IT’S OUR PLACE TOO!

Dear Editor,

It is with sadness that I read in last week’s The Avondhu that two directors of ‘our credit union’ have been asked to step down ‘in the best interest of’ etc.

As a past director/president, I am now appealing to the board of Mitchelstown Credit Union to put aside their differences in the best interest of 17,500 members.

Forty two years ago, Mitchelstown Credit Union was founded by a group of people who had vision and enthusiasm. There is no doubt but that it’s been the corner stone of Mitchelstown and its surrounding parishes.

During those times, credit was not easily got, members pooled their savings in their credit union and made it available for others to borrow. We remember the growth along those years - 1 million, 2 million and so on.

Today ‘our credit union’ holds €90millon in savings approximately, its liquidity is the envy of any financial institution. Even without the State guarantee, your credit union is safe and sound.

We will all be glad to have a strong credit union in the uncertain times ahead. Credit is becoming very hard to get as it was in the 1960s.

It would be sad to see a director to have to step aside from his/her duties so I am making a strong appeal to all concerned - put the credit union first, because ‘it’s our place too’!

Yours sincerely,
Pat Kent,
Caherdrinne,
Kilworth.

A WORD OF CAUTION FROM ZAMBIA

Dear Editor,

Sorry to sound alarmist, but I think your readers should be aware of a deadly disease, almost certainly fatal, which has found its way into South Africa from the Congo through Zambia.

A Zambian woman together with her para-medical attendant who were flown from Lusaka to Johannesburg have died in South Africa, along with a nursing sister who attended to the sick woman.

A quarantine situation has been set up at Jo’burg and I am sure that the South Africans will quickly have the situation under control, but with the very large movement of Irish tourists and charity builders in and out of South Africa, I think that caution should be exercised in the meantime.

I suppose this story will be ‘old hat’ by the time it is published, but it is still well intentioned.

With all of the bad publicity that Zimbabwe keeps on getting (some of it well deserved) I hope your readers realise that this deadly disease litterly ‘jumped’ over this beautiful country and leaves us here with other ailments to contend with ‘real or imagined’.

Pat Power,
Avondhu and Zambezi.

DO YOU KNOW ANY BULLY’S ACRES?

Dear Editor,

I am currently undertaking a social experiment in local folk traditions on famine graves in Ireland, both north and south. I am appealing for knowledge on sites known as Bully’s (Bullies) Acre in each of the thirty-two counties. In this I hope to acquire your help and the help of your readers.

Over the summer I began a journey to discover the true origin of the term Bully’s Acre, a term which has been used to describe a wide number of graveyards across the nation. What seemed like a simple search of known sites has turned into a Pandora’s Box of surprises.

The site numbers have grown from one or two in the west to a number of sites with varying dates running across the country from Dublin to Galway and more appearing everyday.

Alas one thing I have discovered is that where there is local knowledge of a site known as Bully’s Acre there is no national understanding of the vast number of sites which contain the name.

This is where the readers of your paper can help; I am beseeching the people of Ireland to contact me and help me to locate these sites so that I can compile a map of sites across the country and in turn fulfill a untouched area of local folk tradition.

I would be grateful to hear from any Avondhu readers who are aware of any sites which are known locally as Bully’s Acre and would be grateful to hear from them about any local traditions or the meaning of the name, current ownership of the site and if it is commemorated in any way.

Information can be sent to Gary Dempsey,
145 Roscaoin, Roscam, Galway
or to bullyacre@gmail.com