Pew Sheet – 1st August 2021

PLEASE NOTE : NO MID-WEEK SERVICE DURING AUGUST

The Rector writes  ’It seems like the work to repair our badly damaged Parish Hall is nearing completion.  A huge thank you to the small team from the Select Vestry who have supervised all of the building repairs. The Bishop has agreed to rededicate the Parish Hall hopefully sometime in late Autumn when restrictions might ease up and allow us to gather together. I have printed ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos so you can appreciate the huge amount of work that had to be done since the car went through the wall back in the Spring of 2020.’

Random Notes CCCXC

            Picture courtesy of Dolphin Swimming Club

With all the balmy weather we have had recently, many people enjoyed swimming from the warm beaches and coves around Cork Harbour.  I always wondered what the old concrete building was at Weavers Point. It is only a ruin now,  but in the  1920’s  Dolphin Swimming Club held gala’s and regatta’s there. People thronged the place, many arriving by train from the city. The Crosshaven train ran from 1904 to 1932 and had 13 trains running every weekday at the height of it’s popularity.  During the First World War, the Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway company (CBPR) were the first Irish railway company to employ women ticket collectors as they were unable to find any men!

The swimming gala’s ran until the 1950’s, but in their heyday the atmosphere in the harbour during these events must have been electric. Today, at the ruin of the Swimming Club building, if you close your eyes, you can almost hear the cheers and screams of the swimmers and all taking part. The warm sandwiches might have been washed down with some Jennings lemonade from a glass bottle?!                            

RCE