Community Notes June 18th

Corpus Christi Procession

After a number of years “as lathair”, the Corpus Christi procession will take place after the 11.30am mass at Timoleague on Sunday next. The usual route will apply and of course it will be dependent on the weather. The procession will exit the church grounds at Chapel Hill and make its way down the hill to the village centre. It will then proceed over Mill Street before going down Mill Hill. From there it will continue up School Road and turn left to make its way up Abbey Street before going over Main Street as far as the Church Steps.

Benediction will take place in front of The Grotto. All parishioners are invited to attend and take part in a prayerful manner.

Tidy Towns

Preparations have risen a notch or two over the past week as groups of volunteers from all local organisations have given a helping hand to the local committee as the judging date looms. A big thank you to all who have been busy at work over the past week and an appeal is being made to make a final push to have our village looking its best for the arrival of the judges.

Examination Mass

The annual mass for students sitting state examinations organised by The Timoleague Pastoral Council was celebrated on Sunday last. The students took an active part in this special celebration of mass before they began exams on Wednesday last. The mass was live streamed by Michael Heaney and it achieved a record of almost 2,000 hits. Well done to all the students who took an active part in the celebration and to the Pastoral Sub Committee under the watchful eye of Tina Lombard of Kilmalooda who saw that everything clicked into place with military procession.

A former Leaving Cert Student Remembers

On Friday last as I did my usual voluntary role helping out at the annual Sciath na Scol finals at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, I talked with a former teaching colleague. He asked if I remembered what I did 50 years ago last Wednesday. I sometimes have difficulty remembering what happened last week not to mind going back to 1972. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we both sat the Leaving Certificate, he at The North Mon and I over the bounds ditch at Farna, deadly rivals on the hurling pitch but firm friends off the field. Hurling and football has the capacity to cement everlasting friendships and long may it remain. We swopped stories and rejoiced that we were both in good physical shape after all the years. When we got going, it was surprising the level of recall we had about the exam. When the Leaving was over, it was then on to The Matriculation Exam (Matric.) This exam no longer exists. For those not familiar with such things, it was basically an entrance exam to university. I remember the first exam very well. It happened that there was a Farna victory dinner where medals were presentedto the successful Harty and All-Ireland winning hurling teams (when The Canon, then Fr. O’Brien reigned supreme) as well as the Munster Senior“B” football winners in The Metropole Hotel the night before. Not ideal preparation for an important exam. As we proudly made our way from Mac Curtain Street up to Farna that night with our medals in our pockets (I am not at liberty to tell you what time of night it was, other than to say that it was well past our usual time). We slept soundly without a care in the world only to be awoken by the dreaded bell.That same bell was our alarm clock for the five years we were boarding and it dictated our every move.

We breakfasted in The Ref. and walked down Shandon Street and out The Western Road, entering the portals of UCC before finding The Aula Max where we sat our exam that morning. At lunch time, all reported none the worst after three hours of endeavour. The other subjects came and went during the week and then we were free, free at last for the summer. The one advantage that The Matric had was that the results were issued well before The Leaving and if you passed you were in the door. There were no A’s or B’s in those days, just honours, pass or fail in the Leaving and pass or fail in The Matric. To my surprise and to the amazement of others, the Matric was in the bag and there was less anxiety about the result of the other. It just goes to show, you have to be in the right frame of mind to perform to your max. What a laugh we had recalling events of 50 years ago. Another time, another era.