St. Mary’s Clonmel Notes

Parish website: www.stmarysparishclonmel.ie

Masses for the Coming Weekend Sunday 20th May Ascension day

6.15 Vigil      Margaret Hanrahan

10.30am       Liam Hewitt (1st Anniv)

12.00 noon   Peter & Bridget Ryan

Welcome: Failte

We welcome the 28 young boys and girls from the Gaelscoil who made their First Holy Communion this Saturday. We welcome them into our Eucharistic Faith Community of St. Mary’s. Thanks to their teacher Caroline Fitzgerald, Grainne Connellan and Teresa Mc Dermott who trained and conducted the choir on the day.

Welcome

We welcome into the Christian Faith Community of St. Mary’s Luke James Reidy, Ashgrove Lawn who was christened last weekend. Congratulations to parents Jack & Johanna, Godparents, Andrew & Andrea grandparents and extended family.

Gospel Sounds Concert

Gospel Sounds will hold a concert at the Main Guard on 31st May at 8pm. Pre-concert refreshments will be served at 7.30pm. (Wine and finger food) the concert will commence at 8pm. Tickets €10 are available from Ellen on 0851415630, or at the door on the night.

Gospel Sounds will sing at the 6.15pm. Mass on May 26th.

Eucharistic Congress: Dates to remember

Sunday 10th June: Opening Ceremony R.D.S. Tuesday 12th June: Youth Day R.D.S. Thursday 14th June: Waterford & Lismore Diocesan Day R.D.S. Sunday 17th June: Closing Mass: Croke Park.

Eucharistic Congress: Youth-day

Developments are afoot to have a Waterford & Lismore Youth day at the Eucharistic Congress. It was decided that this day would be Tuesday 12th June. It is hoped to have a bus from Clonmel. Age groups 16-25 is the projected aim. Cost will be €5. The Religion departments in the Secondary Schools are working on the project. It is not confined to school going young adults; anyone in the 16-25 age bracket are welcome.

Cystic Fibrosis

The Annual Church Gate Collection in aid of Cystic Fibrosis will be taken up at all Masses next weekend 26th / 27th of May. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

The Clonmel Town Youths kept their best performance till last on Friday evening as they swept a fancied Nenagh side away with a fantastic 4-1 win. This was a commanding display from start to finish built on real work ethic, grit and determination.

Leaders were seen all over the pitch, Comerford in goal has grown into a colossus and could not be faulted for the goal conceded; he was able when called upon and was assured from corners which gave his side some real stability. The back four of Michael Connolly, Johnny Yates, Cathal McKeever and Tom Kirwan put in a tigerish display all evening. Kirwan chipped in with the 4th goal with a marvellous header with ten minutes to go. The midfield trio of Colman Kennedy, Ian Fahy and Greg Henry dominated midfield and complimented each others attacking and defensive display while the wingers Man of the Match Shane Flynn and Kevin Fahey gave both full-backs a night to forget while up front the lone ranger Thomas Fitzgerald held his line superbly and brought his midfielders into play whenever possible.

The goals came just at the right time for Town, on 25 minutes the first came from quick thinking from Kevin Fahey as his quick free-kick saw Greg Henry nod home past an oncoming Nenagh keeper to give his side the lead, the 2nd on 35 minutes was the result of Shane Flynn’s mesmerising run down the left flank and his pin point cross was headed home by Thomas Fitzgerald.

In the second half on the hour Flynn got in on the scoring as he combined with Greg Henry and he walloped home an amazing effort from just inside the box. Tom Kirwan put the icing on the cake when he powered home from a corner to put the game to bed. The three substitutes of Harry O’Connor, Conor Arrigan and Robbie Flynn when introduced each gave a seamless performance so didn’t interrupt Town’s flowing football.

Well done to the team and management on a great year yielding three trophies.

TEAM: Evan Comerford, Michael Connolly, Johnny Yates, Cathal McGeever, Tom Kirwan, Ian Fahey, Thomas Fitzgerald, Colman Kennedy, Greg Henry, Shane Flynn, Kevin Fahey SUBS: Harry O’Connor, Conor Arrigan and Robbie Flynn NOT USED: Stephen Kelly, Luke Trimble, Michael Boland and Rohaan Kahn

James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel was named the winner of the Small Business Marketing Award (sponsored by AIB) at the All Ireland Marketing Awards which was held in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin on Thursday the 17th May.

The All Ireland Marketing Awards programme, organised by The Marketing Institute of Ireland, is the nation’s premier means of recognising the success of Irish marketing professionals and acknowledging their major contribution to the ongoing process of strengthening the economy of our island.

The aim of The Marketing Institute of Ireland in staging these awards is to promote excellence and best practice in all areas of marketing, and especially highlight the role of marketing in value creation, and its relationship to profit performance.

“James Whelan Butchers is an artisan butcher shop based in Clonmel, which was Ireland’s first online butcher. In recent times the firm has faced increased competition. With a limited marketing budget, the main focus of activity has been in the lower-cost areas of PR and digital. A PR campaign was implemented around the book ‘An Irish Butcher Shop’, authored by the business owner, Pat Whelan. The online strategy centred on search engine optimisation to gain the highest rankings on Google, email marketing and social media. This has resulted in increased online sales, and penetration into the Dublin market in particular.”

For  more information on James Whelan Butchers go to www.jameswhelanbutchers.com

Jack & Jill have been retained by HSE to collect all the used crutches and zimmer frames to be recycled to the benefit of the Jack & Jill Foundation.

Mattie McGrath TD will hold a Crutches Collection Day this Saturday May 19th in his Constituency Office, The Quay, Clonmel from 10am until 12 noon.

Please support this worthy cause and bring along any old crutches that are no longer in use.

Old mobile phones and ink cartridges will also be collected on the day in support of the Jack and Jill Foundation.

St. Mary’s Hurling Club are having a Family Fun Day on Sunday May 20th from 2.00pm to 5.00pm in its pitch on the Western Road.

It is open to all families in Clonmel and its environs and everyone is welcome. Admission and activities are free on the day.

There will be lots of activities for kids of all ages ranging from:

• Bouncy Castle
• Sack Racing
• Face Painting
• Three legged Races
• Target Shooting
• Egg & Spoon Races
• Obstacle courses etc.

So make it your family fun day out for free on Sunday May 20th.

Clonmel Chamber, Social Media Skillnet and LIT Clonmel Campus will be collaborating to show business owners how they can leverage the immense power of social networks to benefit their business.

Many social media events focus on how to start the social media journey.  This event will focus on the next stage – ‘I’ve set it up, now how do I make it work for me?’.  This event will focus on how businesses can improve their presence, maintain focus and how they can find the time to work on this.  The issue of time and social media updating is constantly being mentioned by local businesses as a barrier that prevents them from delving further into it.

The presenters on the day will show how it can be done, how it can yield success and how it won’t take over your life.

This is a free event and, as always, can be booked through the events calendar at ClonmelChamber.com.  This will be a half day event on the morning of the 22nd.

Registration will open at 9am on the day and the event will start at 9.30am sharp.

The Maxi Zoo pet store in Clonmel has teamed up with Roy Keane and the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind to play its part in promoting the charity’s annual SHADES fundraising campaign.

Customers visiting the Maxi Zoo store at the Poppyfields Retail Park can show their support for the charity by buying one or more of the €2 SHADES pins which are available at the check-outs.

SHADES is one of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind’s biggest fundraising campaigns and Maxi Zoo is supporting the fundraiser in all of its thirteen stores nationwide.

“We are encouraging all our customers to get behind the SHADES campaign. This is their opportunity to help the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind to continue its incredible work,” said Tony Cross, owner of the Maxi Zoo store in Clonmel.

“Guide or assistance dogs make an enormous difference to individuals or families. Every SHADES pin that we sell can help more people to enjoy the freedom and independence that these wonderful working dogs provide,” he added.

Maxi Zoo has also announced that it is to extend its overall support for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, with whom it has been working for the past number of years.

Staff at the Clonmel store will lead a local fundraising walk in aid of charity in July and customers can also make donations to the charity’s in-store collection box during any visit to the store.

Anyone who is a client of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind can continue to avail of a discount on the cost of dog food and will only have to pay €48.40 for a 15kg bag of Super Premium Dog Food at the Clonmel store.

A 15kg bag will feed a dog for one month and the price reduction can save people up to €20 per bag. The discount ensures that their dog gets the best food so that they can be happy and healthy as their perform their important work.

Maxi Zoo Clonmel is also delighted to announce that one of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind puppies in training has been named “Maxi” and staff are looking forward to introducing the puppy to local customers in the coming weeks.

Photo: Roy Keane joins Clonmel Maxi Zoo store owner, Tony Cross (left) and the store’s head of sales, Darren Spoonley, in supporting the SHADES fundraising campaign in aid of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.

The Healthy Heart Walk is a sponsored charity walk in Clonmel and will take place on Wednesday evening the 30th May.

The participants will start at the Park Hotel in the Popplyfield complex at 7.00pm and walk 5 kilometres around Marlfield Lake and back to the hotel.

This is the fifth year the event has been run so that the local community will continue to benefit and the last 4 years over €55,00 has been raised for Local Charities such as Cluain Training Centre, A Place 4 U, C.A.R.E. – Cancer Support Centre, St. Vincent de Paul Educational Fund and the Alzheimer’s Society.

This year’s walk is in aid of St. Vincent de Paul.

Once again Abbot Vascular will be giving their support as in previous years.

Sponsorship cards are available at St Vincent de Paul centre at Mulcahy House, St Vincent de Paul members and Marian’s Bookstore, O’Connell Street, Clonmel.#

Clonmel Healthy Heart Walk

In aid of: St. Vincent de Paul

Date & Time: Wednesday 30th May at 7:00pm

Start & Finishing Point:

Clonmel Park Hotel, Poppyfield Business Park, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.