Community Notes June 5th

Rector to Shear Parishioner’s Beard

Local Church of Ireland rector, Rev Kingsley Sutton, who was once a Wicklow sheep farmerwill shear parishioner Geoffrey Hanbidge of his Covid-19 lockdown beard as part of the fundraising campaign for the local church. He will perform the ominous during an OPEN DAY at the Church of the Ascension, Timoleague (Eircode P72 T282) on Bank Holiday Monday 7th June. This unique church in Ireland is full of amazing must-see mosaics and will be open to the public for the day from 10am to 6pm. The church is currently celebrating completion of phase 1 of a major conservation project, but more money is dearly needed. Fair play to Geoffrey who, at around 2pm on the day, is willing to lose his hair for a good cause! Please donate to this most worthy cause.

Litter Pick Success

The litter pick organised by Molaga Tidy Towns last week-end was an outstanding success. A large group of people took to the highways and byways on Friday and Saturday and proceeded to rid the roads, dykes and ditches of discarded litter. This is a problem that is not just confined to Timoleague but is widespread throughout the country. If people could only stop and think before discarding what they no longer require out the windows of their cars, it would go a long way to reduce this vile habit.

Groups of adults and children split up and picked litter on all the approach roads to the village. Local organisations, as has been the case over the past few years also swelled the numbers. Many of the less travelled country roads were also tackled. The organising committee are hugely indebted to Cork County Council and especially local council official Noel Walsh who removed all the laden black refuse bags at the conclusion of the pick.

All were in agreement that the village and surrounds are looking splendid after this recent face lift. The pictures posted on facebook would confirm this and the reaction of the general public is a warm endorsement of the work of Molaga Tidy Towns. Well done to all for your continued community service.

Timoleague Railway

Another member of the St Molaga football team in its early days was John Leahy. He was fondly known as Jack. He was a stoker and later became an engine driver. He was a grandfather of well- known local resident Seamus Whelton and lived in the family home at the end of Abbey Street. Jimmy Hunt was also a well- known footballer and was employed as a mile man. Workers had a section of the railway to attend to and each group looked after a distance of one mile, hence the name. Jimmy’s family had a long association with the railway also. Readers of a certain age will fondly remember his son John who occupied a special place in the hearts of all Timoleague people for generations. Another son Paddy also worked on the railway and they lived in Abbey Street.

One of the foremost authorities on the railway was Donie O’Donovan. Donie, a Timoleague native gave a life time of service to the railway and had lived his retirement at Gaggin, otherwise known in railway terms as Clonakilty Junction. He died in 2016 in his 100^th year. All of his brothers worked at Timoleague Station at one time or another. Pat lived at Homlea, on the Clonakilty Road just outside the village while his brother Con lived in Mill Street. Con or Consie as he was more widely known was also a footballer of some renown and was a star player with Timoleague in the late 40’s and early 50’s. His brother Mickey was also an outstanding footballer at this time also. Another brother Seanie also lived in the locality.In more modern times, Consie’s son Raymond was one of Timoleague’s most outstanding dual players in the 70’s and early 80’s.

I had the honour of meeting Donie on occasions and he was a mind of information on the Timoleague Railway line. His recall was outstanding, even at an advanced age and a large proportion of the content of our conversations is reproduced here as he freely shared his vast store of history about the iconic line.