Dated also 22^nd January 2007

On Friday Brian Mc Williams in his Weather Eye column in The Irish Times wrote an interesting article about the Arctic like conditions that prevailed for weeks in 1947 in Ireland. Supplies of turf to Dublin were exhausted and food rationing was in force. Allowances per week per person was bread – 6lbs, Sugar – 8 Ounces, Two ounces of butter and half an ounce of tea. Pat told me that bread soda, soap, paraffin oil, cigarettes and tobacco were also rationed. Tea was very scarce around Shannonbridge and James J was able to get tea from sailors on ships which were provided with eggs by Denny and Mary Anne Lyons from their shop in Dublin. At that time the sailors charged £10 / pound for the tea.

It was good to meet Margaret Rigley, New Ross, who called to Shannonbridge after Christmas. Margaret and her family were celebrating her 70^th Birthday with a break in Portlaoise (Not the Jail you dope) and drove over to Shannonbridge with her son and her sister in law. Margaret lived in Shannonbridge with her husband Jack and family for 8 years before moving to New Ross 35 years ago. She is in great form and talked about everyone she knew. Margaret has a remarkable head for dates.

The Shannonbridge / Doon weekly Lottery Jackpot is 16,600 for tonight’s draw. You can become a weekly supporter. Cost 2 Euro per ticket. Choose six numbers.

The QVC internet shopping in the USA television crew visited Shannonbridge Pottery during the week and they will be featuring their pottery in the build up to Saint Patrick’s Day.

Lunch atop a skyscraper is a famous photograph of a group of workers in America in 1932 sitting on a skyscraper having their lunch with lots of high rise buildings below them. Today’s Irish Times tells that the two sitting at each end of the stanchion are from Shanaglish in Galway. Matty O Shaugnessy is lighting a cigarette on the extreme left while Patrick Sonny Glynn has the water bottle on the right hand side. Shanaglish has become associated with Bishop Casey of late as he now resides there.

Brendan Mc Williams in today’s Weather Eye reminds us that Wrong Way Corrigan was born 100 years ago today. He acquire the Wrong Way name by departing Roosevelt Field in America and flying the wrong way – finally landing in Baldonnell in Ireland.

This week Irish Catholic devotes two pages to the story of how Saint Brendan and his Irish Monks were first to discover America.

Elsewhere they tell that a new History of Clonfert Diocese has just been published, This covers 1400 years of the history of the Diocese founded by Saint Brendan of Clonfert.

Yesterday Mass was celebrated for the 10^th Anniversary of the death of Ned Cassidy. Afterwards Brigie showed me a letter from Anne Archer, nee Kilroe who lives in New South Wales in Australia. Anne was born in Shannonbridge and went with her sister Rachel to Australia about 70 years ago. The Kilroe Family lived in a two storey house across from the Parochial House and where Pat Killeen’s bungalow now stands.

What I liked about the letter was the e-mail address and so I wrote her a few lines.

Anyhow hope that she finds an odd item of interest on these pages and maybe she will share a memory or two.