Clonmel Historical and Archaeological Society granted a civic honour

The Mayor, Councillor Ritchie Molloy granted the Clonmel Historical and Archaeological Society a mayoral reception earlier this month. 

It was exceptionally well attended by over seventy people.

 The Mayor welcomed everyone and in his introduction gave an overview of the society. The reception was attended by Councillor’s Deputy Mayor Michael Murphy, Siobhan Ambrose, and John Fitzgerald. 

In attendance also was Ms Carol Creighton the District administrator of Clonmel Borough District.

The objective of the night was to recognise three of the societies  members for their outstanding achievements. The three members were Peg Rossiter, Michael Ahern and Paddy O’ Keeffe. The reception also recognised the achievements of the society which has been in existence since the 1940’s when it was only accessible to a small number of scholarly men.

 Some of the names of the men from that time were Mr Philip O’ Connell who was principal of the Technical School in Clonmel, Mr Tommy Moran who was a chemist in Gladstone Street near Eason’s , Mr Ned O Connor, Mr E.J. Dillon and Mr Patrick Lyons who lived up Post Office lane also known as Featherbed Lane.

During this period we know the society published four journals of the proceedings from 1952 –1956.

In the early 1960’s Mrs Frazer (Annie Lovett) and Colonel Watson got involved in the society and opened it up to the public. 

In the early 1990’s Colonel Watson and Dr Elizabeth Shee Twohig

 were involved in writing an Architectural Guide book about Clonmel, which is still used today by historians as a source of reference material.

For the future, the society wants to grow its membership from a very solid base of two hundred members.

Ms Maire Mc Mahon Curator of the Museum in Clonmel spoke very warmly about the three recipients, particularly - Peig’s columns in the nationalist, Paddy’s inventory of trees in the town and Michael’s books as a wonderful resource of reference material. She also spoke about their enormous support to the museum.

The councilors spoke in glowing terms of the achievements, courage, foresight and resilience of the three members but most of all their significant input to the town and society. They also spoke about the achievements of the County Museum and its status in the town of Clonmel and how necessary both were to the town.

All the speeches were underpinned by a welcoming warmth and a recognition of the absolute commitment of everyone to the town of Clonmel.

The President of the society, Donal Ryan opened his speech by thanking the elected members, dignitaries and official’s and his fellow members for the recognition bestowed on it’s three esteemed members and the society itself. He also spoke about remembering the deceased members of the society, particularly John Rossiter who only died a few short  weeks ago. He spoke about the three members, the significant influence of Peg Rossiter  as journalist, advocate, campaigner and summarised just some of her key achievements –the preservation of the medieval church of St Nicholas cemetery, the rediscovery of the old walls  and site around St Mary’s, the preservation of the North and West Walls of the old walls of Clonmel, and the preservation of the West Gate building. 

Michael Ahern Educationalist, Historian, and author of seven books on Clonmel and in particular the Quaker History of County Tipperary with another book nearing completion. Michael’s book’s encapsulate the history of Clonmel, it’s families and it’s individuals whose stories are as varied as they are colourful.

Paddy O’ Keeffe started his career in Horticulture with the Cleeve’s family who were living in Oakland’s house. From there Paddy went on to work in Bunratty where he was a Nursery Manager. He started working with the Borough Council in 1974 and from there, he established the Parks Department in Clonmel. This culminated in having an overall strategy which included developing flower beds around the town and bringing colour and beauty to the town. He was also instrumental in the design and planting of Denis Burke Park. 

After the presentations, Peg Rossiter thanked the Mayor and the councilors on behalf of the three recipients. She described how she had started her working life in the Town Hall at the age of seventeen in 1940 and how she was delighted to be back again receiving this presentation. She concluded by saying that her wish for the town’s future was the recreation of the town centre. 

It is but a bare statement of the facts to state that all recipients have been upright in all of their dealings and displayed abundant zest in all their activities and in all their opinions there has been that authentic note about them which has endeared them to everyone.

The reception concluded with a rendition of “Happy Birthday” by Councillor John Fitzgerald for Paddy O’ Keeffe.