JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2000

CARNMORE HURLING CLUB

A Large attendance converged at the Carnmore Community Centre recently for the A.G.M. of the Carnmore Hurling Club. Prior to the meeting, a Commemorative Stone erected at the pitch and grounds to honour deceased members was blessed by Canon Noel Mullin and was followed by Mass for all deceased members with special remembrance for the late Paul Kenny (20) whose tragic loss was a devastating blow to all.

The Outgoing Chairman, Malachy Hanley welcomed everyone, thanked and praised all Officers, Managers, Trainers, Selectors, Players and Club members for their dedication and commitment to the Club during the year. He complimented the Juvenile Club and Camogie Club for promoting the game by encouraging young players and special praise was given to the U10 and U14 Camogie Teams, which brought cups to the Parish during the year. He thanked Dr. Brendan Day and Paul Hehir, Physiotherapist for their medical attention and time during the year.

In a comprehensive report, Outgoing Secretary Martin Leonard outlined the Club's activities during the year. He mentioned the achievements of John Paul O'Connell who was a member of the successful Galway All Ireland Minor winning team and now that same Team are to receive an All Star Sports Award. He also congratulated Declan O'Brien on winning an All-Ireland Medal with the Galway Intermediate Team and congratulated both Declan and Ronan Walsh who were members of the Galway Senior team during the year.

The outgoing Treasurer, Thomas Fox, gave a detailed report on the Club's finances and attributed the healthy financial position to the Sales of Lotto, Golf AM/AM and Horse Race Night. He also expressed gratitude to the many generous sponsors and in particular the main sponsor Harry's Cycles and Machinery.

As the Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer did not seek re-election, it took some time out and re-grouping to deem the following officers elected for the year 2000.

President Michael OhEidhin
Vice Presidents: Roddy Kenny, Martin Hanley, Fr. N. Mullin
Chairman Paraic Fahy
Vice Chairman Malachy Hanley, Paddy Walsh
Secretary Tom Lenihan
Asst. Secretary Enda Flaherty
Treasurer/Finance Michael Fox
Asst. Treasurer Joe Fahy
Delegate to Hurling Board Malachy Hanley
Social Activities Thomas Fox
Pitch Development Malachy Hanley

Liaison Officer Juvenile/Senior Team John Feeney
Team Managers: Senior Johnny Duggan
Junior A Brian Fox
Junior C John Abbott
Minor Declan Walsh

P.R.O. Mary Hanley

Mary Hanley, P.R.O.

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LOCAL SPORTSMEN HONOURED

Two local sporting heroes John Forde (Badminton) and John Paul O'Connell (Minor Hurling) were honoured on Friday 21st January at the 35th Co. Galway Sports Stars award banquet in the Ardilaun House Hotel, Galway.

John Forde received the overall award for Racquet Sports and it is great to see John getting local recognition in a sport where it has been necessary for him to travel constantly, in order to train and compete at the level which John has achieved.

John is a multiple winner at both County and Provincial level in the past. He won his first All Ireland Title in the U12 Singles Championships many years ago. He achieved a notable International breakthrough last year when filling a starring role in Ireland's team success in a quadrangular tournament involving Wales, Scotland and England. John won all of his doubles matches and two of his three singles. He is now on the Irish U19 squad as well as training with the Irish Seniors. He also captured the Irish U17 Doubles title last year. Certainly John has had a remarkably successful career to date, and we wish him all the very best in the future.

John Paul O'Connell
John Paul from Cloonbiggeen, was a member of the successful Galway All Ireland Minor winning team of 1999 and now that same team is to receive the accolade of "Team of the Year" award at a Sports Star banquet to be held at the Sacre Coeur Hotel, Salthill. The Minor team had impressive wins over Calre, Kilkenny and Tipperary in the final at Croke Park last September.
John Paul plays his club hurling with Carnmore at Minor, Under 21 and Senior level. He is still eligible to play at Minor level for the coming season, so lets all hope for further success for this talented young lad.

Other local prominent sportsmen deserve mention for high achievement during the past year:

Declan O'Brien
Declan won an All Ireland medal with the Galway Intermediate Team who defeated Kilkenny in their first ever All Ireland victory at this level last season. Declan's role at centre field was instrumental in winning the All Ireland final with superb fielding of the ball to set up the inside line for scores. He is currently a member of the Galway Senior team and plays his club hurling with Carnmore. We wish him a long and happy career with a sport which he excels at both at senior level and at juvenile where he has helped our young hurlers aspire to the heights he has achieved.

John Horgan is another local sportsman who must be congratulated on his achievement last year. He was named as the Player of the Year, with the Club he has been a member of for many years now, Salthill Devon. Well done John.

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Claregalway Historical and Cultural Society

Claregalway Parish History

The 'Claregalway - Parish History 750 years' book was officially launched by Gearóid O'Tuathaigh, Professor of History at NUI, Galway in Kynes Tavern on Friday, November 19th.
It was a celebratory occasion for those who helped with the publication and a great night for the parish. People were eager to view this long awaited book. There was a warm atmosphere with everybody enjoying themselves. Stories and memories were exchanged no doubt prompted by the photographs and articles in the book.
Tom Lenihan, chairman of the society, acted as Master of Ceremonies for the night and welcomed the huge crowd that came to support it. He paid tribute to the many people who helped to make the publication possible. Special thanks were given to FAS who financed the initial research and to Jarlath McDonagh who provided support and encouragement in the early days. Professor O'Tuathaigh praised the people of Claregalway for the excellent publication. He said that Claregalway had a proud history, which is excellently documented.
The book has since got very favourable reviews. Tony Galvin from the Tuam Herald referred to the 'incredible feat of research, co-operation and local pride that went into the mammoth task of producing it.'
The book covers about 750 years of parish history, beginning around the year 1250 with the foundation of the Franciscan Friary. It is a rich compilation of information, stories and perspectives on the lives and times of Claregalway and its people down through the centuries. From placenames to politics, superstitions to sport, religion to recreations, landscape to local lore, the reader, whatever his or her interests, will find much that is informative and entertaining in this volume.
The book is in hardback and has 277 pages of interesting details with 120 photographs and illustrations. Buy now while stocks last. Consider it a perfect Christmas gift especially for friends or relations living abroad.
It is available for sale in local shops or from any of the committee members: Brendan Noonan (tel. 798207), Seamus O'Connell (tel. 798245), Sean Concannon (tel. 798119) or Micheál Ó'Heidhin (tel. 790005), Tom Lenihan (tel. 798011), Gearoid Hartigan (tel. 798236) and Michael Hession (tel. 798328)

Brendan Noonan

P.S. The chapter on page 249 re Parish Newsletter - John Geraghty informed me that as well as the names mentioned in the initial start up of the newsletter that David Cormican, John O'Hagan and Marie Lohan were key figures. A lot of work was carried out in David Cormican's house and credit to the entire team for this initiative without which the newsletter would not exist.
Josette

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GET FIT BY WALKING
The easiest and most effective way to get fit is to get out of the house and WALK. The best way to get in shape, and benefit your heart and lungs, is simply to walk - and you don't have to go overboard, either. Walk for just 15 minutes twice a day, and you could lose up to 16lb. fat in a year.

Research carried out at the American College of Sports and Medicine and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has proved that we needn't push ourselves as hard as we once thought to get fit and stay in shape. 30 minutes of exercise five times a week is sufficient to keep healthy. Always warm up with a five minute comfortably paced walk. This gets the blood and oxygen moving through your muscles, heart and lungs, and prevents muscle strain and injury. After your walk, finish with a five-minute cool down, slowing your pace right down to allow your body to recover.

To burn fat, walk for 20 minutes. You should be walking fast enough just about to be able to talk between breaths. If you tire before the 20 minutes, don't worry; try again the next day. Each day, slowly build up your walking time until you reach your 20 minute goal. As you get fitter, pump your arms backwards and forwards. This gives shoulders, arms and upper back a workout at the same time. Do this walk three times a week and watch the pounds fall off!

Believe me, walking is addictive - for me it is my daily "fix" and helps relieve stress, frustration, etc. Try and incorporate it into your day and in time, like me, you will be totally hooked. Good luck!
Josette

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Welcome to the new millennium. We would like to wish you all the best wishes for the new century, and particularly with your garden. We will be able to look back now and tell our children and grandchildren that we planted that in the last century or your Granddad built that in the last century - a historic time indeed.
A lot of people marked the occasion by planting a tree on the 31st of December and the 1st of January. It's a nice idea to mark the occasion and can still be done as this is the first year of the new millennium. These will hopefully be here long after we are gone, to be enjoyed by future generations, part of our legacy.

Now is a good time for planting of the barerooted or burlaped plants. These are plants or trees that are not in containers. They are available while the plants are dormant between October and March. They are lifted out of the ground with a full root system and as they have no pot or compost they must be planted immediately again or heeled in to the soil again. It is a cheaper way of planting and there is a reasonable selection of hedging, conifers and trees available. For example, in hedging there is Griselinia, Escallonia, Beech and Craetagus available at a third of the normal price of potted varieties. There is a large selection of conifers available - different varieties of Thujas such as "Pyrimiadlis", "Brabant", "Emerald", "Yellow Ribbon", etc. and lots of Taxus and chamecyparis varieties such as "columnaris Glauca", "Laneri", "Stardust", "Erecta Verdis", etc.
These would be bigger than the normal potted varieties also and cheaper in price.

In Trees, we would have a large selection of Acers, Birch, Limes, Beech, Oaks, Mountain Ash, etc. Bareroot trees can also be got in varying sizes from semi mature down to half standard 12- 14's to your average size garden centre tree. So if you have a lot of planting to do and want to save yourself some money, get down now, pick it out and get planting. Remember after March it will be all containerised planting - no bareroot plants available after that until October.

The birds are becoming very active again with the little stretch in the evenings they are busy. It is important to keep feeding them, so top up your nut and seed feeders or put bread and fat in your bird tables. It makes for interesting watching as they compete with each other for a go at the feeder!

Anybody that planted winter bedding plants prior to December was unfortunate as they got a real blasting from the elements. Do not worry as they will recover and come back to flower. At the moment the weather has picked up somewhat and is an ideal time for planting the winter bedding plants, such as the winter pansys, polyanthus, sweet williams and forget-me-not.

FEBRUARY CHECK LIST

LAWNS: Rake off fallen leaves from the lawn. Prepare ground for new lawns.

TREES AND SHRUBS: Continue planting deciduous trees and shrubs in good weather. Carry out any major lopping or felling of deciduous trees. Prune deciduous shrubs.

ROSES: Dig ground for new rose beds. Apply composted farmyard manure to existing rose beds. It helps feed them, acts as a mulch and prevents them drying out too much in the summer.

FLOWERS: In good weather continue planting and tidying, dead heading of plants. Continue light digging in flower beds.

VEGETABLES: Finish off digging over the beds. Apply well composted farmyard manure or similar. Get ready for planting all the early seed potatoes.

FRUIT: Continue planting fruit trees in good weather. Prune apple and pear trees and blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes. Apply tar oil winter wash. Apply sulphate of potash now (helps in the production of fruit) to all fruit trees and bushes. Sulphate of potash is slowly taken up so to be of use it needs to be applied now.

GREENHOUSE: Tidy up and clean all debris from Greenhouse. Disinfect pots and seed trays. Bring in potted strawberry plants for forcing. The first seeds to be sown will be geraniums, anthirinhums, pansys, busy lizzies.

HOUSE PLANTS: Make sure plants get maximum light available. Keep plants out of draughts and cold places. Water and feed only those plants that are in flower. Keep all others on the dry side.

That's it for now, for all you romantics don't forget Valentines Day!
Happy gardening,

BOSCO MCDERMOTT, JNR., Glynn's Garden Centre & Fruit & Veg., Lydican.
Tel: 091-799135.

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John O'Connell's untimely death before Christmas at the age of fifty years of age comes at a great loss not just to his family but to the many people who worked with him in his life long commitment to vindicating the essential humanity of those marginalised and discriminated against by societies all over the world.
President of Ireland Mary McAleese, who was a personal friend of John and called to him during his illness. Her ADC, Commdt. Dermot O'Connor, represented her at his funeral. President McAleese in a tribute to John said "he worked tirelessly for a more compassionate, caring society in which travelling people could live and thrive. He campaigned for rights for this significant section of our population who have hitherto been neglected and socially excluded".
President McAleese added "I also knew John as a good friend. I am just one of a huge number who will miss him greatly".

John O'Connell was the youngest son of James and Margaret O'Connell , born in September 1949. He attended Claregalway National School and later attended St.Mary's College, Galway. During his younger years John spent many summers at the homes of relatives in the Connemara Gaeltacht where Irish was always spoken.

In 1967 John joined the Columban Fathers in Dalgan Park, Navan and attended U.C.D. from 1968 to 1971 where he studied economics and politics. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1975 and shortly after his ordination went to the Philippines, to Ginoog City in the island of Mindanao, sharing responsibility for thirty eight chapels and 50,000 Catholics with two other Columban priests. John was always described as a good organiser, with energy and ideas, who was always portrayed as very intelligent, instead of being just a problem solver, would empower people to solve problems themselves.

In 1980 John went to NewYork to study at the New School at post graduate level, and in 1982 returned to Ireland as Justice and Faith co-ordinator of the Columbans. Shortly afterwards he became involved in Traveller issues. Central to this was the founding of Pavee Point in North Great Charles Street in Dublin, which offers education and development to Travellers. At the same time John decided to leave the Columban Order but remained a good friend with the Order.

John was instrumental in getting Travellers into third level education for the first time and leaves a legacy with his work to win recognition for the culture, dignity and human rights for the Traveller.

Despite John's illness with a brain tumour that was diagnosed over a year ago, he continued with his works. It was during his early years in Pavee Point that John met Anastasia Crickley, a lecturer in applied social work in Maynooth. They married in December 1987 and their son Cóilín was born in 1990.

His remains were removed from his native home at Cloonbiggen to the Church of the Assumption and St. James, Claregalway. Hundreds of people attended. Fr. Bobby Gilmore of the Columban Order was joined by Canon Noel Mullin, P.P. Claregalway and Columban priests Fr. Eamon O'Brien and Fr.Opllie McCrossan, Fr. Padraig Kelly, SMA, Fr. Liam Ryan and Dr. Enda McDonagh, Maynooth, Fr. Willie Commins, P.P., Mervue along with several other priests.

Music at the ceremony included sections of the O'Riada Mass sung by Liam O'Maonlai accompanied by organist Aodhan Glynn. Colleagues and friends of John brought offerings to the altar from the various campaigns in which he was involved.

His wife Anastasia , in a personal tribute to her husband, said that John was her best friend and partner on everything she did. Their son Cóilín read poetry to end the service and as the remains were taken from the Church, over one hundred Travellers from Pavee Point, formed a guard of honour outside the church.

Our sympathy is extended to his wife Anastasia, son Cóilín, mother Margaret, brothers Seamus, Martin and Michael, sisters Brigid and Mary, in-laws, nephews, nieces and a very large circle of relatives and friends.

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SPECIAL NEWS
Recent engagements - congratulations and best wishes to the following who got engaged recently -
James Concannon, Summerfield, to Breda O'Dea, PallisGreen, Limerick.

Assumpta Duggan, Montiagh, - Padraig Walsh, Castlebar.

Martin Hughes, Hughes Supermarket, surprised and delighted all with news of his engagement to Martina Connolly, Turloughmore.

Caroline Murphy, Cregboy, - Kenneth Folan, Knocknacarra.

Richard Donovan, Cahergowan, - Paula Butler, Cong, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.
The year 2000 will certainly be a busy year for nuptials. We wish you all every happiness.

Congratulations to Marie and Michael Wall, Summerfield, on the birth of their baby girl Isobel, born on the 22nd December last.

Congratulations and well done to Maeve Moran (7 years), Cregboy, who won prize in Xmas Galway Advertiser Art Competition, Special Section.

Congrats. Also to Nicola Newell, Lakeview, (11 years).
Also congrats. To Hannah Loughnane, Cregboy (7 years). They both won prizes in Art Competition. Exhibitions of prizewinners will take place at the Cregal Art Supplies Gallery in Monivea Road, Galway from January 24th and the prizegiving on the following Friday January 28th.

Best wishes to Anne Wall, Cahergowan, who has entered her 3rd century.

Congratulations to the Stewart sisters of Loughgeorge - Ruth, Paula and Rachel who won medals at the Connacht Gymnastic Championships held in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. They now travel to the All-Ireland in Cork next month. Best of luck girls.

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