Cabra History.Com

1) The Addison Lodge is now provisionally booked for Friday 17th April 2009 for the Cabra History.Com re-union night. Family and friends of those planning on being there are all welcome to attend. At the moment there is no set programme for the night. But who knows!!!

2) I am well into my second book which will be a pictorial history of Cabra and its people. My publisher wants it handed in by the end of January 2009. If you have any photos or stories that you would like included in the book please let me have them by end of December 08. This is a great opportunity for you to have your family remembered and recorded in something that can be handed down to your children and grandchildren as a family heirloom.

3) Those of you who have already submitted material, thank you. I may get back to you just to confirm that its ok to use your photos and stories. If for some reason you don’t want your material included don’t worry we’re not going to fall out over it. Just be mindful that some material may not be included in this edition. If this happens its only because of space or time restraints from the publisher. They can always be included in the next book.

4) I will be making contact with most of you in relation to the stories you have shared already on the site. Again there is no pressure on anyone to participate.

5) I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who regularly supports the Cabra History.Com website. Since setting up the site a little over a year ago there have been over 49,500 hits. The videos are getting an average of 100 hits per week. There are people from Cabra worldwide who have contributed to the site, i.e Australia, America, Canada, Germany, England, New Zealand, France, Switzerland and of course Ireland. The site has been responsible for bringing many old friends, families  and neighbours back together after many years of separation. I’m excited about the re-union planned for next year. Hopefully and with the help of God 2009 will be a time of great rejoicing and celebraton for the people of Cabra West/Cabra worldwide as they pop the cork from a bottle of Slainte lemonade for the 70th anniversary. Hopefully see you all in April 2009…MC

This is a great group photograph received from Tony Dunne. That’s him with his little brother sitting on his lap. Here we see three families, the Dunne’s from number 114 Cabra Road, the Brennan’s from number 116 and the Thompson’s from number 112. They are all gathered together to wish a fond farewell to Paddy Dunne as he prepares to leave his home and family to travel abroad. Now I think most of us from the Cabra area have had similar experiences in our own families as we stood back and watched some of our older siblings putting on a brave face on their final night at home. Behind the smiling faces and laughter and banter there was always the thought ‘will they ever come back’. And of course there was all of the old fears of those leaving home wondering will things work out for them, what will eventually become of them and what if  things don’t work out for me? The neighbours never failed to give great support to those going and to those left behind. A big thank you to Tony Dunne and his family for sharing this rare moment with the Cabra History.Com website.