Lily drives South Tipp to greater heights
“Killenaule always had about 30 members, now we’re down to 15. We have only ever lost members to death,” says mother of one Lily, whose sister, Stasia, was persuaded by a friend, Sheila Connolly, to revive Killenaule Guild in 1952. An earlier guild had closed in the late 1940s. The last surviving founder member, Ina O’Dwyer, is in her 90s now, and has contributed much to ICA through the years.
“We had a get-together about re-forming the guild upstairs over our drapery shop, in a room where my sister used to do dress-making. My mother joined, and she made my younger sister, Margaret, join too. All the daughters were roped in. It was the only social outing we had in the evenings. I remember doing a millinery class and learning to make a hat. We had public-speaking and debates. A good few members were teachers. There were farmers’ wives, the bank manager’s wife, a hotel owner.”
Killenaule ICA Guild helped fundraise for a new sports complex, and they later transferred their monthly meetings there, from the old national school. Over the years, the guild has been involved with Tidy Towns and has raised funds for Daffodil Day, as well as for people affected by Alzheimer’s and motor neurone disease.
Lily currently holds the South Tipp Federation president’s role for one year; her previous stint was between 1990 and 1993. “The first thing I did was fundraise for a new chain of office. We just had a medallion on the chain, but then we got a chain with links featuring all the past presidents’ names.
“I also organised an exchange visit, with women from Dublin Federation coming to Tipperary. We took them to Tipperary Crystal and to the Swiss Cottage in Cahir. They then brought us back up to Dublin. We also had an exchange with Wexford.”
Lily was a key mover behind the erection of a plaque on Sliabh na mBan in 1992 to commemorate the ICA’s holding their first summer school there, in 1929. A tree-planting in Bree, Co Wexford; visits to Áras An Uachtaráin and to the Chinese Embassy; as well as a combined dinner dance for the North and South Tipperary ICA Federations (it was attended by the national ICA president, in Hayes’ Hotel, Thurles, where the GAA was founded), were other initiatives of Lily’s early 1990s presidency.
“I’m a great believer in inter-county ICA gatherings. It’s great to mix,” says Lily, who urges guilds to bring their members out together on trips.
In 1983, Lily won the Regional Final of Housewife of the Year. Fellow Killenaule ICA member Patsy Burke had won it in 1981, while in 1985, Lily’s sister, Margaret, reached the final.
“The three of us were from the same guild, one of us pushed the other,” says Lily, who recalls making Derrynaflan Roast Beef for the competition. Her dessert was apple flan with apricot glaze.
Killenaule ICA Guild celebrates its 60th birthday this year.
