St Patrick’s Day parade: d
THE WEATHER WAS CHILLY BUT THE COLOURS WERE BRIGHT AND THE SMILES WIDE. HUBERT MURPHY WATCHED THE FUN UNFOLD IN DROGHEDA AND ARDEE
IT takes months and months of organisation to get a St Patrick’s Day parade organised. Routes, stewards, insurance, booking bands, getting funding, it can be a thankless and sometimes faceless task. People just turn up and expect everything to be done and dusted. So when the weather reports started to predict snow for last weekend, there were more than a few anxious moments as the weather forecast was checked time and time again.
But in the end - we escaped - for 24 hours, and one thing that the parade didn’t get was a surprise late entry - a snow plough!
Drogheda and Ardee both delivered again on the day, despite the chilly winds and the rugby on the box.
An entry that attracted great interest in both locations was the helicopter - courtesy of the Coast Guard.
It took many months to build the wooden structure from scratch and no doubt it will be a focal point whenever the Coast Guard go on parade from now on.
Drogheda saw Lolo Robinson from the Fleadh Cheoil committee take on the role of Grand Marshal and indeed the mood was really all about the August celebration that will grace the town in 2018 and 2019.
They had a couple of wonderful floats on display while Cllr Frank Godfrey also got into the spirit of the occasion, even bringing former Grand National winner Caughoo along with him.
Meade Potato in Lobinstown, Drogheda Hire, IFM, the Daffodil Day crew, Kid Kast, GR Recovery, Inver Colpa rowers and Wogan Build were just some of the entries, while community and sports groups abounded.
Full credit to the Wolfe Tones club as they came out in full force, all with flags and they were probably the most colourful walking group.
The Newtown Blues had the Joe Ward Cup with them while St Mary’s Donore also attended with such groups as the Wynn School of Music, Boyne AC and Boyne RFC, the Robinson School of Dance, the Glen Emmets, Albion Rovers, the Oliver Plunketts and the Boomerang Youth Service.
Culture Connect brought great life to the day as well, a very enthusiastic piper accompanied by some Samba drumming and flags from numerous locations around the world.
The various emergency services were out in full force and a number of bands entertained, from the Lourdes and the Drogheda combinations to the Meath Accordian, the Dublin All Stars, and Longstone, Co Down.
Maybe the most appropriate end of parade entry you’ll ever see was provided by the Energy Centre - promoting warmth in the home.
Colman leads out the Ardee parade
Meanwhile, Ardee hosted it’s annual gathering as well at 3pm, the icy weather and the Ireland v England rugby game having a bearing on numbers.
The great enthusiasm was there as ever and full credit to those that braved the elements including the students from Scoil Mhuire na Trocaire who showed off their hand made accessories for their entry.
Well known local pharamacist Colman O’Flynn was the Grand Marshal and he spoke about the great honour to the MC on the day, Hughie O’Neill.
The Ardee Concert Band were joined by other marchers and indeed by some archers too, Ann Marie Murray, one of Ireland’s top performers leading them out.
Square United, the Showbiz kids from Drumconrath, Kingscourt and Ardee, the Boyne Valley Cottage were just of the other entries on the day.