Friday evening the bold Father Benny Flanagan celebrated forty years in the priesthood with a concelebrated Mass in one of the two churches that he services in his parish outside Loughrea. Mick and myself were priviliged to be invited to the celebration and to a supper afterwards in the Meadowcourt hotel where there was a great array of people that had known Benny down the years. The night went very well and unfortunately we had to leave early as Mick and Mary were scheduled to catch a bus for the airport at 3.00 am in Ballinasloe to catch a flight to Italy for a week. It did not end there as Doc and Dick and myself joined about thirty others in Banagher on Saturday morning for a trip to Meelick on the River Queen. There was a strong flow on the river and James Scully was along to tell us lots of interesting pieces of information about the bridge, fortifications, farming and river life. Everybody on the trip was given a special handout on Banagher. At Meelick George the pilot docked the boat near the lock gate and we had a good look at a working lock used by about 10,000 boats each year. Afterwards we walked across the Weir Wall which has two rows of safety barriers. On the west bank we walked for a few hundred yards to reach our boat. There was an amazing display of blackberries , haws, sloes and the orange pods of the wild rose along the walk. Meelick Church was to be seen across the fields and we had a good view of the Martello Fortification on the return trip. For those not interested in the river Benny had golf or a walk in Coole Park arranged as an alternative. After the boat trip the group had lunch in Flynns Bar and went to visit Hough's Piano Bar.
Of course this was Saturday and was Country Fair Day in Ballinasloe where a large crowd were gathered for the wind up of the fair.