Category Archives: NEWS

TYRONE TRAGEDY

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Police cordon at Aghindarragh Road

Police cordon at Aghindarragh Road

TYRONE has seen many tragedies over the years, including ones that have affected the GAA community, both directly and indirectly. I have reported on some in the past. The latest tragic death in the county took place in the countryside around Augher, in the parish of Clogher, close to the border with County Monaghan. As the crow flies, it is only a few miles to the scene of another community in mourning, the parish of Donagh, where the body of 19 year-old Jason McGovern (Knocknagrave, Tydavnet) was returned home in a candlelit vigil last night. The links between the two areas, cut off when the main cross-border road was blocked, remain close. Jason’s father Seamus comes from the parish of Clogher. The two deaths however are unconnected.

The PSNI say they have begun a murder enquiry following the death of a 60 year-old man whose body was found at Aghindarragh Road near Augher on Friday evening. The location is not far from the historic site known as St Patrick’s chair and well in Altdaven wood. An 18 year-old man was arrested and is continuing to help police with their enquiries. The man who died was Wishie (Aloysius) Hackett. He worked as a joiner and was a prominent member of St Macartan’s GAA Club in Augher. Clogher parish priest Canon Lawrence Dawson said the family were numb and could not explain what had happened. He described Mr Hackett as a wonderful community man who had done much for the area and for local (Gaelic) football. A statement from the GAA club said the family had appealed for privacy at this time of mourning. A one minute’s silence in memory of Mr Hackett was held before Tyrone’s Dr McKenna Cup match against Derry at Healy Park in Omagh. Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew said she expressed her sympathies to all concerned especially family and friends who were sadly dealing with this news. She said her thoughts and prayers were with those affected by the death. Ulster Unionist councillor Allan Rainey said the man’s death had shocked and numbed the community. “They just can’t really take it in that something of this nature could happen,” he added. A forensic team spent most of Saturday carrying out investigations beside a house and the surrounding area was cordoned off for several hours.

House at Aghindarragh Road

House at Aghindarragh Road

UPDATE:  An 18 year-old man has been charged with the murder of Wishie Hackett. The teenager, who was detained on Friday, was charged after detectives were given until (tonight) Monday evening to charge or release him. He is due to appear before Omagh Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday. The PSNI say a 17-year-old youth arrested in connection with the incident on Sunday has been released, pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service. It is believed three of Mr Hackett’s children were out of the country when news of his death emerged. They are travelling home for his funeral which is due to take place at St Macartan’s Church (the Forth chapel) at Ballynagurragh near Augher on Wednesday.

St MacCartan's church, Augher

St Macartan’s church, Augher

Photos: © Michael Fisher 2013

OMAGH COURT

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My journey yesterday was on the road to OMAGH in County Tyrone. This morning I was there for the court sitting……

Omagh Magistrates' Court

Omagh Magistrates’ Court

Four men and a juvenile, all from Omagh, have appeared at the town’s magistrates’ court charged in connection with the death of Jason McGovern, a student from Tydavnet in County Monaghan. One of them was also charged with assaulting a friend of the teenager after a night out in Omagh last weekend. All faced a charge of unlawfully fighting causing an affray in the early hours of New Year’s Eve. Mr McGovern from Knocknagrave was attacked on two separate occasions. He was found dead at a friend’s house at Mullan village near Emyvale in County Monaghan on New Year’s Eve. Appearing at Omagh Magistrates Court were James O’Brien from Rylagh Road, Mark Donnelly from Greencastle Road, both 21, Aaron Davis, aged 19, from Beattie Villas and 18 year-old Aaron Bradley, from Waterworks Road in Omagh. Mr Bradley was also charged with assaulting a friend of Mr McGovern’s.  The juvenile cannot be named for legal reasons. An investigating officer said the PSNI were objecting to bail because there were a large number of witnesses and it would take a few weeks to speak to them all. The district judge agreed to bail subject to a number of conditions. Suitable addresses for the defendants would have to be found at least three miles outside Omagh and approved by the PSNI. If this condition is met, they would be released on their own bail of £500 and two sureties of £750. They were ordered not to enter Omagh, except for court appearances, to be tagged, and to report to police three times a week. They also had a curfew imposed by the district judge and they are not allowed to enter licensed premises or to contact witnesses in the case.

UPDATE:  A 21 year-old woman arrested in connection with the murder of Jason McGovern has been charged with perverting the course of justice and is due to appear at Omagh Magistrates Court on Tuesday 29th January.

FROM SLANE TO OMAGH

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Plaque at Ledwidge Cottage

Plaque at Ledwidge Cottage

My journey this evening took me along the N2 heading Northwards from Dublin and past a sign indicating “Ledwidge Country” outside Slane in Co. Meath. It’s a good staring point as I mentioned it at the end of yesterday’s blog about Maev Conway-Piskorski. Her mother Margaret (Maighréad Uí Chonmhidhe) had given a lecture at the folk school in Bettystown in 1966 about the poet-soldier Francis Ledwidge. I quote from the book “Seanchas na Midhe” (eds. Ní Chonmhidhe Piskorska & Brück 2009):

“Margaret Conway remembered meeting the poet when she was a young girl in Colga, when he visited her brothers and “fellow poets” at their home. Her painting of the Maiden Tower at Mornington, reproduced on the cover of this booklet, depicts a scene romantically associated with Francis Ledwidge and with Ellie, the young woman who inspired many of his poems” 

Meath Lore

Meath Lore

Ledwidge was born in Slane in 1888 and after joining the Volunteers in 1913 enlisted in the British Army the following year in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He was killed at the battle of Ypres (Ieper) in Flanders in July 1917.

In 1982 a museum was opened by the Omagh writer Benedict Kiely in the cottage where Ledwidge was born. There is a plaque in his memory attached to the front wall of the cottage. It states that it was erected by the Slane guild of Muintir na Tíre on September 9th 1962. A copy of the plaque is set in stone at the approach to the bridge over the River Boyne at Slane.

Ledwidge Cottage & Museum

Ledwidge Cottage & Museum

Continuing past Slane I stopped in County Louth close to the county boundary with Monaghan, where the province of Ulster begins. I watched another Tyrone writer and journalist Martina Devlin being interviewed on the RTÉ Nationwide programme about her home town of Omagh. Talking about the education she received at Loreto primary school, she mentioned the influence of the local poet, novelist and writer, Alice Milligan, whose background is very interesting. From a Protestant family and educated at Methodist College, Belfast, she went on to become an Irish nationalist and a leading figure in the Irish literary revival, who mixed with people like Yeats, Casement and James Connolly. She edited a magazine produced in Belfast at the end of the 19thC, Shan Van Vocht and was an organiser for the Gaelic League. Born at Gortmore, outside Omagh in September 1866, she died in April 1953 and is buried in the Church of Ireland cemetery at Drumragh.

Grave of Alice Milligan

Grave of Alice Milligan

DJ O'Donoghue & George Sigersondiscussing memorial

DJ O’Donoghue & George Sigerson
discussing memorial

While researching William Carleton in the UCD Archive I found a number of letters from Alice Milligan then living at University Road Belfast (near Queen’s University) written to the biographer DJ O’Donoghue (librarian at University College). One of the letters enclosed five poems (LA15/1149). She also agrees to contribute to the Mangan memorial fund, a project which O’Donoghue was working on with George Sigerson to provide a memorial to the poet at St Stephen’s Green. The photo of the two men chatting about the Mangan project is copyright © IVRLA  (Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive)  and is reproduced with the kind permission of Professor Helen Solterer  from an original in  UCD Library Special Collections. The bust of James Clarence Mangan can be seen if you are walking through St Stephen’s Green not far from Newman House and near the middle of the park.

James Clarence Mangan

James Clarence Mangan

UPDATE: Thanks to Charles Fitzgerald for having read the above and sending in the following quotation from a Ledwidge poem (Ceol Sidhe):

“And many a little whispering thing
Is calling the Shee.
The dewy bells of evening ring,
And all is melody”.

The poem and other works by Ledwidge can be found here.

TV EXECUTIVE AND PLACENAME SCHOLAR

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Funeral of Maedhbh Ní Chonmhídhe-Piskorska

Funeral of Maedhbh Ní Chonmhídhe-Piskorska

Funeral of Maedhbh Ní Chonmhídhe-Piskorska

Funeral of Maedhbh Ní Chonmhídhe-Piskorska

Many will fondly remember the television series “Wanderly Wagon” on RTÉ (1967-82). They may not however recall who the executive in charge of childrens’ television was. Maedhbh Ní Chonmhídhe-Piskorska (Maeve Conway-Piskorski) died at her home in Dublin on New Year’s Day after a short illness, aged 83. After becoming head of childrens’ programming in RTÉ she was appointed head of the education department in 1969. As the Irish Times reports, she came from Ballivor in County Meath and received her secondary education at the St Louis Convent, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan. She studied at UCD and received an MA in French literature, then joined the Irish Placenames Commission (An Coimisiún Logainmeacha) as a temporary assistant in 1952 along with Ciarán Mac Mathúna, who was also to join Radio Éireann later. After two years in the Commission, she started as a producer in Radio Éireann in 1954. Maeve retired from RTÉ nearly 22 years ago in 1991. She took part in the group Age and Opportunity and belonged to Parlaimint na mBan (womens’ Parliament), which sought to gain recognition for women in the Irish language and cultural movement. She also published two books of writings – including Seanchas na Midhe (Meath lore & history) – by her mother, the teacher and archaeologist Maighréad Ní Chonmhidhe (Margaret Conway, founding editor of Ríocht na Midhe). Copies of the “Seanchas” were brought to Holy Cross Church in Dundrum where Maedhbh’s funeral was held this morning. The book contains a selection of lectures given by Margaret to groups such as the Irish Countrywomens’ Association and Macra na Tuaithe on subjects such as Oliver Goldsmith and the Slane poet-soldier Francis Ledwidge.

Meath Lore

Meath Lore

Former RTÉ editor of religious programmes Fr Dermod McCarthy was a concelebrant. Many retired RTÉ staff were among the mourners, including Mike Burns and Padraig O Gaora, as well as former Directors General George Waters, Bob Collins and Cathal Goan. Pádhraic Ó Ciardha represented TG4. Former NUJ Irish Secretary Jim Eadie and Press Ombudsman John Horgan were also there to say farewell to a person who in different ways made a big contribution to Irish culture both on and off the box. Sympathy goes to her husband Ryszard and son Stefan and the family circle. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis. Maedhbh was buried in her native Ballivor. Her obituary appeared in the Meath Chronicle with a picture of her speaking at the launch of the writings of her mother, “Meath: Towards a History”.

Meadhbh Ní Chonmhídhe-Piskorska

Meadhbh Ní Chonmhídhe-Piskorska

NEW YEAR GRIEF IN MONAGHAN

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Jason McGovern

Jason McGovern

Death makes no distinctions of time. But losing a loved one during a holiday period when celebrations are going on all around is particularly tragic. The parish of Donagh in North Monaghan is grieving the loss of 19 year-old student Jason McGovern from Knocknagrave, Tyadvnet (which happens to be the townland of my late father-in-law). PSNI detectives are carrying out an investigation following the incidents in Omagh early on New Year’s Eve morning which are thought to have led to the death of Jason from head injuries. Canon Macartan MacQuaid described Jason as a very caring and affable young man and said his family was struggling to cope with his death. As more details emerged surrounding the death of Jason, I thought about another New Year’s Eve tragedy that happened in the nearby parish of Tydavnet, when two young schoolgirls lost their lives in a drowning accident at a frozen Hollywood Lake near Scotstown. The news came through as I was about to join some Belfast neighbours at a New Year’s Eve party and next morning on New Year’s Day I was at the scene to watch the Garda operation as they searched for the two bodies in the frozen lake. The two who died were cousins, 12 year-old Louise McAloon from Hollywood and Veronica McAloon aged 10 from Aghabog. As I passed St Mary’s church at Urbleshanny, Scotstown, this afternoon I stopped briefly at the grave of the two girls, who were laid to rest beside each other twelve years ago on January 3rd 2001.

Urbleshanny graveyard

Urbleshanny graveyard

Rest in peace Louise & Veronica; sympathy also to the family and friends of Jason McGovern.

Louise McAloon

Louise McAloon

Veronica McAloon

Veronica McAloon

LOCKERBIE: BEFORE AND AFTER

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Helga Mosey's Grave

A small stone near a church on a Scottish hillside marks the grave of 19 year-old student HELGA MOSEY. She was among 243 passengers on board Pan Am flight 103 brought down by a bomb on December 21st 1988. The explosion at 31,000 feet and immediate crash also killed 16 crew and 11 residents of Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway, where Clipper Maid of the Seas came down. I visited the well-kept churchyard at Tundergarth some four miles from Lockerbie four years ago, as I was returning from Newcastle on Tyne. My younger daughter, then 23, had just graduated. Only now on the 24th anniversary of the bombing am I seeking out the story of Helga and some of the other victims. On a gap year in the United States, Helga was returning to her job as a nanny and hoped to study music at Lancaster University. One of her favourite songs, a German aria “Bist du bei mir”, was sung at her memorial service. Helga’s body had been found where sections of the Boeing 747 including the nose cone fell from the sky, some 500 yards from the parish church. For Helga’s parents, Pentecostal Minister Reverend John Mosey and his German-born wife Lisa, the loss of their daughter was a watershed according to a Daily Telegraph interview three years ago. For them, everything is now “before” or “after” Lockerbie. One of the things they did to commemorate Helga was to set up a trust to help disadvantaged children in several countries, including Libya, where those behind the bomb attack came from.

John Cummock's Grave

In the same graveyard lie the remains of one of the many American victims. Like Helga, JOHN BINNING CUMMOCK was also flying from London Heathrow to JFK airport in New York. He was a 38 year-old father of three from Coral Gables in Florida. His widow Victoria Vice President of the Pan Am 103 Families group representing over 180 next-of-kin made a submission to Congressman Charles Schumer when the US House of Representatives was debating counter-terrorism legislation in 1995. Tomas Van Tienhoven from Buenos Aires (and London) is also buried at Tundergarth. The main memorial to the victims is at Dryfesdale cemetery in Lockerbie, where three of the victims from the plane and one local resident are buried (Britton: “Elegies of Darkness: Commemorations of the Bombing of Pan Am 103” p.65). Three of the victims were of Irish nationality. Brigid (53) and Thomas (51)Concannon lived at Banbury in Oxfordshire and were travelling with their 16 year-old son Sean, born in Britain. Peter Dix aged 35, a management consultant, lived in London and was originally from Dublin. His former school St Columba’s, Whitechurch, has an annual poetry prize named after him. Syracuse University will also have a special reason today for pausing to remember the 35 students who were caught up in the terrorist attack, returning from visits abroad. In May 2000 the trial began in the Netherlands of two Libyan intelligence operatives accused of the bombing and the murders of 270 people. One of them was convicted, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi. After serving eight years of a minimum 27 year sentence he was released by Scotland in 2009 on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. He died at his home in Tripoli earlier this year, aged 60.

Cairn Plaque

Cairn Plaque

Lockerbie Memorial Cairn    
Lockerbie Memorial Cairn

There is another memorial where many of the families will be gathering on this anniversary. It’s at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington DC. On a visit three years ago, I remember seeing the memorial cairn which is crafted from 270 blocks of red sandstone quarried in the Lockerbie area. I stopped to say a prayer for the victims and I do so again tonight.  MAY THEY REST IN PEACE.

SUPPORT LOCAL PAPERS

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Northern Standard

Northern Standard

VALUE OF THE NORTHERN STANDARD NEWSPAPER

MICHAEL FISHER is a former reporter with RTÉ News in Dublin and Belfast. He is a leading member of the National Union of Journalists, which has campaigned in support of local newspapers in Ireland and Britain……
When a group including local businessman John Harden started a campaign thirty years ago to save Monaghan general hospital I reported on the issue for RTÉ News. The Northern Standard through its columnns kept me informed of their activities and played an important role in mobilising support for the group. In June 1983 the headline on the front page read” “Hospital for Sale”. Since then, the Standard has carried hundreds of articles informing people about the issue and taking the politicians to task in its leading articles. Much attention focused on the actions of the health officials who decided that a general or county hospital did not fit the requirements of the 21st Century. The downgrading of local health services continues to make headlines in 2012. This story is just one example of the importance of having a strong local newspaper, prepared to challenge the politicians when necessary and to defend local interests. The archives of the Standard will also be important for any historians wanting to study the saga of the hospital campaign. Who said what and who has ultimately been proven correct. My interest in the story was because my grandfather as the new County Registrar (solicitor) had helped to establish the county hospital. His appointment in 1937 was in the news pages of the Northern Standard. In one of his diaries he recorded how he sent £1 3d to the Northern Standard to ensure he had copies of the weekly paper in 1964. He would post the paper to my uncle Fr Reggie Smyth when he was a missionary priest in Nigeria. Nowadays people at home and abroad have web sites and the internet to keep in touch. But many thankfully still reach for the hard copy of the Standard once it appears in the shops on a Thursday as they want to find out what happened in the county during the week. An important sections in any local newspaper is the one containing news from the villages and the Standard is lucky to have a network of correspondents to fill the relevant columns. This is where the reader will get a sense of what goes on in ordinary life and the slot provides a useful guide to the activities of different groups such as the ICA or the ramblers. Followers of sport whether GAA, rugby or soccer will also find extensive coverage of their teams in the local newspaper. Or if you want to know how to spend your weekend, look at the entertainment pages. The Northern Standard is one of the few Irish newspapers that remains a broadsheet and also in the ownership of a local family, who have always been dedicated to the cause of Monaghan in whatever sector. Let us hope it will continue to provide a valuable service as a paper reflecting events in the county and prepared to take up a cause when necessary in the service of local democracy.

IRISH NEWS: FAITH MATTERS

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Faith Matters page 28 Irish News Thursday 13th September 2012.

Six Siblings Achieved More Than 350 Years Service to the Catholic Church

AS THE Poor Clare Order marks its 800th anniversary, a Co Monaghan family has celebrated its own milestone of service to the Catholic Church, writes Michael Fisher. It’s a record of service to the Church in Ireland that must be unique — three priests and three nuns from the same Inniskeen family who between them have achieved more than 350 years in the religious life. Two of the McCluskey family — a priest, Fr Peter, and a nun, Sr Ethna — held their diamond (60) and platinum (70) jubilees respectively earlier this summer at the St Louis Convent in Dundalk. Mass was concelebrated by Fr Peter and their youngest brother, Canon Brian, a priest for 52 years who served in Roslea, Co.Fermanagh and other parishes in the diocese of Clogher. Sr Ethna is a former superior of the St Louis convent in Kilkeel, Co.Down. Patrick Kavanagh was a near neighbour of the McCluskey family at Inniskeen and Canon Brian recalls how the poet used to borrow books from his mother’s private library at the local national school where she taught. Six of the McCluskeys gathered at the convent in Dundalk for the Mass. Fr Peter now lives at Inchicore in Dublin and Sr Ethna at the St Louis Convent in Dundalk. Canon Brian now lives in Belfast with his sister Maire — who used to work for the Northern Ireland orthopaedic service — and celebrated his golden jubilee two years ago. He still says Mass at St Brigid’s Parish in Belfast. They were joined by two other sisters — Una McMahon, a retired nurse living in Belfast, and Sr Nuala, a St Louis nun for 57 years and now retired and living at the convent in Dundalk. Two members of the family, both with 59 years in religious life, were unable to be present. Fr Gerry McCluskey is a Kiltegan priest in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Sr Aileen is a Mercy nun who is in Dublin and, like her brother Fr Gerry, is just one year short of her diamond jubilee. The contribution of the McCluskey family to religious life so far is 357 years — Sr Ethna SSL (70 years); Fr Peter OMI (60); Sr Nuala SSL (57); Fr Gerard SPS (59); Sr Aileen RSM (59); and Canon Brian (52).

Faith Matters column

Faith Matters column

KILKENNYS LOST & FOUND IN EUROPE

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Irish traditional ballad group The Kilkennys have proudly announced their tour to Germany in October. There is even a nice picture of the two flags, Irish and German, on their facebook page announcing the news, But hang on a second: there is a list of eight venues but none of the names seems German to me (apart from Bremen, the name of a theatre in Copenhagen). So my advice to the Kilkennys is: buy an atlas lads before you depart. Nul points for geography. For those interested, the list is as follows:

“If you are in Germany (sic) this coming October, be sure to check out The Kilkennys”:

Okt 12* NETHERLANDS Blokker De Harmonie
Okt 13* NETHERLANDS Hoogeveen De Tamboer
Okt 14* NETHERLANDS Sneek Bolwerk
Okt 15 FINLAND Helsinki To Be Confirmed
Okt 16 FINLAND Tampere Tampere Hall
Okt 17 DENMARK Esbjerg Musikhuset
Okt 18 DENMARK Copenhagen Bremen
Okt 19* DENMARK Aalborg Congres & Culture Centre

The names of the countries in the second column have been added by myself and do not appear on the group’s website. But on another page of their website, they list them all as “German tour” and have both Esjberg and Copenhagen listed as being in Germany! Now I am all in favour of European integration but I think they are really pushing it a bit too far, especially as the Danes don’t particularly like the Germans. Interestingly, the abbreviation for the month (Okt) looks more like a German spelling (Oktober) so perhaps the group are dealing with an agent in Germany and their German dates have not yet been arranged. The first gig on the above list is scheduled for the small Dutch village of Blokker. If you google it, you will find that this is where the Beatles played in one of two concerts they gave in Holland in 1964. So perhaps we can expect greater things from the Kilkennys in the future, once they have got their geography right! I remember seeing them in concert in Dundrum, Dublin where they performed their Clancy Brothers show and it was an enjoyable night.

UPDATE: Following remarks on facebook by myself and a number of others, the website has now been amended with details of a EUROPEAN tour by the group. Go n-éiri an bóthar libh.

TYDAVNET GOES TO GEEL

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For the past 20 years, Tydavnet in Co.Monaghan has been twinned with the town of Geel in the Antwerpen province of Flanders in Belgium. The connection is through the story of St Dympna (Tigh Damhnait in Irish means Dympna’s house). Some groups have gone over for the five-yearly St-Dimpna Ommegang or procession in May. More recently Monaghan delegations have participated in the Geel Euro Festival in August every five years. I was there in 2007 and went back for this year’s events, reporting for the www.tydavnet.com website. I have put my diary pieces over the six days into one article to give you an idea of how the group of 22 (including the Mayor of Monaghan and three Councillors) spent their time with the host families who provided free accommodation for them.

ALL ABOARD FOR GEEL

A group of eighteen people from the parish of Tydavnet  has headed off (Wednesday morning 15th August 9am) for the town of Geel in Belgium, with which we have been twinned for the past twenty years. Some of those on the trip have visited Geel before and for others it will be their first trip to see Flanders. The group will be accompanied by the Mayor of Monaghan Cllr Hugh McElvaney from Corcaghan, along with Councillors David Maxwell, Seamus Treanor and Pat Treanor. They will receive a welcome from the Mayor of Geel and the local council. Thursday is the day for “It’s a Knockout” games or “Spel zonder Grenzen” involving all twelve participating European countries. Sounds like we are in for a dunking as we have been advised by Sheila to bring our swimsuits! Friday is the day for a conference on active ageing. Saturday is the day for cultural trips and a big show. On Sunday the day begins with a church service and there is usually a procession afterwards. The event is usually held every five years. Each person or couple is given hospitality by local residents, some of whom have visited Tydavnet since the link was established. For more about the St Dympna connection see the section under “History of Tydavnet”. Hopefully we can keep you informed of progress on this news page. Translate “geel” from Flemish into English and you get “yellow” so here is the news about EUROFEESTEN 2012 from Geel aka Yellow!

GEEL DAY 1

All arrived safely in Geel and were met by the host families. André and Mia are hosts once again for Evelyn and myself; Donagh is staying nearby and tonight Hermann and Annie gave us dinner. Regards from all to Harry & Deirdre. Plenty of good Belgian beer when we arrived. I led a sing song  briefly in the festival tent before we went our separate ways. Plenty of excitement tomorrow in the “It’s a knockout” games involving twelve European countries. Good night all until Thursday.

GEEL DAY 2

Killylough won the gold in another European tug-of-war competition led by Paddy Sherry. The Tydavnet team representing Ireland finished eighth out of ten, ahead of Portugal and France (wooden spoon). Poland were the champions in the Spel zonder Grenzen (It’s a Knockout), represented by Czestochowa. Martin McKenna led our team and Sheila put on a swimsuit for some water-based game. I ended the final game dressed in a wig and yellow/red trousers as a symbol of Geel. All great fun. Cllr David Maxwell led the quiz and jigsaw team. He was also interviewed by local TV (as was Martin after the tug-of-war victory). David was left confused in a game where the Irish currency produced was a copy of an old Allied Irish Bank £20 sterling note with a picture of Queen Elizabeth!

Maybe these Belgians with their good connections in Brussels have some inside knowledge of the future of the Irish economy……..!!! This evening I led a sing-song of Irish favourites and Flemish melodies at Ten Aard parish centre, close to where we are staying. Plenty of rabble-rousing songs including “A Nation Once Again” led by the Mayor Hugh McElvaney who has to be up early am for a conference on active ageing. Eugene & Mary Sherry have just arrived (staying next door) but took a wrong connection on a train so their arrival was delayed a bit. They will join us tomorrow Friday for a trip to a museum in Antwerpen. Oiche mhaith.

GEEL DAY 3

Owing to a technical glitch, this report is coming to you from Geel slightly later than the previous ones…….well that’s my excuse anyway. In reality, my kind host André produced a glass or two of Powers and we did not get to bed until late after solving the problems of the world (especially Belgian politics!!). So starting backwards, we returned home to the peaceful suburb of Ten Aard at 2am, having said farewell to the Mayor of Geel Frans Peters and his wife, who were catching up with old friends. They spotted us sitting outside the Irish pub in the Grote Markt (town square) and came over to speak to Martin McKenna and Sheila. She left us temporarily to be introduced to a Cork man in the building industry here in Geel. He told us there were a few Monaghan people working with him, so if you happen to know any, send them along to the square tonight (Saturday) and you will find us there. Earlier the group joined representatives of nine other European countries at the official opening of the EUROFEESTEN. A great spectacle, very lively and colourful. Ireland was mentioned at the start of the presentation…..20 years of twinning Tydavnet:Geel. But we were the last country to be introduced and welcomed from the stage, and as Amhran na bhfiann was played, Sheila McKenna in true Katie Taylor style (much better in fact than the Olympian!) waved the tricolour, while the Mayor of Monaghan Hugh McElvaney wearing his chain of office

Seamus Treanor & Hugh McElvaney

Seamus Treanor & Hugh McElvaney

sat in the front row with Cllr Seamus Treanor. Instead of staying for the concert we went for a lovely meal at the museum restaurant where I sampled a local speciality of a pot of mussels in white wine and chips. As for the mixed grill which some of the others had, the plate was huge and the food generally has been excellent. Heading off for a trip soon to Vaals so no time to tell you how we got on with the window shopping (with a slight difference) in Antwerpen. Those in our small group of eleven will know exactly what happened as we left St Paul’s (Dominican) church having heard the story of Mary Magdalene and then headed for the River Schelde and the old port area……….

GEEL DAY 4

This was the day when guests are usually taken away for a trip by their host family and it has been the warmest so far, up to 35C. Tydavnet parish where the show was being held is close to the three county hollow on Sliabh Beagh. Today André drove us to the “Drielandenpunt” where the three countries meet. We travelled from Belgium into the Netherlands and came within a short distance of Germany. From the Wilhelmina observation tower we got a wonderful view, looking across to Aachen and beyond. We also stopped in the nearby village of Vaals to visit a posh hotel for coffee and cake. The reason we went to the Hotel Castle Bloemendal is because it used to be a finishing school for girls, run by the Sacred Heart nuns. My mother left Castleblayney as a 16 year-old having been a boarder at the Sacred Heart convent in Armagh and was sent to Vaals a year or two before the outbreak of the second world war. She learned to speak German. So it was fascinating to see around the hotel and grounds, where a wedding was being held. Another coincidence is that a neighbour of ours in Dublin got married there a few years ago. Time afterwards to return to Flanders via a French-speaking province in Wallonia where the signs said “Police” rather than “Politie”.

Had a short walk alongside a lock on the wide Bocholt-Herentals canal and had a nice meal in Geel before returning to André and Mia’s. There will be an international Mass in town in the morning. There is a European market in the centre and also Ria’s photographic exhibition to visit, then a Eurovision song contest….no sorry that should read a European sing-song when we will be singing (appropriately perhaps) The Wild Rover. Time for some sleep now so oiche mhaith from Geel.

GEEL DAY 5

The visit to Geel by a group of 22 from Tydavnet ended tonight in great style with a European sing-song in the newly refurbished market square. This was also the hottest day so far, up to 38C and even tonigh the reading coming home to Ten Aard in André’s car was 25C at 1:30am! So this must have been one of the hottest places in Europe. It was certainly one of the most exciting. The day began with the Irish representatives inluding the Mayor of Monaghan assembling for 11am Mass at St Amand’s church in the town centre. Designed to make the service as inclusive as possible for ten nations, the Mass was celebrated in the three main languages of Belgium: Flemish, French and English; some of the music was in Latin; at the Our Father the priest encouraged us to join in in our own language so I prayed in Irish. In his introductory remarks the celebrant (vicar of several parishes in the greater Geel area) spoke in diverse tongues including Spanish, Portugese and Romanian; he apologised for not being able to master Polish! The Mass ended with Beethoven’s ode to joy, the European anthem, again a multi-lingual experience and I have rarely experienced such an uplifting end to a Mass. The group has enjoyed the stay in Geel with a number of first-timers already talking about returning. There will be one change later this year. Frans Peeters who I met in the main square this evening will no longer be Mayor as he is retiring from politics before the October election. All in Tydavnet wish him well for the work he has done to make 20 years of twinning with Tydavnet/Monaghan a success.

GEEL DAY 6 : THE ROVERS RETURN

The wild rovers have returned and I hope by this stage all are settled back in their homes in Tydavnet and Monaghan (and Granard). I am writing this from Dublin and already my mother is awaiting with interest the news of my visit to Bloemendal/Vaals where she went to finishing school in 1936 for a year,  having set off on her own from her parents’ home at Conabury, Castleblayney, aged 16. So I filled in a bit of family history on Saturday, as did Cllr David Maxwell’s wife Jill. Their host family in Geel brought them to the first world war battlefields near Ypres in Flanders (a trip I had made five years ago with our Belgian hosts). There they found the grave of her great grandfather from Louth (village), who was a soldier in the Irish Guards and died in 1917. Some visited the second world war cemetery in Geel this morning where a number of Irishmen are buried,  from the Irish Guards and other British Army regiments. At 1pm it was time to say farewell to our hosts who waved us goodbye as the coach left for Brussels airport. Among those on our flight was a man from Clones who immediately recognised Cllr Pat Treanor. I also spotted the Conservative unionist MEP and Agriculture Committee member Jim Nicholson from Armagh. He might well have been interested to see some of the large dairy farms around Geel which some of our group were taken to see. Owen McNally took time to check out the quality of the potatoes and the maize, which was planted alongside the roads without any of the hedges we are used to. A big thank you once again to all our hosts in Geel for the wonderful six days we spent with them. They have been invited to send a group or representatives over for the Gathering in 2013 and hopefully Tydavnet will be ready to welcome them. Photos of the visit and other memorabilia will be collected over the next few weeks so that we can show them sometime at the community centre. I also hope to expand on this diary at some stage. I hope you have enjoyed the reports and your comments (subject to approval!) are welcome at the end of the individual articles. Now to get back to watching the Rose of Tralee….!!!                                       Michael Fisher Monday 20th August

                                             GEEL GOLD FOR KILLYLOUGH

The It’s a Knockout/Games without Frontiers involving ten European countries in Geel last week was covered by a television crew from the local news channel. You can see how the men from Killylough including Paddy Sherry and the women led by Sheila McKenna took the twelve points by finishing first in the tug-of-war (the second game). Martin McKenna was interviewed as team captain. However the joker was reserved for another game (the quiz) and had we played it on the tug-of-war we could have improved our overall place by doubling the points awarded. The main thing is that it was fun participating. No bales of straw to be shifted in wheelbarrows this time! You can watch the video here.