60th Anniversary

The Faythe Harriers Hurling & Camogie Club celebrated their 60^th Anniversary in some style on the weekend of 2nd-3rd October.

The weekend activities commenced on Friday night when the club held a mass in Bride Street Church to remember all deceased members of the club and their families. There was a huge turnout at the mass, which was celebrated by Club Patron, Fr Aodhan Markham. The Wexford Male voice choir added their voices to what turned out to be a very enjoyable and poignant occasion. Fr Markham thanked those for attending and said that on a weekend of celebration, holding a mass to remember deceased members was a very humble and proper way of remembering those who had gone before us. Club members, varying from the young to the not-so-young, did the readings, the prayers and brought gifts to the altar to mark the occasion. After the mass, members adjourned to the Wexford Golf Club for a night of music, food and celebration. The club would like to thank Fr Markham for organising the mass, the Wexford Male Voice choir for helping to make is such a nice occasion and all members for turning out in such numbers to mark the occasion. They would also like to thank the Wexford Golf club for the use of their premises and Joe Keeling and his band, who provided the music on the night into the early hours.

The main function of the weekend took place in The Talbot Hotel on Saturday night when over 250 members, players, past players, supporters, parents and friends of the club got together for a memorable night of celebration. There was a huge crowd in attendance, with the main function room in The Talbot bursting at the seams to accommodate all those present. The main guests of honour on the night were the successful Faythe Harriers hurling & football double winning team of 1960, who will be celebrating the 50^th anniversary of their success in a few months time, the President of the GAA, Mr Christy Cooney, the Chairman of the Leinster Council, Mr Seamus Howlin, Chairman of Wexford County Board, Mr Ger Doyle and her Worship The Mayor, Ms Philomena Roche. 

The event started with a cheese & wine reception in the hotel, where guests were also treated to a video montage of old photographs and articles concerning Harriers activities over the past 60 years. This montage was put together expertly by Niall Denton and Richard Murphy. Everybody then adjourned to the dining room, where hotel staff looked after the guests with a sumptuous meal. Thankfully the speeches were kept reasonably short! Club Chairman, Willie Murphy was first to speak. He thanked those present for attending and especially welcomed the 1960 double winning team. He spoke of his humility to be Chairman of the club while looking out on so many famous faces among the crowd. He told all present players and young players attending that they should look up to past greats such as Hopper McGrath, Ned Wheeler, Eddie Walsh and Larry O’Gorman and told them to remember that it should be a privilege for them to wear the same Harriers jerseys that so many great men had worn before them. He thanked the organising committee including Justin Browne, Niall Denton, Junior Hayes and in particular thanked club Secretary, Sinead Murphy, who put a huge amount of time and energy into organising the event.

Her Worship, the Major congratulated the Harriers club on the magnificent work that they have done promoting Gaelic games in Wexford over the past 60 years and for looking after the youth of Wexford so well during that time. Mr Ger Doyle also spoke of the wonderful work being carried out by the club. Leinster Council Chairman, Mr Seamus Howlin, spoke of the many personal battles that he had on the playing pitches over the years with the Harriers and spoke of his admiration for the club and the work that was being carried out in relation to their new development. The President of the GAA, Mr Christy Cooney, said that it was an honour for him to be asked to attend this event and said that he loved meeting GAA grassroot members at events such as this. He said he was aware of the work being carried out in clubs all over the country such as the Harriers and he congratulated all those who voluntarily help out in the promotion of our games. He wished the club every success with the development of their new facilities and success on the playing fields in the future.

 After the speeches, there were a number of presentations. Mr Christy Cooney presented a special memorial plaque to each member or their representatives from the 1960 panel. They were as follows: John Kennedy, Tony Bergin, Martin Buggy, Brendan Cullimore (accepted by Timmy Scallan), Tommy Nolan (accepted by Kevin Murphy), Mick Hussey RIP, Lar Murphy, Seamus Quaid RIP (accepted by his children, Angela and Eamon), Terry McNulty, Albert McGrath, Jimmy Reilly, Jack Cullen, Timmy Scallan, Albert Bolger, Pat Browne, Sean O’Leary, Leo Goodison (accepted by his niece, Tina Bridges), Dick Murphy, Ned Wheeler, Oliver McGrath, Sean Dowdall RIP (accepted by his brother Con Dowdall), Martin Bergin RIP (accepted by his wife Florrie O’Leary), Frank Morris and Seamus Walsh. The Mayor then presented a commemorative plaque from Wexford Corporation to the club and this was accepted by Club Chairman, Willie Murphy. Willie then presented a bronze Pikeman figure to Christy Cooney to mark the occasion of his visit to Wexford and to the Harriers. The final presentation of the night was made by the club to mark the wonderful achievements of one of our past players. Willie Murphy told those present how this past player had some wonderful achievements during his hurling career including a Leinster Under 14 hurling medal, a county Senior hurling medal from 1981, as well as having appeared for the club in several other Senior county finals. He said however that it was in the sport of boxing that this man really made his name and as National Boxing Coach, he had helped Ireland to bring back 3 medals from last year’s Olympic games. He asked Larry O’Gorman to make the presentation on behalf of the club to Billy Walsh.

After the presentations, Some Like It Hot got the dancing proceedings under way and the floor was filled with young and old dancing away for the night. After the band had finished, a disco then kept the late revellers entertained for another few hours. All present had a fantastic night and all expressed a hope that they would be around again in 40 years time for the 100^th Anniversary celebrations!!!!!

There will be a DVD available to order of the photo montage in the coming months. If anybody is interested in obtaining a copy of this lovely momento, please contact Niall Denton (087 6542692) or Richard Murphy (087 6680630). Also, if anybody has additional photographs of club activites down the years that they would like to see included, please contact the lads asap.