Moate Community Games seeks new blood

As we come to the end of another Community Games season, we reflect on what has been a busy year. Moate competed in a range of events and reached County level in a number of disciplines as well as national level in a smaller number, culminating in a bronze medal in Art, won by Alex Ryan. Moate undertook a number of projects outside the competitive areas, including a very successful cake and book sale and introductory Yoga for young people. The local community games group thanks all who helped in any way during the year; the committee members, parents, young people, local school staff, local facilities and their committees (Community Hall, Tuar Ard, Carmelite Pastoral Centre, local press, Business College and Moate All-whites Minor Board and coaches). One of the highlights of the year was the presentation by Moate Community Games Area of the Liam Cornally Shield to Westmeath Community Games, an award to be presented annually to the County U-14 Quiz Gold Medallists. This presentation was the brain child of Mary Claffey, who worked tirelessly over many years for Community Games, both at local and county level. Mary herself was presented with a gold medal at the presentation in recognition of her dedication to all things Community Games over many years. Sadly, Mary was to lose her battle with illness in the early summer and Moate lost a loyal colleague and a good friend. She will be remembered for many years to come whenever Community Games are discussed in Westmeath. Looking to the future, the National Finals of Community Games move to Athlone next year which should be a boost to the local area involvement. Here in Moate, there is a need a injection of new blood to the volunteer group who organise the various events throughout the year and the group is urging all to come along to the AGM which will take place on Thursday October 9 in the Community Hall meeting room. (Full details next week) Everyone has something to offer and the community games organisation in Moate can facilitate more children and more events if it has the necessary help. In these days of childhood obesity and health issues, it has never been more important to get young people involved in sporting and other activities and Community games provides a great opportunity for this, so please, do come along and offer you support. Moate Museum and Historical Society Moate Museum and Historical Society will be holding the Jeremiah Sheehan Memorial Lecture on Monday next October 6. It will be presented by Archaeologist , Caimin O"Brien, who works with the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Caimin, a native of Birr, Co Offaly has collaborated in a number of publications related to his native county, most notably his latest work entitled Stories of a Sacred Landscape- Croghan Hill to Clonmacnoise. The title of the lecture is Castles in a Feuding Land. It will be looking at the historical and archaeological aspects of castles in Offaly from their origins in the twelfth century to their end in the 17th century when they were replaced by the "Big House". The illustrated talk will be a PowerPoint presentation which will bring to life the castle ruins in the Irish countryside, that many people pass everyday, by taking a look at the people who lived in the castles and their pastimes and the fixtures and fittings of a medieval castle. The talk will also examine the effects castle builders had on their immediate surroundings. Non-members are welcome to attend. Moate Community Centre Groups intending to use the centre during the Winter months and who have made provisional bookings should avail of their spaces immediately. Any spaces on the time table, not taken up, will be passed on to other groups. The centre is available for use from 5pm to 11pm, Monday to Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday. Adults who are working voluntary for young people are offered the use of the facilities free of charge. Only the group using the centre should be on the premises at a given time. This is for safety reasons. In the case of adults working with youth they should be covered with a child protection policy. The car park at the centre is for parking cars and not for activities and is monitored by security cameras at all times. The grass area is always well maintained and attractive for people frequenting the Community Centre and the Tuar Ard Complex. It is not an area for loitering and the efforts of those who keep it clean and litter free should be respected. This area too is monitored by security cameras. The Community Centre offers facilities for indoor football, badminton, squash, basketball, meetings, conferences. Bookings can be made each night, Monday to Friday from 7pm to 11 pm by phoning 090 6481733. Carmelite Notes St Therese of Lisieux Therese Martin was the last of nine children born to Louis and Zelie Martin on January 2, 1873, in Aleacon, France. However, only five of these children lived to reach adulthood. At the age of 14, on Christmas Eve in 1886, Therese had a conversion that transformed her life. From then on, her powerful energy and sensitive spirit were turned toward love, instead of keeping herself happy. At 15, she entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux to give her whole life to God. Living a hidden, simple life of prayer, she was gifted with great intimacy with God. Through sickness and dark nights of doubt and fear, she remained faithful to God, rooted in his merciful love. After a long struggle with tuberculosis, she died on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24. Her last words were the story of her life: 'My God, I love You!' Her inspiration and powerful presence from heaven touched many people very quickly. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. "My mission - to make God loved - will begin after my death" she said. 'I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses.' Roses have been described and experienced as Saint Therese"s signature. Countless millions have been touched by her Intercession and imitate her 'little way.' She has been acclaimed 'the greatest saint of modem times.' In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared St. Therese a Doctor of the Church - the only Doctor of his pontificate - in tribute to the powerful way her spirituality has influenced people all over the world. Mass for the feast of St Therese at will be held at 7.15pm tonight, Wednesday October 1. Tubber Notices: First Friday, Holy Communion calls to the homes as usual. Fr Walsh and the Parishioners of Tubber and Rosemount wish Fr Padraic Mc Mahon every blessing in his future ministry and they welcome Fr Tony Gavan to the Parish. Ganley School of Dancing The Ganley School of Irish Dancing continues on Wednesday nights, in Dun na Sí, Moate at 7pm. This is the ideal time for beginners to start. Dancing for Fun classes commenced in Mount Temple Community Hall on Friday last, new members are welcome to come along for the "craic". Enquiries to Joe at 087-6473497. Yoga Classes Yoga classes take place in the Carmelite Pastoral Centre on Tuesday nights, beginners at 7.30pm with a mixed ability class at 8.30pm. For further details contact Carmel at 086 3351333. Moate Ladies GAA Moate Ladies GAA would like to thank everyone who contributed so generously to their Church gate collection. Greyhound News Moate owner Chuck Kelly enjoyed another very successful week at the dogs with Cooldown Jasper returning to form and running out a comfortable winner of the Tyrur Lee A4 Stake at the Galway Sportsgrounds on Saturday night last. The win earned connections a €5,400 cheque. The even money favourite put his third-place semi-final run behind him and raced to a five length victory over the early leader Rathmeehan Jimmy who had three parts of a length to spare over Mythical Vieri in third. Cooldown Jasper took up the running on the second bend and came home in an impressive 28.67. Trained by Pat Buckley the winner is a son of Pacific Mile and Always On Air and is a younger half brother to leading UK tracker Barnfield On Air. On Friday night in Galway the Kelly family took great satisfaction from the performance of Lively Aussy, the 2/1 winner of the Mervue United AFC A8 525 Semi-Final. Lively Aussy took up the running at the second bend and went on to win by 5.5 lengths from Noelles Volcano. Lively Aussy is testament to the patience and care given to the dog by Martin Kelly, the early advice given to the owners was to get rid of this dog! Saturday night also showed the other side of greyhound racing with Headford Classic injuring a hock when finishing a disappointing fourth in a 575 yard race. Honcho Freddie qualified for the semi final of the Harold"s Cross Puppy Derby when finishing second to the outstanding Timor Blue. The second place time of 28.77 would have given Honcho Freddie a comfortable win in any of the other quarter final races. The level of the performance will have pleased the Kelly team who look after this dog at home. Timor Blue is a very fast breaking dog and had built up the winning lead at the first bend but was unable to extend the margin and indeed if the race was a 550 yard encounter the margin would have been in question. The semi final next Friday has thrown up an interesting question with Honcho Freddie drawn in trap 5. The four previous races have all been run from traps 1 or 2 but with Timor Blue in the other semi final Droopys Miller would appear to be the danger having beaten the fast finishing Honcho Freddie by a neck in one of the earlier rounds. Chuck Kelly would appear to have a nice team of dogs at present but in greyhound racing Chuck has learned to savour the moment as last year"s injury-strewn season showed the vagaries that make this sport so addictive. Midland Warriors The U15 squad returned to training with Graham Ross on Sunday morning last. The older group are a little ahead of the U8,10 and 12 who are due back on October 12. A committee meeting will take place in the Auld Shebeen on Thursday night at 9pm. Tuar Ard Browsing through the Winter programme at Tuar Ard I notice many items that will help to shorten the winter. Nigel Connell starts proceedings off on Friday next at 8.30pm. Take a look in the entertainment section for further details. Congratulations to those responsible for putting together such a varied and interesting programme, I have already booked my tickets for some of these events so don"t be disappointed, 6482042 is the number you need. Congratulations Birthday greetings to Teresa Scully who celebrated her birthday on September 27. Greetings also to Neil Shortall who was celebrating his 18th birthday all last week in between his studies!