Spring Stations
It is time for the annual Spring station masses and on Tuesday February 20th at 7.30pm the mass for Newtown, Cullinagh, Gortaclode, Ballyduff Village, Ballyduff Hill and Ballyduff West will be in Ballyduff Church.
On Wednesday February 21st the mass for Blacknock, Powersknock, Fan Glas, Raheen and Amberhill will be in Ballyduff church at 7.30pm.
Tuesday February 27th it will be the turn of Kilmagemogue, Ross, Kildermody, Ardeenlone, Ballygarron, Lisahane, Shanbally, Carrigphilip, Knockaderry and Carriganure in Ballyduff Church at 7.30pm.
Community Alert
Our local community alert group will hold their next meeting on Tuseday February 20th in Ballyduff Community Centre at 8pm. Representatives from the Health and Fitness well being studio will be in attendance and will speak to the meeting. Margaret Quinn from Muintir na Tire will also speak. This group is going from strength to strength and is one of the most succesful in the county. Please come along and become part of a group whose sole aim is to to give each person in our community a safe and peaceful place to live. Nothing is asked of you in return only to come along and show your support.
Community Celebration
Ballyduff GAA club will host a community celebration night on Saturday February 24th in The Sweep Bar. Music on the night will be provided by Deadly Medleys and finger food will be served. During the night medals will be presented to the Junior and U21 teams. There will be no cover charge and a “Pot Luck” monster raffle on the night.
Tidy Towns
Our local Tidy Towns group held their AGM recently and would like to thank all who attended and also to all who have supported them in the past year. The committee would also like to thank Stephaine Power in association with GSK, Dungarvan for their generous donation.
As most of you are aware the general maintenance and grass cutting in our area is done on a voluntary basis. Due to certain setbacks more help is needed to keep up this service. The group would like to invite anybody who has the time to help out and is interested in giving some time to come along to a meeting in Ballyduff Community Centre on Wednesday February 28th at 7.30pm. The group hope to increase in numbers and improve the village and surrounding areas. If you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to help please contact Tony on 086-6078272. The group look forward to seeing some new faces and hearing new ideas.
Academy/Nursery News.
Ballyduff GAA Club have returned back to their nursery and academy training. For the next few weeks training will take place on the Astro turf pitch in Ballyduff Soccer field. This training is for boys and girls from the age of 4 to 10 years and is a fantastic opportunity to get children out in the fresh air and let them have fun with their friends in a safe environment. If your child is interested then bring them along on a Saturday morning and they will be made very welcome. For those aged U7 training is from 10am to 11am and from 11am to 12 noon for U10’s.
Shrek-Tastic!
Congratulations and well done to all the cast and crew of Shrek saves far far away which was staged recently by Ballyduff Youth Drama group. I went along on the Saturday night and I must say I was super impressed. There were some brilliant stand out performances but overall everyone did a fabulous job. The one stand out thing for me was the enjoyment on each performers face. They obviously had a ball up there on stage and a big well done to Helen, Eleanor and Joan who keep this going each year, it is a great outlet for the young people to gain confidence and self belief.
Needles At The Ready!
If you are interested in joining a knitting and crochet group in Ballyduff Community Centre please get in contact with Jeni on 086-8163101. All levels will be welcome and of course the customary cuppa and chat will also be on the go. Please get in touch with Jeni to register your interest and so she can determine what is the best day and time for everyone.
Lourdes Call
A reminder that if you would like to put forward someones name to travel as part of the invalid setion of the Waterford/Lismore Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes you need to do so by Friday February 23rd. You can give the persons name to Noel O Sullivan, Eugene Power, Donal Daly or John O Leary.
The Best Of The Best
I never dreamed that I would be speaking about this person in the past tense and I am sure that no matter what I do write it will never do enough justice. While many admire celebrities and famous people to me the people to admire are those everyday people who make you sit up and take notice. Their arrival is never announced by a fanfair and sometimes their presence is not even noticed. Ollie Harris was a man I greatly admired and I know many more people felt the same. During his funeral mass genuine tears fell from the eyes of adults, teenagers and children. He touched many lives and he has left a lasting impression on young and old.
One of the main things I admired about Ollie was the love, respect and devotion he had for his family. The vows he and Kathleen made to each other on their wedding day remained important to them throughout their married life. You seldom met one of them without the other. Ollie’s whole being lit up when he spoke about his children or grandchildren. He was so proud of each of them and all their achievements, his idea of a perfect day was when they were all together. He has left them with so many wonderful memories which in the days and years ahead will give them great comfort.
Ollies great faith was evident to all without imposing on anybody and he gave great service to our parish and community. He was involved in many different committees over the year and was always on hand to lend a hand and no job was too big or too small. He showed what community was all about and his legacy will remain forever in our hearts and minds.
Of course the other great love in Ollie’s life was GAA. He especially took great pride in watching the children and young people enjoy the game of hurling. His help to our local club was invaluable and he knew each child by name and took great interest in watching them grow up. His support to club and county remained strong not only in the glory days.
These are all just a few aspects of Ollies life. I think I can speak for you all when I say he shall be missed greatly and he has left a lasting impression on us all. Our parish is most definetly a poorer place without him but we must now carry on his great work and draw example from his memory. If we can all take a little trait from Ollies personality and add it to our daily life then we will no doubt enhance our parish and community a little more.
We offer our deepest condolences to Kathleen, Denise, Yvonne, John, his grandchildren and all the Harris family. We promise to support and comfort you and to never forget the kindhearted, generous and loving man that was Ollie Harris. May the soil rest gently on him and may he enjoy the wonder and beauty of Gods kingdom. Somebody said to me that there would be no doubt that the Lord would have a seat ready at his table for Ollie but my answer was for Ollie the Lord himself would stand up and give him his seat. Rest in peace gentle friend.