Tydavnet Presentations On Sunday, December 16th two gentlemen from the Tydavnet area were given surprise presentations in Tydavnet Community Centre. Both men were asked to attend for the presentation of the other person not knowing that there was one for himself too. After Mass in Tydavnet a big crowd gathered in the Community Centre and MC, Gerard Sherlock, got proceedings under way and introduced the presentation to the first recipient – John James McKenna. John James recently retired as a member of the Tydavnet Community Centre Committee for, as he says himself, to let new young blood take over. In Gerard’s summary of the work done by John James we heard that he had joined the Committee in 1985 and was Chairman for 13 years. This was during the time of building and organising and John James gave an enormous amount of hours to overseeing and helping with the work, all on a voluntary basis, and everything was done to a very high standard. He started the Silver Circle Draw which raised badly needed funds for the Centre and worked tirelessly to make sure that the Centre was maintained in excellent condition. But it was not just his involvement in the affairs of the Centre that he was being honoured as he has always played a major role in many other community activities. He was part of the Lord Mayor campaign to raise funds for the Scotstown GAA and at present he is still involved in fundraising activities for the Club. John James is an excellent musician and was a member of the local Eamon O’Muiri Comhaltas group. He is a leading member of the Tydavnet Church Choir and his solo on the trumpet at Christmas Mass is acclaimed. He is a member and a leader in the Monaghan Community Brass Band and a member of the Sliabh Beagh Swimming Club. In the early days of video, John James was recording local events and happenings around the area and also taking still photographs, which have given him a vast archive of historical pictorial data. He established a Poultry Farm and continues to provide employment to a big number of people. This list of his achievements does not exhaust all the ways in which he helped in the community but through everything he was given full support by his wife Betty and the family and the community was now saying thanks to John James and the family for his tireless commitment. Peter Cavanagh was then called on to make the presentation to John James, who in his own humble manner thanked everyone for their support through the years and their kindness with the presentation. It was then on to the second presentation which was made by Marie McQuillan, current Chairperson, to Oliver McNally who retired as a local Postman some weeks ago. Gerard gave a brief run-down on Oliver’s life and times and spoke of the unique characteristic that Oliver had in being able to talk to people. The job of Postman was and is very important in rural areas, as for many the Postman might be the only human that some will get talking to in a week. Of course in years gone by before transport and modern communication technology the Postman had many jobs to do as well as delivering the Post and these jobs were not part of his job but were done to help the neighbour., who might be unable to get to town or who needed something delivered to a family member or person who lived some distance away. Of course the Postman was also the News man – he could tell people what was going on in the big world outside the local area. Anyhow Gerard spoke of Oliver’s ability to have a chat with people he met on his rounds. He spoke of the unique abilities needed by the Postman in knowing where everyone lived, which can be difficult with the movement of people these days. He also showed that Oliver had a very good excuse if the mail was late on any particular day – he had too many to chat to! Gerard thanked Oliver for his work and services to the people of the area and for having that special ability to brighten peoples’ lives. Oliver was presented with a framed poem penned by Jim Joe Sherlock about Oliver and it was read out by Brid Lenihan.

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