Local News 25th Feb 2009

APPRECIATION:
The parish of Granagh lost one of its most faithful servants recently when Jackie Chawke of Ballyvologue was called to his eternal reward.
In his 88th year, he was the oldest man at the Granagh side of the parish, and the esteem in which he was held was evident by the huge
numbers of people, of all ages, who came to bid him a final farewell.
Jackie was born in the Spring of 1921 ( during the war of independence) into the farm where he would spend his whole life. During this
time, he was quite content to work at the job he had trained for in his youth, farming and developing the land, keeping up with the many
changes in agriculture and passing the farm on to the next generation in great condition.
Throughout his life, Jackie was involved in parish life. Like many young men of his day, he joined the Granagh GAA Club and became
an accomplished hurler, winning a county minor medal in 1939 and a county junior in 1942. He also joined the Granagh Local Defence
Force and was prepared to defend our country against Hitler or even Churchill, but thankfully it didn't come to that.
By the 1950s he'd met and married Theresa Kelly from Ballingarry. They reared seven children: five girls and two boys. Three of the
family are married in the parish and four live in the USA.
When a group water scheme was set up in Granagh in the 1960s, Jackie became involved and remained active until he retired.
In the 1970s and 80s, he was a huge supporter of the local hurling team as well as the Macra Na Feirme plays and Light entertainment
shows. Indeed he even took part himself when Granagh put on a show for the Siamse competition.
Jackie was a pioneer for years and was living proof that life could be enjoyed to the full, without alcohol.
He was happy in his home place all his life but, after he had retired from farming, he did make a trip to the USA to visit his daughters
and he really enjoyed it.
His faith was very strong indeed and he believed in the power of prayer. The story goes that when fine weather was needed for
saving the hay, all the family were summoned to pray, and the Lord usually delivered !. In the Church too he helped out, joining the
choir for many years and he was one of the first Eucharistic Ministers in Granagh.
Jackie Chawke had a full and fruitful life and it must be a huge comfort to his wife and family that they all had a chance to say goodbye
and were with him up to the end. As a mark of respect, the Water Group formed a guard of honour as his remains arrived at Granagh
Church and members of the GAA queued, to shoulder his coffin to his final resting place.
Sincere sympathy to all who mourn him. As dheis Dé go raibh a anam dhilís.
Jackie's Months Mind will be held on Friday 27th at the usual 7pm Mass.

GRANAGH PLAYERS:

And so, Jimmy Sheehy has put ' The Poor Beast ' out to pastures green ( his front lawn ) , after a marvelous final performance last Friday night.
We had a great audience in, who gave tremendous support to the cast and everything went off excellently.
Sincere thanks to all who donated raffle prizes, would you believe we had nineteen in total ! Members of the Parents Council and Teachers looked
after the teas and ticket selling for us. The ladies were highly complimented on their culinary skills as they provided some delicious pastries and the
tea lasted longer than usual, as there were so many different items to taste !
Jimmy Chawke spoke on behalf of the cast and thanked each and every person who helped in making this years play another success. It is not
possible that seven or eight people could possible organise an event as huge as this, it is totally dependant on the help and co-operation of many.
We are so lucky in Granagh to still have that wonderful sense of community, where people are willing to work together and support all kinds of local activities
which benefit the entire community. We certainly hope this continues and maybe the example we give now will benefit the generations who follow.
To end the night, we had a surprise for the producer and cast. A month earlier, Patrick C. Fitzgerald had put us in touch with Bobby Quilty.
Bobby is a brother to Patsy and as people are aware, they have a very famous nephew, namely, Paul O'Connell. Bobby now lives in Wexford and happens
to be a friend and neighbour of the author Billy Roche - could you believe it !! Bobby very kindly, took my letter and autograph request personally to Billy for his signature.
Billy was delighted to sign a programme for the Cast and they in turn were absolutely thrilled to have this as a memento and reminder of the fine job they made
of this production. Many thanks to Pat Fitzgerald. He has all our notes and more photos up on the website - www.ballingarry.blogspot.com
Some remaining DVDs are still available in O'Gormans Foodstore.


GRANAGH UTD F.C.:

Lotto results: There was no winner of the €3,000 in the lotto draw this week.
Numbers drawn were 5. 6. 16. 23.
Lucky dip winners of €20 each were Nuala Stapleton Granagh, Seamus O'Brien Granagh, Frank Mullane Croom.
Next weeks jackpot is €3.100.
U12:
On Saturday the 21st, our U12 team were away to Breska Rovers A.
This was a game Granagh had to win if they were to stay in control of Div 2,but as so often happens things don`t always go to plan. The boys played some nice football in the first half and were a little unlucky not to be on the score sheet with a couple of efforts in front of goal, but to be fair Breska gave as good as they got and the half time score read 0-0.
Granagh raised the tempo in the second half with their two full backs delivering some great balls down the wings it looked for a while as if we might score, but with everything we created we just could not hit the net and so we shared the points in this 0-0 draw.
U16:
On Sunday the 22nd, our U16 team played host to Ferry Rangers.
The first half produced no goals with very little attack coming from either team. This changed in the second half when Granagh started to push players forward and test the Ferry keeper, and ten minutes into the half the break through came when Pa O’ Donoghue scored a free kick from his own half of the field. Ferry never dropped their heads and got back on level terms soon after when we failed to clear the ball and left them in for the equaliser.
So with things even again and looking like a draw Ferry handled in their own box and Stephen O Brien converted from the spot. Granagh defended very well for the remainder of the game and took the three points in a well deserved win. Well done lads.


COLLECTION;
On behalf of St. Vincents, Lisnagry, a sincere thanks to all who contributed to their church gate collection last Sunday. A total of E 400 was collected.

SCHOOL:
Stay Safe/ Child Protection Information Meeting for parents on Wed, March 4th, 7.30pm
First Confession on Thursday 5th March, 8pm. School Photographer on Wednesday Mar 18th.

YOUTH CLUB:
Well done to Sophie Butler, who represented the Club in the solo singing competition for the Munster Finals of the Variety Show last weekend.
Limerick Youth Service in association with the County Enterprise Board are introducing a competition for all Clubs, called ' Do the Biz '.
There are four tasks focused around the running of a club:- Design a Logo, Devise a promotional Campaign to increase membership, Select a club
trip, Identify a weekly activity that could generate funds. The programme will begin on the week of 2nd March, will run for three weeks and there will
be a final Presentation Night on Friday 3rd April.


ABBEYFEALE DRAMA:

Some of the cast members arrived to see our Play and were very impressed with the standards and production. They are going to perform
' Philadelphia Here I Come ' beginning 22nd, 24th & 26th Feb, 1st, 3rd, 5th & 7th March. Another good play and well worth supporting.