Posted 21st February 2013

Plans for the Gathering Weekend on March 16th-17th are coming to fruition.

Saturday 16th March

11:30 a.m. Irish Heritage Tour Bus leaves Fermoy to visit Lismore taking in Castle, Cathedral and lunch. After lunch we move on to Midleton Distillery and back to Fermoy for late afternoon.

After 7:30 p.m. mass, on Saturday evening, the people of Fermoy will head downtown, wearing their Sunday best to meet and catch up with their old friends in the Grand Hotel, in the pubs, in the coffee shops and restaurants of the town. Many will have invited their friends and families home for the weekend, so this is a great opportunity to renew friendships and compare waistlines.

Later Saturday evening, many of the pubs of Fermoy will have live entertainment.

Sunday 17th March

10:30 a.m. Live Traditional Entertainment in Pearse Square, Fermoy

11:00 a.m. Estimated Parade Start time at Cavanagh’s Garage, Cork Road

11:30 a.m. Estimated Parade Arrival in Pearse Square

12:30 a.m. Estimated Parade finish time

Posted 14th February 2013

The Gathering

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee recognise that many people in Fermoy and the surrounding villages may wish to play their part in the Gathering this year.  The theme for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2013 is “The Gathering” and as the 17th March falls on a Sunday, the Monday will be a bank holiday.

To this end, the Parade Committee is adding the extra dimension of having events on Saturday, the 16th, around Fermoy. Over the past ten or twenty years, many people have switched away from eating and drinking out to entertaining at home.  The big advantage of this is obviously the cost, but the big disadvantage is the loss of convivial contact with old friends and news of their children as they grew up and moved away.

The Committee urges all to ask their family and friends home for St. Patrick’s weekend and partake in the parties and the Parade.

This year we are asking many of the participants in the parade to make a special effort.  Fermoy’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade has always been our opportunity to show off our wonderful town and surrounding villages and communities.

No matter what Gabriel Byrne says about The Gathering, when visitors come, there will be no “shake-down” in Fermoy. We are going to show off our town, our villages, our communities, our clubs, societies and schools. We will instil in the returnees a great sense of pride from whence they came. We will have great fun. We will give them a great welcome and a St. Patrick’s Weekend to be remembered.