A Ballyduff brother and sister were to ‘make TV history’, appearing on two of RTE’s most popular shows on the one weekend. Proud parents Larry and Sheila Farrell were no doubt glued to the television when their daughter, Mary was on Kenny Live on a Saturday, singing the first entry in the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest.
An accomplished singer with a number of All-Ireland titles for traditional music to her name, she would sing Fermoy man, Brian O’Reilly’s composition, ‘Night Time’. While her brother Mike would appear on screen the following night on the popular quiz show Where In the World, hosted by Theresa Lowe.
However, as this series was pre-recorded a month previous, Mike confirmed to The Avondhu that they had scooped the grand prize, a holiday to France. Not bad for a team who were just ‘chancing their arms’, having previously competed in a number of table quizzes!
It was revealed that President Mary Robinson would officially open The Village Arts Centre in Kilworth, which opened its doors to the public on September 6th, 1994. The theatre, based in the old Church of Ireland building, hosted 25 night of entertainment up to Christmas 1994.
Fermoy woman Naranjan McCormack had the honour of being invited to the world famous Ballymaloe Cookery School, to teach students how to prepare delicacies from South East Asia. Married to Jimmy with two children, the Malaysian native was ‘an acknowledged expert on cooking from her region of the world’, with Darina Allen recognising the opening within her school for such classes which were not being catered for. Locals also had the opportunity to benefit from Naranjan’s expertise, as she was conducting night classes consisting of 6 week courses, at her own home in Inchinapallas, Fermoy.
Lismore Dramatic Society were preparing to stage the ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’. The musical featured Pat O’Halloran as Mushnik, Billy Lee as Seymour, Yvonne Murphy, Denis Fitzgerald, Mandy Coleman, Phyl McGrath and Aileen Murphy. With Tom Murphy as stage manager, musical direction was by Donal Kennefick and the ‘orchestra’ consisted of Dermot Dwyer, Johnny Hughes and Michael Casey.
Meanwhile, up the road in Ballyduff, the hilarious comedy ‘Noises Off’ was being produced by Bill Canning, set to take to the stage in St Michael’s Hall at the end of January. Described as ‘a farce about a farce’, the able cast consisted of Hugh Moynihan, Brendan Dunlea, Sheila Hennigan, Geraldine Canning, Fiona McDonnell, Deirdre Whyte, Richie Walsh and John Coleman.
Ballyporeen Garda Liam O’Reilly was preparing to represent his country at the World Police Games, to be held in Melbourne, Australia in February 1995. A medallist from the 1993 Games in Colorado, USA, where Liam brought home gold in the 800m event and bronze in the 1,500m, he was hoping to improve on this impressive showing. Generous sponsorship from local businessman, Maurice Meaney of Gurteen Construction, would allow Liam to head to Melbourne on February 1st to acclimatise before the Games.
In brief – An Avondhu Garda Report in January 1995, stated that a dog had strayed from the Clondulane area; the brown cairn terrier was named Lucky! Mag’s Hair Salon in Kilbehenny was advertising ‘a modern day miracle’ – call to the salon and ‘in 5 minutes you could see yourself with 12 to 24 new hairstyles’! Described as ‘the greatest personal service ever’, customers would receive a video tape and colour prints to share with family, friends and their stylist. Magic!
At the fourth time of asking, Hill Celtic from Watergrasshill finally saw their first round St Michael’s Cup tie with Kilreen Celtic take place and they duly disposed of their opponents at Crossbarry, on a 2-0 scoreline. With both sides looking ‘rusty’ after an enforced Christmas layoff due to the weather, Hill wingers Sean Hegarty and Deccy Freeman wasted no time in tormenting the Kilreen fullbacks.
It took 20 minutes to break the deadlock, when following a corner Sean Hegarty made no mistake with a fine shot. With the ground cutting up in the second period, it took Hill Celtic only 15 minutes to score their second, Maurice O’Keeffe beating the keeper from 30 yards.
Team: D O’Leary, Crowley, M O’Leary (captain), J O’Keeffe, Hegarty, Walsh, M O’Keeffe, Freeman, Hedderman, Barton. Subs: Sheehan, O’Leary, Johnson, O’Shea.
For more images from January 1995, see the Print Edition or online Digital Edition
