Tidy Towns News.
Each community has been given a 1916 remembrance plaque by the County and City Council and the Tidy Towns committee would like to get your opinion about where to place it. Please meet them in the village green after mass this Thursday 24th of March around 8pm and give your opinion. It would be very helpful if they had as many people as possible and representatives from the different clubs and organisations in the community.
The group would also like to extend a warm welcome to our new Tus worker Declan(Decky) Power. I met Decky last week and he was doing a fantastic job. We know he will be a great asset to the area.
Gaelic For Girls.
Ballyduff received the great news recently that they have been selected to take part in a new exciting programme called Gaelic For Girls. This programme is aimed at girls aged 8-12 years old and introduces them to football in a fun environment. The programme runs for 8 weeks and when completed the participants receive a t-shirt and a certificate. The cost for the entire programme is €8 and begins on Saturday April 16th at 10am until 11am. If you are interested or would like more information please contact Karen Dobbyn on 087-68220473.
Church News.
Please take note that gluten free holy communion is now available in our church. If would like to avail of this please inform the sacristan before mass.
As you know Holy Week is a very busy time in the church calendar and so here is a list of the Holy Week and Easter ceremonies.
Monday 21st and Tuesday 22nd- mass at 10am.
Holy Thursday 24th- Mass of the Last supper at 7.30pm which includes the washing of the feet. This is an ideal day to bring back your Trocaire box.
Good Friday 25th- Reading of the Passion, veneration of the cross and Holy Communion at 3pm.
Good Friday 25th- Stations of the Cross at 7.30pm. There will be a collection for the upkeep of the holy places of Jerusalem.
Holy Saturday 26th at 9pm- This is the most colourful and joyous occasion for the church which includes the Easter fire, blessing of Easter water, lighting of the new Easter candle and we renew our baptisimal promises.
Easter Sunday 27th- The glorious Easter morning mass at 10am.
The Easter collection for the support of the priests of the parish is taken up over Easter weekend and they appreciate your generosity.
Fr. Mick and Fr. Richard would like to wish you all a happy and holy Easter.
Equestrian Success.
The great love of horses is very evident in our parish and it is wonderful to see two more young ladies from our parish excelling in this sport which they love with a passion.
Emily Laffan recently travelled to Ballen, Co. Carlow to take part in the National Schools hunter trials. She represented Saint Declans, Kilmacthomas with her team mates Maud and Percy O Callaghan. They finished the trials in 16th place out of 67 teams who took part. This is a fantastic achievement.
Another local lady Kate Foley has also been given some great news this week. Kate has made her way onto the Irish squad for the Irish pony club tretatalon team. This is again a fabulous achievement.
While I know these two ladies put in a lot of hard work and dedication into their sport, I also congratulate their parents Jim and Lorraine Laffan and Eleanor and Sherlock Foley who support them fully and have made sure they have had all these opportunities. I’m sure their reward is to see the love and enjoyment the girls get from what they do.
Dawn Players.
The curtain has now come down on Dawn Players production of “Seperate Beds”. This production was a huge success with great crowds packing in each night. The play was a very funny comedy with lots of laughs from beginning to finish. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this production and would even say it was one of my favourites. It was indeed excellently cast with each actor/actress suiting their character completely. A huge well done to all the cast and the huge crew of volunteers who help backstage and front of house etc. Producer Declan Finn and Director Denise Quinn can be hugely proud of this production and we thank all involved for lifting our spirits and giving us such a great night out.