Christmas Greetings t seems such a short year since last Christmas and yet we are moving fast towards the IChristmas season again. The year gone by has been a year of high drama, beginning with the awful tsunami tragedy on St. Stephen’s Day. This has been followed by all the other tragedies of the year, the hurricanes in the US, the terrors in Baghdad, the earthquake in Pakistan and many more. I suppose one event that will always stand out in the minds of Catholics was the death of our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. His final illness and death brought home to us how he dignified pain and suffering by his endurance and acceptance. His funeral captured the attention of the world because he was respected by world leaders everywhere for standing up for what he believed. Then we had the election of Pope Benedict XVI and a new era in the church began. It is our prayer that the coming year will be a better year, that peace will take the place of war and violence around the world, and that people everywhere will escape natural disasters and flu pandemics. As always, I avail of the pages of Annagh Magazine to wish you all, on my own behalf and on behalf of Fr. Burke, a very happy and holy Christmas and every blessing and every happiness in the New Year. Wherever you are, at home or abroad, you will be remembered in our Masses on Christmas Day. Joseph Cooney Canon Joseph Cooney, P.P. and Fr. Kieran Burke, C.C. offer Benediction at the Square during the Corpus Christi procession, Sunday, 29th May. Contents Editorial . 2 Ballyhaunis News Review 2004/2005 Mike Byrne . 3 A Window on the Local Linen Industry Paul Waldron . 8 Ballyhaunis Karate Club . Alan Biesty . 9 Gracenotes . Mary Lyons . 10 The Bekan Centenarian . John Guilfoyle . 11 Home Thoughts . Frank Greally . 12 Circumnavigation of The Isle of Anglesey Anthony J. Keane . 13 Who Are The Real Foreigners? Jana Jurakova . 15 The work of Mayo SPCA in Ballyhaunis Anne Kivlichan . 18 St. Patrick’s College . Fr. Kieran Waldron . 19 My Trip To Poland . Maeve Lynskey . 23 Young People in Ballyhaunis Initiative Maureen McNamara . 24 Waldron Clan Gathering . 25 A Day To Remember at Croker Julia Kelly & Anne Lyons . 26 Another Year Over . Jimmy Hunt . 28 My Cousin in Nairobi . Katie Fitzpatrick . 29 Derrynacong’s Teaching Legacy Kathleen Flanagan (R.I.P.) . 31 Clonmacnoise . Agnes Heaney . 34 Abbey Pattern . Deirdre Moran . 37 Baptisms, Marriages, Deceased . 39 My European Experience . Jim Higgins M.E.P. 40 Fianna Fáil . Tommy Ronayne . 41 Ballyhaunis Tidy Towns . Mary Donnelly . 42 Ballyhaunis Bridge Club . Leona Connery . 43 Fire Officer Retires . 45 Northabout - Back To The Ice Dr. Michael Brogan . 46 Ballyhaunis A.B.C. Olive Lyons . 48 Scoil Íosa Primary School . Betty Regan . 49 Ballyhaunis I.C.A. Maura Fitzmaurice . 52 Ballyhaunis Golf Club . John Mooney . 53 Townland Signage Project . Paul Waldron . 55 World Class Dancer . 56 Weddings of the parish (photos) . 57 The Freelys of Island . John Morley . 65 Jarlath Fahey - The Gentle Man Matt O’Dwyer . 67 Guyana, South America . Laura Healy . 68 Nine Famous Irish Men . Dr. Alan Delaney . 69 World War Rememberance Mass . 71 Ballyhaunis Community School Pat McHugh . 72 An Eventful in B.C.S. Orla Macken . 73 Thom’s Directory 1934 . 74 Reflections on a great Summer Festival 2005 . 76 Special Olympics . Bernie Quinn . 77 Abbey Partnership . Stephen Grogan. 78 Ballyhaunis G.A.A. Club . Mary Prenty . 80 Brothers In Arms . Colm Gannon . 91 Ballyhaunis Community Council Stephen Grogan . 92 A Pig Killing . 93 Abbey Male Choir . Eamonn Murren . 93 Settling in Ballyhaunis . Ewelina Gierek . 94 Ballyhaunis Children Come Out to Play Denise Horan . 94 Fighting Their Way To The Top . 95 The Tax Man Cometh . James Cribbin . 97 Croí . Helen Meehan . 98 Ballyhaunis Store finds Heart of Matter Shane McGrath. 99 1980 Class Reunion - 25 years on . 99 Ballyhaunis Family Resource Centre . 100 Ballyhaunis Swimming Pool Agatha Higgins . 101 The Only Person You Need To Be Is Yourself . 102 Ballyhaunis Community Channel T.V. John Halpin . 102 Ballyhaunis & District Credit Union Peter McCafferty . 104 Shadows On Glass . 105 Ballyhaunis Fine Gael . 108 St. Patrick’s Parochial Hall . 109 Tully Topper . 109 Upper Changes . Eamonn Murren . 111 St. Vincent de Paul . Matt O’Dwyer . 111 St. Catherine’s Education & Resource Centre . 113 Patrons . 118 1 Editoral he Annagh Magazine Society is delighted to present Annagh 2005, the twenty-eighth issue of the Ballyhaunis Tparish magazine. We hope this year’s magazine reflects the vibrant and evolving community that is Ballyhaunis in the twenty-first century. We have reached the half-way stage of the first decade of the new century. We live in a fast moving, wealthy (for some) economy where massive changes have taken place and will continue to take place in the future. It is twenty years since the first flight took off from Knock Airport (now Ireland West Knock), inspired by the visionary and late Mons. Horan. Our telephone service went automatic that year. We had not yet heard of the internet, mobile phones, or the Euro; nor had our first woman President, Mary Robinson – a Mayo native – been elected. Computers twenty years ago were few and far between. Annagh was printed in black and white by Ballyhaunis Junior Chamber in 1985. At that time in Ballyhaunis we hadn’t heard of Midwest Radio, the Millennium Spire, the Claremorris-Knock bypass road and other local infrastructural improvements; the enterprise centres, the townland signage, the many new estates and the people from many countries who have become part of our community, as the pages of this magazine will testify. As with all organisations in the parish we have lost many valued members, and this year we sorely miss the wisdom and wit of the late Gerry Cribbin. We dedicate this magazine to his memory, especially remembering the great work Gerry did in chronicling the past and preserving it for us. All through the changes in Ballyhaunis, with the advent of new businesses and many changes that have occurred in older businesses, our loyal readers supported us by buying the magazine; our generous patrons, both at home and abroad, defrayed the rising cost; our writers visited the well of inspiration, and twenty-eight years later we still have a magazine. Our voluntary committee continues to produce the magazine year after year. Every year there is a fear that we mightn’t have enough material to fill a magazine, yet, every year we seem to receive more than we are able to publish. Inevitably, contributions of articles and photographs have had to be held over due to lack of space. Change continues to occur in all our lives; our voluntary organisations try to respond to some of the changes; they are some of the real heroes and heroines of modern Ireland, for without them our quality of life would be the poorer. Monsignor Horan had a vision that has borne fruit. As we face the future of a changing society, the important thing to remember is how we manage the changes. In a few weeks time work will be getting underway on next year’s Annagh Magazine. As always we welcome contributions of articles and photographs of Ballyhaunis interest. So that we can have the magazine printed in good time for Christmas, we would ask that articles, photographs or other items for publication be submitted to any committee member (listed below) before Friday 20th October 2006. Finally, greetings to all our readers wherever they may be. You can contact Annagh at [email protected]; or you can view our website at www.annagh.com. Officers President – Joe Keane; Vice-president – Agnes Heaney; Chairperson – Maisin Meath; Vice-chairperson – Stephen Grogan; Secretary – Martin Forde; Treasurer – Maura Griffin; P.R.O and Asst. Treasurer – John Halpin; Sales and Marketing - Seamus Mulrennan; Patron Management – Michael Finn; Typesetting: Brídann Halpin, Mary Donnelly; Editorial Group - Jim Lundon, Maura Griffin, John Halpin, Paul Waldron; Cover Design - Jaroslav Jurak. Earlier this year, Joe Keane (President) on behalf of the Annagh Magazine Society, presented the latest bound volume of Annagh Magazines to Eleanor Freyne, Librarian, Ballyhaunis Library. The library now holds a complete run of all twenty-seven issues of the Annagh (1978- 2004), kept in hard-bound volumes of three issues each. Pictured here are some members of the Annagh Magazine Society with Eleanor Freyne, Librarian. L-R: John Halpin, Joe Keane, Maura Griffin, Eleanor Freyne, Jim Lundon, Maisin Meath. 2 Ballyhaunis News Review 2004/2005 By Michael Byrne November 2004 organised by Mid West Radio, raises over €50,000 for St. Patrick’s Church, Ballyhaunis, was the venue for the victims of the South East Asian disaster... In keeping Mayo World War Remembrance Mass, on Sunday, with a well established tradition, a bound volume 14th Nov. Celebrated by Canon Joseph Cooney, P.P., containing the three most recent issues of the Annagh assisted by Fr. Kieran Burke, C.C., the Mass was Magazine was presented to Ballyhaunis Library. The organised to commemorate all those from County Library now holds a complete run of all twenty-seven Mayo who lost their lives in the First and Second World issues of the Annagh (1978-2004)... Ballyhaunis native Wars, and in other wars and peace-keeping missions Joseph Webb is promoted to the position of Deputy throughout the world in recent times… Tommy Lynch, Managing Director at Independent Newspapers Holywell was named as “Flogas Driver of the Year” for (Ireland) Ltd. Son of Rita and the late Joe Webb, Devlis, the second year in succession in November 2004… Joseph, the organisation’s Group Advertising Director, Winners in the Children’s Books Festival Competition, has responsibility for the titles, the Irish Independent, held in November 2004, were: Junior Quiz 4-7 year Evening Herald and the Sunday olds - Katie Haugh, Abbey View; Internet Quiz 8-12 Independent...Ballyhaunis native Brian Flanagan does year olds - Sergey Alifanov, Abbey Court; Word Search his town proud when he performs on the Late Late Puzzle - Lisa Hunt, Derrynacong; Morgan Lyons, Show on RTE TV.