The School Hurling League

Action from today's game

Today we  started the school hurling league. The two teams playing  were Josh’s team and Edwin’s team. It was a real good game. At half time the score was level 1 goal each. In the end Josh’s team beat Edwin’s team 1-0 to 2-2. After the match Josh said “I thought Edwin was going to pull away at half time”. We are really looking foward to the rest of the games. Thanks for reading from all at Newmarket. This is Jody reporting.

September News

Hi Kieran here!
We all had a great September here at Newmarket. Kilkenny recently won 4 consecutive All-Ireland titles on the 6/9/09. They were against Tippererary. It was a very good game. The score was Kilkenny 2-22 Tippererary 0-23. The Iverk show was postponed to the Saturday this year. It was really good. There were  lots of stalls. A good few from our school won prizes. I came first in the creative writing and Anne Marie won two prizes,  and our past pupil Conor Aylward came 3rd in the poetry competition. On the 22nd the National Ploughing Championship was held in Athy, County Kildare. It was opened by Ireland’s president Mary McAleese. It will be held in Athy next year in the same farm. The weather was great all through the month of September. We are all enjoying the Indian summer. Our swimming lessons begin tommorow in The Watershed. We are all looking forward to going there.

And that’s our September News.

St. Brendan’s and the fox

Yesterday there was an unusual visitor to the school. A little fox cub!Her name is Minnie. She is about 3 weeks old and looks like a black kitten. She drinks milk from a baby bottle ( she won’t drink the milk unlesss it is heated ) and will sometimes eat some puppy food. She is not allowed cows milk so she is given SMA baby milk. She stays in a house with 2 terriers and in the wild the dogs would have killed her. My grandmother is rearing her as a pet and hopefully we can keep her if she doesn’t get vicious. She was an orphan and would have died unless she was found ( her mother was killed by hunters ). Minnie will turn orange as she gets older. She has little wisps of orange fur on her face.

By Katelynn Walsh

The SECOND semi-final!!

Today at lunchtime we had our last semi-final of our school league. Josh’s team played against Conor Aylward’s team. Josh was the favourite to win because he beat Conor’s team at the start of the league. Conor’s team had an early lead as I scored the opening goal. By half time the score was 2-2 to 0-2. The second half was more difficult as the teams were more eager to win. After 10 minutes into the second half Jody slid on the wet grass and he slid into the curb. Despite his injury he carried on in the match. Just before the match was over Luke McNamara scored the clinching goal when he pulled first time. The final score was 5-4 to 3-2. Conor Alyward and Darragh Brennan will be fighting for the title on Monday the 23-3-09.

                                      Reported by Kieran Purcell

Semi-final goes to the wire

Today in blazing sun we had an exciting semi-final in the Newmarket school hurling league. Conor D’s team and Darragh’s team were playing for a place in the final. It was a very tight game and any score made a difference. It went down to the very last puck of the ball. Darragh’s team won by two points in the end after a lot of good hurling. The final score was 3-2 to 0-9. Let’s hope tomorrow’s semi-final is just as good.

Reported by Conor A

Christmas in Newmarket

Nativity Play '08

Today we  closed for Christmas holidays .  We performed our Nativity play for our parents last Friday night and everyone enjoyed it.  We also had a mad hair day last week and we raised € 234 for the Society of Missionary Children.

A past pupil visits our school

Pupils with Nelly Kelly Oct 08

Newmarket N.S. 1926

Castlemorres Co. Kilkenny

Nelly Kelly (nee Hearne) visited our school on the 24th of October. Nelly is 91 years old and is a former student of our school and of the old school in Newmarket. Our school was built in 1925 and all the students from the old school moved to the new school. She clearly remembers moving from the old school into the new school and how excited they all were.  Nelly told us all about her school days in Newmarket in the 1920’s.  There were 120 pupils in the school. The school only consisted of one classroom, which we’re in now,  but the partition divided it in two. Mr and Mrs O’Sullivan were the teachers. At lunch time they were allowed go to the shop in the village, and if you forgot your lunch you could get a slice of bread buttered for a penny. Water had to be carried from the well down the road because there was no tap. If the children were being bold they’d get smacked with the cane. When the inspector came the cane would be hidden. The boys used to play hurling in the field across the road called the Faiche. Once a boy got a belt in the eye and had to be brought to the hospital. That finished hurling for a while. There was a 7th and 8th class because there was no secondary school. The school was very cold in the winter because there was no heating. The original slates are still on the school to this day. The toilets were outside the school. Nelly’s dad Jack Hearne worked on the Castlemorres estate and Nelly helped him sometimes.  She said that she had been in every room of Castlemorres house. The house was knocked in 1979.  Some children came to school on a donkey cart. In the summer Nelly used to walk home in her bare feet. Nelly said that school days were the best days of her life. She loved school and she loved Irish. We all enjoyed listening to Nelly telling us about her school days in the 1920’s. Nelly has a remarkable memory of her school days. She was able to name all the people in the picture of the pupils in the school. She also told us that we are in Paradise now compared to school in her days.

Conor Aylward

6th class

School Tour 2008: Tramore

Hi I am Alex from 6th class.
I will be leaving Newmarket school in 8 days.
Yesterday I went on my last primary school tour. We went to Tramore in County Waterford. We went surfing which was great fun. I was able to catch about 5 waves. I must have fallen in at least 50 times. Later we went on a beach discovery walk which was about 8km long, looking for things that were unusual to us.We found crab skeletons,seaweed and loads of rocks. On the way home we stopped in MacDonalds for a bite to eat. Of course I ate loads. It was one of the best school tours I was ever on.
Alex.

www.oceanics.ie/

Last Mass in Newmarket Church

On Easter Sunday March 23rd 2008 Mass was said in St. Brendan’s Church Newmarket, Co. Kilkenny for the last time. Sadly, this beautiful church, which is a listed building and a landmark in the village of Newmarket, has closed as the ceiling is in need of repair and the numbers of people attending Mass in Newmarket have dwindled to a handful. As the cost of repairs is substantial, the parish authorities have now closed the church and its future is uncertain. During the final Mass, Rev. Peter Hoyne P.E. outlined the history of Newmarket Church. The following is the text of this sermon and I am grateful to Fr. Hoyne for permission to reproduce the history of Newmarket Church.
Tom Duggan
School Principal

Newmarket Church

In the years between 1600 and 1641 the parish system in the Diocese of Ossory was recognised in accordance with the decreed of the Council of Trent. The tridentine system of pastoral care was to have a parish priest in charge of a specific geographical area, while also being resident in that area. There is a map of the reorganised parishes in Co. Kilkenny from about 1645. One of the parishes named is Aghavilllar. It covered the area of the two modern parishes of Aghavillar and Ballyhale. There were two priests serving the whole area at that time. The present parish of Ballyhale was severed from Aghavillar in September 1847.
Aghavillar Church had been an important ecclesiastical centre for nearly 1,000 years. Perhaps around 1620 there might have been hopes of reviving it. Maybe this is why the parish was named Aghavillar. The revival never took place.

All the lands around it were forfeited under Cromwell in 1653. In 1687 Harvey Morres was granted the lands round about. The fair of Harvey in Hugginstown dates from this time.
It may well be that Harvey Morres was not that badly disposed as long as the people stayed away from Aghavillar. Do what you like in Hugginstown but don’t cause too much trouble. English rule hadn’t impacted that greatly in what is known as the Walsh Mountain area up to then. Eventually a mass-house was built in what is now Mr. Sean Duggan’s farm. Canon Carrigan called it “Carroll’s field” in Thoonavalla, Hugginstown. In 1731 it was the only chapel in the district till it fell or was abandoned.
Eventually the Mass-House needed to be replaced about 1798.

The British authorities were now allowing Catholics to use larger buildings for Catholic worship, but now they were called chapels. In selecting the site of the new chapel the people disagreed. The people of Hugginstown may well have argued that the old Mass-House was here. The people of Newmarket probably argued that the centre for Catholic worship was in Aghavillar for 1,000 years or so. As well, popular devotions at St. Brendan’s well in Aghavillar were still being observed. The result was that instead of building one chapel for the use of all the people they built two chapels in opposition. This was between 1798 -1801. The patron saint of both Churches was St. Brendan of Birr. He had been the patron saint of the ancient Celtic Church in Aghavillar. Fr. John Cassin was P.P. from 1784 to 1800. I have reason to believe that he lived in Ballygeardra.
In 1804 this church was closed down “on account of the spilling of blood”. Canon Carrigan doesn’t give any more details. There is a story that someone from Callan stole some stained glass windows which had been intended for the Church. He was followed and brought back to Newmarket where he was hanged. This was rough justice. Bishop Lanigan closed the church as a consequence. No church is worth a man’s life. It was left idle until after a few years someone began using it to stable horses. The question arose what was to be the future of this building. Bishop Lanigan relented and the building was used as a church once more. Bishop Lanigan died in 1812. It has continued to be used as a church to this day, Easter Sunday March 23rd  2008.
The site for the new chapel in 1798 must have been hotly contested. The landlord donated two sites for two chapels, possibly in the interest of keeping the peace. The two sites had to be owned independently by the Catholic Church. Each site would have to have access to the public road. This was to prevent people from closing a right of way to the Chapel as had happened in Owning shortly before. It would be very interesting to know what the parish priest of the time thought of it all.
The Church is an example of a Church built by poor people. It was a great effort on their behalf. The two little statues high up on the sanctuary walls probably were the original statues. They give us some idea of what could be afforded then. It is a wonder how they have survived. The present statue of our Lady is at least 150 years old. It is a companion to the statue in Hugginstown Church. There was an old liturgical law which stated that every statue of Mary had to be accompanied by the child Jesus. This changed after the Marian apparition to St. Catherine Laboure in Paris in 1831. The statue of Our Lady outside over the front door is that of the vision of Catherine Laboure. Mary is now shown on her own. The ceiling
is thought to be the original ceiling, now sadly perished after so many years. The Church is a listed building mainly because of the background to the Sanctuary. The wooden structure is also in a very frail condition. The Blessed Sacrament would have been reserved here in the tabernacle for about one hundred years, since the time of Pope Pius 10th. The sanctuary lamp would date from that time. The first set of the Stations of the Cross were probably erected about 1870.
This Church has been God’s House in Newmarket for 200 years. It has been the place where he has pitched his tent among his people as it were.
It has been a house of prayer. God’s presence made it a place of blessing.  Here in this building God’s love was always at work preparing the people of Newmarket for the heavenly glory. We believe that the saints in heaven join us in our celebration of Mass. We praise God together. Sometimes we say as much in the Preface of the Mass e.g. “And so we join the angels and the saints as they sing the unending hymn of praise”. Think of all the people who celebrated Easter Sunday here in 1908. Think of the people who celebrated the first Easter Sunday in this church in say 1802. Our hope is that they are joining us today as we praise God. This is something to reflect on. We thank God for this house of prayer in which he blessed his family as they came to him on their pilgrimage of life, when they came for baptisms, first Confessions, first Holy Communions, for Sunday mass, for Missions, for weddings and for Christian burials or as they used to be known for Requiem Masses.

There are many memories of this church among the people here Easter Sunday morning. No doubt it is a sad day for many. Let me conclude with one memory which is not sad. In days gone bye security was not as strict as it is today. The porch is a recent addition. The front door was left wide open all day. The old baptismal font was placed near the entrance. One day the water in the font began to disappear mysteriously. This was much to the chagrin of the person in charge of the Church. After careful investigation of this outrage it was discovered that a local sow was wandering in for a drink of water.

Our Confirmation

Hi my name is Cáit.

You might know Alex from this website already (he is my twin brother)Yesterday the 18th May we made our Confirmation. The three schools in our parish (St.Brendans N.S Newmarket, Stoneyford school and Monroe School) made it in Hugginstown Church. There were 42 pupils in all. Anne Troy was my sponsor. Every second year in our parish, 5th and 6th class make their Confirmation. Bishop Seamus Freeman is the Bishop who confirmed us. The ceremony was about an hour and a half. After the ceremony we got our pictures taken with the bishop. Our twin cousins from Stoneyford school made their Confirmation with us. We had a party at our house after the pictures. We got a bouncy slide. Alex pulled me off the slide. We kept pulling up the steps that helped you to get up to the top. When Alex was nearly at the top I pushed him back down. He got really thick with me and pushed me from the top of the slide onto the ground. We had a great day.