About ten days ago one of the Hungarian group that visited last year in connection with the Statue of the Madonna and Child that was taken out of Ireland by Bishop Walter Lynch of Clonfert, for safety during the Cromwellian period, and is presently in the basilica of Gyor in Hungary. A six day pilgrimage to the shrine in Gyor, and an Irish Festival and excursions to Budapest, Lake Balaton, Bratislava and Vienna takes place from 12 – 17^th July 2008. Further details from Mary Kelly: Pilgrimages Abroad, 64 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin. Telephone 01-8731444.

When they were last here I asked their photographer Szabo Bela (Hungary) www.belafoto.hu to try and get a photograph of the village bridge at Shannonbridge showing all 16 stone arches and the main navigation arch. The returned member had a photo about 18 inches wide taken from the front of the car park at The Fort Restaurant and it shows all the bridge and the water tower next to the school is visible behind many of the village buildings. I tried to contact Szabo by e-mail asking to make the picture available for you to see. I don’t know if he speaks the same Hungarian as we do.

On 28^th February Doc and Dick took me to an information day at Tullamore Court Hotel

Organised by Heritage Council of Ireland www.heritagecouncil.com that covered a range of items such as –

-Grants process, applying for funding, Grant drawdown.

- How to extend the Life of a Thatched Roof.

- The repair of Slate roofs.

- Bats and buildings.

- Traditional Farm Building Grants.

- Discussion.

Lunch and all facilities were taken care for by The Heritage Council.

I found it a most interesting day as many of those attending had old houses or buildings

Or Bats that they wanted to preserve. There are grants available. See website.

For me the talk on Bats and buildings given by Ferdia Marnell from National Parks and Wildlife was the outstanding part. The guidelines are available at www.npws.ie and are titled Bat Migration Guidelines for Ireland. The girl at the seminar reception table told me that they have lots of interesting books in their Rothe House headquarters in Kilkenny and has promised to make up a parcel for Shannonbridge Library. Good to hear as this is Book Week for libraries. Visit Shannonbridge Library on Thursday from 7 to 9pm in The Health Center and do it soon.

On Sunday 24^th Feb Peggy Byrne flew to Sydney to visit Johnny and Violet Coleman and I’m sure many more Shannonbridge and Irish people over there. Peggy has a sister working with British Airways which she used. Sally normally flies the London to Los Angeles route but the week before Peggy flew Sally was asked to do the London Sydney trip on the Saturday. She agreed. Peggy flew on Sunday. They were almost on the same flight. No doubt they will meet in Sydney. I remember that Sally was on the flight when I first went to San Diego for an operation. She was good to know on that flight and helped make it more comfortable for Pat and myself.

Last weekend was a great weekend for The Kerins Family. David rang his mother Anne on Friday night 29^th February to tell her that his girlfriend Gemma Moore from Ferbane had used the Leap Year privilege and proposed to him. Anne was busy preparing a surprise Hen Party for daughter Miriam Kerins. Miriam is engaged to Trevor Malone Belmont and they plan to be married in the new Clearwater Hotel in Ballinasloe on 10^th April. The wedding and reception will take place in the hotel.

Danny Kerins is engaged to Mary Devery from Clonfert and they have arranged their wedding for 29^th August with reception in Racquet Hall Roscrea. Looks like Anne is going to have a busy year.

The Irish Times is celebrating its 150^th Anniversary this year and have changed their font and added many more features. Including some extra price charges. Their web site remains www.ireland.com

Noticed a report on Wed 27^th that President Mary McAleese was in the German city of Wurzburg, where she paid tribute to St Killian, the Cavan born monk martyred there in the 7^th century. She visited St Killian’s tomb and inspected his personal bible, as well as other manuscripts which contain some of the oldest written examples of the Irish Language. Of course Killian was in Clonmacnois and a church was dedicated to him there.

Some recent deaths include Paddy Mooney, Wexford, and a brother of Eileen in Garbally Jewellers. Paddy was a frequent visitor to Shannonbridge and applied his knowledge in trimming trees around the village. May he rest in peace.

On Monday3rd March Maureen Macken from Drum was laid to rest. Maureen is survived by her husband Bill and three sons. May she rest in peace.

Last week a niece of Babs and Gladys West called in and lent us a collection of old post cards put together by Babs West. Some are dated 1907 and I noticed two ‘Greetings from Three Rivers’ sent by the late Father Sonnie Kinlough. The sister Gladys collected stamps and so many of the stamps are missing. During the Second World War one had to get permits to send mail. So many of the cards were stamped ‘Permit Granted’

Babs West was a music teacher in Ballinasloe and her sister lived in Sligo.