This week 21 years ago, there were dual celebrations in Ballyduff as citizens prepared for the official opening of the Ballyduff Credit Union office, a sub-office of Tallow CU. The Millennium Sports Hall would be opened too, by Minister of State, Martin Cullen.
In Fermoy, a series of raids uncovered drugs worth £4,000, including amphetamines, cannabis and ecstasy, along with air pistols, knives, daggers, pornographic movies and stolen property.
In Cappoquin, two men and a woman were pulled to safety from a house fire, in which the house was left ‘gutted’. The elderly trio were unharmed, but left without a home after the incident.
The Avondhu website was going from strength to strength, having been launched the previous October in response to ’numerous requests from people abroad’ for the service.
A deputation of residents from Curraheen Cross in Mitchelstown made their way to a council meeting to protest the traffic issues in the area. In Kildorrery, the Development Committee made a plea to the council for a landscaping scheme to complement recent road widening outside the village. Traffic calming measures for Glenahulla were brought up at a council meeting, and refused, as there had been no recent traffic accidents in the area.
In Kilworth, Garda Dan Noonan received his 6th award from the ISPCA for his work in animal welfare – this time, for his investigation of unburied sheep carcasses on the banks of the Blackwater in Kilworth.
An ‘unnecessary’ bureaucratic system had anglers up in arms in Fermoy, with the introduction of a tagging system and a log book for all salmon caught. However, voices were not unanimous. Some didn’t like the paperwork, but others thought the system wasn’t radical enough. One fisher reported not a single salmon was spied in Clondulane on the opening day of the season. In Ballyduff, 12 year old Adam Crowe caught and tagged a 9lb wild salmon on the opening day of the season, one of just three fish caught on the entire river that day.
In party mood at the 2001 Watergrasshill/Glenville GAA Dinner Dance in Midleton, were l-r: Paul and Julia McCarthy, along with Maureen Finucane and Bernard Burke. 
L-r: Tom Ryan, Maureen Roche and Mary Ryan, who were entertained by the very popular ‘Tap the Barrell’ in Reynolds Lounge Bar, Castletownroche in February 2001. 
Michelle Sweeney, Paul Whelan, Brid Leamy, Christopher Buckley and Eamonn Fitzgerad of the Shanballymore Ballad Group, representing Avondhu, at the Scor na bPaisti County semi-finals in Riverstick and who qualified for the county finals in Ovens in February 2001. 
Pupils from Presentation Primary School, Doneraile, savouring the occasion after victory at the North Cork Scór na bPaisti competition in Shanballymore in early 2001. 
Pupils from Bishop Murphy National School at the Open Day held in St Colmans College, Fermoy in 2001, l-r: Peter Fleming, Liam Rice, Brian Fenton, David Sohun and Kevin O’Callaghan. 
Members of Fermoy Game Fishing Association who took part in a protest march in February 2001 in opposition to Government plans to introduce a tagging and log book system for all Salmon caught on Irish rivers, l-r: Paul Ross, John Lynch, Maurice Murphy, Francis Morrison, Michael Twomey, Des O’Reilly and Martin O’Connor. 
Cliona Callanan, Martha Callanan, Rose O’Meara and Eva O’Leary Fitzpatrick of the Ballygown, Killavullen set dancers, pictured at the county semi-finals of Scór na bPáistí in the Riverstick Community Centre in 2001. 
At Ballyporeen Parochial Hall in early 2001 to view the N8 Cashel/Mitchelstown route corridors were l-r: Liam O’Sullivan (Ballyporeen), Bryan McGrath (Clogheen), Michael O’Connor (Clogheen), Noel Carey (Clogheen), along with Larry and Mary McGrath (Clogheen).
A sign of the times to come, as SuperValu were giving away a free ‘bag for life’ with every £15 spent on shopping. The information stand was manned by Green Party member and Silver Pail employee, Martin O’Keeffe. Meanwhile, Klifinane Education Centre advertised a number of courses, including a one-day course on ‘Using your Microwave’. Also bookable was a one-day course on Cordon Bleu cooking, and Clock Repairs for Beginners. A course on Calligraphy however, would take two days.
Glanworth band Fat Salad launched their charity CD 21 years ago this week. ‘Give Them a Chance’ was released in aid of the Children of Chernobyl, with backing vocals supplied by Adi Roche.
The centre pages of The Avondhu in 2001 were devoted to a Wedding Fayre in the Kilcoran Lodge Hotel, where Derek Davis was on hand to compére the Fashion Show. In the same era, the hotel was host to both an AWARE charity race night organised by Trish Durack from Clogheen, as well as the South Tipperary Hill Sheep Breeders Social.
Discussions on the Mitchelstown Bypass route were ongoing, with 1,000 questionnaires returned to the council – an ‘exceptionally high number’. Local drama ensued as the PRO of the MBA had penned a letter to The Avondhu the previous week decrying the Mitchelstown Community Council. The chairman, secretary and treasurer of the MBA hit back, adamant that the individual did not speak on behalf of the MBA and they were ‘appalled’ by the contents of the letter!
In other entertainment news, The Fureys were in Kilworth’s Village Arts Centre, Dan Casey’s in Kilbehenny hosted a Ladies Pool Tournament and, for the young ones, £4 was the entry fee to the legendary Conna Disco. The disco came up in the letter pages too, as the PRO of Conna Community Council strove to assure parents that the ‘bad name’ the disco had recently got was ‘unmerited’. He said that a minimum of 30 people were on duty for each disco, as well as two nurses and a doctor on call, and ‘we do not tolerate intimate behaviour of any kind’. Parents were invited to come and see the disco in action for themselves.
Tallow races were on this weekend 21 years ago, with music from Gina And The Champions in the community centre, and in Doneraile, the Nagle Rice Secondary School U16 boys’ basketball team were crowned county champions after a victory over Glanmire Community College.
