It seems that there always has been a heavy concentration of talent in our community. This talent was most evident in the performance arts such as singing, dancing, acting and playing music. In the 40’s and 50’s the old temperance hall, St. Aidan’s Hall, was shaking to the dancing and music provided by local bands such as Eugene Leddy's ceili band. Some of the members of the band were Eddie and Paddy McPhillips on accordions, Ken Brown on drums, Michael Brown on violin and a McQuillan man from Clones also played in the band.
Eugene Leddy’s Ceilidhe Band
(L-R) Ken Brown, Tommy Reilly, Jerome Breen, Sean Woods, Tommy Curren, Eugene Leddy, Mrs Johanna McGovern, Peter McQuillan, Packy Teevan.
(L-R) Ken Brown, Tommy Reilly, Jerome Breen, Sean Woods, Tommy Curren, Eugene Leddy, Mrs Johanna McGovern, Peter McQuillan, Packy Teevan.
Eugene's brother Pa also had a dance band. John Keegan from Deredis, Packie Teevan from Killeshandra and Michael Brown from Butlersbridge were some time members. Another band that entertained in the local hall was the Swingtime band from Milltown. Some of the band members were as follows: Bernie Burns, Tommy Teevan, and Tommy Maguire all from Corglass. Mrs. McPhillips who lived close by the local hall generally provided supper to the performers.
I cannot establish the exact date the old hall was built but there was an extension built to it over sixty years ago by builder John Joe Kelly from Derrygoss. New floors were also put in at the time by a John Reilly from Gowna. The doorman in the hall in those earlier years was John Mulligan, an uncle of Steve's; later Joe Brady of Kilnaglare succeeded him. Other nighttime activities in the locality included 'sprees' where boys and girls from the locality and from far and near would visit a house and dance and sing the night away, with the help of a barrel or two of Guinness or beer. Others walked to their neighbour's and went on ceilis. Around the fireside many told ghost stories and sang songs whilst others played card games.
Another popular past-time, played mostly on Sunday mornings, was pitch and toss. It was usually played behind the creamery building on the Clones Road. At that time the player would pitch a penny from approximately 15 feet to a target, usually a stone, on the ground. The closest penny to the ‘Spud’ as it was called won the opportunity to toss all the coins. Those coins that fell ‘head’ were won and those that fell ‘harp’ side were tossed by the second closest and so on. There was side betting, sometime fairly heavy, on how the coins would fall from the throwers hand or the often used comb. Locations for this game over the years included Lane’s entry and under one of the aisles of the bridge. I think it was the element of gambling that necessitated this secrecy.
I am grateful to Brendan McCann, retired principal of Loreto College Cavan for providing me with the 1989 All Ireland Skittles programme which I used to prepare the following article.
The ancient game of skittles has survived in very few places but it has done so in the county of Cavan and also locally here in Butlersbridge. Nearby Bakersbridge won the All Ireland title in 1985. It was here in 1954 that the game was revived by the efforts of John Fitzpatrick who captained the successful 1985 team. Other members of the team were Christy Woods, Jim Knight, Tom Francis Brady, Thomas Brady and Brendan McCann.
There also was a team in nearby Urney, called the ‘Urney Stars’. Some of the members included Jim McGerty, Oliver Shannon, John Donohoe, John Emmo and Luke Emmo. A skittle team has five players and one substitute. Four skittles are thrown into a five foot diameter ring containing four ‘standers’ set equidistant from each other around the circumference with another ‘stander’ in the centre. The points value for knocking the centre ‘stander’ is the highest, at 10, with the value for the four others in clockwise order at four, three, one and two. The throwing distance is nine meters from the throw line. There are five rounds in a match with the target score at one hundred, sometimes two hundred. In the village this game was played regularly on the road way alongside the creamery field on the Clones road, even sometimes at night under the E.S.B. light. I understand the game is still played at festival weekends in the village.
According to Mrs. Minnie McDonald in her article “The Village”, page 15 of “Butlersbridge G.F.C. and it’s people”: “At one time there was the Drumsilla band. Each member of the band was names Leddy with the exception of one. Every St. Patrick’s Day morning they assembled at the (Tailor’s Bush) an old landmark and played before going to mass. Johnnie Leddy was the drummer and wore a large hat with feathers in it.” Tailor’s Bush is beside both Paddy and Terry Leddy’s home place.
Radio Ėireann was in operation since 1926. It appears that not everyone had the use of a radio at the time. I recall Mickey Brown Jnr. telling me that he was among a large group who listened to an All Ireland Final in the 1940’s, in which Cavan were involved, on the radio in Lane’s yard. The radio was placed on the kitchen window sill. The chapel seats were taken across to Lane’s yard from where the listeners heard the broadcast. At half-time someone, unwisely, moved the dial and was reprimanded with a voice from the back shouting ‘put it back to Artlone!’ (Another favourite and slightly embellished anecdote of Mickey Brown’s was in relation to a Gaelic football game played in the village in 1952 by the local team against a visiting Lavey team. After the game many players and supporters of both teams adjourned to Janey’s bar where later in the evening a fight broke out. The Angelus bell rang during the skirmish, the engagement ceased, prayers were said and afterwards the battle recommenced. Footballers and supporters cycled for the replay in Lavey a few Sundays later. The convoy was led by a local priest who bestowed on them the necessary protection and matters passed off peacefully). In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s the radio became more popular. Many listened to programmes such as Joe Linnane’s ‘Question Time’, John O’Donovan’s ‘Dear Sir or Madam’, Paddy Crosby’s ‘The School Around the Corner’ and the Sunday treat of Michael O’Heir’s football commentaries. In 1962 the music chart shows began and thereafter radio listenership took off. Telefis Ėireann opened on 31/12/1961. Farrells, Bartleys and Tommy Smyths were among the first to have television sets in the village. At first the screens were grainy and the picture would roll. Nonetheless it opened a new world to all the people of Ireland. Mrs. Farrell would allow us watch ‘Billy Bunter’ in the early evening, Janey Smyth would allow Paddy Greenan, Tomas Gaffney, Jimmy Browne, my brother Cormac and myself watch the dusty, cowboy, escapades involving Annie Oakley and Roy Rodgers until Janey’s husband Tommy would come home from work. These programmes provided much material for us as children when we played out various hold-ups and ambushes all enacted on the street and in the back gardens of the village. By the late 1960’s nearly everyone possessed one and the novelty factor had begun to wear off.
Sean Brown, who is approaching his eightieth year, can recall a play put on in the hall called “The Courting of Mary Doyle” with Kathy Downes (a sister of Mick Downes), Pat O'Rourke and his brother Frank (Dixie) O'Rourke and Spud Donohoe from Hackelty as cast members. This was before the plays put on by Pat and Barney Brady with some of the talented cast members as follows: Jim McArdle, Hugh Pa Reilly, Minnie Hague, Packie Callaghan and Gerry Wickham. Sean O'Hare also produced plays with some of the equally talented cast members as follows: Brian “Gollie” Fitzpatrick, Nancy Brown, Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Gerard Farrell. Among the plays and sketches produced at this time were – “The Dawn and Freedom”, “Molly Bawn”, “Spring”, “The Ugly Duckling” and many others. Two gold medals were awarded to the troupe for Aran na Pogue and Knock-na-Gaw.
In the 1960s the travelling theatre group “Haydens” performed sketches and short plays in the local hall. Amongst the plays performed was “Murder in the Little Red Barn”. They parked their caravans on the Belturbet road beside the hall field. Another service that they provided to the community on their visit was fortune telling. I don't know if many availed of this service. One of their troop, I think he was nicknamed “Old Marshall”, used to push his German Shepherd dog off the wall from the bridge on the church side. The dog would disappear into the flood and would reappear at Cosgrove's on the other side. There he would shake himself, cross the road and leap forward onto the bridge for his next dive, which he apparently loved.
Later at the end of the 1970,s Butlersbridge Dramatic Society was reorganised. Some of the plays produced at the time were “A Will and a Woman”, “A Problem Solved”, “Men of Ideas”, “Juno and the Peacock” and “Sive”. All these plays were co-produced by Sean O’Hare and Gene Cullivan. Each demanded a high standard and this was usually reflected in the performances. The cast members over the years included Paddy Greenan, Sean Leddy, Paddy Leddy, Shane Leddy, Eamon Leddy, Monica Leddy, Geraldine Hickey, Kay O’Reilly, Mary O’Hare, Jackie McLoughlin, Grainne Rooney, Thomas Connolly, Cormac Dunne and P.J. Dunne. A popular pre-concert, musical treat was usually provided by Eugene Leddy the founder and leader of one of Ireland’s most successful Irish Ceilí bands. This was often followed by the brilliant performance of ‘Shot’, Sean O’Hare’s black labrador dog. Shot, dressed with cap and glasses, performed perfectly still on stage with cigarette hanging from his mouth. Another feat was his refusal to eat the biscuit placed on his tongue by his master despite being urged to do so by the enthralled audience; the biscuit would be consumed only on the instruction of his master by the click of his fingers.
I cannot establish the exact date the old hall was built but there was an extension built to it over sixty years ago by builder John Joe Kelly from Derrygoss. New floors were also put in at the time by a John Reilly from Gowna. The doorman in the hall in those earlier years was John Mulligan, an uncle of Steve's; later Joe Brady of Kilnaglare succeeded him. Other nighttime activities in the locality included 'sprees' where boys and girls from the locality and from far and near would visit a house and dance and sing the night away, with the help of a barrel or two of Guinness or beer. Others walked to their neighbour's and went on ceilis. Around the fireside many told ghost stories and sang songs whilst others played card games.
Another popular past-time, played mostly on Sunday mornings, was pitch and toss. It was usually played behind the creamery building on the Clones Road. At that time the player would pitch a penny from approximately 15 feet to a target, usually a stone, on the ground. The closest penny to the ‘Spud’ as it was called won the opportunity to toss all the coins. Those coins that fell ‘head’ were won and those that fell ‘harp’ side were tossed by the second closest and so on. There was side betting, sometime fairly heavy, on how the coins would fall from the throwers hand or the often used comb. Locations for this game over the years included Lane’s entry and under one of the aisles of the bridge. I think it was the element of gambling that necessitated this secrecy.
I am grateful to Brendan McCann, retired principal of Loreto College Cavan for providing me with the 1989 All Ireland Skittles programme which I used to prepare the following article.
The ancient game of skittles has survived in very few places but it has done so in the county of Cavan and also locally here in Butlersbridge. Nearby Bakersbridge won the All Ireland title in 1985. It was here in 1954 that the game was revived by the efforts of John Fitzpatrick who captained the successful 1985 team. Other members of the team were Christy Woods, Jim Knight, Tom Francis Brady, Thomas Brady and Brendan McCann.
There also was a team in nearby Urney, called the ‘Urney Stars’. Some of the members included Jim McGerty, Oliver Shannon, John Donohoe, John Emmo and Luke Emmo. A skittle team has five players and one substitute. Four skittles are thrown into a five foot diameter ring containing four ‘standers’ set equidistant from each other around the circumference with another ‘stander’ in the centre. The points value for knocking the centre ‘stander’ is the highest, at 10, with the value for the four others in clockwise order at four, three, one and two. The throwing distance is nine meters from the throw line. There are five rounds in a match with the target score at one hundred, sometimes two hundred. In the village this game was played regularly on the road way alongside the creamery field on the Clones road, even sometimes at night under the E.S.B. light. I understand the game is still played at festival weekends in the village.According to Mrs. Minnie McDonald in her article “The Village”, page 15 of “Butlersbridge G.F.C. and it’s people”: “At one time there was the Drumsilla band. Each member of the band was names Leddy with the exception of one. Every St. Patrick’s Day morning they assembled at the (Tailor’s Bush) an old landmark and played before going to mass. Johnnie Leddy was the drummer and wore a large hat with feathers in it.” Tailor’s Bush is beside both Paddy and Terry Leddy’s home place.
Radio Ėireann was in operation since 1926. It appears that not everyone had the use of a radio at the time. I recall Mickey Brown Jnr. telling me that he was among a large group who listened to an All Ireland Final in the 1940’s, in which Cavan were involved, on the radio in Lane’s yard. The radio was placed on the kitchen window sill. The chapel seats were taken across to Lane’s yard from where the listeners heard the broadcast. At half-time someone, unwisely, moved the dial and was reprimanded with a voice from the back shouting ‘put it back to Artlone!’ (Another favourite and slightly embellished anecdote of Mickey Brown’s was in relation to a Gaelic football game played in the village in 1952 by the local team against a visiting Lavey team. After the game many players and supporters of both teams adjourned to Janey’s bar where later in the evening a fight broke out. The Angelus bell rang during the skirmish, the engagement ceased, prayers were said and afterwards the battle recommenced. Footballers and supporters cycled for the replay in Lavey a few Sundays later. The convoy was led by a local priest who bestowed on them the necessary protection and matters passed off peacefully). In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s the radio became more popular. Many listened to programmes such as Joe Linnane’s ‘Question Time’, John O’Donovan’s ‘Dear Sir or Madam’, Paddy Crosby’s ‘The School Around the Corner’ and the Sunday treat of Michael O’Heir’s football commentaries. In 1962 the music chart shows began and thereafter radio listenership took off. Telefis Ėireann opened on 31/12/1961. Farrells, Bartleys and Tommy Smyths were among the first to have television sets in the village. At first the screens were grainy and the picture would roll. Nonetheless it opened a new world to all the people of Ireland. Mrs. Farrell would allow us watch ‘Billy Bunter’ in the early evening, Janey Smyth would allow Paddy Greenan, Tomas Gaffney, Jimmy Browne, my brother Cormac and myself watch the dusty, cowboy, escapades involving Annie Oakley and Roy Rodgers until Janey’s husband Tommy would come home from work. These programmes provided much material for us as children when we played out various hold-ups and ambushes all enacted on the street and in the back gardens of the village. By the late 1960’s nearly everyone possessed one and the novelty factor had begun to wear off.
Sean Brown, who is approaching his eightieth year, can recall a play put on in the hall called “The Courting of Mary Doyle” with Kathy Downes (a sister of Mick Downes), Pat O'Rourke and his brother Frank (Dixie) O'Rourke and Spud Donohoe from Hackelty as cast members. This was before the plays put on by Pat and Barney Brady with some of the talented cast members as follows: Jim McArdle, Hugh Pa Reilly, Minnie Hague, Packie Callaghan and Gerry Wickham. Sean O'Hare also produced plays with some of the equally talented cast members as follows: Brian “Gollie” Fitzpatrick, Nancy Brown, Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Gerard Farrell. Among the plays and sketches produced at this time were – “The Dawn and Freedom”, “Molly Bawn”, “Spring”, “The Ugly Duckling” and many others. Two gold medals were awarded to the troupe for Aran na Pogue and Knock-na-Gaw.
In the 1960s the travelling theatre group “Haydens” performed sketches and short plays in the local hall. Amongst the plays performed was “Murder in the Little Red Barn”. They parked their caravans on the Belturbet road beside the hall field. Another service that they provided to the community on their visit was fortune telling. I don't know if many availed of this service. One of their troop, I think he was nicknamed “Old Marshall”, used to push his German Shepherd dog off the wall from the bridge on the church side. The dog would disappear into the flood and would reappear at Cosgrove's on the other side. There he would shake himself, cross the road and leap forward onto the bridge for his next dive, which he apparently loved.
Later at the end of the 1970,s Butlersbridge Dramatic Society was reorganised. Some of the plays produced at the time were “A Will and a Woman”, “A Problem Solved”, “Men of Ideas”, “Juno and the Peacock” and “Sive”. All these plays were co-produced by Sean O’Hare and Gene Cullivan. Each demanded a high standard and this was usually reflected in the performances. The cast members over the years included Paddy Greenan, Sean Leddy, Paddy Leddy, Shane Leddy, Eamon Leddy, Monica Leddy, Geraldine Hickey, Kay O’Reilly, Mary O’Hare, Jackie McLoughlin, Grainne Rooney, Thomas Connolly, Cormac Dunne and P.J. Dunne. A popular pre-concert, musical treat was usually provided by Eugene Leddy the founder and leader of one of Ireland’s most successful Irish Ceilí bands. This was often followed by the brilliant performance of ‘Shot’, Sean O’Hare’s black labrador dog. Shot, dressed with cap and glasses, performed perfectly still on stage with cigarette hanging from his mouth. Another feat was his refusal to eat the biscuit placed on his tongue by his master despite being urged to do so by the enthralled audience; the biscuit would be consumed only on the instruction of his master by the click of his fingers.
Thanks to Peter Henry and John Brady for these photos. Click to enlarge. back row L/R Josie Connolly,John Prunty,Peter Shannon,Hughie Shiels,Tommy Brady,Packie Callaghan,
Front row L/R Minnie Hague,Tommy Connolly,Helen mc Guinness,Carmel Rehill,
The play was called Knocknagow
Pig chokes on fishbone.........
by Allen Foster
Irish Times Oddities 1952
The biggest enemy of pike in Lough Erne is Butlersbridge farmer, Jim P Reilley. He nets pike for pig feeding. Pigs thrive on the diet, though recently a two-months old Bonham swallowed a bone and died.
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