Cappamore guild prepares to celebrate its ruby anniversary
Mrs O’Riordan from Bruff ICA addressed the more than 50 ladies who attended that first meeting, explaining all about ICA and its philosophy. “She just volunteered three ladies to take officer roles – ‘you’ll be the president, you the secretary, you the treasurer’. Susan McMahon [now deceased] was first president, Anne McCarthy first secretary and Mary O’Brien first treasurer. She obviously picked the right ladies because it’s still going strong,” says guild president Maura Walsh. Today, the guild has 28 members – many in their 60s and four are original founder members. “I joined when I was 38,” says Maura.
“You won’t get many 38-year-olds joining today. Times have changed – women have more outlets in 2014.” The four founder members still with the guild – Philomena Gleeson, Peggy Ryan, Marie Hayes, and Alma Dillon – were in their 20s at the time with small children, says Maura. “They were maybe glad of a break from home to attend ICA meetings.” Maura believes the perception of ICA as an organisation “for older women who drink tea and knit tea-cosies” still exists in some quarters.
In reality, she says, if you’re into crafts, there’s a place for you in Cappamore ICA, but there’s also a place for the person who can’t thread a needle. “We have cake-makers and we have people who can’t boil an egg. There’s room for everybody. ‘Fun and friendship’ is our slogan.” Members are not sitting around, she says. “They’re up and going and doing.” Ten Cappamore members did aqua zumba from Christmas to Easter, while 10 ladies also did a computer course at the East Limerick Adult Education Centre in Cappamore.
This year, the guild’s annual spring break took 12 members to the South of France, where their first port of call was Nice and their city-centre hotel. “We enjoyed an evening stroll along the Promenade des Anglais, taking in the sea air and admiring the beautiful hotels and casinos. Our guide walked us through the old town pointing out places of interest.” For Maura, the highlight was Monaco and Monte Carlo.
“We took the open top bus tour through Monte Carlo. We imagined what it would be like to own one of the glamorous yachts moored in the Bay and just to get into practice we took the ferry across the Bay! We were lucky enough to see the changing of the Guard outside the Royal Palace and later paid our respects at the graves of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier in the Cathedral,” recalls Maura, who’s a Grace Kelly fan.
“I always admired her. She was so elegant and she’s still so visible there, with photos of her up still and a street named after her.” The trip included a visit to the artists’ town of St Paul de Vence.
“This tiny village perched high in the hills was picture postcard perfect with its winding cobbled streets and shops selling all sorts of arts and crafts. From here we could see the snow-capped peaks of the French Alps.”
The guild’s summer outing is on Saturday, June 21, when they do an hour of golf at Coonagh Driving Range, an hour of yoga at Limerick’s Strand Hotel, where they will also have lunch, after which they’ll walk across the Shannon to visit King John’s Castle. They celebrated their ruby anniversary on International Women’s Day in their local community centre.
“We had afternoon tea with the best china and linen and lovely food. We had novelty games for fun and laughter.”
Meanwhile, Limerick Federation extends congratulations to Maura Walsh on winning first prize for her hand appliqué cushion cover at national level. Her work, along with that of other competition winners, can be seen on www.ica.ie.
