Good to see Father Joe Cunningham from Alabama in Shannonbridge last evening with his sister and niece who live in Longford. Father Joe was telling us that his father Joe was one of ten Cunninghams from Ragherabeb. Joe married Mary Bridget Connor from Clonmacnois who was one of sixteen Connor children and they settled in Longford. Looking at a photograph of the Shannonbridge Bridge Father Joe remembers as a young boy while visiting Ragherabeg with his brother running along the parapet of the bridge in a race with his brother who ran alongside. The Garda Sergeant Joe Flood was watching the dangerous race but did not shout for fear of Father Joe falling into the river. However later that evening Joe Flood called to the Cunningham home in and told the story. There were no more parapet races.
Asked Father Joe if he ever saw Father Tadg Deasy and he said he was stationed about thirty minutes from Tadg. He reckoned it was a bad time to visit on account of the short evenings and the cold.
Hope Jack Quinn allows us to share one of his poems from his " Through A Small Window"
Childhood 11
A high bicycle
by the Chapel wall
a daily excursion
stretching her patience
when he failed to deliver
Plum puddings
in calico bags
swinging from the ceiling
like hanging bells
portending Christmas
For incense
the smell of rich brown bread
cooling on the dresser
The nightly Rosary
on the kitchen floor
the cement
pricking at bare knees
the trimmings increasing
with the advent
of each new saint
Loud knockings
startling us from sleep
a sick neighbour
she always went
armed
with a mixture of prayers
and medicaments
from the corner press
that never failed.