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 Theodor Paul Albrecht (28 March 1922 – 24 July 2010) Theo Albrecht, the joint founder of the popular budget supermarket giant Aldi, last seen in public after his release from kidnap 39 years ago, has died aged 88. The company said he died on Saturday in his home city of Essen, but gave no cause of death.
The Albrecht brothers, Karl and Theo, co-founders of Aldi, were amongst the two wealthiest people in Germany, with fortunes in excess of €17.35bn and €16.75bn respectively.
Little is known about the two reclusive brother billionaires, with Theo’s last public appearance being in 1971, shortly after his release, after 17 days captivity, by kidnappers who were reportedly paid a $4.67 million ransom.
One rare photo of Theo Albrecht, from the 1980s, shows a nondescript looking man with grey hair and glasses who apparently devoted his spare time to collecting old typewriters, growing orchids and to playing golf on his own private greens.
The first Aldi stores – an acronym standing for “Albrecht Discount” – opened in the early 1960s under the motto: “Concentrating on the basics: a limited selection of goods for daily needs.” The stores began sprouted up all over Germany and are now to be found in nearly 20 countries since their conception.
The Aldi group presently operates about 8,210 individual stores worldwide. A new store opens every week in Britain alone, and the company operates approximately 70 outlets here in Ireland with one popular outlet here in Thurles, Co.Tipperary.
Theo Paul Albrecht was renowned as a hard working man who was always decent with his business partners and employees and who always treated people with the greatest respect.
Mr Albrecht and his elder brother both served as German soldiers in the Second World War, before returning home to Essen and taking over a grocery store their parents owned. They flourished as the German economy, then in shambles after the war, came back to life in what is often referred too as the “Economic Miracle”. If you think Ireland has severe financial problems presently, remember Germany, according to the Potsdam Conference held between July 17 and August 2, 1945, had to pay the Allies $20 billion mainly in machinery, and manufacturing plants. In addition, in accordance with the agreed policy of de-industrialisation and pastoralization, large numbers of civilian factories were dismantled for transport to France and the UK, or simply destroyed. Germany paid Israel 450 million DM in Holocaust reparations, and paid 3 billion DM to the World Jewish Congress to compensate survivors in other countries.
When Forbes featured the brothers in 1992 as two of the world’s richest men, the magazine had to uses silhouettes rather than photographs to illustrate the article since no pictures of them had been published in many years.
The German Retail Federation said that Germany had lost one of its greatest entrepreneurs. “There are only a few people who have stamped their mark on an entire business sector of the economy. Theo Albrecht achieved just that,” the Federation’s managing director, Stefan Genth, said in a statement.
Aldi now has more than 4,000 outlets in Germany alone, where it is known for its no-frills quality shopping environment, streamlined processes and a limited range of discount products.
The brothers retired as CEOs in 1993 and gave most of their wealth to foundations. The Aldi group operates about 8,210 individual stores worldwide, with a new store opening every week in Britain alone.
Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam dílis.
 "The Invaders" GAA Medal A rare Co.Tipperary GAA medal, commemorating the first ever GAA hurling match in America is to be auctioned on Thursday, July 29th, at Mealy’s auctioneering premises in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny. This is the first medal ever to go on sale from the GAA’s first official trip to the United States in 1888.
1888 was the year that the Gaelic Athletic Association organised a trip to New York for hurlers and with the view of strengthening the interest of the exiles in their native pastime, but more importantly to raise funds for the hosting of a ‘Celtic Festival’ or ‘Tailteann Games‘ (An Aonach Tailteann).
The medal soon to be auctioned is, we understand, presently is in the ownership of as yet an unnamed Tipperary family.
Five players from Tipperary were included in this group of 51 persons, dubbed “The Invaders” or Invasion Tour and included members of the Tipperary team who had won the previous year’s inaugural All-Ireland Hurling final.
 39 members of "The Invasion" Tour. (Figure left with hammer is Maurice Davin.) It is understood that only 39 of these silver medals, in the shape of a ‘crosse pattée‘ featuring a design of crossed hurley’s in the centre, were originally distributed. An interesting fact is that when “The Invaders” tour left America on October 31st 1888, its original number had fallen somewhat from the original 51 returning home, with 17 men at least choosing to remain in America permanently.
In 1888 the idea of hosting this ‘Celtic Festival’ was discussed and plans were put in place to hold this festival in Dublin in the Summer of 1889. This festival was to include athletic contests, field games, an Irish industrial exhibition and traditional music /literary competition. The estimated cost of hosting such a festival was estimated at £5,000.
To raise necessary funding it was planned that a group of Irish hurlers and athletes would embark on a fundraising tour of strongly inhabited Irish centres in America staging displays of hurling and athletics. While the process of selecting hurlers and athletes to accompany the tour began, £1,000 had to be raised through a nationwide fundraising campaign to cover players fares and each of the 800 or so affiliated clubs were asked to contribute a small amount.
Continue reading “Invaders” GAA Medal Goes On Sale
 The Swiss Cottage Cahir As part of the 200-year anniversary of the iconic Swiss cottage situated in Cahir, Co Tipperary, a family day will be held tomorrow.
The Swiss cottage was built around 1810 at Kilcommon, Cahir, County Tipperary. The building is a very fine example of cottage ornée, or ornamental cottage. It was originally part of the estate of Lord and Lady Cahir, and used mainly as a hunting and fishing lodge and for entertaining guests. The cottage was probably designed by Anglo-Welsh architect John Nash 1752-1835, famous for his designing of much of Regency London.
John Nash came to work in Ireland as an architect after 1793 and also designed St Paul’s Church of Ireland church in Cahir, which was built in 1818 and one of only two known Nash designed churches to survive.
Cahir, may have been built by Richard Butler, 12th Baron Caher, 1st Earl of Glengall (1775-1819), who married in 1793, Emily Jeffereys, daughter of James St John Jeffereys of Blarney Castle, Co.Cork. Milady Cahir is referred to by Napoleon Bonaparte’s Josephine ( Joséphine de Beauharnais) in connection with the Château de Malmaison, latter formerly her residence and was from 1800 to 1802 the headquarters of the French government.
The Swiss Cottage, after many years of shameful neglect, was fully and painstakingly restored by the OPW starting in 1985 and was opened to the public again in 1989.
The family day will include an angling demonstration, guided woodland walks and demonstrations of traditional crafts such as thatching and stone carving. Admission for the day is free and programme of events start at 12.00 noon tomorrow until 5.00pm. If you are out and about for a leisurely drive this weekend, this event is well worth a visit.
 Bolton Library in the shadow of The Cathedral of St. John The Baptist, Cashel, Co. Tipp. An exceptional collection of literature, described by experts as the one of the most important of its kind in Ireland has been taken into the care of the State, by the Office of Public Works (OPW).
The Bolton Library in Cashel, Co Tipperary, was first established by an 18th century Church of Ireland Archbishop and skilled Canon Lawyer, Theophilus Bolton, (1678-1744), grandson of Sir Richard Bolton, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Educated in Trinity College Dublin, Archbishop Bolton became Chancellor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1714, Bishop of Clonfert and later Bishop of Elphin in 1724, before becoming Archbishop of Cashel in 1730. The Cashel Palace Hotel directly opposite Cashel Cathedral was originally built for his convenience, as a place of residence. His rare collection of some 11,000 books maps and pamphlets were bequeathed to the Cashel Diocese following his death.
This unique collection of antiquarian European books contain the thoughts, words and deeds of mankind for over 2,500 years, and include works by Dante, Machiavelli, Homer, Herodotus, and Plato. Amongst this collection can be found an interesting letter from a citizen of Athens to the then Roman Emperor, pleading for fair and reasonable treatment of Christians and amongst the maps a Geographical Survey of Ireland printed in Dublin in 1840, which warns of the disastrous effects of continuing to plant the potato crop.
The collection, currently securely housed in the Chapter House of the Cathedral of St. John The Baptist, has been traditionally cared for by the local Protestant Clergy and despite its immediate proximity to the Rock of Cashel, this rare collection is little-known and has attracted few visitors down the years.
Continue reading Bolton Library – An Exceptional Collection Of Rare Literature
Jesuit priest, Fr Michael Bergin, William Maurice Armstrong, Sir Sackville Hamilton Carden KCMG , are just some of the Tipperary men, numbered among the many, whose heroics, Australians celebrated yesterday in their Anzac Day commemorations.
The acronym ‘ANZAC‘ stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs. Anzac Day still remains one of the most important national occasions for both Australia and New Zealand, who remember the thousands of soldiers from all countries who lost their lives in the Gallipoli campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, which took place between 25th April 1915 and the 9th January 1916, during the First World War.
This eight month campaign during the First World War, which was an attempt to seize obvious strategic advantage and was authorised by the British, with an attack on the Turkish peninsula, aiming to capture Constantinople.
Continue reading Lest Tipperary Forgets Anzac Day
 Sir W.Churchill RTE documentary film makers are presently investigating whether Sir Winston Churchill‘s right hand man, Tipperary born Brendan Bracken, was really his illegitimate son.
This follows some 80 years of gossip and rumour that the Tipperary native and possibly one of the most powerful Irishmen and spin doctor of the 20th century, was long suspected, by even Churchill’s own family, as their father’s illegitimate child.
The documentary possibly to be entitled “Churchill’s Secret Son” is expected to be broadcast as part of RTE1′s winter schedule, in November next.
Who Was Brendan Bracken ?
Brendan Bracken was born in 1901 in Templemore, County Tipperary. He was the son of Joseph Kevin (J.K.) Bracken and Hannah Agnes Ryan.
J.K. Bracken was a successful builder, a member of the Fenian Brotherhood that had committed itself to winning Ireland’s independence from Britain by force and a founder member of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) established in 1884 here in the Haye’s Hotel in Thurles.
His father died when Brendan was just three years old. His mother remarried one Patrick Laffan, whose ideals leaned to armed rebellion, and they moved with Brendan, his three full siblings and his two step sisters, to Dublin city.
Continue reading Did Churchill Secretly Father A Tipperary Son?
 Faddan More Psalter The National Museum of Ireland has announced that an eighth century religious manuscript, found at Faddan More, near Riverstown in north Co Tipperary will go on public display, for the first time, next year.
The Faddan More Psalter
The psalter was found in Faddan More bog, on the North Tipperary border on the afternoon of July 20th, 2006, by Mr Eddie Fogarty, a workman who was operating a mechanical digger. Mr Fogarty spotted the object in the bucket of his digger and contacted the bog’s owners, Mr Kevin and Mr Patrick Leonard, who gathered up the fragments and covered them with wet peat, before notifying the staff of the National Museum.
Trinity College manuscript’s expert Mr Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in over two centuries.
A specialist team from the museum, which later arrived at the scene, discovered that the psalter had fallen open, showing lines from Psalm 83 written in latin and clearly visible, “Quam dilecta tabernacula tua Domine exercituum,” (Translated “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! “) It should be noted that Psalm 83 then, is now Psalm 84 today.
 The Derrynaflan Hoard The 1,200 year old manuscript, now appropriately named the “Faddan More Psalter” will form the centrepiece of a permanent exhibition at the National Museum’s Kildare Street gallery, following completion of its restoration work by senior conservator, Mr John Gillis .
The “Faddan More Psalter” is expected to go on display to the public in the early Summer of 2011 .
This is not the first priceless treasure found in North Tipperary. An 8th or 9th century chalice, was found as part of five liturgical vessels, known as the Derrynaflan Hoard, on the 17th February 1980 near Killenaule in County Tipperary Ireland.
According to art historian Michael Ryan this hoard “represents the most complex and sumptuous expression of the ecclesiastical art style of early medieval Ireland as we know it, in its eighth and ninth century maturity.”
The chalice was found with a composite silver Paten, a hoop, which may have been a stand for the Paten, a liturgical strainer and a bronze basin inverted over the other objects.
These latter historical and priceless items are currently on display in Dublin, in the National Museum of Ireland.
It is the currently held view amongst many historians that both of these objects, or at the very least replicas of same, should now be housed in their native County Tipperary, where they would attract much needed tourism to the area. Call it a kind of decentralisation or what you will.
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