Lourdes Fundraising
Our local Lourdes fundraising committee have asked me to say a huge thank you to all who supported their recent raffle and talent night. They were delighted with the response they received. Thank you also to Bobby and Noreen at Centra in Kilmeaden for allowing them to sell raffle tickets at the shop and to the volunteers who sold them. The winners in the raffle were John Fitzgerald,Hillary Sullivan, Colette Murphy, Belinda Kearns, Stephen Prout and John Aulsberry.
It was off to O Donnachas then on Saturday night and a big thank you to Seamus and Michelle Dunphy who happily support this cause every year. Thank you to all the singers on the night and to Dick Quinn for providing musical backing. Declan Ryan was the worthy winner on the night and took home the Jimmy Fox Memorial Cup.
A fantastic amount of €1000 was raised altogether and the committee thank all who supported, donated spot prizes and all who helped in any way. It is wonderful to be able to keep up the tradition of sending people from the parish to Lourdes each year and this is made possible by your generosity.
Youth Drama
Ballyduff Youth Drama are delighted to announce that they will stage another production in February 2018. This group caters for children in 5th and 6th classes and they do not have to be students of Ballyduff N.S. Children from surrounding areas are welcome also. Rehearsals will begin on Monday September 4th and end in early February from 7.15pm to 8.45pm every Monday night in Ballyduff Community Centre. If your child is interested then please contact Helen Millea on 087-6493657 as soon as possible as numbers are limited.
School Success.
Waterford Teachers centre recently launched a beautiful book about the history and heritage of our schools. National schools were invited to take part and in Ballyduff N.S Mr. John Carey and the pupils of 4th class rose to the challenge. They did fantastic work all about hedge schools and former past pupil the great Tom Cheasty. They also submitted some brilliant photos of times gone by, even one of that famous All Ireland medal.
On Tuesday evening last Adam Spillane, Michael Kelly and Alex Walsh represented their class with Mr.Carey in the Woodlands Hotel for the official launch of the book. Launching the book was local author John Burke. John and his daughter Cathy are the brains behind the books Irelandopedia and Historopedia and the boys who are big fans were delighted to meet him. The boys brought home a framed class certificate for the classroom and individual certs will be presented to all the class at assembly next week. Well done again to 4th class and Mr.Carey.
Sacristans Collection.
I don’t have to point out to any of you what a wonderful job our church sacristan Ann Nolan does. Nothing is a problem to her. She not only has the talents of organisation and hard work but she also has that lovely friendly personality which is welcoming both to parishioners and starngers.
We get a chance next weekend to show a little bit of gratitude when the annual sacristans collection will be taken up at the weekend masses on July 1st and 2nd. Please be as generous as possible.
GAA Lotto
The numbers drawn in the last lotto draw were 5, 18, 19 and 23. There was no winner of the jackpot and the three lucky dip winners of €50 each were Emma Hogan, Tony Kirk and Giretti Murphy. The next draw will take place on July 2nd and will have a jackpot of €7400.
Graveyard Mass.
Our annual graveyard mass in Ballyduff will take place on Wednesday July 5th at 7.30pm. Please spread the word to anyone you know living outside the parish who have friends or relatives buried in our graveyard. As always we ask you if you are tidying up your loved ones graves please bring any old flowers and rubbish home with you.
Following the graveyard mass we will have a nice friendly cuppa and light refreshments in our community hall and we hope everyone will pop in. If you would like to provide some home baking or biscuits for the night please let me Linda Spillane know on 087-9838392.
Bridge News
The results of the bridge game played on 19th of June are as follows:
1st: Geraldine McMahon and Peggy Murphy.
2nd:Eileen Kirwan and Theresa Phelan.
3rd: Kate Hayes and Nano Fitzgerald
4th Breda O Donnell and Noreen Tubbritt
Walk and Talk
Congratulations to all the participants in the recent Walk and Talk sponsored walk along the Greenway which was organised by the academy and nursery section of Ballyduff GAA club. It was a sight to behold to see all the walkers making their way towards Kildermody. A big thank you to all the participants, promoters and supporters for making this a great success. Special thanks to Donal Daly for sponsoring water and lollipops along the route and to the great Margaret and Gerry at Haughtons for putting on such a huge spread of food for the hungry walkers on their return. Please remember that all all sponsorship cards must be returned whether they are empty or full so that a final amount can be announced.
School News
The annual school sports took place recently and the weather was very kind to us. All the children had great fun running their races and playing games. There were lots of stalls for the adults to browse around and of course the tasty smell coming from the bbq would make anyone feel hungry. A lot of organising goes into this event not only from the staff of the school but the parents council and their group of volunteers do a tremendous amount of work before and during the event. I have been asked to say a huge thank you to all who supported the event and to the following sponsors, Living Colours(The Foley Family) Frank Murphy Hurleys, Boots Pharmacy Tramore, Mulligans Pharmacies Waterford, McDonalds in John Roberts Square, Centra Kilmeaden, Gala Kilmeaden, The Book Centre, Alfie Hales new premises in Michael Street and John Laffan Electrical.
The Summer school holidays will begin on Wednesday June 28th and we wish all the staff and students a happy and safe Summer.