Parish Notices Sunday 25th November 2018

The Rector writes ‘Another reminder that we have new charity bags at the back of both churches. Along with the Cork Simon , Penny Dinners & Women’s Refuge bags , there is now a special bag for items for those living in the Direct Provision Centre on the Kinsale Road. They currently need new Pyjamas for children, new School Wear (white shirts, navy or grey jumpers, white socks) for ages 10-16, little gifts for children that could be given at Christmas and Feminine Hygiene Products (tampons, pads, panty-liners).  I made a contact in the centre earlier in the year when I was delivering some old Sewing Machines there and I will ensure that all items will be  delivered directly to the centre, just as I do for Simon, Penny Dinners & Cuan Lee. The people who live in Direct Provision Centres find the going very tough in most  ways but particularly from a financial perspective. Each Adult in DP centres receives just  21.60 per week which as you can imagine doesn’t leave much left over after the essentials (and they are not allowed to work while being ‘processed’ which can take up to 8 years!) Thank you for your kindness in all these ways.

Simon Woodworth is writing on the back page today about the tragedy of Yemen and I would like to thank Henry Forbes & Barney Deane for organising a special Whist night on 19th January next for Famine Relief in Yemen. Please stick the date in your diaries now. If like me , you don’t know how to play Whist, don’t despair! I will be organising a Class before the event so now we will have no excuse!’

HEALTH & SAFETY ISSUE The local community have generously provided defibrillators all over Carrigaline; we see them in the old telephone boxes. To allow speedy and easy access to this life saving equipment we ask all parishioners and visitors to our church not to park on the new pavement outside the box.   In addition, parking on the pavement outside the church makes it very difficult for those among us with reduced mobility to walk on the pavement. It should be noted that there is an ongoing appeal generally for people not to park on pavements as people with poor sight do not expect to come across parked vehicles while walking.

There is more than adequate parking available in the area around the church which means those of us with greater mobility can park further away. We can then enjoy the short walk knowing we have not obstructed others who may not find it so easy to make their way in to the church

(Richard Dring, Parish Health & Safety Officer )

 

YOUTH GROUP Youth Group are still looking for large BEAN BAGS to sit on!  If you happen to have one lying around that could do with a new lease of life then let Tracey know @ 087-3481864.

ST FIN BARRE’S CATHEDRAL CHOIR present ‘A Ceremony of Carols’ Benjamin Britten and other seasonal music on Saturday 15th December at 7pm. Admission 10 euro, tickets available in the Cathedral Shop or at the door.

FUNDRAISING EVENT SCOIL BARRA NAOFA MONKSTOWN “Entertaining at Home” A Cookery Demonstration, with award winning chef Mark Doe will take place in Monkstown Golf Club at 7.30 p.m. on Friday 25th of January 2019. Tickets cost €20 including tasting plate. Available to purchase from School Office, Passage West Pharmacy, Paula O Brien 087 2417032, Beckie Cooke 087 2452940. All proceeds raised will be going towards the Classroom Renovation Fund.

THE Owenabue Garden and Flower club, Carrigaline will hold their Christmas meeting on Monday 26 November at 8 pm in the Canon McCrea Hall in St Mary’s school. A demonstration entitled “Way down in the Fall” will be given by Betranda Delaney AOIFA. Visitors are welcome.  Enquiries to 0863222615.

East Cork Choral Society presents Handel’s Messiah on Sunday 2nd December at 8pm in the Ascension Catholic Church, Gurranabraher, Cork. Admission €20. All proceeds to the Gurranabraher Church Roof Appeal.

Anam Cara Cork, the organisation that supports bereaved parents, is holding a Parent Evening on Wednesday 5th of December at 7:20pm in the Clayton Hotel, Silver Springs, Tivoli, Cork. This event is free and open to all bereaved parents regardless of the age your child died, the circumstances of their death, or whether their death was recent or not.

 

FORWARD PLANNER

26th Nov         Littlies + One 10-12 Parish Hall.

Monday Club 3-5 Parish Hall.

28thNov           Holy Communion 10:30am   St Mary’s Church

30th Nov         CAMEO 10:30-12:30Monkstown Bay Sailing Club

1st-2nd Dec    Carrigaline Christmas Fayre (St Mary’s PA)GAA Hall , Carrigaline.

6th Dec             Mothers’ Union Christmas Lunch 12:30 RCYC

19th Dec          Advent Film Night – The Nativity  7pm Parish Hall

19th Jan          Special Whist Night for Famine Relief in Yemen

 

 Random Notes  No. CCLXXXII

As the elderly Boeing 727 took off from Abu Dhabi and banked around a huge thunderstorm, I realised I was heading somewhere different. In 1998, I was on my way to the port of Aden in Yemen. As the plane approached the airport there, the burned-out hulks of aircraft littered the airfield around the runway. The terminal building itself was gouged out with a huge bomb crater, the scars of a civil war that had ended 4 years previously. We had to enter the arrivals area via the men’s toilets.

I spent two weeks in blistering heat helping to commission a telephone exchange for Motorola. Aden was a bustling madhouse, with a good chunk of the city inside a volcanic crater, The base station for our new mobile system sat on top of a ridge at the edge of the crater, over razor sharp lava fields, It was so hot the 4×4 we used to get there had two air conditioning units. The sea was as warm as bathwater to swim in and we went for a dip one evening, right next to the huge desalination plants which supplied freshwater to the city.

The telephone exchange was in cooler surroundings but still very hot. A trip to the bathroom involved shooing the rats out from under the toilet. Outside the bathroom was a tented area at which the faithful prayed several times daily. The calls to prayer from the muezzins were piped over loudspeakers all over the city.

After two weeks the installation was successfully completed. At short notice, I was asked to travel to Cairo to talk to customers. I had to travel to Sana’a to catch the flight because of an airline strike in Aden. This involved a 400km journey in an aging Peugeot 305 with a qat-chewing taxi-driver.

The countryside was epic. It rose from dry wadis near the coast through rocky foothills and mountains to an elevation of over 2000m in Sana’a. We passed through dusty little villages of cube shaped houses as the air grew cooler and the countryside greener. There were frequent military checkpoints and, unknown to me, a lot of the rural areas had local chieftains who had a habit of kidnapping foreigners.

I arrived in Sana’a unscathed. A misunderstanding about my hotel destination lead to a lively conversation between my driver and some locals. All were intent on me arriving safely and I did, just in time for dinner with a Ukrainian colleague before an early morning departure for Cairo.

The Yemenis were never less than friendly and gracious hosts. Petty crime was almost non-existent. Yemeni men habitually walked hand in hand down the street while the women wore black abayas with fashionable shoes peeping out from underneath. Travellers were always well treated. Even kidnap victims were treated well, so much so that one abductee wrote his captors a thank you letter afterwards!

Sadly, 1998 was a turning point for Yemen. The government started a brutal crackdown on abductions which resulted in numerous deaths and an escalating cycle of violence. The Saudis to the north never showed much enthusiasm for the Yemeni free press, possibly a harbinger of their involvement in the current catastrophic proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Yemen, which is considered the home of biblical Sheba, deserves better than this.

SJFW