Results of Killusty Dog Show
As has been the case at most recent Killusty Pony Shows the Dog Show has posed definite competition to the ponies not only in number of entries but in spectator interest. The Dog Show on the 7th July was no exception.  With an entry of 57 dogs all in a variety of classes, all competitors went home with a rosette, a tin of dog food and many happy memories.  The results to four places in each class were as follows:

Class 1 Fancy Dress Dog
1st Jenny Kennedy ‘Yasmin’; 2nd Jenny Bradshaw ‘Sorrell’; 3rd ‘Rugby’; 4th Johnnie Wragg ‘Tobey’.

Class 2 Best Groomed Dog and Handler
1st Emma Hatton ‘Daisy’; 2nd Anita Pollard ‘Samnmy’; 3rd Billy O’Connor ‘Josh’; 4th Lucy Kennedy ‘Matty’; 5th Emily O’Donoghue ‘Sparky’.

Class 3 Best Tail Wagger
1st William Pratt ‘Kelly’; 2nd Faye Manton ‘Monty’; 3rd Ruby Kennedy ‘Doughnut’; 4th Isobelle Kennedy ‘Rooney’.

Class 4 Most Obedient Dog handled by a child under 12
1st Lech Fox ‘Trixie’; 2nd Stephen O’Connor ‘Freckles’; 3rd Rebecca Hayden ‘Belle’; 4th Eve McCarthy ‘Kei’.

Class 5 Most Alert
1st Zoe Stokes ‘Spot’; 2nd Clarissa Hosuet ‘Froggie’; 3rd Molly O’Meara ‘Wanda’; 4th Louise O’Donnell ‘Sophie’.

Class 6 Best Veteran Dog
1st Kym Marett ‘Louis’; 2nd Mary Jane Jearney ‘Dreolin’; 3rd Emily O’Donoghue ‘Ozzie’; 4th Kelly Walshe ‘Elmo’.

Class 7 Best Trick
1st Sally Nagle ‘Toby’; 2nd Eve McCarthy ‘Kei’; 3rd Lucy O’Hay ‘Suzie’; 4th Joss Murray ‘Russell’; 5th Molly O’Meara ‘Wanda’.

Class 8 Best Terrier
1st Sabrina Blake ‘Tootsy’; 2nd Joss Murray ‘Russell’; 3rd Colm Maher ‘Poppy’; 4th Laura Mullins ‘Bonny’.

Class 9 Best Other Breeds
1st Jack Devaney ‘Carney’; 2nd Jenny Kennedy ‘Yasmin’; 3rd Mel Prendergast ‘Jenny’; 4th Sarah O’Mahony ‘Lola’.

Class 10 Dog You’d like to take home
1st Mel Prendergast ‘Jenny’; 2nd Jenny Kennedy ‘Yasmin’; 3rd Sarah O’Mahony ‘Lola’; 4th Emily O’Donoghue ‘Spoarky’.

Class 11 Best large Dog in Show
1st David Burke ‘Frankie’; 2nd Billy O’Connor ‘Josh’; 3rd Willie O’Donnell ‘George’;  4th Mel Prendergast ‘Jenny’.

Class 12 Obstacle Course
1st Colm Maher ‘Poppy’; 2nd Radka Jancdkosci ‘Amy’; 3rd Willie O’Donnell ‘Geroge’; 4th Emily O’Donoghue ‘Sparky’.

Best Small Dog in Show
1st Caroline Corbett ‘Lady’; 2nd William Pratt ‘Cally’; 3rd Radka Jancdkosci ‘Amy’; 4th Sophie Neary ‘Wei’.

Fethard Adult Ladies Gaelic Football
Fethard Adult Ladies Gaelic Footballers won the County Junior League on Saturday night in Cahir beating a very strong Boherlahan in a final dominated by defences. The Fethard backs only conceded three scores in the hour and Boherlahan only allowed seven in a low scoring encounter.

As might be expected with such low scoring, the game was extremely hard fought with every score having to be dearly paid for in effort in what was a very sporting game. The goalie and backs were all heroes for Fethard and midfield worked very hard all through the game. The Fethard forwards finally broke free of the very resolute Boherlahan defence to shoot the clinching scores. Captain Audrey Conway accepted the League Shield on behalf of the team and thanked Boherlahan for their part in what was a very good close game. Final score was Fethard 1-6, Boherlahan 1-2.

Benefit Night at The Castle
The staff at the Castle Inn would like to thank sincerely all who attended and supported their recent ‘Benefit Night’ in aid of South Tipperary Hospice held on Saturday 21st July. A total of €2,025 was raised. The proprietors, Irene and Noel, would especially like to thank all who sold tickets and the local businesses who donated spot prizes for the event.

State of the Art Pumps in Fethard
Fethard has now state of the art service for diesel customers at Meagher’s Londis Garage in Kerry Street. The garage has installed an innovative 24-hour diesel sale system that can be operated by credit/laser card, the first in Ireland we are aware of! In Ireland this system is only available for diesel sales to date and as soon as legislation allows the same 24-hour system can be used for petrol sales.

Fethard & Killusty Community Lotto Results
The numbers drawn on Wednesday 18th July were: 4, 5, 9 and 15. There was no Jackpot winners and three Match 3 winners who received €50 each:

Martin Burke, Main Street, Fethard;
Tony Mc Garry, c/o Tom Purcell;
Mary Newport, Congress Tce. Fethard.

The €50 Luck Dip winners were:

D. O’Meara, St Patricks Place, Fethard;
Carmel Murphy, Crampscastle, Fethard;
Ann Darcy, Killusty, Fethard.

Next week’s Jackpot continues at €10,000 and the Jackpot sellers prize is €1000.

Uniform Echo goes to College
Echo India Alpha Uniform Echo (EI AUE) is the call sign of an airplane that has served generations of Irish pilots. It is a Socata Rallye MS880B, commonly referred to as a Rallye or sometimes less affectionately known as the metal parachute. This particular plane has served as a trainer at Kilkenny Airfield for the past three decades. Prior to that, it was the club airplane in the Fethard Flying Club.

The Rallyes have been a popular trainer in Irish Airfields for years as they are an extremely robust airplane that can take the punishment that students dole out to them.  Hard landings and students go hand in hand and the Rallyes could take them time after time.

But, like everything else, time takes its toll and the crop of Rallyes still working in Ireland is becoming more expensive to run and maintain. They are being replaced with more environmentally friendly and economical machines that don’t corrode and burn as much fuel. Most will end up in scrap yards once the usable parts have been stripped away.

But this is not the fate for Uniform Echo. It is moving on to greener pastures, having been purchased by the Engineering Dept of Carlow Regional College to help further the education of a new generation of aircraft engineers.

One of the Rallye’s more famous pilots was the late RAF Wing Commander Tim Vigors who was a neighbour of the late Michael Smith, owner of the first airfield in Fethard. He accepted Michael’s offer to take the plane up for a fun flight and promptly put it through its paces. The CFI at the time was not impressed with the unconventional display in front of the students and told Tim Vigors, “that was no way to fly an aeroplane”. He replied, that it was the proper way to fly if you had three Messerschmitt’s stuck on your tail and off he strolled to feed his horses.

Uniform Echo will be fondly remembered by the many pilots who learned to fly in her. — (VM)

Fethard & Killusty Community Games
Fethard and Killusty Community Games Committee wish to thank most sincerely all those who generously subscribed to their recent church gate collection. Our artists and boys and girls volleyball teams will travel to Mosney on the first weekend 17 to 19th August and our athletes compete on the second weekend 24th to 26th August. There will be a meeting in early August to make arrangements for the trips. All those children staying in the camp please notify the Community Games Office at Tel: 052 31906 regarding the sizes of tracksuits required as soon as possible.

Fethard GAA Club News
Our intermediate hurlers had a good win on a scoreline, Fethard 1-16 to Cahir 1-11, on Friday 20th July, to keep there chances of making the last four still alive, with matches against Kilsheelan and Ballybacon Grange still to come. The team was: Paul Fitzgerald, Niall Hayes, Michael Carroll, Adrian Lawrence, Declan Doyle, Michael Ryan, Jamie McCormack, John Leahy, John P Looby 0-2, Michael Aherne 1-0, Aiden Fitzgerald 0-8, Miceál Spillane 0-1, Dean Tobin 0-1, Stephen O’Donnell and Kenneth O’Donnell 0-4 (3f). Subs were Alan O Connor and William O’Brien.

The Minor B hurlers received a walkover on Saturday last against Newcastle giving them 6 points out of possible 8 and a place in the semifinals.

The Minor B footballers also have accrued 6 points out of possible 8 with a game against Carrick Swans rescheduled for this Friday night in Kilsheelan at 7.30pm to conclude the programme. The four teams to qualify for the semifinals will then be decided with Fethard and Ballingarry already there.

The Under-21 B hurling game against Ballybacon Grange has still to be fixed and even if we lose this game we will get another chance through the loser group.

Our Junior B hurlers were defeated in Ballingarry on Wednesday 18th July on a scoreline, Fethard 0-3, Killenaule 6-4.

The Lotto Jackpot of €5,900 was not won. The numbers drawn were 10, 17, 19 and 27. We had one match three winner of €150 to Paul Fitzgerald (Kiltinan). The €50 Lucky Dip was won by Aoife Morrissey (Tullamaine). Thanks to Harrington Development for sponsoring the lotto tickets.

St. Augustines (Fethard/Kilsheelan) Reunion
In early September, St Augustine’s (Fethard/Kilsheelan) South Senior Hurling Champions 1982 are holding a reunion at a venue to be arranged with a meal at a reasonable cost to supporters. All are welcome and if interested please contact any of the organising committee immediately so we can clarify numbers: Sean Nugent (Kilsheelan), John Donovan (K), Noel Byrne (Fethard), Gus Fitzgerald (F), Pat Larkin (K), Michael Keane (Knockelly). If any person has any memorabilia of the year e.g. videos, photos, or souvenirs we would appreciate just a loan to any of the above. Thanking you for your cooperation. The 1982 team and management were: selectors Fr Ray Reidy, John Donovan, Joe Ahearne, John Keyes (RIP), Michael Keane; and team/panel: James Keogh, Michael Keogh, John Keogh, Gerry Keogh, Matt Cahill, Cyril Robinson (RIP), William Robinson, Peter Moore, Liam Stokes, Pat Larkin, John Larkin, Sean Nugent, Pat O’Neill, Liam Corcoran (all Kilsheelan), James Downes, Davy Fitzgerald, Liam McCarthy, Noel Byrne, Fr A.B Kennedy, Davy Morrissey, Pakie Harrington, Maurice Harrington, Stephen McCormack and Jim McGrath (all Fethard).

Margaret Maher and her poet Emily Dickinson
Ai'fe Murray from San Francisco is writing a book (under contract with the University Press of New England) about the servants of American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Two of the key servants she focuses on in her book — Margaret Maher (1841-1924) and Thomas Kelley (1833?-1920) — emigrated from Killusty and Killurney, respectively, around 1854, to Amherst, Massachusetts. That's when Emily Dickinson got lucky.

Ai'fe goes on to ask, “I hope to understand something of what was going on for the families when they left Ireland (and dates when they left if possible to know) as well as what led up to their work with and for one of America's foremost poets. Years ago Colonel Eoghain O'Neill was so helpful for getting a sense of Tipperary historically but I see I have more questions as I am in the final writing of the book.

Here's the reason for my question today. At this point in my research I need to sort out who emigrated with Tom and Margaret and who their nuclear and extended families might have been. For example I'm running into several Margaret Kellys and think one might be niece, another a sister-in-law, possibly his mother, but it's starting to get a little confusing. I am writing to find out if there are online records for their parish churches or vital records I might consult from here. I'd love an excuse to come back to Tipperary but it's a long way as they say and besides money being tight my publisher has me on a short leash time-wise. I wish it weren't so.

I took a look at the online burial ground records but am not sure I have found the right families there (Meagher and Kelly) and don't seem to be finding records that go back far enough for instance to their grandparents for example. I don't even know the names of their parish churches at this point.

Please let me know if there is anyone who might help try to sort out the Irish portion of my story. Many thanks for your time and kind attention.

Sincerely, Ai'fe Murray, 3530 19th Street, San Francisco, CA USA, Tel: 001 415-552-7625. Email: aife@radray.us

The Parish of Barrettsgrange
The following information is taken directly from the O'Donovan Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of County Tipperary collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1840.

This very small Parish is bounded on the northwest, north and northeast by the Parish of Rathcoole; on the south by the Parish of Redcity and on the west by those of Norrestown and Tullamaine.

This Parish took its name from a branch of the family of Barrett who lived in the Castle of Barrettstown. It is called in Irish Gráinsech a' Bhairéadaigh i.e., the Grange of the Barrett. This is exactly the mode of spelling and pronouncing the name of the Tirawley branch of the Barretts though McFirbis tells us that the Munster Barrots were called in Irish Baróideachs. Perhaps the Barretts who gave name to this place were a branch of the Tirawley Barretts and not of the Munster Barrotts?

There is no Church nor ruin of one in this Parish, nor did I meet anyone that ever heard of any Church being nearer to it than that called Caherderg or Redcity.

In the Townland of Barrettstown in this Parish there is a square castle in good preservation. It measures on the outside thirty-two feet nine inches by twenty-five feet two inches, is four stories high and its walls are six feet two inches in thickness. The highest floor rested on a strong arch which still remains but all the others were of timber. A spiral staircase leads to the top at the northwest corner.

The original windows of this castle are some narrow and roundtopped, some quadrangular and some pointed, and all constructed of chiselled limestone, but two of them have been modernized and covered at top with wooden lintels.

The doorway (which is pointed) is placed on the southwest side and opposite it there is a window in the form of a cross, which admitted the light of the door into the lower room. (See Du Noyer's Sketch of this strong castle). The Parishes of Redcity and Barrettsgrange were traversed by me and Mr. A. Curry.

— (J. O'Donovan, Cashel, September 15th 1840)

Concern Collection
Fethard and Killusty Concern Collection will be taken up at all masses next weekend 28th and 29th July.  Your support would be appreciated.

Another Award for Joe Ahearne
British television director, Joe Ahearne, son of Joe and Nora Ahearne, Main Street, won the Maximo Diamond Award for Best TV Product for ITV's Perfect Parents at the inaugural RomaFictionFest held in Rome on Saturday, 7th July.  The Joe Ahearne-scripted and directed drama also netted the Best Actor award for Christopher Eccleston. The Maximo Diamond Award is absolutely the most prestigious Award that a Festival has ever offered.

Joe Ahearne (born 23 November 1963) is best known for his work on several fantasy-based 'cult' programmes. His career began when the short film Latin for a Dark Room won an award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1994, and shortly afterwards he began working for the World Productions independent television production company.

In 2005 Joe Ahearne directed five episodes of BBC1's acclaimed revival of sci-fi classic Doctor Who for which he received a BAFTA nomination. In 2004 he wrote and directed sci-fi drama-doc Space Odyssey for BBC1/Discovery. Joe wrote and directed the six-part mini-series Ultraviolet for Channel 4 in 1998 and was the only contributor to both write and direct episodes for the multiple-award-winning series This Life, broadcast on BBC2, which followed the lives of a group of law students in London.