Sunday 25th September.
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| Frank Murphy and Sean Boylan |
As part of the Harvest Festival there were any number of interesting talks and exhibitions in the Pastoral Centre including presentations by guest speakers Noel French and Sean Boylan, who talked of his grandfather's involvement in the 1916 Rising and after-wards. Padraig Pearse appointed him as O/C for the Meath area and he later became one of Michael Collins most important associates. He was the Brigade Commanding Officer of The Meath Brigade, IRA in 1920 and he later became Commandant General. There were many interesting stories told and and some of them relating to the present day but it was only by accident I happened along. Sean above was the "Meath County Football Manager" in the glory days when you could walk around a corner in some distant place to be met by a tee-shirt that said "Meath are Magic". There were copies of Noel French's book on 1916 for those who were early enough but that wasn't me so I'll have to pick up a copy next time I'm in Trim. Also of interest was a map of the Village back then and the backdrop of Jo Stanley's involvement in the Rising. The girl doing the presentation was very good indeed. An exhibition of 1916 memorabilia and crafts was in the Main Hall and David Murnane talked of his grandfather and of his father who was Dr Murnane and who had a dispensary at Belper. In the Coffee Dock there were Teas and "war" fare such as Trench Cake which was sent to Irish soldiers in the trenches during WW1. Anything I tried tasted fine! Other speakers included Tola Collier on The Battle of Ashbourne and Cecily Murray on The Gaelic League in Meath and that was just a small part of The Harvest Festival in Dunshaughlin which is huge. Finally congratulations to Linda Reid of Kilmessan who was the Dunshaughlin Harvest Queen 2016.
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