Kilkenny's Fatima Place and Emmet Street Reunion: Gerry Moran pays poetic tribute to friends past and present

We are the folks from Fatima and we’ve come from far and near

To celebrate our childhood days in a place that we hold dear

The place where we were born and bred, where we kids ran wild & free

Where no one had a bob to spare & no one had TV

Where children all wore hand-me-downs and men wore grey or black

Where mothers changed REAL nappies and dads grew cabbage out the back

We had Brennans, Bretts, Blanches - Mahers, Murrays & McKees

Fahys, Powers, Carpenters - Gaffneys, Gibbons and McGhees

Guideras, Nearys, Knoxes & Beales with the white door

Denieffes, Dohenys, Donoghues and McDonalds in 54

And we weren’t short of nicknames: Bugs, Bandy, Bilko, Gort

Mallett, Mitch, Yummy, Puddy, Nellie, Scut, Rashers, Toots, Knocky,

Garne, Hopper, Archie - sure they didn’t cause any hurt!

And then, of course, there was Snowball, a loveable character to the core

Like Wag, his dad before him, their likes we’ll see no more.

On the road is where we children played, morning, noon and night:

Guards & Prisoners, Skipping, Skittles and Jack, Jack, Flash the Light

We had trollies, hoops and hopscotch, played marbles, Kick-the-Can

And we loved it when the Ragman called in his balloon-emblazoned van

We played tennis on the road, with simple lines for nets

We played cards with beer-bottle labels, our currency for bets

With our hurls we played rounders & cricket & golf – all three

While the wicket for the cricket was old Mrs. Hogan’s tree!

And, of course, we played hurling every day out on the green

Our Eamon, ‘Yummy’, Morrissey made an All-Ireland winning team

Some Septembers we lit bon-fires there when the ‘Cats’ were in Croke Park

We rolled tyres from Highlands Quarry that blazed bright into the dark

Then a true-blue hurling hero arrived in Fatima Place

The legendary goalie Ollie Walsh made our Fatima his base

And Ollie’s good wife Olive always let us use their phone

Not least to call our Eadie, thousands of miles from home

(I think we still owe you a few bob for those calls Olive)

And we still have Mrs. Wall and Bridie Brennan (91) and going strong

Bridie loves to play the Bingo, Christ, she’d play it in Hong Kong!

And I think the last men standing from that old vintage mix

Are Jack Cody, Seán McKee and Mick Knox in 46

While flying the flag for Emmet St & still ‘motoring’ in top gear

At four score and seven years – Richard, Dick, Cleere.

And we also played the soccer, founded EMFA – what a name!

A team that Jimmy Rhatigan steered, to titles and national acclaim

The Shop, of course, is where we went for fizz-bags, ice-cream, sweets

Where Betty & Carmel always smiled as they handed us our treats

And we cannot talk of Fatima without mentioning Daly’s Hill

A treasure-chest of memories that are vivid and precious still

We were cowboys there & indians, it’s where we’d trick & fool & brawl

It’s where I got my first kiss, perhaps the sweetest kiss of all!

The sand pit we remember and scary ‘Baldy’ Teehan

With his long black coat & greyhounds but he wasn’t that bad or mean

We caught brickeens, tadpoles, lizards, in Murphy’s pond, of course

And hands up who remembers: Johnny Byrne’s horse?

And we had right fun up the car-roads, with catapults and slug-guns

Robbing Dolly Blanche’s strawberries and Mrs. Knox’s plums.

And there was music there in the Fatima air, thanks to Mrs. McKee

We had champion Irish dancers, thanks to Mrs. T & G (Travers & Gaffney)

Ah, the women they were mighty – Judy, ‘Jiggy’, Maureen, Molly

Kitty, Cis, Peggy, Nan, Statia, Nancy, Eily and Dolly.

And we remember our dear parents who gave us of their best

Gave us love and lasting values and who, in love and peace, now rest

We remember those from Fatima - young, old, single and wed

Who have ‘gone into the light’ now, may Heaven be their bed.

So, here’s to ALL from Fatima Place and neighbouring Emmet Street

Decent people, mighty people, as nice a people as you could meet.

Finally – on behalf of all of us who had a mighty time reuniting and reminiscing in the Dicksboro Hurling Club last Saturday, sincere thanks to Eddie Hoyne, Helen Carpenter, Noreen Travers, Bridget Cashin and all who helped in any way to make the reunion such a wonderful success. And thank you John Travers for the music and engaging banter, thank you Fr. Kieran O’Shea for saying Mass on the green and thank you John McGuinness TD for popping by and thank you Mayor Michael Doyle for the complimentary words. Until the next time!