Concert for Fethard Medieval Festival

Harpist Siobhán Armstrong photographed with Griogair Labhruidh and Barnaby Brown who will perform at this year's Medieval Festival in Fethard

One of the highlights of this year’s Fethard Walled Town Medieval Festival will be a concert on Friday, August 19, at Holy Trinity Church of Ireland at 8pm, ‘An Evening of 16th-18th Century Gaelic Harp and Vocal Music’ featuring Griogair Labhruidh, one of Scotland's foremost young Gaelic singers; Barnaby Brown, Scotland's premier historical bagpiper; Andrew Lawrence King, Ann Heymann and Siobhán Armstrong, three of the world' s finest historical harpists from Ireland, Guernsey and the USA playing early Irish harps strung in brass, silver and gold wires.

Medieval Fancy Dress Parade
This year’s Walled Town Medieval Festival fancy dress parade will have prizes sponsored by ‘Meat at The Square’ for humorous entries with a medieval flavour. Proprietor, Jimmy O’Brien, has agreed to give prizes for the following categories, Best Adult 1st and 2nd, Best Child 1st and 2nd, and Best Group 1st and 2nd.

This year’s parade will be led by the Moycarkey Pipe Band and will take place at 2pm on Fethard Walled Towns Day, Sunday August 21. We hope to see lots of adults and children dressing up and taking part in medieval spirit of this year’s festival which continues to grow from strength to strength every year.

Sliabh Na mBan pilgrimage to Holy Year Cross
This years pilgrimage to the Holy Year Cross takes place on Sunday, August 14. As usual, ceremonies will begin at the hill wall but this year at the earlier time of 1 pm. Mass will be celebrated at the Mass rock at 2.30pm approx and even after tea and refreshments we will still have you home in time for the throw in. As always we ask patrons to arrive early and allow at least twenty minutes to get from the car park to the starting point.

Fethard Tidy Towns

Redcity Cemetery clean-up by local Tullamaine residents assisted by members of Fethard Tidy Towns. L to R: Seamus Barry, Martin Leahy, John Barry, Pat Burke, Kevin Shelly, Jimmy O'Shea, Michael Fitzpatrick, Joe Keane, John Slattery, Gus Smith, John O'Connell and Noreen Sheehy.

Fethard Tidy Towns are continuing their great work along the riverbank area and streets in Fethard and ask for your support in picking up litter and keeping local areas tidy. One of their recent projects was working with residents from Tullamaine area cleaning Redcity cemetery.

The committee are always looking for volunteers to help with picking up litter. If you have some available time to help, please contact Joe Keane, Tel: 6131719, or any of the committee members for further details.

Killusty Pony Show Results and Photos 2011

At Killusty Pony Show are L to R: Jean-Marc Moquet, Kiltinan, Tara Moquet on 'Blackie' and Clarisse Moquet-Boisgard

CLICK HERE FOR REPORT, RESULTS & PHOTOGRAPHS

Pop Up Café off to Encouraging Start
The Pop Up Café in the Youth Centre Fethard has started well with visitors from abroad and the locality coming in steady numbers. The Pop Up café is an initiative spearheaded by the Business and Tourism Group in Fethard and is a six-week project to ascertain the tourism potential of the town.

The feedback has been very encouraging with visitors commenting how it is great to come and have a cup of tea and a chat and learn a bit about Fethard in a relaxing environment. The café has welcomed visitors from America, Australia and England to name a few.

The Café opened in the Youth Centre Fethard on Tuesday, July 26, and is run solely by volunteers. The Café has information on local crafts people local businesses as well as a plethora of information on the history of the town. Visitors can also find information on tours of the medieval wall with Backs to the Wall Tours. Tourists are asked to fill out a questionnaire so that information can be used to find out what tourists thought of the town as well as any comments or suggestions they may have.

The Café is open to all visitors and welcomes any curious passers by to pop in to see what is on offer, so what not pop in to the Pop Up Cafe today?

Walking their dogs

Josie Costello and Theresa Hurley taking their dogs for a walk by the riverside at Fethard Town Wall

Fethard Macra News
Here at Fethard Macra we have a busy schedule of events in the coming months. The South Tipperary annual raft race will be held as usual in Golden and kicks off on Saturday afternoon, August 13. We plan to have two teams from the club competing on the day. The event is always well supported with clubs taking part from all ends of the country. A disco and barbecue will follow the race which promises to be a great evening’s craic. Our teams will shortly be getting busy organising and constructing their trusty rafts.

Competition sample bags have now gone out for the KW Forages silage competition. For anyone who has received them, please take your sample for analysis and post them off as soon as possible. Anyone who has not received a sample bag contact Emer on 01 4268906.
Many of our club members attended the Moyglass Festival on Friday night July 22, in order to support the fundraiser for the Moyglass sports hall. Music on the night was provided by Sean Ryan and a DJ and was part of the Moyglass festival weekend. All had a brilliant night and some of our 'hardier' club members even returned the following Sunday evening to compete in the Tug-of-War competition held in the sportsfield.

The club has now finished playing tag rugby in Clonmel as the competition has now finished up for the summer, however, our tag rugby players still train with Fethard rugby club in the community sportsfield every Monday evening.

At our last club gathering on July 20, we had a full report on the first national Macra council meeting under our new president, Alan Jagoe. Michael Moclair is our recently elected South Tipperary representative on the council. At the meeting Michael was elected to the national rural youth initiative committee where we are sure he will do a good job.
Annual Club officer training takes place in Meath on September 24 and 25. We would urge all our officers to attend. Those that cannot attend will be represented by other members of the club.

For more on Fethard Macra or to become a member phone our chairperson, Liam Cleary on 086 3998711.

Bank Holiday

Miriam Mansfield and James Dorney enjoying the August Bank Holiday entertainment in Lonergans.

Fethard Annual Emigrant's Newsletter
Work on the production of this year's Annual Emigrant's Newsletter has now commenced. We invite anyone interested in submitting articles or photographs for this year’s issue to contact Joe Kenny, Rocklow Road, Fethard, Tel: 052 6131663 or by email: newsletter@fethard.com

We are aware that some people find it difficult to put pen to paper but have very interesting stories to tell. So if you prefer, we can arrange to have someone call and interview you at your own convenience.
Help is always needed gathering articles and photographs, indeed, one of the most time-consuming chores is trying to put captions to the photographs with correct names. Other ways people can help is interviewing, writing articles, typing or inviting others to write articles in good time for publication.

Fethard & Killusty Community Lotto
The numbers drawn on July 27, were: 6, 8, 10 and 28. We had no Jackpot winner and two ‘Match Three’ winners who received €75 each: Margaret Doocey, Abbey Road, Fethard; and Ian Cooke, Scotch Road, Fethard.

The three following ‘Lucky Dip’ winners also won €50 each: Maggie Sayers, Woodvale Walk, Fethard; Paddy O'Connor, c/o Burke's and John Joe White, Rathkenny, Drangan. 

Remember you can purchase your lotto ticket online at www.fethard.com. Buy seven weekly tickets and get one free! Check on the website for lots of special offers. Next week’s Jackpot commences at €4,100 and the Jackpot sellers prize is €410. All proceeds go towards community work in Fethard.

Fiddlers Green

Monica (Kearney) McCahery, home on holiday from Manchester, is photographed with 'Fiddlers Green' last weekend in Lonergan's Bar. L to R: Danny Carthy, Monica McCahery and John Deego Kid

Gough family information
The following information request was received from Bobby Singh, in the UK. Tel: +44 7880-567100, email: bsingh009@hotmail.com

I am researching on the life of 1st Viscount Hugh Gough whose parents George and Letitia Gough are buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Fethard, Co Tipperary.

Would it be possible to obtain some further information on this person who lived and died in 1836 in Fethard and images of their graves along with the inscriptions. I also was informed that there is a commemorative tablet in the church that mentions their names.  I would be extremely grateful for any help you can provide me.
Kind Regards, Bobby Singh.

Vice General of Augustinian Order

Franz Klein, Vice General of Augustinian Order, is photographed above on a recent visit to Fethard Augustinian Abbey. Franz, a German citizen, has spent many years on the missions and is a member of the General Council for the past four and a half years. He is presently enjoying his visitation to all the houses in the Irish Provence. L to R: Fr. John Meagher OSA, Franz Klein (Vice General of Augustinian Order) and Fr. Martin Crean OSA (Prior).

South Tipperary Military History Society
The following interesting item was posted by Johnny Doyle on the South Tipperary Military History Society’s Facebook page.

In doing some basic research for a soldier on GWF found that his family originated from Fethard. Lt William Armstong Burges was killed in 1915 whilst serving with the 1st Battn, Royal Irish Rifles. His brother Thomas Francis Burges was also killed in 1915 serving with the Australian forces in Gallipoli. Their elder brother Irwin Carleton Burges also served by survived the war. William was educated in Ireland as was Irwin. Their father was Francis Lockier Burges of Fethard; his father was Dr Francis Carleton Burges of Fethard. This latter chaps three brothers had emigrated to Australia, creating a farm/estate which they called Tipperary, near York in Western Australia. The area has an old building called the Tipperary School as well as Tipperary Church (built 1892 and now a private residence).

National Day of Volunteering!
The National Day of Volunteering (NDV) is that one-day in the year when we encourage everyone to give volunteering a go, to show that even if it’s only for a minute, an hour or a day, volunteering can make a big difference and be a lot of fun! It’s a great opportunity to spread the word about your organisation, meet new people (and potential volunteers), and educate your neighbours on the needs of their surrounding community.

We hope that you’ll take this opportunity to get involved on this year’s designated day, September 30, and to spread the joy of volunteering within your community. If you need some inspiration or have questions, why not get in touch with your local Volunteer Centre, or check out our website www.volunteer.ie

Died Recently
The death has occurred on Sunday, July 31, of Ned Connolly, Garrinch, Fethard. Reposing at his residence on Monday, August 1, from 2pm to 8pm.

Funeral Mass on Tuesday, at 11am in Fethard Parish Church, followed by burial in Calvary Cemetery. Donations, if desired, to the South Tipperary Homecare Team.