JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS
great enrichment in the Carmelite community. These sisters have come from abroad to join with the Tallow Carmelite Sisters and have made St. Joseph’s Monastery their new home. These sisters are; Sr. Kokila from India, Sr. Catherine from The Philippines, Sr. Rose from East Timor and Sr. Mary Grace from Papua New Guinea.
At the Silver Jubilee celebrations in July of this year there was such a strong feeling of hope for the future, as well as a fond reminiscence on the past. Local people from the wider Tallow community who have close links with the Carmelite Sisters took part in what was a very moving ceremony and many members of the clergy and friends of the Tallow Carmelites were present on the day. People shared their stories of their personal connections with St Joseph’s Monastery and paid tributes to the Sisters for their ongoing work, which has provided solace to so many.
There are currently nine Sisters in St. Joseph’s Monastery who live a structured daily life with a strong focus on prayer. This includes communal prayer with the other Sisters, as well as private prayer and reflection.
Their presence in Tallow has spanned over 180 years and despite many adversities throughout those years, the Carmelite flame is still burning bright and will continue to do so for many years to come.
Special thanks are extended to Sr. Patrice and all at St Joseph’s Carmelite Monastery in Tallow for their co-operation in compiling this article.
There's a saying that if you remember the ’60s, you weren’t there. There was flower power, miniskirts, Elvis, The Beatles, Beatgroups, Showbands etc., and those of us who lived through the decade would regard it as the best years of our lives (or is that just me?).
While I loved The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in the early and mid 1960s, my taste changed and while I can say I love all kinds of music, top of my list has to be Country Music, especially of the American genre.
Harking back to the 1960s though, as well as the above-mentioned, I also loved songs from The Beach Boys and The Four Seasons. ‘Rag Doll’ was my favourite from the latter and ’Sloop John B’, ‘Surfin’ USA’ and ‘Barbara-Ann’ from The Beach Boys. There were of course, many other great groups and songs.
Back then I was in a band called The Cymbals along with Ronnie Dawson, Francis Kearney and Mick English and we regularly played at The Pound stage in
Kildinan - a regular Sunday night gathering during the summer months. Mickey Masterson also played the button accordion with us around that time. It was at The Pound I remember trying out ‘Barbara-Ann’ with myself having to do the bass line as well as the falsetto part (I only wish I could do it now), while the other lads filled in with harmonies of one kind or another.
‘The Pound’ consisted of a platform for dancing, with the band perched on a roughly made bandstand on the ditch. For electricity we had to take a long extension lead down the lane to Mrs
Cahill’s house, a lovely lady who was always more than obliging. The lads running the gig were locals - Dick Cahill who sadly died at a very young age, and Denis Noonan.
At around 10.30 or so, a collection would be made ‘to cover expenses’ and it would not be unusual to see a share of people scatter once the collection was announced. I’m not too sure that ‘Barbara-Ann’ fitted in too well with music tastes in Kildinan but we gave it to them, regardless.