Today is the first day of the duck shooting ( WILD ) and last evening Mick Pat Doc Dick and Molly and I took a pleasant trip on the cruiser to Banagher and back in pleasant sunshine. Noticed quite a number of pairs of swans on route but only saw one pair with four cygnets. Someone said that the wild mink are causing havoc with the swans nests. Noticed a Cormorant perched on a marker post on the trip and they are not my favourite protected bird as they are said to kill about ten pounds of fish when they are feeding. Between Banagher and Shannonharbour a young man in a dingy with an outboard motor sped out by our boat while Doc was making tea. He had gone about 100 yards ahead when he ran out of fuel and he looked a bit sheapish as we towed him to the inlet for Shannonharbour.
There was another coincident with Ciara Finn's letter of yesterday. Ciara mentioned going on a visit to Marnly near Sydney. Last night Doc was reading from a book on Killeen Castle that mentioned Saint Oliver Plunkett' life ending up being hung drawn and quartered. One of his set of vestments was given to Killeen Castle and was later passed onto the church in Mullingar. The second set was presented to the church in Marnly near Sydney that Ciara just visited.
Got some really sad news from Cherry Hill yesterday of an accident involving a tractor or an articulated that crashed into a number of cars. In one of the cars was Kay and Jim Kilgore who have visited Shannonbridge and are involved with Saint Marys Church. Kay was killed in the crash and Jim was injured. Please say a prayer for her soul.
Photos of items around Shannonbridge are missing from the Irishphoto shop.com If you have some good shots of the bridge, fort, jetties, fish,churches power plant,bog, boating,houses etc then e-mail them to cildub@iol.ie telling them what they are and ask them to be included under Shannonbridge Offaly