Coachford Festival is a huge success

The fourth annual Coachford Autumn Festival proved to be a huge success for all involved. The festival, organised by Broomhill Vintage Club saw huge crowds attend all the events throughout the weekend. Two hundred athletes turned up on Friday evening to take part in the inaugural Coachford 5 Mile road Race. The race was held in ideal conditions with the winner, Gavin Sweeney crossing the line in a very impressive 26 minutes and 12 seconds. The prizes were presented by local athlete Olive Loughnane. On Saturday early rain was blown away quickly and left an afternoon of beautiful sunshine just in time for the 54 High Nelly Bicycle riders to head off on their annual run. Aghinagh Comhtlas put on a wonderful show at the open air Ceili and the Dog Show was again filled with proud owners of beautifully prepared pooches. Jimmy Jazz Buckley was crowned Bachelor of the Festival in front of a huge crowd on Saturday night. Jimmy was one of 16 fabulous contestants who entertained, shocked and charmed the audience. Each contestant was put at ease by the excellent MC, Annette Dilworth Enright. Many of the contestants wowed the audience with their party pieces which included, songs, poems, kilt lifting, bagpipe playing and chainsaw tricks! Sunday saw a huge vintage and veteran car and tractor display. Over 30 Fordson Major Tractors turned up to be part of the major Gathering. The Old Time Threshing and Stream Engine display were the other highlights of the vintage show. Sunday afternoon saw the second ever staging of the ‘Agrilympics’ . This year’s event saw ten teams competing for the title and the perpetual trophy. The Cork Marts ‘STD’ team were crowned champions after a very close final. Other highlights of Sunday’s festival were the Egg throwing, the Bonny Baby, Yummy Mummy and Glamorous Granny competitions, the wonderful Model toy display and the over 40’s GAA match. Kids were entertained by the funfair, Children’s sports and the magnificent Balloon modeller. Tim O’Riordan of Natural Gas was a huge hit as he played all the favourites that he’s famous for. President Of Broomhill Vintage Club, Danny O’Riordan said  “ We are so delighted that this year’s event was such a success, the weather held up and the crowds turned out. The Village was busy, the children were happy and everyone seemed to have a good time. We promised that the festival would have something for everyone, and it did. The new events we added this year were great fun and brought a lot of variety to the festival. We are indebted to Aghabullogue GAA for the fantastic facilities put at our disposal and also for their cooperation and support. We are already planning for next year’s festival and part of that process is to review what worked and didn’t work this year. We are all looking forward to making the 2014 Autumn Festival an even better event”.

Aghabullogue Footballers in Semi Final

The Intermediate Footballers of Aghabullogue have reached the Semi Final of the County Championship having defeated Youghal last Saturday by 2.0?? to 0.?? . This is the first time the footballers have reached this stage since they joined this grade in 2005. The semi final is not expected to be played within the next six weeks. John Tarrant, selector said, ” We are delighted to be still in championship at this stage of the year and we are looking forward to finding out who our opponents are in the semi final. All the teams left in the competition are excellent football teams and we can expect a tough encounter whenever the game is played.” Meanwhile the Aghabullogue hurlers must wait until September 14^th to play Dromina in the relegation final to see if they can retain their Intermediate status for 2014.

FAI Soccer Summer Camp

A group of 69 children took to the pitches at the Coachford AFC’s grounds in Coachford to partake and enjoy the FAI Soccer Summer Camp. The Children ranging in ages from 6 to 12 spent the week learning the finer points of the game, developing their skills and making new friends. The children came to the camp from all over the area.

Soccer Season kicks off

The Coachford AFC premier team and B team have started playing games in the 2013/14 season. Both teams have suffered early defeats in cup competitions but it is early days yet. We wish them the very best of luck for the remainder of the season.

Soccer lotto

There was no winner of the €1800 jackpot in the  Coachford AFC Lotto. The numbers drawn were 5, 15, and 16. The lucky Dip winners were Neily Callaghan (€40), Pat Hayes, Pods, Karl Thomas and Jer Crowley (€20 each). Next week’s jackpot is  €2000 and the draw will take place  in o Callaghan’s Bar.

Ghosts, Graves & Generals for Heritage Week

The ACR Heritage Committee are hosting an event for National Heritage Week.

Anthony Greene will give a presentation on the good, the bad and the insignificant interred in Magourney & Christchurch Graveyards, Coachford on Saturday, 24th August at 2.00pm.  This promises to a be a very informative and entertaining talk on our ancestors and the people who lived in our community down through the years. The meeting point for the day is the Car Park at the National School which is very convenient to both graveyards. Remember this is an outdoor event so please dress appropriately for the weather. All are welcome to this free event.