It was with some apprehension and a degree of humility that I accepted Monsignor Connolly’s request to be involved with the new parish website.

During my research over the last few months it was my privilege to access the Parish Chronicles.  These are records kept by each Parish Priest during his time in the Parish. 

With the blessing of Monsignor Connolly I spent many hours poring over this information, and also newspapers of the day, to extract the material which I have put into the Parish History.

The Parish History covers the period 1798 to 2000 and, where they were available, photographs have been included.  For ease of reading it has been divided into six chapters:

The forming of a Parish               1798-1960
Centenary Celebrations               1960 
The Parish expands and suffers    1961-1980
The Parish changes                     1981-1990
The Parish copes                        1991-1999
The Parish enters the new Millennium

I hope you will enjoy reading it.

As I read of past events I was amazed at the depth of faith and commitment of our forefathers.  I had heard my granny and my aunt talking with great pride about attending the Eucharistic Congress in 1932.  So began my quest.  I felt excited and greatly moved as I read about it.  I decided to write about it.  I had been a child at the Rosary Rally at Hugomont so I wrote about it.  I was hooked.  I have included other feature articles which I know you will find interesting.

Maybe you know someone who has photographs and information about a past event or organisation in the Parish.  I would love to hear from you.

I would like to pay tribute to Stephen Cooke for his invaluable expertise and assistance with the photographs.

Thanks to Breige for her patience and advice and John and Marisol for their help, all are from CatholicIreland.net.

Breda Waterson