It was reported that an ‘environmental project’ was under way in Doneraile, which ‘would probably protect it (the town) from the spectre of an in-fill refuse dump’. It involved grounds located at Ballydineen, ‘apparently on land which was one of the sites earmarked by the Local Authority for an in-fill refuse site to serve all of North Cork’.
The project would involve the planting of 10,000 trees at this location, with the landowner reportedly ‘turning over several acres to forestry’. Transition Year students from the local Nagle Rice Secondary School were involved in the considerable task of planting the trees, with principal Br Gerard O’Shea telling The Avondhu that the students would make ‘a few pound’ to go towards a weekend away and it formed part of their environmental studies course.
A runaway car smashed into an ESB pole in Fermoy – possibly ‘heading for love’ on Valentine’s Day, February 14th. Fortunately, nobody was injured in the mid-afternoon incident on Newmarket Street, however the Toyota Corolla sustained quite a large amount of damage.
Ballyhooly residents were calling for ‘an all out campaign’ to catch the perpetrators of some alarming wanton dumping leading from the village to the scenic Nagle Mountains. Locals were ‘hopping mad’ and understandably so – The Avondhu’s reporter who visited the area felt ‘disheartened’ at what he saw.
The worst of the dumping, located on the roadside opposite a forestry at Castleblagh, saw fridges and other large household goods off-loaded, without a care for locals, wildlife or the general environment. Our reporter described the situation, travelling on the road from the Castle Tavern, as follows: ‘you are supposed to enter God’s country – well God must be hearing confessions from dumpers up on the Nagle’s these days, because all the way up the mountain there is a trail of litter in the ditches and dykes’.
A retirement function for Detective Garda Tim Healy took place at the Clongibbon House Hotel in Mitchelstown. He served his first year at Harcourt Terrace, Dublin, which was followed by 29 years service in Mitchelstown. Well respected locally, he was a keen and proficient golfer, no doubt looking to reduce his handicap outside of life in the force.
A 25-unit sheltered housing project, costing approximately £1 million was launched for Fermoy and surrounding areas. The Fermoy Geriatrics Association’s Sheltered Housing Project, a ‘self-help scheme’, would require £100,000 of funding to be raised in the local community, with the balance being provided from public funds and through a substantial contribution from an anonymous donor.
The site in question was located at Duntahane, being purchased from Cork County Council. There was a pressing need for such housing for the elderly in the area, with the Fermoy district having a high proportion of senior citizens – 12.45% of the population, as against the national average of 10%.
Some sporting excellence was unearthed at Ballygown National School, with pupils ‘cock-a-hoop after destroying opposition’ at a North Cork national schools’ basketball blitz. Considered the ‘minnows’ for the title, pupils amazingly had only taken up the sport some weeks previous and ‘took more professional sides apart’.
The tournament, held in Castlemartyr, saw Ballygown lose only one match throughout the tournament and they comprehensively beat Liscarroll in the final. Panel: Niamh Hickey (captain), Muireann Lane, Ann Marie O’Callaghan, Jean O’Donovan, Marie O’Neill, Emma Good, Deirdre Hartnett, Ann Marie Kiely, Blathnaid Lane and Irene Quirke.
Local drama groups were putting the finishing touches to their selected plays in February 1994, as festival fever was about to take hold. There was set to be much interest in the 15th hosting of the West Waterford Drama Festival, with neighbouring groups Conna, Tallow and Glenbower set to go head to head in the confined section.
Michael Riordan was directing Conna’s 1995 production, ‘Many Young Men Of Twenty’; Glenbower would stage the Louis Dalton favourite ‘Lover’s Meeting’, while Tallow would compete with Hugh Leonard’s ‘The Poker Session’.
While in the open section, 1994 All-Ireland confined winners, Fermoy’s Palace Players, were making their open debut with ‘The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie’, produced by Liam Howard. Ballyduff would tread the boards with ‘Noises Off’, produced by Bill Canning.
