Notes to the Paper - 24 December 2010

With Christmas just around the corner, this week’s round up will be short and sweet. The youth club members went ice skating last Friday night and all came home in one piece after having a great time. Santa is back in Lapland now and asked us to express his thanks to everyone in Cappoquin who came out to see him and especially to Michael and John O’Rourke for their wonderful assistance with lawnmowers and lunch respectively. Santa also said how much he enjoyed the Cinderella Story and the Sale of Work while in town also.

The Cappoquin Christmas Collection set of cards is now in the black as far as costs are concerned and we hope to build on this initiative next year and help people to send just a little bit of home to those who may be far away. May we thank everyone in the place who organised an event or a game, a concert or a market, a carnival or a parade for the marvellous work you are all doing to keep our community going. Our picture this week is from our top-selling Christmas card, a painting by Noel O’Donoghue of a night-time carol scene at the Square. Best wishes to all for Christmas and the New Year.

Notes to the Paper - 17 December 2010

It's all go at present in the Cornerstone town. The Farmers' Market brought a lovely buzz to the old town centre on Saturday last, with a great range of local produce on sale and an equally great opportunity for people to meet and chat. Santa surprised us yet again this year, not by arriving (which was expected) but by arriving on a lawnmower-driven sleigh thanks to the genius of chief elf, Michael O'Rourke. Full details next week. Rumour has it that Santa even attended the Saturday night performance of the wonderful Cinderella Story at the Community Centre (in a fairly good disguise), before visiting Bunscoil Gleann Sídheain the following day as well.

In other news, there is still be a place available on the Town Twinning visit to Chanat in mid March - contact Keith Dransfield for details.

We have had one taker on the offer of an allotment near the town so far - Joe Prendergast will gladly deal with any further enquiries on this one.

The Christmas cards are selliing like hot cakes, with Noel O'Donoghue's painting of the Square about as hard to get as one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets at this stage - and just as valuable.

 Finally, the Foroige club are off to the ice skating rink this Friday evening, a refixture from the cancelled event two weeks ago - isn't it real irony when a trip to an ice skating rink had to be cancelled before because of...ice!

That's it for now. Christmas round-up next week

Notes to the Paper - 10 December 2010

This Week’s Picture

Once again, this week’s picture comes from the new publication, ‘Michael Cavanagh: His Life and Selected Works’, now on sale in local shops with all profits going to Bunscoil Gleann Sídheáin. It shows what surely was the biggest industry ever owned by a Cappoquin native. Pictured here is the original headquarters of Hugh Collender’s Billiard Table empire, at 738 Broadway, New York. Collender went with Michael Cavanagh to the USA after the 1849 rebellion and while his friend became a prolific writer, Collender eventually became the most famous manufacturer of billiard and snooker tables in the world, with over forty premises and depots worldwide. Hugh Collender’s company is thriving today, though known now simply as ‘Brunswick’, and Hugh himself is appropriately commemorated on a footpath plaque outside Cappoquin Snooker Club, where else!

Christmas Farmers’ Market

Next Saturday morning, December 11^th we will have this year’s Cappoquin Christmas Farmers’ Market.  As usual, it will be held on the Square starting at 10.30 until 1.00 pm. Almost every town in the country hosts a Farmer’s Market at some stage of the year and thanks to all the local support, the ones in Cappoquin over the past few years have been successful.  An event like this is a good community activity, it is sociable and you will enjoy your visit to the market.

Cappoquin has a lot of local food producers, more than most places of its size. So it is important that they have the opportunity to market their wares in this fashion, in their local town.  There will be a wide range of foods available, including ice cream, bread, cakes, fruit, vegetables, home baking, jams, apple juice, cheeses, and honey.  As it is Christmas, there will also be festive food, Christmas trees and cards.  

We look forward to seeing you next Saturday morning for the Farmers’ Market where you can start the weekend with the spirit of Christmas, on the Square of your local town.

Santa at the Square

With the Farmers’ Market all ready for the off at the Square this Saturday, December 11^th, the word from the North Pole is that Santa hopes to arrive in his horse-drawn sleigh sometime between twelve and twelve-fifteen on the day. Like last year, this is a ‘getting to know you’ visit, a chance for Santa to get reacquainted with the local kids since last year and double check that the list of presents is correct for December 25^th. He hopes to bring special certificates with him like last year, and we are pretty sure there will be some goodies available to everyone, as well as the opportunity for the grown-ups to sample some of the best local produce available at the Market. Maybe Santa will stay around this weekend, probably in disguise, and go and see the marvellous Cinderella pantomime at the Community Centre before coming back to the Sale of Work at Bunscoil Gleann Sídheáin on Sunday. Busy times for a busy man.

Notes to the Paper - 18 November 2010

This week’s picture

From the wonderful collection of Eddie Fraher, this week’s picture shows a Cappoquin Gaelic football team lining out for a championship match, probably at Lismore. The state of the hairstyles of some of the known protagonists suggests that this dates from the second half of the 1950s. More interesting still is that among this group of junior footballers are the holders of at least four All-Ireland hurling medals. Enjoy figuring that one out!

Best Wishes

Many congratulations to our hard working committee member Christine Collender on her recent wedding to Vinnie, and many years of happiness to both of you.

Santa at the Square

Despite the recession, we can now confirm that Santa is, indeed, going to visit Cappoquin this year in advance of the main event on Christmas Eve. His elf-mail (he doesn’t use email) has arrived, announcing that his visit to the Square in Cappoquin will take place on Saturday, 11^th December. We can’t confirm a time as yet but will do so in a week or two. This means that Santa will be in town on the same weekend as the Choral Society’s Cinderella concert at the Community Centre. It is just great to see the Choral Society also win a Community and Voluntary Awards nomination this year and they heartily deserve to win the competition too for the imaginative and brave decision to stage the St. Patrick’s Day Parade over the past two years, a real highlight on the Cappoquin calendar at this stage.

Farmers’ Market

The Farmers’ Market will be held at the Square on the morning of 11^th December also, so it should be a great occasion for young and old as our local producers and craftspeople display their wares. This will be the tenth Farmer’s Market at the Square since the tradition was revived about five years ago. The earliest known records show that such markets took place at the very same spot as far back as the 1620s, so anyone shopping at this year’s event will be re-enacting a bit of history into the bargain.

Launch of Michael Cavanagh’s Works

Best of luck to the Michael Cavanagh Society which is launching its 400-page book of Michael Cavanagh; His Life and Selected Writings at the Community Centre on Saturday, November 27^th at 8.30. The book will be on sale for a special launch price of €15 on that night only, and will be available in local shops and through the Civic Link website, www.cappoquin.net after November 27^th, and we hope through other outlets. All proceeds are going to Bunscoil Gleann Sidheain and we hope everyone who can will support the launch of this high quality hard-back production of the writings of Cappoquin’s literary son, and support our school into the bargain. Full details are given in a separate article.

Playground Lights

Now that the long evenings have well and truly arrived, we are hopeful that the Council will be in a position to effect the minor repair to the gate and to install the lighting at the town playground in order to ensure that this excellent facility remains in its current very good condition.