Staff bid farewell to popular teacher Denis Burke

Staff members of Fethard Patrician Presentation Secondary School photographed with Mr Denis Burke and family members on the occasion of his retirement on Friday 29th May. Back L to R: Vincent Doocey, Gwen Cronin, Fr. Tom Breen P.P., Emma Ryan, Nuala Ahearne, Michelle Edwards, Margaret Barrett, Fr Anthony McSweeney, John White, Michael O’Gorman, Justin McGree, Rita Kenny, Connie Sullivan, Michael Leonard. Middle L to R: Richard Lowney, Paddy Broderick, Ann O’Donnell, Mary Ann Fogarty, Margaret Prendergast, Catherine Creed, Deirdre Mulhall, Mary O’Sullivan, Bernie O’Connor, Catriona McKeogh, Majella Whelan, Melisa Rochford, Bronagh Trainor, Dick Prendergast, Marie Maher, John Cummins. Front L to R: Mary Lysaght, Ernan Britton, Dermot Burke, Leanne Burke, Denis Burke, Eileen Burke, Glen Burke, Kevin Burke and Marian Gilpin.

On Friday 29th May, Fethard Patrician Presentation Secondary School bid a fond farewell to our much revered staff member and colleague Denis Burke, affectionately known as 'Dinny'. He was joined by his wife Eileen and children Kevin, Leann, Dermot, Glenn and in absentia, Emmet. A sad but joyful occasion after 40 years of dedicated and enthusiastic service to the teaching profession.

Denis and family were joined by principal Ernan Britton, deputy principal Marian Gilpin, staff, board of management, parents association, Canon Tom Breen P.P., curate Fr. Anthony McSweeney C.C., and former colleagues Paddy Broderick and Vincent Doocey, at a lovely luncheon which took place in the school.

Dinny’s contribution to the school and to sport has been tremendous and his retirement will leave 'very hard shoes to fill'. As our esteemed Irish playwright Brian Friel said in ‘Philadelphia Here I Come’ — ‘It's all over and it's all about to begin'.

Our wish for Dinny is that this new beginning will be a healthy, happy and contented one and that he will continue to have that song in his heart.

Exam time is here again
We wish all pupils taking their Leaving Cert and Junior Cert exams the very best of luck in the coming weeks. The sixth year and transition year classes both attended their individual end of year school masses celebrated with teachers and parents at the school. This is a popular traditional annual event at the school.


Photographed at the Leaving Cert Mass at Patrician Presentation Secondary School are L to R: Sarah Hayes, Sarah Conway, Carrie Sweeney and Samantha Morrissey


Blowing out the candles at the Leaving Cert Mass at Patrician Presentation Secondary School on 20th May.

Fethard Youth Centre meeting for volunteers
A meeting for Fethard Youth Cafe volunteers will be held at 8pm on this Thursday night, 4th June, at the Youth Centre. Anyone interested in becoming volunteers are invited to attend. Cora Horgan, CEO of the Tipperary Regional Youth Service, will attend the meeting.

Arty McGlynn & Nollaig Casey for 'Backroom Session'

Arty McGlynn played in the first Backroom Session in McCarthy’s earlier this year with Mick Daly and Jim Rooney. A friend of theirs, Mick Hanly, showed up and played a song with them and said that he would like to play the next session. And that’s how the Backroom Sessions developed. Later that same night Arty said that he would like to return to play a session with his wife Nollaig. True to his word, they are playing the session on Friday 12th June.

Both Arty and Nollaig have a huge musical pedigree. Nollaig, a native of Co Cork, is best known for her fiddle playing, and played a multitude of instruments from the whistles to the uileann pipes at an early age before being classically trained in UCC and joining the RTE Symphony Orchestra where she remained for five years. She left to tour Ireland, the UK and Europe with Planxty and has since toured and recorded with Moving Hearts, Mary Black, Van Morrison and Elvis Costello as well as performing as a soloist with Riverdance.

Arty has been playing professionally since his mid teens. A native of Omagh in Co Tyrone, Arty started his career as a professional musician in the showbands in the 1960s. He toured every town and village in Ireland when the showband scene was at its height, but he never lost sight of his passion for Irish traditional music, which he displayed with a gem of an album ‘McGlynn’s Fancy’ in 1979.

Arty has entertained on the stages of the world with Christy Moore, Paul Brady, De Dannan, Planxty, Patrick Street, Liam O‘Flynn and as a member of Van Morrison’s band.
Support on the night will be from the promising young Fethard singer Laura Rice. Tickets for the show are €20 and are available from McCarthy’s. Contact 052 613 1149.

Birthday girls

Three local 'Birthday Girls' photographed at Fethard & District Day Care Centre last week. L to R: Margaret Croke, Maggie Sayers and Johanna Corbett.

Juvenile GAA Club
A bus load of juvenile members headed of for Semple Stadium on last Sunday morning to shout and cheer on Tipperary to victory. It was a glorious sunny morning and thanks to Thomas McCarthy, Liza Ward and Frank O’Donovan who helped supervise the youngsters to and from the match. All had a great day
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Under-16 hurling training re-commences this Thursday evening in the GAA field. The club would like to wish all those members taking their Junior and Leaving Cert exams this week the very best of luck.

Congratulations and well done to two of the club’s juvenile members, Dylan Fitzgerald and Garreth Lawrence, both were selected to partake in the Munster Rugby 2009 Pre-season Training Programme for high performance age-grade players. These players will be know as the ‘Talent Identified Players’ group and were selected on their performances throughout the season and at a screening session in Fermoy Rugby Club. This is a wonderful achievement to be selected from the whole of Munster.

Members are also reminded of the KulCamp that will run from 24th-28th August and you can register online to book a place. Places are limited.

Sr. Monica Kevin OSU visits her hometown

Fethard native, Sr. Monica Kevin from the Ursuline Order based in New York, is photographed with some of her Fethard friends on her return trip to Fethard last week. Monica, formerly from Barrack Street, left Fethard in August 1935. She remembers bringing Tony Newport to his first day at school when he was four years old. L to R: Pat Burke, Tony Newport, Sr. Monica Kevin OSU, Jackie Aylward, Kathy Aylward and Pat O'Brien, whose eldest daughter Margaret was elected General Superior of the Ursuline Sisters on August 5, 2008.


Sr. Monica Kevin OSU, photographed with former neighbour Jimmy McInerney

Fethard ICA
Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 9th June at the usual time of 8pm. We will finalise our plans for this years summer outing and hope as many as possible will attend. Our speaker for the night will be Mrs Patricia Kelly, Avon Representative. Patricia will have an extensive range of Avon beauty products on display and lots of advice on how to get the very best results from them. This promises to be a very interesting and enjoyable night. Blue Group are catering on the night.

Killusty Pony Show
A committee meeting of Killusty Pony Show will take place in the Tirry Centre, Barrack Street, on Tuesday 9th June at 8.30pm. All are welcome to attend. This year’s show will take place on Saturday 4th July and show schedules are available from Betsy O’Connor, Knockelly, Fethard, Tel: 052 6131130.

Dublin City Ramblers back in Fethard
The Dublin City Ramblers will play in Fethard on Saturday 6th June when they appear open air at Lonergans. Tickets are €12.50 each and available at the bar. The Dublin City Ramblers have thrilled audiences worldwide with their unique blend of ballads, folk, humour, wit and foot-tapping music. Their impressive career has spanned more than thirty-five years, with over thirty albums, top ten hits, several awards for best Ballad/Folk Group and, to top it all off, eight gold albums. It is certainly no wonder that they are classed as Ireland’s number one group!

Fethard Youth Café 'End of School Term' night

Photographed at Fethard Youth Cafe's 'End of School Term' night on Thursday 28th May are L to R: Laura Rice, Jane Kenny, Jean Anglim, Kelly Fogarty, Faye Manton and Emma Hayes.


Fifth Year pupils photographed at Fethard Youth Cafe after finishing school term on Thursday 28th May. L to R: Sarah O'Meara, Mira Nagy, Gráinne Horan, Melissa Wallace and Aisling Dwyer.


Photographed at Fethard Youth Cafe's 'End of School Term' night on Thursday 28th May are L to R: Niamh Fanning, Cliodhna McCarthy and Jonathan Fleming.

Wii experts L to R: Adam O'Donnell, Robert Ahearne and Joseph Sheehan








Retired teacher Denis Burke dropped in to take on his former pupils at some games at the centre and has promised to become an active volunteer in the near future.

Fethard Macra
Fethard Macra Club’s AGM will take place on 5th June in Butler’s Bar at 9pm. All club members and anybody who is interested in finding out more about Macra are invited to come along. The tag rugby competition will commence on Thursday, 4th June. The competition is for strictly over 21s this year. For further information about our club contact Michael (087-9019443) or email fethardmacra@gmail.com or check out our Macra page ‘FethardM’ on Bebo.

Parish Masses
Mass will be celebrated at 7.30pm on Wednesday 10th June at the Community Sportsfield (Killenaule Road). All are invited to attend.

Fethard GAA Club News
Fethard senior football team received there first defeat in the South Championship when on Bank Holiday Monday last they lost by a point scored with the last kick of the game leaving the final score, Fethard 2-10, Clonmel Og 4-7. The two teams last met in the county two weeks ago and Fethard, on that occasion, won by two points. This result means that Fethard will have to beat Cahir if they want to be in the hunt of qualifying direct to the semis.

The team on last Monday was: Paul Fitzgerald, Benny Hahessy, Michael Aherne, Ian Kenrick, Tomás Keane, Christopher Sheehan, Johnny Halloran, Cian Maher, Aiden Fitzgerald, Alan O’Connor, Eoin Doyle, Jamie McCormack, John Paul Looby, Damien Byrne, Brian Coen. Subs used were: Jason Nevin, Aiden Lonergan and Shane Aylward. We wish them the very best of luck in the 2nd round of the county next Sunday 7th June, in Cashel at 7.30pm when they take on Ardfinnan.

The club would like to wish all those doing exams the very best of luck in the coming weeks. This is the last week before the start of the County Board Draw if you are not in you cannot win a car. Contact any promoter or Jimmy O’Shea, Mary Godfrey or Nicky O’Shea with your €100 for the year draw on this Friday night.

Fethard & Killusty Community Lotto
The numbers drawn on 27th May were 4, 9, 14 and 19. We had no Jackpot winner and three ‘Match 3’ winners who received €50 each:
Arthur Daly, St. Patricks Place, Fethard;
Harry Bradshaw, c/o Tom Purcell;
Seamus Doherty, c/o Nellie Ryan.

The three following Lucky Dip winners received €50 each:
Joe Dolan, Ballyinn Cottage, Lismore;
Kaycie Aherne, Prospect, Fethard;
Ben Purcell, Knockbrett, Fethard.
Next week’s Jackpot continues at €10,000 and the Jackpot sellers prize is €1000.

Drivers off to Wexford being driven to distraction and Tipperary by sat navs
— The following interesting article was recently published in the Irish Times Newspaper by Conor Cullen

Modern Satellite navigation systems in cars have been blamed for sending tourists to the wrong part of the sunny southeast.
Tourists intending to visit Fethard-on-Sea in south Wexford are accidentally ending up in Fethard, Co Tipperary, a Wexford county councillor claimed yesterday.

Martin Murphy told yesterday's meeting of the county council that new signs erected in the seaside village in Co Wexford simply say Fethard rather than Fethard-on-Sea. He said this resulted in tourists heading there in fact being pointed towards Fethard, Co Tipperary, by their sat navs.

It is not the first time that there has been confusion between the two towns. Mr Murphy recalled that the name of Fethard, Co Wexford, was changed to Fethard-on-Sea following a tragic loss of life at sea in 1914, when the lifeboat Helen Blake capsized on a service to the schooner ‘Mexico’ off the Keeragh Islands. Nine of the crew of the Fethard lifeboat tragically died and just five survived.

Mr Murphy said that there was an outpouring of sympathy for the village and money came in from all around the world – however, a lot of it ended up in Fethard, Co Tipperary, so the name of the village was changed to Fethard-on-Sea to distinguish it.

The councillor said money was again being lost as tourists were now being sent off in the wrong direction due to the new signs, which were partly funded by Fáilte Ireland. However, director of roads services Adrian Doyle said a lot of the older signs simply said Fethard too.

He also pointed out that people could enter the name of the county towards which they were headed into their sat navs, not just the exact location, which should prevent any shocks at lack of seaside attractions in Fethard, Co Tipperary.