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A Song For A Sunday

Come To The table.

Lyrics: Songwriter guitarist and former member of ‘Sidewalk Prophets’ Ben McDonald; songwriter and producer Benjamin Glove; lead singer and founder of ‘Sidewalk Prophets’ Dave Frey.
Vocals: American contemporary Christian music band from Nashville ‘Sidewalk Prophets’.

Come to the table.

We all start on the outside,
The outside looking in,
This is where grace begins.
We were hungry we were thirsty,
With nothing left to give,
Oh the shape that we were in.
Just when all hope seemed lost,
Love opened the door for us.
He said come to the table,
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed,
Take your place beside the Saviour,
Sit down and be set free,
Come to the table.
Come meet this mighty crew of misfits,
Liars and these thieves,
No one unwelcome here.
That sin and shame that you brought with you,
You can leave it at the door,
And let mercy draw you near,
Come to the table.
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed.
Take your place beside the Saviour,
Sit down and be set free,
Come to the table.
Come to the table.
To the thief and to the doubter,
To the hero and the coward,
To the prisoner and the soldier,
To the young and to the older.
All who hunger all who thirst,
All the last and all the first,
All the paupers and the princes,
All who fail, you’ve been forgiven,
All who dream and all who suffer,
All who loved and lost another,
All the chained and all the free,
All who follow all who lead,
Anyone who’s been let down,
All the lost you have been found,
All who have been labelled right or wrong,
To everyone who hears this song,
Come to the table.
Come join the sinners you have been redeemed,
Take your place beside the Saviour,
Sit down and be set free,
Oh, sit down and be set free,
Come to the table.
Come to the table.
Just sit down there and rest awhile.
Just sit down and rest awhile.
Come to the table.

END

Death Of Oscar-Winning Character Actress Dame Maggie Smith.

Oscar-winning character actress Dame Ms Maggie Margaret Natalie Smith (Maggie Smith) [Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) and Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE)] (Dec. 28th 1934 − Sept. 27th 2024), has sadly passed away while in the care of staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, 369 Fulham Road, London, aged 89.

The talented British actress; best known for her outstanding roles in ‘Harry Potter’ (portraying the wise and formidable head of Gryffindor House) and ‘Downton Abbey’ (portraying the Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley, together with her Academy Award-winning performance in ‘The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie’, and her Best Supporting Actress role in ‘California Suite’, passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning.

Moments that made Maggie Smith in ‘Downton Abbey’.

The intensely private lady, passed away surrounded by close friends and family, leaving behind two sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens and five loving grandchildren all devastated by the loss of their extraordinary talented mother and grandmother.

Born in Ilford, Essex, on December 28, 1934, Ms Smith began her career in the early 1950s with notable performances in theatre. She gained recognition in ‘The Royal Family’ and won her first Oliver Award, in 1971, for her performance in ‘The Private Ear/The Public Eye’. Her film debut began in 1958 in the crime film ‘Nowhere to Go’.

She was also Oscar-nominated for ‘Othello’ (1965), ‘Travels with My Aunt’ (1972), ‘A Room with a View’ (1985), and ‘Gosford Park’ (2001).

Ms Smith received an early BAFTA award for Promising Newcomer in 1959 for ‘Nowhere To Go’. This was followed by BAFTA nominations for ‘Young Cassidy’ in 1966, ‘Death On The Nile’ in 1979, ‘California Suite’ in 1980, ‘Quartet’ in 1982, ‘The Secret Garden‘ in 1994, ‘Tea With Mussolini’ in 2000, ‘Gosford Park’ in 2002 and ‘The Lady In The Van’ in 2016.

She also won Best Actress Awards for ‘The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie’, ‘A Private Function’ and ‘The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne’.

One of her final roles included ‘The Miracle Club’, which follows a group of women from Dublin, Ireland, who go on a pilgrimage to the French town of Lourdes.

Ms Smith married actor Robert Stephens on June 29th 1967. They had two sons, Chris (b. 1967) and Toby (b. 1969), and they were divorced on April 6th 1975. Ms Smith married playwright Alan Beverly Cross on June 23rd 1975, at the Guildford Register Office. They remained married until his death on March 20th 1998.
Once, when asked in 2013 if she was lonely, she replied, “It seems a bit pointless, going on, on one’s own, and not having someone to share it with”.

Efforts To Understand Overcrowding At Mid-West Region Hospitals.

Here in the Mid-west region, which includes North Tipperary, there have been considerable complaints about the current state of our health services.

This in mind, Thurles.Info set up cameras, covertly, within the reception area of one of our medical establishment, (Facility shall remain nameless); in an effort to try and understand the problems within our health service, particularly regarding the situation where the number of individuals or objects occupying a particular space exceeds its intended or optimal capacity.

This video, shown above, will now be sent to the area dealing with health complaints procedures, and forwarded to the Minister Mr Stephen Donnelly TD, in the hope that the sending of same is not over complicated and hopefully will not causes adverse frustration within the service itself.

Working Man.

Working Man.

Lyrics: Canadian singer and songwriter, the late Rita MacNeil (1944 – 2013).
Vocals: The melodic voice of Irish country, pop and folk singer Mary Duff.

Working Man.

It’s the workin’ man I am,
And I’ve been down underground,
And I swear to God if I ever see the sun,
Or for any length of time,
I can hold it in my mind,
I never again will go down underground.
At the age of sixteen years,
Oh, he quarrels with his peers,
Who vowed they’d never see another one,
In the dark recess of the mines,
Where you age before your time,
And the coal dust lies heavy on your lungs.
It’s the workin’ man I am,
And I’ve been down underground,
And I swear to God if I ever see the sun,
Or for any length of time,
I can hold it in my mind,
I never again will go down underground.
At the age of sixty-four,
Oh, he’ll greet you at the door,
And he’ll gently lead you by the arm,
Through the dark recess of the mines,
Oh, he’ll take you back in time,
And he’ll tell you all the hardships that were had.
It’s the workin’ man I am,
And I’ve been down underground,
And I swear to God if I ever see the sun,
Or for any length of time,
I can hold it in my mind,
I never again will go down underground.
It’s the workin’ man I am,
And I’ve been down underground,
And I swear to God if I ever see the sun, (see the sun),
Or for any length of time, (any length of time),
I can hold it in my mind, (in my mind),
I never again will go down underground.

END.

Take A Walk By River Suir Thurles Today.

On Monday evening last, at 14:21 hours, I was contacted (PM on Facebook) by Mr Jim Ryan, (Elected Local Councillor). He informed me that his associates had held a meeting ‘with a few experts‘, with regards to the state of the river Suir at Barry’s bridge in the town centre.

There was I thinking that I was going to be reprimanded, by my betters, for contacting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which I certainly did, in an attempt to get some action in my efforts to save the decline of the River Suir and to lower, at least somewhat, the filthy stench currently being emitted from its murky waters.

No, thank God, the EPA hadn’t informed Mr Ryan directly, about my daring activities. Instead he was anxious to obtain images of sewage flowing into the river, which he had been fighting to correct for over the past 11 years; with his colleagues failing to support him and he without a camera of his own and no sense of smell.

In the course of our brief communication, I must apologise to Mr Ryan for misleading him. I had stated that I thought that the emissions from the area at the Emmett street “swinging gates” side of the river walk had been fixed. However, I also had stated that because of nettles retained by our local ‘nettle hugging’ biodiversity individuals, same could not be fully confirmed.

I am now happy to confirm, using the Thurles.Info satellite; that fixing this problem, requested on June 30th, 2022 (view Here); on October 14th, 2022 (view Here); on June 28th, 2023 (view Here); and again on October 26th 2023 (view Here), was simply too much of a challenge for our elected double jobbers; what with the war in Ukraine; the war in Gaza, not to mention Covid.19 and the onset of space tourism.

I now feel embarrassed, as I report that the emissions reported two years are still happily flowing, leaching into the water; only in larger amounts than was reported previously back in 2022.
Again the nettles forbid me from seeing the actual pipe and my only pair of wellington boots have sprung a leak.

Archival picture of sewage entering the river Suir taken in 2022.
Pic: G.Willoughby.
Same sewage photographed two years later on Saturday last. September 21st 2024.
Pic: G.Willoughby.

Meanwhile, the person who sent men into the river, without supervision, on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, should consider their position and resign.

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We had expected this workforce to return to complete their cleaning work on Thursday, and Friday last, but alas, no show; hope they didn’t pick up anything, forcing them to take sick leave.
The reeds were cut, using strimmers, and left to float on the water’s surface, blocking the two fish runs, and forcing the main water stream to flow directly over the low weir. Branches were removed from under the bridges arches and left partially in the water and on the river bank.
As our video shows, despite no rain over the past 7 days, water is still flowing from a drain under Thurles Swimming Pool, directly into the river, as is a stream of water from pipes under Barry’s Bridge, which we reported last January, (view Here).

Anyone Missing A Sock?
No effort has been made to collect the numerous years of litter, piled and hidden in the receding undergrowth, found in the river itself and on its banks, in the form of plastic bags, tins, bottles, clothing, etc.
One thing I did discover; while Red Bull liquid may give you ‘Wiings’, their empty containers remain fully grounded, when caught floating in existing Blanket Weed (filamentous algae).

Yes, the public are totally responsible for this littering, but what are we getting in return for vehicle parking charges and for local property tax, the latter which has increased in Thurles every year, since it was introduced in 2013 except during local election years.

Members of Thurles Tidy Towns, Thurles Gun Club and myself had worked for absolutely no recompense to make this same area visually beautifully, which Thurles Municipal District Councillors and their officials have now turned it into a cesspit, having removing all its assets.

It may now be necessary to put together a working volunteer group to save this wonderful asset, for according to Mr Ryan (Cllr.), despite being set up in 2016, the outfit known as the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO), have no immediate action plan in place and will require 4 months to make such plans, before urgent funding can even be applied for.