WILLIAM ‘SONNY' McCARTHY
Friday next, 26th March marks one hundred years since the execution by Crown forces of Lixnaw’s own William ‘Sonny' McCarthy of the Railway Bar. Sonny was apparently a brilliant ecclesiastical student, and a promising athlete, lining out for the St. Kieran's College hurling team in Kilkenny, before donning the Green and Gold of Lixnaw. Sonny became the Intelligence Officer for Kerry's Third battalion of the Irish Volunteers, and by 1921 was working as Secretary to the Kerry Farmers’ Union. His knowledge of people and places gained in this occupation proved very useful in the struggle for Irish freedom. Because of this, Crown Forces had been following him for some time, but he managed to evade them until that fateful Easter Saturday (March 26th) 1921. On that day, he visited Tralee with dispatches, and when these had been safely delivered he went to confession but unfortunately was spotted afterwards by enemy forces. Following his arrest and interrogation, and by many accounts, torture, Sonny was taken to The Green, now the Town Park, where he was shot dead. A High Cross now stands where his body was discovered. The funeral procession from St. John’s Church in Tralee was interrupted on a number of occasions by the authorities before Sonny’s remains were brought home to the Railway Bar by train. William ‘Sonny’ McCarthy was two days shy of his twenty sixth birthday when he was executed. In 1932 a High Cross was erected over his grave in Kiltomey.
To mark the centenary of his death, Lixnaw Development Association, with the support of the McCarthy Family, and the management of The Railway Bar, will unveil a plaque outside the Railway Bar to the memory of Sonny McCarthy, this Friday at 4pm.
Lixnaw Development Association would like to wish Eddie and all at The Lixnaw Chipper all the very best of luck with their new take-away. It's great to see a new business opening up in the village, especially in these uncertain times. Lixnaw Motors should be opening up shortly as well so we encourage all in Lixnaw to support our own. Well done to all involved!
2020 Community Enhancement Programme - Round 2
Lixnaw Development Association would like to acknowledge the assistance of Kerry County Council, following the allocation of grant aid through the 2020 Community Enhancement Programme, which we will be using to pay for our village AED/Defibrillator Kiosk. This should be installed in early April.
2020 Community Support Fund
Lixnaw Development Association would like to acknowledge the assistance of Kerry County Council, following the allocation of grant aid through the 2020 Community Support Fund, which we will be using to pay for our village name signs and a visitor information board.
Great to see the Garda Barracks getting a face-lift….every little bit helps!
We hope that two new Village ‘Welcome' Signs will be erected by Kerry County Council in the coming weeks, with more to be installed next year.
Lixnaw Development Association intend to look ahead, by burying 30 and 100 year Time Capsules, with contents including letters to their future selves from local schoolchildren, to be unearthed in 2050, and a record of Lixnaw as it is today to be reopened in 2121. Ideas on other contents is very welcome and we encourage you all to consider getting involved with these and other projects we have planned for the year ahead.
Flags have been hoisted over the homes of officers of the Lixnaw Company of the Irish Volunteers to mark the centenary of the attack on Lixnaw in the early hours of the 23rd of October, 1920. Crown Forces led by Tobias O’Sullivan RIC raided the home of Patrick McElligott in Ballinagare and assaulted his sons Thomás and Sean. They then proceeded to the Grady house in the village, as Steve Grady (2nd Lieutenant of the Lixnaw Company) had been promoted to Officer in Command of the Kerry Third Battalion the previous month, and the Tans aimed to take his life. Steve managed to evade them, but unfortunately his apprentice Johnny Nolan was not so lucky and was badly beaten and maimed for life. The RIC then attacked the Lovett home with similar action taken against the occupants. Not satisfied with their nights work the Tans then burned the Creamery, the hub of commercial activity for the area, and the main means of making a living for many of the people of Lixnaw. To honour those men and women of Lixnaw who played their part in the struggle for Irish Freedom, Lixnaw Development Association hope to mark the occasion of the Centenary of the end of the War of Independence, on the National Day of Commemoration, Sunday the 11th of July, 2021. We would very much like to hear from anyone with information on the Lixnaw Company of the Irish Volunteers, their activities and the people involved. We would especially like to hear from descendants of members of the local Company.
GROWING FOOD WITH NATURE
by Niamh Ní Dhúill (10.30 – 12.00, Friday 1st May 2020)
Niamh Ní Dhúill is a co-founder of the Kerry Earth Education Project and founder of Natural Kitchen Gardens. She works with a wide range of groups in the areas of biodiversity, habitat, woodland and sustainable food education. She shares skills to enable people to create their own edible and biodiverse spaces. She also runs practical workshops on how to grow and use cultivated and wild plants and making home tonics. She is a member of Transition Kerry’s steering group and a facilitator on the Climate Action and Biodiversity Courses. Niamh will talk about her experience and how we can all grow our own food and feed ourselves.
To book your place at this Zoom session contact:lisaoflaherty@newkd.ie
WEBSITE LAUNCH
The launch of this website has been advertised on the Lixnaw Development Association Facebook page and in the Lixnaw Notes in The Kerryman. Please feel free to get the word out there as we want as many people as possible to use this facility. For the record, the website address is lixnawda.com and the email address is lixnawda@gmail.com.
SPONSORSHIP
Many thanks to Seamus Stack for his generous offer of Compost for our Pollinator Project. It will be put to good use in the coming months.
COUNTY CLEAN UP DAY
In light of the Government announcements yesterday it has been decided to defer the County Clean Up until a later date. We will let you know when the event will be rescheduled.
The Annual County Clean Up day for 2020 had been set for 28th March 2020. When rescheduled Lixnaw Development Association will be co-ordinating local groups with the litter pick event. Gloves, bags, litter-pickers, high-viz vests etc will be provided to all who help out. Please contact the Chairman at 087 637 0738 or the Secretary at 087 744 2554, or email lixnawda@gmail.com if you wish to give a hand….as the old saying goes, many hands make light work!
LIXNAW DEVELOPMENT PLAN
With the County Council currently reviewing their Development Plan for Lixnaw, as part of the Draft Listowel Municipal District Local Area Plan 2019-2025, Lixnaw Development Association will be undertaking a public consultation process of its own over the coming weeks for its Draft Village and Environs Development Plan titled ‘Lixnaw 2025’. We intend to begin this process via this website over the month of April where the Development Plan can also be viewed. Following a review of all feedback the Development Plan will be finalised in May and available to anyone interested.
LIXNAW CONTACTS LIST
An updated Community Contacts List for 2020 is now being finalised. A copy of this list will be delivered to houses in the village and can also by picked up at the local shops. This Community Contacts List will give Phone Numbers for all the local Community Groups active in the area for the coming year, as well as the Adjudication Report on Lixnaw Development Associations 2019 Tidy Towns competition application. At this time where so many are bulk buying it is important to be aware of the problem of food waste and we have included a leaflet from stopfoodwaste.ie. In the meantime we have included a DRAFT 2020 Contacts List below. If your organisation is not included on the list, or your contact details have changed, please get in touch as soon as possible so that we can update the list.
NATIONAL TREE WEEK
National Tree Week was to run from the 21st to the 27th of March and the LDA aimed to plant trees and Pollinator-friendly plants, in aid of the Lixnaw Pollinator Project and grant aided by the Community Environment Action Fund, from the 21st. Unfortunately due to Covid 19 National Tree Week has been postponed and our plans have been deferred. Anyone interested in giving a hand when things get back to normal should contact the Chairman at 087 637 0738 / lixnawda@gmail.com.
GRANT AID
Lixnaw Development Association would like to acknowledge funding received from the National Tidy Towns Association following the application by the LDA for Lixnaw in 2019. We would also like to thank Kerry County Council for the grant issued to the LDA under the 2020 Community Support Fund.
2020 COMMITTEE
Lixnaw Development Association held its Annual General Meeting in January and the following officers were elected: Chairman, Dick McElligott; Secretary, Maria Conway; Treasurer, Sean Thornton. We would like to thank Jacques Quilter for his work as Chairman, and Tom Hennessy who assisted Sean Thornton with the groups finances since the association was established in 2015. Toms role was filled at our March meeting, and we would like to welcome Danny McElligott on board as Assistant Treasurer. Jacques and Tom will stay involved and other members of Lixnaw Development Association include Maurice Fahey, Kay Conway, Pat McMahon, John McAuliffe, Tony Sheehy and Roger Hussey. We are always looking for new members so if you are interested in getting involved call Maria at 087 744 2554 or email lixnawda@gmail.com and we will add you to our text message list.
