies saw massive changes, large herds of Friesians were replacing the old traditional types, the country was moving at a much faster pace. The venue for the show had now changed to the racecourse, the land of Reg Rothwell.

CHURCH NOTICES
IN MEMORIAM
Sat 17th – People of the Parish
Sun 18th – Patrick, Statia & Eileen Doyle,
Templeshelin (A)
Sun 26th – Jim and Nora McGee, The Leap (A)
May they rest in peace.
Feast Days this week:
Thurs 22nd – St. Mary Magdalene.
Mary Magdalene stood by the Cross of Jesus; with two other women she discovered the empty tomb, she was granted an appearance of the Risen Lord early the same day.

BETTY McGRATH R.I.P.
Betty was born in South Street, New Ross on May 10th 1935, the family moved to Quay Street in 1937. She was the eldest of seven children of Patrick and Mary Ann Nolan, including Cellie, Anne, Patrick, Robert, John and Michael. Two of whom predeceased Betty, her sister Anne who died in a drowning accident in July 1942 and Cellie who died of a terminal illness in September 1983.
Betty received her first and second level education at St. Mary, New Ross and also studied Domestic Science at the Mercy Convent, Carrick-on-Suir. Later she did a commercial course at New Ross Vocational School. She went to London in 1957 and worked in many establishments specialising in accounts. She lived in various locations in London and had a wonderful knowledge of the City and was very au fait with London Transport. Late in life she married Paddy McGrath, a native of Mullingar, a member of the staff of the BBC World Service and moved to Ilford, Essex, where she made many friends and was actively involved in her Parish.
Betty returned to reside in Ireland over ten years ago and was very happy in Adamstown. She passed away peacefully on July 1st at Wexford General Hospital following a brief illness. May her gentle soul rest in peace.

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
The Power of One.
One Tree can give life to a forest,
One Smile can start a friendship.
One Hand can uplift a soul.
One Idea can shape the future.
One Candle can wipe out darkness.
One Laugh can conquer gloom.
One Touch can show that they care.
One Life can make a difference.
Be that ‘ONE’ to day.

FAMINE MEMORIAL AT JOHNSTOWN CASTLE
The highly acclaimed Famine Memorial ‘1845 Memento Mori’ is presently being assembled by the artist Paula Stokes and will go on exhibition at Johnstown Castle on July 17th.
The 1845 hand-blown glass potatoes is a Famine Memorial to the Irish Potato Famine. This beautiful exhibition marks the year the potato blight came to Ireland, and the beginning of a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration in Ireland. Over 1.5 million people died and a further 1 million emigrated to Australia, Canada and America. The exhibition is well worth a visit, also the Famine Cottage and Irish Agricultural Museum, all practically on our doorstep.
MISSION OF MERCY- (Bill McStay: Ireland’s Own)
When American warships brought food to famine Ireland.
Though there had been localised outbreaks of famine in Ireland before the mid-nineteenth century, it was the years 1846-1851 which unleashed the Great Famine.
It has been estimated that Ireland lost over two million of its people to death or emigration. The port of New York alone recorded the arrival of 652,000 immigrants throughout the Famine period. They told of the harrowing conditions they had left behind, where the winter months had been bitterly cold with unusually heavy falls of snow. There was an outpouring of sympathy across America, a meeting to organise relief resulted in shiploads of food and clothing departing ports such as Philadelphia, Boston and New York. On 9th February 1847, George M. Dallas, Vice President of the U.S. chaired a huge Public meeting in Washington. Donations flowed in, including a noteworthy contribution of $710 from the Choctaw Indian Tribe. Even though road and canal tolls were waived by the US authorities, and the British Government announced they would meet the cost of cross-ocean freight charges, there was a shortage of available ships. The US Congress voted on 8th March to release for service the Navy ships Jamestown and Macedonian, with each to have a civilian captain and crew. Commencing their task on St. Patrick’s Day, the Boston dockers, many of them Irish, stowed the Jamestown’s cargo, volunteering to do so without pay. On 24th March she left the port and dropped anchor in Queenstown (Cobh) Harbour on 12th April.
The Cork Examiner reported the arrival of this noble ship, majestically gliding in under a cloud of canvas. The cargo, of food and clothing was valued at £7,137. Captain Forbes later reported on how he had accompanied the well-known priest, Fr. Theobald Matthew, on a visit to Cork city. He was appalled by the misery he saw … hovels crowded with the sick and dying; every corner filled with pale careworn creatures. Overcoming problems with another ship the Macedonia, Forbes volunteered himself as captain for the second time, on 28th July she docked in Cobh to a welcome equally as ecstatic as that of her predecessor, one of the crew of the Macedonian recited a poem he had composed himself.” Brothers, although the ocean rolls between our homes. No ocean rolls between our hearts.
With suffering soul Columbia has seen pale Erin’s wretchedness”.
The Irish would prove a resilient people, applying their strength and spirit to help build America’s cities, canals and railroads. Later they would fight with notable bravery on both sides in the Civil War, and in America’s external wars.
They would in time, be admired for their contribution to their adopted land. They would amply fulfil the prophecy made by the American Orestes Brownson: “Out of these narrow lanes, dirty streets and damp cellars, will come some of the noblest sons of our country”

DID YOU KNOW?
The piece that protrudes from the top end of an umbrella is called a ‘ferrule’. The word ‘ferrule’ is also used to describe the piece of metal that holds a rubber eraser on a pencil.