Celebrationsfor Denis’s60thbash
THERE was something fishy about the plans for Denis O’Flaherty’s 60th birthday bash in the Glenside - the menu, which featured some of the finest quality catch of the day!
For Denis and his brothers, who run OS Fishing Limited, nothing but the best would do and fresh fish was brought in from the quay especially for the tailormade menu for the party.
The birthday boy was surrounded by family and friends to help mark the milestone birthday and Denis had more reason than most to celebrate. Four years ago he was seriously injured in a gas explosion.
A freak accident saw a gas canister explode as he was removing it from a boat and as a result he spent a week in a coma and a further five weeks in hospital.
‘He was very lucky,’ his wife Myra told the Drogheda Independent. ‘It was a big explosion and he was in hospital for six weeks. It was supposed to be empty, that’s what the gauge read but it wasn’t so when he went to open it it just exploded. He made a full recovery thank god and after that we kind of said if he got to 60 we’d have a big party and really mark the occasion.’
The couple live in Moorechurch in Julianstown and met when Denis was in the Air Corps in Gormanston. From there he went to work with Aer Lingus before joining his brothers in the family fishing business, based in Wexford where Denis is originally from.
He was joined for the celebrations by a host of family and friends, including the couples’ children David, Emer and Neil. Unfortunately their other son Conor is currently working in New York and wasn’t able to make the trip home for the party.
Also at the party were Denis’s three grandchildren Fionn (4), Aisling (3) and Roisín (2), who are the apple of his eye and had great fun running around and keeping everyone entertained.
Other guests included Denis’s brothers Seamus, John, Brendan, Michael and William, his sister Gemma and their families, his Mum Tilly O’Flaherty and his aunt Margaret King, relations who travelled home from England and friends from all over the country as well a long time friend and his wife who timed their visit home to be there for the celebrations.
‘It was a brilliant night, everybody had a ball. The band was Clockwise and they were fantastic, we danced the whole night,’ said Myra. ‘Denis was like the cat that had two tails nevermind two whiskers he was so happy with the way everything went.’
The colour theme for the party was the wexford colours of purple and gold and the inscription on the menu was ‘eat more fish’ in honour of the family business.
The birthday cake, created by Coulter and Black in Tullyallen, was shaped like a boat, resembling the first boat the brothers ever bought together - a Dutch trawler called The Hendrikje WD115.