60 year old club still sets the pace
Kilmallock have been crowned Co Limerick’s top performing branch of the past year, and last week, the members of this south Co Limerick Macra branch celebrated a triple national distinction.
It’s their 60th birthday (Diamond Jubilee); they are the oldest Macra branch; and they are Macra’s only surviving founder branch.
Rosemarie Murphy, chairperson of the branch, who accepted the coveted ‘Club of the Year’ award at the Co Limerick Macra annual dinner, confirmed that they retain a membership of 60, which ranks among the largest Macra branch memberships.
The roots of Macra were firmly set in 1944 at Kilmallock by young agricultural instructor Harry Spain of Nenagh (later to become nationally recognised for his work as Dr Harry Spain, Department of Agriculture).
Dr Spain recalled that he was appointed to the Kilmallock area as an agricultural instruction in late 1940 and, three years later, he organised a group of local young farmers to initiate farm account keeping, from which came the suggestion of setting up a club.
The inaugural meeting of the Kilmallock Young Farmer’s Club was held at the town’s Courthouse on February 24, 1944. Dr Spain recalled that, about the same time, rural science teachers at Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny and Athy, Co Kildare, James McDwyer and Stephen Cullinan, were organising courses for young farmers, assisted by David Hurley (later CAO, South Tipperary) and Bill Brickley.
Dr Spain said: “Very soon, the rural science teachers and the agricultural instructors involved in the three clubs, who were already known to each other, began exchanging ideas, and representatives of the three met in Dublin on September 29, 1944 to start the process of founding Macra na Feirme.
Branches are no longer affiliated at Mooncoin or Athy, leaving Kilmallock the only surviving founder club, having never lapsed in its 60 years.
The records show that membership in the inaugural year was 68, and they paid £17 in membership subscriptions for the year, boosted by a subscription of £10 from Kilmallock Co-op Creamery. The branch was first awarded the coveted “County Club of the Year” in 1957.
