2002 MEMORIES FROMT THE ARCHIVES
THIS WEEK 21 YEARS AGO
On the front page of TheAvondhu in early June 2002 was the news that Davina Mulcahy had been crowned the Queen of the Galtees at the 27th annual festival in Mitchelstown, and she was pictured presenting Joanne O’Brien and Billy Roche with the ‘Culchies of the Year’ award. Other winners were also announced over the weekend’s festivities, including the dog show results; Marian Hyland took ‘Best Six Legs’ and Tisha O’Brien took the prize for ‘Dog I’d like to take home’. While ‘Champion of the show’ went to Terry Porter’s spaniel. The outgoing king, Tom O’Flynn, officially opened ‘Yvonne’s Flowers’ in the town as his last official duty.
Other pictures featuring on the front page showed Irish soccer fans celebrating Ireland’s equaliser with Cameroon in the World Cup, with a goal from Robbie Keane.
In less celebratory news, there were reports of a “spate” of break-ins in the Labbamolaga and Kilbehenny areas where jewellery and cash were targeted; TVs and mobile phones were left behind. The thefts happened in daytime, in one case while the owner was out milking cows. There was also a breakin at Galbally National School.
More than 500 people gathered at a Fianna Fáil victory party in The Rathcormac Inn after the party topped the polls locally in the general election, while to mark the upcoming canonisation of Padre Pio by Pope John Paul II, a bus from Mitchelstown to Holy Cross Abbey was organised for a special day of celebrations. Meanwhile, in Killavullen there was an open-air Mass to honour Nano Nagle.
The first of the Leaving Cert papers were complete, with pictures of relieved students featuring. Tourism to the area was still feeling the effects of the Twin Towers attack, as an article noted that “US airlines have seriously cut back on available seat numbers to destinations such as Ireland,” but at least one American accent was heard in Lismore from a Florida visitor!
In Fermoy, ‘Coiste Blackwater’ were aiming to revive the Irish language in the town and its hinterlands, meeting weekly and assuring new members of a warm welcome.
A new CD, ‘The Reason Why’, was launched in Mitchelstown. Composed and produced by Michael Dennehy, it featured 14 songs inspired by the story of ‘Cinderella’, and performers included Eric Nolan, Claire Fitzgerald, Rachel Keating and other members of the Mitchelstown Young Drama.
In Kilworth, Mick Lewis celebrated his retirement from Glennon Brothers at The Avondhu Bar in Fermoy. Having left school at the age of 14, the ‘Weighbridge Man’ had worked, in one way or another, for 43 years on the same site.
In the Anti-Litter League, Mitchelstown had scored the highest points in the latest round, but still remained second from the bottom in the table. While the villages section, Bartlemy and Castletownroche topped the tables in their respective categories.
Toss Bryan’s in Fermoy had a day of celebration, with a Fiat Punto giveaway won by Hilda Tanner, Conna. The guest of honour on the day was Youghals’ Catrina Supple, AKA Miss Ireland. She came dressed in a kimono, and food and drinks came with a Japanese twist to capitalise on the World Cup fever.
An advert for a new development in Kilworth, Cois Coillte, offered pre-launch house prices of €126,900 to €185,000, while in Fermoy, Des King’s Wine Merchants were capitalising on the Irish population’s recently discovered love for the grape, “once regarded by the nation as an alcoholic afterthought”.
In Castlelyons NS, Senior Infant Danielle Walsh was pictured with her award for first place in handwriting in the INTO/EBS competition.
The Mitchelstown Heritage Society and Mallow Field Club enjoyed a joint outing to Araglin, where they learned about the famous poacher ‘ The Caist’ and the 17th century iron smelting furnace.
The health minister was challenged on the waiting list numbers; estimated to be 44,600 at the time, or 1.6% of the adult population.
A letter from a man in Warrington, England, told how his local pub, ‘The Cheshire Cheese’, had walls covered in photos taken of the men fishing in Fermoy. While professing the fishing was great, he also said that ‘ Fermoy hasn’t got a lot more to offer the overseas visitor’.
In brief - Mitchelstown was to get two bypasses, one to the west of the town, and another to the east. Listowel mourned the passing of playwright John B Keane. Recent heavy rainfall led the IFA to warn of possible crop damage. Back in Mitchelstown, Maudie Neville won a Philips 28’ widescreen TV in Centra in Mitchelstown.
Finally, in the Lost and Found, a ladies’ gold chain had been left in the dressing rooms in Mitchelstown Co-Op, and an Old English Sheepdog was missing from outside Ryan’s Centra in Mitchelstown.