Are you ready for St Patrick’s Weekend House Party?
March has arrived, and it is an appropriate time to tell you that we are looking forward to welcoming you to the Park-House Hotel in Blackpool for our St. Patrick’s weekend event starting on Friday 15th March next.
For those of you who have booked, you are already pre-registered at the hotel so, just present yourself at RECEPTION, collect your room key and you are ready to party! There are plenty of artists, some old and some new, to keep you entertained for the weekend, including: Stephen Smyth, Michelle Murphy, Magic Moments, Muriel and Fran, and a new Country Music entertainer, a young lady from Co. Cork, making her first appearance with us and deserving a big warm welcome, which I’m sure you will give her, it’s Effie Neill. And of course, Pat Jordan will be there, looking after everyone as usual, and making sure that the programme runs smoothly.
This is also a great opportunity if you have decided to give up drinking for Lent! Because, if you have an Irish passport, or you are a friend of someone with an Irish passport then you have all been granted a special dispensation to break your fast on St Patrick’s Day without breaking your fast, if you know what I mean!
I also have some funny, but very fond memories from my school days about St Patrick’s Day and the teachers, asking the class what we knew about him! I have shared some of these memories before but, they are genuinely hilarious recollections of a happy and carefree period of life in rural Ireland in the fifties! Imagine the following conversation which actually took place in Behy National School Ballina! :
Teacher: “What can you tell me about St Patrick?”
Pupil: “He was a drunkard, Miss!”
Teacher: “Why do you think that, Tommy?”
Pupil: “Because he always walked with a stick, miss!”
Teacher: That’s not a walking stick Tommy. It’s a Shepherd's Crook. Do you know what that’s for?”
Pupil: “Hooking Sheep Miss!”
Teacher: “Not exactly Tommy. It’s symbolic!
Pupil : You’re right Miss. It’s a right load of bolix if you ask me!! (Tommy Murphy age 10)
Teacher to class: “He was the patron saint of Ireland. What do you know about Ireland?
Pupil: “Ireland is an island with land in the middle and water round the edges!”
Teacher: “Well, there will be St Patrick’s Day parades all over Ireland, and will you be going to watch the one in town this year Patrick?”
Pupil: “Yes Miss, but only because me Mammy and me Daddy will be taking me again this year!”
Teacher : What do any of you remember about last year’s parade?”
Pupil 1 “Loads of old tractors Miss”
Pupil 2 “Loads of rain Miss”
Pupil 3 “And hailstones Miss”
Pupil 4 “Lots of old cars too Miss, with balloons”
Pupil 5 “And the fire engine Miss”
Pupil 6 “ A ceili band on a trailer Miss, playing accordions and fiddles with loads of balloons Miss!”
Pupil 7 “A fella towing a cow in a trailer”
Pupil 8 “More rain Miss!”
Pupil 9 “I never saw St Patrick once, Miss”
OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES,EH!
It is difficult to grasp that for a small insignificant island off the west coast of Europe, we should play such a huge significant but benevolent role in the world. Wherever you go, I can tell you from experience, that with an Irish passport you are heartily welcome. The reason is simple – we are a fun-loving race and through generations of emigration we have brought our music and dances, our heritage and our culture and shared them with everyone. No other nation in the world, can claim the following in celebrating their Saints day:
St Patrick’s Day is celebrated world-wide. He brought Christianity to Ireland and banished all the snakes. He sent the snakes to England where they became traffic wardens and policemen! He wasn’t even Irish. He was born in Wales and was captured as a young lad and brought to Ireland and made to work as a sheep herder on Slemish Mountain in Co. Antrim. After 5 or 6 years he escaped and made his way back to England. This was before Brexit, so he had no trouble getting in and out! He went on to Auxerre in France and studied for the priesthood and eventually returned to pagan Ireland and set about converting them to Christianity! This is where the shamrock comes in because during his time wandering around the country, he used the shamrock to help explain the mystery of the Blessed Trinity (The three persons in the one God!)
The sprigs of Green Shamrock are worn with great pride on St Patrick’s Day, and Green, more than any other colour, is the one associated with Ireland. It is also a fact that ‘The Forty Shades of Green’ were immortalized in song by that well known and much-loved Country Music entertainer Johnny Cash. Back in 1959 on a visit to Ireland he was inspired by the many different shades of green. There is a local story that does the rounds in Tipperary that Johnny asked where he could go to get a good view of the countryside and was directed to the VEE PASS which separates the Knockmealdown Mountains from the Galtees
It was there apparently, that he got his inspiration for the “FORTY SHADES OF GREEN”, and while Johnny is best known for great hits like ‘Ring of fire’, ‘Folsom Prison Blues’, ‘I walk the line’ etc., he is fondly remembered by all Irish people for his penning of this lovely song!
7 We know for a fact that during his travels he ended up in Co. Mayo and climbed Croagh Patrick, known locally as the Reek. He spent forty days and forty nights on the mountain where he wrote a song and a film score. The song was entitled “Hold the candle steady Mary while I shave the chicken’s leg”, and a film score called THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN! The film has recently been made and features Brendan Gleeson as Colm and Colin Farrell as Padraic and a pet donkey called Jenny. Why it has been nominated for several Oscars I haven’t a clue. I didn’t like it and I think someone was taking the piss! Would be interested in other opinions when you get to see it!
The view from the summit is something else. From there you can see Clew Bay laid out beneath you and showing off its 365 islands, yes, one for every day in the year!
9 Back in the 1980’s a seam of gold was discovered but because it was a holy mountain, local people objected to any mining. But there is a local river called The Owenwee and in Gaelic it’s Abhainn Bhuí which means Yellow River so, it seems that there may have been an awareness of gold for a long time. Interesting!
10 In some of his written work St Patrick states that he committed a sinful act and that he was spending his time in Ireland as a penance. Rumour has it that he had an affair with St Bridget who was a nun who was renowned throughout Ireland for turning bathwater into beer.
She is actually buried in Downpatrick alongside St Patrick himself. St Columba is actually buried with them but that’s another story!
Finally, did you know that hundreds of the world’s most famous and iconic buildings will be bathed in Green during 17th March 2024. The eagerness of cities and countries everywhere to want to do this, underlines the strength of the deep affection and high regard that people all over the world have for Ireland and her people! Here is a short list of just some famous buildings bathed in GREEN:
The Colosseum in Rome
Christ the Redeemer Statue in Brazil
The Sydney Opera House
Empire State Building, New York
Atlanta City Hall
United Center, Chicago and also the river will be dyed green
Welcome’ sign, Las Vegas
Metro Historic Courthouse, Nashville *
Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, Nashville *
Hillsborough River, Tampa
Blackpool Tower (hopefully)
City Walls in York UK
Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece
Victoria Falls in Zambia
The Cotton Tree in Freetown, Sierra Leone
So, if you have nothing better to do next St Patricks weekend, why not come and join us at the Park House in Blackpool for a great weekend of Music Song and Dance.
“Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!”
Gearóid Ó Floinn
(Gerry Flynn)