First daffodils in Gurtenard Wood
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A Poem for that Special Morning
Peg Prendeville
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A Previous Pres. Secondary School Extension
Margaret McGrath, Sr. Gemma’s niece, sent us this one.
L to R. Sr. Gemma, Martin Mulvihill, Sr. Anthony and Gerard Lynch at the launch of the fundraising campaign.
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A Cork Artefact
This is Brendan O’Sullivan’s temperance medal. The medal was the idea of Fr.Theobald Mathew who founded the Irish Temperance Movement in Cork in 1838. Fr. Mathew was known as The Apostle of Temperance. He was hugely influential, particularly in Cork, influencing people, particularly men, to abstain from alcohol. It was important to show that you belonged to this movement and to this day a few people wear a pioneer pin.
At one time it was estimated that around 3 million people (half the population) belonged to the temperance movement. Brendan told us that there were several different iterations of the medal. The front usually had a man and woman on either side of an altar with Catholic symbols like a lamb and an IHS , angels and sheafs of corn. The obverse had the pledge to abstain from alcohol for life.
The medals were made in Birmingham. They were made of pewter and were of poor quality. Many of them have not survived.
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Demolished
Elm Hill was a beautiful old house you will be familiar with if you drive to Limerick via Ardagh.
It had fallen in to disrepair of late and apparently was too far gone to restore. It was flattened a few weeks ago. Another piece of architectural history gone.
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A Fact
In AD 600 Pope Gregory decreed that saying “God bless you” is the correct response to a sneeze.
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