The burial took place last Thursday of Father Brian Clarke of the Mill Hill Missionaries

He served for many years in Pakistan and in later years had been in retirement in the order house in Rathgar in Dublin. Father Brian was a brother of a famous cyclist and was a native of Eyrecourt . May he rest in peace.

At the weekend Masses in the parish some Sisters from the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa attended and told us of their work in Africa and the plight of families suffering from AIDS.. A special collection was taken up to help with their work. Visit their website at www.fmsa.com. If you wish to make a donation of cash or used stamps send it to The Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa, 142 Raheny Road, Dublin 5 Ireland.

At the weekend Malcolm Trezel and his wife visited the village. Malcolm told us that some 30 years ago he and his brother Roger came to Shannonbridge on a number of fishing holidays. Hopefully they will return again soon.

On Sunday evening on Midland Radio Ricey Scully presented a two hour program dedicated to the late Ciaran Kelly, the Ceili Band leader from Clonfinlough. The program had been recorded on last Wednesday in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel in Athlone. Many people had their memories of the late Ciaran and I liked the one from Tony Kenny Banagher now Ferbane. Tony remembered building the school at Shannonbridge in 1940 working as a 16 year old with the family builders. At that time he met the late Mickey Joe Reid from Shannonbridge whom Tony reckoned was an outstanding musician that played the accordion. Ciaran Kelly was also working building the school and the two of them learned a lot from Mickey Joe. They used to play in Mrs Mc Evoy’s house beside the school. He remembered playing Ceili Dances in Moran’s kitchen in Shannonbridge, which is now The Fort Restaurant along with Ciaran Kelly and Mickey Joe and the late Pat Corbett and Tommy Corbett who was the drummer.

The Irish Times goes free online today at www.irishtimes.com which is a welcome event.

Sunday and today is fine but the same Irish Times fide day forecast has a lot of blue slanted lines forecast for the next three days.

This evening four men arrived in Shannonbridge by boat. While talking to them the leader told me that he was a Cronin from Cork who lived for many years in Maryland and now lives in Dublin. I told him that on Friday last Tommy Glynn from Fohenagh and Baltimore had visited. When I showed him Tommy Glynn’s business card he told me that he knew Tommy and had got him to price some work for him. Tommy and Mr Cronin used to meet in the park in Baltimore as they took their dogs for a walk.

This man was also into history and told me that the Ely O Carrolls went to Maryland in Elizabethan times. Maryland was the first state in America to allow freedom of practise of religion. There is a book titled ‘Princes of Ireland Planters of Maryland’ that has a lot of Ely O Carroll history.