Students inspired by visit to Cabragh Wetlands

Cabragh Wetlands guide, Albert Nolan, showing Holy Trinity National School pupils some examples of stuffed birds to help illustrate native wetland life in Ireland throughout the ages.

Fifth Class students from Holy Trinity National School, Fethard, visited Cabragh Wetlands, Holy Cross, Thurles, as part of their ‘Challenge to Change’ project for 2016, which is based on water. This outing proved to be really popular and interesting for the 24 students and teachers alike. The boys and girls were delighted to experience the wetland habitats, flora and fauna, presented by the excellent guides. The children had the chance to watch birds from the hide, go pond dipping, identify the creatures they had caught and learn about all the native birds and wetland life particular to Ireland.


Holy Trinity National School pupils some examples of stuffed animals to help illustrate native wetland life in Ireland throughout the ages.

Cabragh Wetlands, situated in the Suir Valley, is the largest remaining section of unspoilt natural wetland on the upper Suir and provides courses to meet curriculum requirements of Science and Environmental Studies at 1st and 2nd levels, including Junior and Leaving Certificate, plus tailor-made Transition Year activities.
What started out for our enthusiastic young pupils as an environmental studies project, ended up rating as a very popular school tour – and at a cost of only €3 per pupil – we definitely plan to visit Cabragh Wetlands again.

We now look forward to presenting our findings at the Challenge to Change seminar in Kilkenny on Wednesday, April 27. We chose ‘water’ as the theme of our project this year because it is so important in our lives. We have been taking it for granted and using it irresponsibly and we now see that things have to change. Many countries do not have the luxury of safe, clean water that we enjoy. We think our generation well have to make things change. We must educate ourselves and spread the message.


Holy Trinity National School pupils 'pond dipping' on their school outing to Cabragh Wetlands

Challenge to Change, founded in 2003, is an annual Development Education Project initiated by Presentation Education Office for schools in the Presentation Network.

Cabragh Wetlands Trust is a voluntary organisation founded on October 8, 1993, in an effort to save a vast area of wetland habitats from destruction after the filling-in of the settling pools by the Thurles Sugar Factory during its closure.

Fethard & Killusty Anglers

Fethard anglers at their annual competition on the Anner. L to R: Shane McDermott, Albert Adcock, Seán Maher, Johnny Brannigan, Robert Hackett, Conor Cagney and Colm Hackett.

The annual trout fly-fishing competition was held on Sunday, April 17, on our club waters. We had a great turn out of anglers on the day and everybody caught a few trout on their ‘fur and feather’ imitations. The weather was great for the day and there was plenty of ‘exaggerations’ told about the ones that got away.

It was fantastic to see that the quality of the trout on the Anner and Clashawley which was commented on by some of the new members which were really impressed and would be back on the river again today if work and family would allow.

The results for the day were: 1st Albert Adcock, 2nd Seán Maher, 3rd Colm Hackett, 4th Shane McDermott, heaviest trout and 5th place went to Johnny Brannigan. Well done to Shane and Johnny in particular who are new members to the club this year.

The juvenile results were: 1st Robert Hackett and 2nd Conor Cagney. Well done to our juveniles, an excellent example to all of us in the club for their commitment to fly fishing and also in representing our club at national level in the Munster and All Ireland championships.

The fishing is excellent at the moment so no better way to spend a day or few hours outside on our beautiful waters at the foot of Slevenamon. New members are always welcome and can join by contacting Seán Maher on 085 7050580 or Colm Hackett on 086 8397868. Tight Lines to all for the rest of the season!


Fethard Anglers photographed before their annual competition on the Anner. Back L to R: Robert Hackett, John Fleming, Shane McDermott, Albert Adcock, Johnny Brannigan, Derek Cagney, Paddy Prendergast, Tony Quigley, Conor Cagney, Norman Regan. Front L to R: Noel Doherty, Tom Fogarty, Colm Hackett, John Lalor and Billy Reilly.

More work to be done for Killusty clean-up
The last Killusty village ‘tidy up’ for the forthcoming First Communion will be held on this Wednesday and Thursday evening at 7pm. All available help is requested, as there is still some work to be done. Thanks to all who helped with the clean up last week.

Social dancing at Fethard Ballroom
Dancing on Sunday Night, May 1, to the music of ‘Declan Aungier’. All welcome to come along and enjoy a great night’s entertainment and social dancing from 9pm to midnight. Admission is €8 which includes tea and cakes.

Active time for Fethard Macra

Club secretary Pat Murphy taking part in the annual ‘Mr Personality Festival’ at the Springhill Court Hotel, Kilkenny.

Fethard Macra Club recently held their monthly club meeting in McCarthys Bar, Fethard. There were lots to discuss on the night including our upcoming tag tournament, which will be held on Saturday, May 21, at Fethard Rugby Club’s grounds, where clubs from all over South Tipp and further afield will attend on the day.

The annual ‘Mr Personality Festival’ took place last weekend at the Springhill Court Hotel, Kilkenny. Our club secretary, Pat Murphy, was representing South Tipp over the weekend and after doing so well, he narrowly lost out in the end. It was great to see so many members from the club supporting him and displaying their posters to cheer him on.

On Sunday last, the national finals of the volleyball competition took place in The Watershed, Kilkenny. The competition was very tough so we knew we had to do very well if we were to proceed. After winning our first two matches, we were finally beaten by both Glanmire and Dunmanway from Cork, with Dunmanway making the final against Callan. Callan then went on to win. Incidentally, the only team to beat Callan on the day was us, so at least we can take that away from the day and there's always next year to look forward to. Volleyball continues every Thursday night at Monroe Sports Complex, starting from 8.30pm. All welcome.

Our monthly cinema night takes place this Wednesday, April 27, in Clonmel and we are having great turnouts on these events, with a few visitors from other clubs also coming along, so keep it up.

For updates, check out our Facebook page, ‘Fethard Macra’ or contact our chairman, Suzanne Gorey on 086 1076457 or our secretary, Pat Murphy on 086 2131802.

Open Letter to Primary School Parents
I am writing this letter in the hope that parents in Fethard, Killusty and surrounding areas will read it and take note of its contents.

Our Patrician Presentation Secondary School in Fethard is currently enrolling for next September and is hoping for support from everyone in the community. At the moment there seems to be a misconception that, “It’s a pity that I can’t send my children to Fethard Secondary School”. The only pity in this statement is that it is totally untrue. I have three children in the school and can tell you that Fethard is providing top class education for my children, currently in 1st, 2nd and 5th year. They have been given every subject choice that they wanted, which has taken huge effort by the management and staff of the school, but it has happened and everyone is happy.

The problem we are facing as a school community is that, because local people are sending their children to other schools, it is becoming more difficult due to budgetary constraints to fulfill these obligations. All schools depend on capital funding from the government, which is based on numbers enrolled, so if our numbers drop too far it makes the job of providing subjects more difficult. The more pupils we get going forward, the more money becomes available and subjects will then be freely available. At present the school is providing most Junior Cycle subjects and a very good range of Leaving Cert subjects, all to Higher Level. We have achieved some exceptional results over the last few years, the highest being 550 points which shows that it can be done in our school. Small classes allow for more attention to pupils needs at all levels which you don’t get in bigger schools.

Another issue that we hear mentioned is the lack of sport available. This also depends on the number of students available to partake in sport. In the last 2 years we have seen a huge increase in sporting events for pupils. We now have football, soccer, hurling, camogie and volleyball available, and the school is doing very well in them. To date this year our U16 girls won a Munster Final in Football and our 1st and 2nd year boys and girls' volleyball teams are at All Ireland Semi Final stage. There have been football, hurling and soccer blitzes with other schools.

Our extra-curricular activities are diverse ranging from our school panto which has been a huge success for the last 2 years and at present our talented teachers have almost completed writing next year’s show. In this year’s Junk Kouture competition our team got to the national final in Dublin recently. In the last year our school has also set up a CoderDojo on Wednesday evenings, we have a large group of young people meeting each week to design their own computer programmes which will be a great asset to them in the future. We have also recently introduced a Gaeltacht scholarship to help out interested students.

The other factor which needs to be considered as a community is that our local businesses depend hugely on the school for support. Our shops need the morning and lunch time trade. People dropping and collecting children from school call to the chemists, butchers, bank, post office etc. and we’ve all seen towns and villages which have lost these facilities due to lack of business. Do we want Fethard to lose businesses? We have seen enough small businesses close down over the last decade without losing more. If, down the line we end losing our school due to lack of support, our town will suffer hugely.

The purpose of my letter today is to appeal to people who are considering their child’s secondary education not to dismiss Patrician Presentation Secondary School without calling to the school first with any concerns you might have. Mr O’Sullivan does his utmost to provide as many subjects as possible but he needs the students coming forward in order to provide them. The teachers are as good as you’ll find anywhere in Tipperary, and are extremely dedicated to their jobs.

The school can be contacted on (052) 6131572 so please make that call, visit the school website www.fethardsecondaryschool.ie or Facebook page, or speak to any of the staff or parents before you dismiss our great school.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this letter,

Pamela O’Donnell
(chairperson, Parents’ Association)

Gold medals for Miceál and Bernard

Bernard Feery and Miceál McCormack at the Tipperary AAI Masters Track & Field Championships in Templemore

Bernard Feery and Miceál McCormack were our two stalwarts to attend the Tipperary AAI Masters Track & Field Championships in Templemore on Sunday last. Competition was keen with disappointing numbers present but all victories had to be fought hard for on the day.

The first event was walking and Miceál was in ripping form to take the gold in a personal best for the 3,000 meter race. He has now earned a well-deserved break from his daily visitations on the roads around the town. His exploits in the 100 meter event was not as good with a third place finish after a terrible run.

Bernard Feery was in top form and took the 800 meter in fine style and later added a second gold by winning the 5,000 meter in impressive form. Bernard now continues training on Monday night around the town at 6.45pm for the upcoming Munster Championships in Waterford and the All-Ireland’s in Tullamore later in the year. Both athletes are competing in their last year at their relevant age group and are at a slight disadvantage, but that will change next season when all will compete at a level playing field. Well done ‘boys’, keep the flag flying.

The annual ‘Walls of Fethard’ race is approaching fairly lively, and this year’s event will take place on Thursday, May 26, at 8 pm, more information later.

Membership fees are now overdue so please contact committee and deal with it as soon as possible. As we still have no permanent field for training, it is very hard to get a training structure in motion for a juvenile section, but we are looking into the matter and hopefully some positive news in relation to the development of the proposed Community Town Park, which is currently in the pipeline, details later!

Our AGM will be held in McCarthy’s Hotel this Thursday night, April 28, at 9pm. All are welcome to come along.

Killusty beaten in the Peter O'Reilly Cup final

Killusty FC team beaten by Mullinahone in the Peter O’Reilly Cup Final on Sunday April 24.

On Sunday last, April 24, Killusty FC played the final of the Peter O'Reilly Cup against Mullinahone, in Newhill Park, going down 3-1 in the end. The score was 1-0 to Mullinahone at half time following a scrappy goal. Killusty had a chance to level when awarded a penalty in the 2nd half but failed to hit the net.


L to R: Jamie Hindley (Mullinahone) and Aaron Kelly (Killusty)

Mullinahone made it 2-0 with 12 minutes to go. Killusty pulled one back when Curly O'Meara met a beautiful free kick from Aaron Kelly to score with a brilliant header. Killusty nearly got another when a few good moves were dealt with under pressure by Mullinahone defenders as Killusty pushed for an equaliser. A break by Mullinahone in the 93rd minute led to their 3rd goal to seal the game.


L to R: Jason Lawrence (Killusty) and Enda McEnery (Mullinahone)

Killusty management would like to thank everyone for their efforts, not only at the final but throughout the league this season and the rounds of this competition, and although ending in defeat – a big shout out to all the players who, over the season, turned out for training and games – the groundwork by them to reach this final on merit.


L to R: Wayne Laslett (Mullinahone) and James Harrington (Killusty

This is the club's 3rd final in various cup finals played on this ground over the years and have lost all three, so not a happy hunting ground for Killusty to date. The last league game of the season takes place on Sunday, May 1. Training on Wednesday night at 7pm for those that can make it.


L to R: Ashley Laslett (Mullinahone) and James Harrington (Killusty).


L to R: Tony Watters (Mullinahone) and Dylan Lawlor (Killusty)


Brotherly love . . . Wayne and Ashley Laslett celebrate scoring Mullinahone's second goal in the Peter O'Reilly Cup final played against Killusty at Newhill Park


Jamsie O'Reilly (son of the late Peter O'Reilly) presenting the 'Man of the Match' award to Wayne Laslett (Mullinahone) after the Peter O'Reilly Cup final played against Killusty at Newhill Park.


Jamsie O'Reilly (son of the late Peter O'Reilly) presenting the Peter O'Reilly Cup to Jamie McGrath, captain Mullinahone FC, following their 3-1 win over Killusty in the final played at Newhill Park. L to R: Liam Clohessy (chairman TSDL), Jamsie O'Reilly, Jamie McGrath and Richard Power (TSDL).


Mullinahone FC, winners of the Peter O’Reilly Cup, following their 3-1 win over Killusty in the final played at Newhill Park.


Officials at the Peter O'Reilly Cup final between Mullinahone and Killusty played at Newhill Park L to R: Michael Teehan, Ger Ward and Paddy Ivors.

Rugby Club AGM
Fethard and District Rugby Club will hold their AGM on Tuesday, May 24, at 8pm in the clubhouse. All are welcome to attend.

Abymill AGM
The AGM of the Abymill Theatre (The Mill Ltd) will be held upstairs in the Abymill Theatre on Thursday, May 5, at 7.30pm.

Patrician Presentation Parents Association raffle results
The results of our raffle held last Saturday night are as follows:

• 1st Prize - framed print of ‘Australia’
  won by Peggy Ryan, Rathronan, Clonmel.
  
• 2nd Prize - Sunday lunch for two in McCarthy's,
  won by John Hackett, Glanmire, Cork.
  
• 3rd Prize - Voucher for Emily's,
  won by Damien Byrne, Killusty.

We would like to thank all who supported our raffle to raise much needed funds for our school and to Ballydoyle, McCarthy's and Emily's for the prizes. A huge thank you to all our local businesses who have sponsored our various fundraisers throughout the year, without your support our job would be much more difficult. Finally thank you to all the people in Fethard who support our table quizzes each year, it is greatly appreciated.

No more wasted lives!
Fethard and Killenaule will host a ‘Joint Community Awareness Forum’ in Moyglass Community Complex on Wednesday, May 4, at 7pm. All are invited to attend this much-needed information evening suitable for all family members and community groups.

The evening will be chaired by Fran Curry of Tipp FM with the following panel of guests: Alice Leahy (TRUST Foundation); Alan Quinlan (Mental Health and Sport); John Leahy (Alcohol Abuse); Roger Mehta (The Harmony Programme); and Nicole Ryan (Drugs Awareness Campaigner following the tragic death of her brother).
Please make a special effort to attend this joint parish venture that may help prevent ‘No More Wasted Lives’ in both our communities.

Fethard & Killusty Community Lotto
The numbers drawn on April 20 were: 13, 18, 26 and 29. There was no jackpot winner and no ‘Match Three’ winner so the following drawn tickets received €50 each: Breda Wilson, Rathkenny; Robert O'Riordan, Cloran, Cloneen; and Richard Hayes, c/o Brud Roche.
The three ‘Lucky Dip’ winners who received €50 each were: Darren McGrath, The Green, Fethard; Pat Looby, c/o Patsy Lawrence; and Tossie Lawton, St. Patrick's Place, Fethard.

Next week’s draw takes place on Wednesday, April 27. The Jackpot is €10,000 and the Jackpot seller’s prize is €1,000. All proceeds go towards community projects in Fethard, and we thank you for your on-going support.

GAA Sports Development Lotto
Fethard GAA / Sports Centre Development Lotto would like to thank all our supporters, far and near, who participate in our weekly lotto draw to promote sport in our community. The numbers drawn on Friday, April 22, were 15, 19, 23 and 32. There was no jackpot winner and two match three winners who received €75 each: Michael Healy, The Green; and Darren O'Meara, Garrinch.

The next lotto draw will be held on Friday, April 29. The jackpot is €20,000 and the sellers prize is €710.

Day Care Centre AGM
The Fethard & District Day Care Centre will hold their AGM on Thursday, May 5, in the Tirry Community Centre, Barrack Street, at 8pm. All are welcome to attend and new volunteers are always more than welcome to come along and get involved.

Table Quiz for scouts
A table quiz in aid the Fethard Scouts to help Beavers and Cubs attend county and national scouting events, will take place in Butlers Bar on Friday, April 29, at 9.30pm. Tables of four will cost €24 or €6 per person. All are welcome and encouraged to come along and support. Loads of spot prizes on the night.

Fethard Faces and Places from the Past
The following are a selection of photographs recently added to the Fethard Faces and Places from the Past page on Facebook, also published here for the benefit of our readers who are not on Facebook. The Facebook page is used for sharing old Fethard photographs with other members of the group and is open to all interested in joining. Send any comments or photo information to fethardnews@gmail.com


Childrens’ chorus group from ‘Old King Cole’, January 1986. Back L to R: Jennifer Fogarty, Belinda McCormack, Elizabeth Burke, Nicola O'Riordan, Marie Cloonan, Laura Doyle. Middle L to R: Niamh Ryan, Edel Fogarty, Lorraine Treacy, Patricia Purcell, Mia Treacy. Front L to R: Lisa McCormack, Vicki Roche, Patricia Morrissey, Áine Doocey and Olivia Phelan.


Sixth class pupils from St.. Patrick’s Boys School 2003. Back L to R: Owen Prout, Kevin Hayes, Jerome Ahearn, Sam Manton, Ben Walsh, Glen Maher. Front L to R: Jake Maher, Andy Walsh, Adam O’Donnell, Darren Connolly and Adam Lyons. Also in the class are John Lalor and Philip Doyle.


The late Sean and Rosie Henehan, The Square, Fethard, photographed at a dance social with Sean’s sister Maeve and her husband, Michael Keane.

Fethard News
Items for inclusion on this website and on the weekly Fethard News page on The Nationalist can be emailed before noon on Mondays to news@fethard.com or delivered by hand to Joe Kenny, Rocklow Road, Fethard.

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