Due to huge interest the Aldworth Family of Newmarket Exhibition which has been put together by the Duhallow Ancestry group.  It was due to finish Wednesday 22nd but has now been extended to run over the bank holiday – until Monday 27th at 6pm.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday : 10 am – 8 pm
Saturday, Sunday, Monday : 10 am – 6 pm

The exhibition addresses themes around the local landed society in Duhallow, with a focus on the history and genealogical network of the Aldworth family from their arrival in Ireland in the early 17th century to their departure during the War of Independence in the 1920s. The exhibition highlights both well and little known information on the Aldworths’ fascinating history as well as the everyday life of the local community in the days of the Big Houses. This exhibition will consist of various letters, documents, photos, deeds and leasesdating from the period the Aldworth family lived in Newmarket.

The Guiney family, Killowen, would like to thank all those who supported their fundraiser for action breast cancer. Together they raised €1500 for this very worthy cause. Well done to all involved!

The Duhallow Ancestry group will be launching ‘The Aldworth Family of Newmarket’ this Friday, October 17th. The exhibition will be open until October 22nd 2014.

Times:
Fri 17th: 7:30pm
Sat 18th – Sun 19th: 10.00am – 6:00pm
Mon 20th – Wed 22nd: 10:00am – 8:00pm

Collections kindly donated to the James O’Keeffe Institute by the late Mrs. Jane Stocks and family and the Cochrane family, descendents of Major John Charles Oliver Aldworth, last Aldworth owner of Newmarket Court.

Duhallow ancestry, a working group of IRD Duhallow, opens a unique exhibition, The Aldowrth Family of Newmarket Court; their influence and contribution to life in Duhallow and beyond.  The exhibition addresses themes around the local landed society in Duhallow, with a focus on the history and genealogical network of the Aldworth family from their arrival in Ireland in the early 17th century to their departure during the War of Independence in the 1920s.  The exhibition highlights both well and little known information on the Aldworths’ fascinating history as well as the everyday life of the local community in the days of the Big Houses.  This exhibition will consist of various letters, documents, photos, deeds and leasesdating from the period the Aldworth family lived in Newmarket.

For more information or to register please call James at IRD Duhallow on 029 60633

In 1822, the British Government established a trial emigration scheme for Irish paupers to Upper Canada. There were two waves of emigration, one in 1823 the second in 1825.

There were many families from Newmarket who took part in this ‘assisted emigration’  and you can see passenger lists and further information at this site:

http://www.geni.com/projects/Irish-Peter-Robinson-Settlers-Canada/2553

“Most of the emigrants were chosen from the area north of the Blackwater River in Cork from the estates of a few landlords though a number of Kinsellas, presumably from the southeast of Ireland, also went. Eight land owners chose 239 families with 37 other landowners picking the remaining 68 families. Emigrants were required to be peasants, and Roman Catholic although several Protestant families were chosen. No person over the age of 45 would be accepted. Each emigrant was to be given 70 acres which would be subject to a payment of an annual quit rent to the Crown, to be paid every six months at 2 pence per acre.”

We’d love to hear any stories from families who are descendents from Newmarket families who took part – if you’d like to share your story with us just email contact@athtrasna.com

 

 

 

 

A son of a Newmarket man, professor John O’Keefe, jointly won the 2014 Nobel Prize for medicine today (7th October 2014) with Norwegian couple May-Britt and Edvard Moser.

Prof John O’Keefe Nobel Laureate is to be awarded to an honorary doctorate from UCC on the 5th of December in recognition of his contribution to neuroscience, UCC has just announced.

 

by Ollie Dugdale

As many of you are now aware from our facebook page we scored 269 points in our tidy towns this year. This mirrors our score  from the 2013 competition. The judges report has given us food for thought and outlines the areas where we performed well and also where we could have done better. It goes without saying that we’re a little disappointed having invested more time and money than we ever had in the previous years. The addition of the hanging baskets and the painting that was done throughout the summer without doubt improved the look and feel of Newmarket.   On behalf of the committee I wold like to thank all the wonderful volunteers who came out and worked alongside us throughout the spring and summer.  A special word of congratulations must go to Lisa o Donoghue who was one of only ten people nationwide to be named as a local tidy towns hero. There is no denying that her dedication to the cause was well above the call of duty on several occasions. Tidy towns like everything we do is about the community and for the community I do hope that many new people will join our tidy towns efforts in the years ahead. I invite everybody in our great town to play a part in our present and future projects remember its not about me or you its about you and me and more importantly its about Newmarket.

Twelve new windows manufactured in Ballingairry Jointy, have been installed in  Cultúrlann Mac Amhlaoibh this week.  They really look magnificent.  You can find more photographs in the cultúrlann gallery on this site.  The stone tracery and mullions for the main window are presently being made at McKeons stone yard , it is expected that this will take about a month.

The  lime pointing is almost finished now by O Keefe Stone , it was a long and labourous job  and McKeon Stone are presently doing the stone repairs , all around the outside of the building , this is a very specialised and skilled job.

Lots of progress being made on the building over the next few months.  We’d like to thank Mossie Angland for continuing to share this journey with the rest of the community through photographs and updates.

The last few days of August are ahead of us and signs are on that September is approaching, a display of all the local uniforms takes up a full window in O’Shea’s fashions at the West End.  There is a slight autumnal coolness to the air and hedges on our walk to town this morning were dripping with juicy blackberries.  It has been an eventful Summer in Newmarket, the festival in July was it’s usual best.  Turbetts fun fair was buzzing every evening, and there were some great events – the children’s day at the Island Wood was magical, with story book corners, arts and crafts, face painting, a mini pet farm, a duck race and pirates and fairies wandering around the place.  Plenty music in the local bars, a 4th of July American Tea Party in the CYMS, a family sports day, and there were many people spotted around town scratching their heads with the walkabout quiz in their hands.  The ten days came to a close with a fireworks display at the West End; young and old gazed upwards watching the breathtaking colourful explosions over the ‘merries’.  Well done to the committee who each year put in so much work and we would encourage all of you to support their fundraising events during the year.  For photos and more information you can find them at http://www.newmarketfestival.com/

The Newmarket and District Agricultural show was held on Sunday the 13th of July in The Green Glens Arena – another great day out for old and young alike.  A huge amount of exhibitions, stalls – something for everyone.

The Street Museum ran for it’s second year from the 9th to the 16th of August.  There were even more windows this year and the standard was extremely high.  The Duhallow Ancestry group won the vote for best window with their display on the Aldworth Family.  They are putting together an exhibition in the IRD which is scheduled for October.  We, the development association, had a stall selling old photos, cards and calendars; we also got people to add their handprints to a new mural on the fence where the old library was on Scarteen Street.  The event was a huge success again this year, thanks to the huge effort that people put into displays.  There were many newspaper clippings and old photos, Mary Stack did a selection of her Newmarket Notes Column from the Corkman, Scully’s window celebrated 40 years of the Monday night sessions, Raymond O’Sullivan had a huge display of all the musicians and groups that are connected to Newmarket, Tadhg Ryan had a selection of old items in his windows, there are too many to mention.

This year the Street Museum ran in conjunction with Scully’s Fest which ran for three days over the weekend of the 9th starting on Saturday with a mini concert: the extremely talented Damien Mullane playing the concertina; the Sunday night the Monks of the Screw played, with Bernard O’Donoghue reciting some of his beautiful, moving poems.  Each concert was followed by a session and a full session Monday night – the pub was packed with musicians both local and visiting from as far as Germany and beyond.  It was  hugely successful and well done to the organisers.  Following on from this weekend the Scully’s music classes will be starting again in September.  They are run by local musician Eoin O’Sullivan, for multiple instruments: fiddle, banjo, mandolin, whistle, flute and uileann pipes.  It will be the third year of classes and has seen a huge revival in traditional music in town.  Classes are available for both adults and children and you can contact Eoin on 087 – 910 0087.

The last night of the Street museum was the 16th of August and an official launch of the CYMS was held that evening.  A tea dance with activities for children as well, and the hall was beautifully decorated by event organisers and local business Celebrate. A huge congratulations to the CYMS committee who have done huge work revamping the hall.  It looks amazing.

Yet to come on the 31st of August will be the launch of the Astro Turf pitch up in the GAA grounds. An enormous amount of work has been put in by the Sports and Leisure comittee to build this state of the art facility.  To celebrate the event they will be holding a Barbecue/Family Fun day, face painting for children and an afternoon of sports and fun is guaranteed. There will be an u13 BOYS v u15 GIRLS fun match and Penalty Shoot out for u8s, 10s, 12s, 14s BOYS AND GIRLS.  Tony Buckley and Maura Walsh of the IRD Duhallow will perform the official opening of the new facility followed by a blessing by Fr Herlihy.  Admission is free and families, individuals, local businesses and organizations are all invited.

A busy time is ahead for our committee, planning for Christmas is starting next week!  The Christmas Fair is on November 16th and we’re going to throw a Xmas Ball on the 13th of December in the CYMS.   There are plenty more events coming up and we’ll keep you posted here.

 

 

This years approach to the Tidy Towns competition was to have each area take responsibility for their own clean-up and this seems to have worked out really well.  There are twelve:

- Kerry Road
- Coolagh Bridge/Scarteen Lower
- Clanaulie Close
- Island Road
- Barry’s Place/Guineys Tce./ Cill Ard
- Castlecourt
- Lower Rd
- Charleville Rd.
- Town Center
- Clonfert
- Priory park/Killowen/Pound Hill.

There is some great work been done around town, picking up litter and generally tidying up the place.  However there are a list of jobs we’d like to get done where we’ll all need to pull together.

Planting

Each year we receive some money from the County Council to spend on plants and other bits and pieces for the town.  All money is spent in local businesses – mainly Tobin’s Hardware store and the Secret Garden.  We have ordered plants for this year – a mix of perennials and annuals for the large planters on the round wall, various streets and the approach roads to town.  We will also be putting together a number of hanging baskets for the town center.  All these plants will be delivered at 7pm on Tuesday the 27th of May (outside the protestant graveyard on Main Street) and we need a large group of people to come and help out.  Please bring a friend, and gardening tools if you have them.  If we have enough help we will weed the biodiversity garden as well.

The Car Park

Our main new project this year is to give the Car Park (behind Supervalu) a real facelift.  Foróige Rebels are putting up a mural on the pump house and have already painted the building and surrounding walls.  The older Foróige group will be doing a mosaic on the wall as you enter from the New Street and that wall will be getting a fresh lick of paint as well.  The boys and girls schools have done up some lovely posters for us and they will be going up on the fence around the site of the old library as well.  We’d like to trim some of the plants and if at all possible do a bit of planting.  We will be doing this work over the coming weeks on Tuesday evenings.  We will keep everyone posted here, on facebook, the Newmarket Notes and the Mass leaflet.

How can you help?

- Come out on Tuesdays and give us a hand, get out of the house, meet some people and do something positive!

- Donate old tiles – we need colourful tiles (broken will do) for our mosaic – preferably blue, green and yellow.  Get in touch with us at contact@athtrasna.com or chat with any committee member if you can help.

- Donate plants – we can never get enough plants – a few shrubs for the edging of the car park would be great.  We’ll always find somewhere for them.

- Water plants – if there are plants near your house/business in public areas please water them.  Especially if our Summer is anything like last year.

- Make town pretty – do you own a building/wall in town?  Could it do with a lick of paint or a power hose?  Could you put up a hanging basket?  Flower box?  Fresh curtains on an empty building?  Every little bit makes a difference and makes it a nicer place to live and do business.  If you need a hand get in touch with us and we’ll help you!

- Pick up litter – get involved in your area and come out and pick up litter and tidy the place.

County Council Litter Challenge

The County Council Litter Challenge started last Monday.  It would be great if we could get some form of prize again this year and get some money to spend on some project in town.

Below are the three judging periods and the housing estates/areas that have been nominated to be included in these weeks.  They will also be looking at the rest of town during these periods so please keep an eye on litter.  Results are received at the end of the first two judging periods which we will share here.

Period 1 (19/05/14 – 28/05/14):         Priory Park

Period 2 (02/06/14 – 11/06/14):         Charleville Road

Period 3 (16/06/14 – 25/06/14):          Clanaulie Close

 

 

 

 

 

So Saturday evening last I found myself standing in the protestant graveyard, camera in hand, waiting to screech at some swifts.  It did cross my mind that this was one of the more random situations I had found myself in of late, but these things happen.  The graveyard is a beautiful, tranquil spot on a sunny May evening – a dusk chorus was just building and a blackbird was singing tunefully at the top of the giant lime tree beside the cultúrlann.  The charming Brin McDonnell of Birdwatch Ireland talked to us about swifts and how they had been using the old building for nesting.  The team at the Cultúrlann have been extremely helpful in  accommodating these rare birds who live on the wing and only nest every four years.  A number of nesting holes have been cut out under the eaves of the roof and our task this evening was to verify if the Swifts had returned.

Within a few minutes Brin and Joan Ann Brosnan had us schooled in the differences between Swifts, Swallows and House Martins, as Brin set up sound equipment to draw the birds towards the building.  He explained that Swifts are communal nesters i.e. they will nest where other Swifts are nesting.  The idea was to play Swift Screeches and attract the birds to the building.  With a flick of a switch the loud Swift Screech recordings were echoing around the graveyard (and most likely Church Street and Main street too).  I will admit that I was skeptical that this would work but within minutes there they were in the sky, circling high above, black silhouettes with curved shaped wings.  They came closer and closer as time passed and came as close as circling over the building but we didn’t see any enter a nest.  Brin was not deterred, in fact he was quite happy with the results and will continue to attempt to draw the birds to the building.  If the birds don’t nest this year there will be more back next year and the scaffolding will be down which will make it more appealing.

I would highly recommend a trip into the graveyard in the Summer evenings to get a sight of these beautiful birds or even just for a little piece and quiet.  We finished up after an hour and paid a visit to Sarah Curran’s grave where Raymond was clipping the beautiful pink rose planted on it – there’s another story there but we’ll leave that for another day.