Community notes July 8th

Barrack Commemoration

The arrival of the first Civic Guards to Timoleague in June 1923 was remembered with the unveiling of a centenary plaque at the pedestrian entrance to the Smith residence which was the location of the first garda barracks in Timoleague. A wealthy Timoleague business man, TJ Griffin, an auctioneer, owned the house and he also had a large tract of land in Cregane at that time. As an aside,in the early years of the last century three prominent business men, TJ Griffin, who owned the premises now known as Pad Joe’s Bar, Jeremiah Downing, proprietor of a flourishing hardware business at Main Street and Cha O’Donovan who had a public house at the village centre at the junction between Mill Street and Abbey Street, collectivelywere known locally as The Three Wise Men. Griffin and Downing hailed from Ballinspittle and O’Donovan was from Kinsale.

The centenary event was organised by The West Cork Retired Garda Association under the chairmanship of local retired member of the force, Liam Ryan. Liam welcomed all and outlined the importance of remembering the pioneering guards who arrived in Timoleague on the 20^th. of June 1923. He thanked Timoleague Community Association for their involvement with the occasion. The area was a hot bed during the War of Independence and Civil War with many atrocities on both sides.  Edward Mc Sweeney spoke of the first party of guards to serve in Timoleague. They were unarmed and were mandated to uphold the rule of law when many in the area had been active participants inIRA courts after the collapse of the old regime under the RIC. There was a store of guns still in private hands after the Civil War which made the job of the guards somewhat difficult at the time.

Superintendent Crowley of Bandon spoke of the role of the gardai and the importance of rural garda stations. He outlined that the first guards travelled by ship from garda headquarters in Dublin as the road network was bad and unsafe. He paid tribute to all former members of the force who served in Timoleague and he was delighted to see many of them present.

Bertie Smith on behalf of the Smith family thanked everyone for their presence. He especially thanked his sister-in-law Pauline and remarked that his late brother Victor would be a proud man at this touching ceremony at the family home. He spoke of the arrival of his grandfather Henry Smith to Cregane, in February 1936. He and his family came from Kilcoleman and purchased the farm which contained three houses, one of which was the barracks. The guards left there and moved to its present location in the village in October 1937.

After the unveiling of the commemorative plaque, refreshments were served on the lawn in front of the house where guests, neighbours and friends chatted and swapped stories of times past and recalled many an amusing encounter with “the boys in blue”.

Duck Race Results

A very successful duck race fundraising event took place on Sunday evening last. The organisers, Timoleague Tidy Towns thank all who made the occasion so special – those who sold and bought ducks; those who patrolled the water, those on dry land who helped with stewarding and MC Dan Connolly. The following are the results of the race. 1^st. Colin Bateman; Kitty Griffin and Harry Ganter. 2^nd. Marian & Laura O’Callaghan, Mary Hurley. 3^rd. Fiona Giltinan, Cillian Mc Carthy and Clogagh O’Sullivan.