A day at the races!
Limerick Racecourse was this year’s destination for the annual Fermoy Men’s Club Race Day held on Friday, May 26th.
Under clear blue skies, a busload of 25 racegoers arrived at 4pm ahead of the first race and were escorted to reserved tables at the exclusive restaurant on the 3rd floor of the main stand. From the balcony we had a panoramic view of the course, right in front of the finishing line, and enjoyed a very tasty 3-course dinner as part of the package. In the club sweep, where members had a horse in each race, the big winner on the night was retired teacher, Matt Bermingham.
When the racing finished, it didn’t signal the end of our day as part two involved a stop in Kilmallock on the way home for a few drinks and a singsong. Mike Houlihan’s bar (former Limerick hurler of the 1990’s) was our destination and we received a great welcome on arrival from the proprietor himself. As our visit was ahead of the eagerly
awaited Munster Championship ‘winner takes all’ clash between Cork and Limerick, then the craic and banter was mighty, with the Men’s Club singers doing their county proud with some great individual and collective performances (including ‘the Banks….’) much to the light-humoured slagging from the natives in the bar.
Arriving back to Fermoy just after midnight under the professional driving of John Leahy from O’Sullivan’s Coaches, the happy travellers headed to their beds, no doubt reflecting on a fantastic day out.
NOEL SCANNELL
Our guest speaker at last month’s meeting was renowned memorabilia collector and historian, Noel Scannell. Bringing with him a vast amount of rare newspaper clippings and books on Michael Collins,
Noel gave a passionate account of the ‘Big Fella’, telling us that over 60 books have been written to date about this great Irish Statesman. In fact, Noel has written the latest account and copies of his new book were snapped up by members at the meeting.
NEXT MEETING
Our next meeting on Monday, June 12th has club member, Noel Howard, giving a talk titled: ‘Tears, Tragedy and Terror – the Mount Cashell’s and the notorious Divorce Case of 1876’. Noel has just completed a book on the subject which he hopes to publish around Sept and so he will be giving us a flavour of what to expect.
The meeting starts at 3pm in the Youth Centre and membership is open all year round.