Tributes paid to former TD and 'voice of the ploughing'
The 'voice of the ploughing' Carrie Acheson from Clonmel on the public address at the National Ploughing Championships at Mogeely, Co Cork in 2005. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Tributes have been paid as Carrie Acheson, former Fianna Fáil TD and the woman often referred to as the ‘voice of the ploughing’, has died.
Ms Acheson passed peacefully on Monday at the age of 88, and is predeceased by her husband Hugh.
Ms Acheson, a native of Clonmel, served as a councillor on South Tipperary County Council in 1974, and represented Tipperary South in the Dáil, having been elected in 1981.
She is also a former mayor of Clonmel, president of the Irish Red Cross, president of the Clonmel Show, and a member of the National Ploughing Association, for which she did the public address at the National Ploughing Championships.
The National Ploughing Association said it is with a “sense of great sadness that our ploughing family bid farewell to one of our most vibrant, elegant and legendary members”.
“Carrie Acheson, your voice was recognised by thousands, but it’s your humour that will echo in our memories.”
Managing director of the NPA, Anna May McHugh, told the that she has “lost a great friend”.
“We know each other for over 40 years, and we’ve always kept in touch, there were never a few months that would pass by without getting in touch some way or other and even to ring to see how each other was and how things were going in the ploughing,” Ms McHugh said.
“She meant a lot to me, and I feel that I’ve lost a great friend.”
The ‘Ploughing’ in September this year won’t be the same without Ms Acheson, Ms McHugh said, who was always passionate about her role at the event, and who would have those in the association “talking about her fashion, she used to dress beautiful”, Ms McHugh added.
“She’d cover the public address for us over the three days of the event, and particularly when children would get mislaid from their parents or get lost in the crowds, she would always arrive with her bag of sweets and her storybook and her colouring book, so that when a lost child would be brought to the public address system unit, she would have something to occupy them until they would be reunited with their parents,” Ms McHugh continued.
“She was a particularly lovely lady in every aspect, and anyone that had the privilege of knowing her would have that to say about Carrie; she was so warm, so kind-hearted, so thoughtful, and she thought of everything.
“Something that would have been far away from your mind, Carrie would come up with the idea or say, ‘what are we doing about such a thing?’, and when the event would be over, we might get a lovely card from her saying how well everything went.
“She will be badly missed by so many thousands of people, that heard her lovely voice over the public address system at the event.”
Ms Acheson was also involved with the Clonmel Show, Tullamore Show, and the local ploughing competitions; “She loved meeting people”, Ms McHugh said.
“I remember one beautiful occasion when the World Ploughing [Championship] was in New Zealand, Carrie said: ‘Can I go along with the group?’, and she came along, and she was everyone’s friend - even in New Zealand on that occasion," Ms McHugh continued.
“Even though she didn’t know many of them before she went, she just got to know them, and they got to know her.
“It’s a privilege to know Carrie.”
With Ms Acheson taking on the task of addressing the crowds at the National Ploughing Championships for decades, Ms McHugh said that now, “a light is gone from the ploughing”.
“There’s no doubt about that. A great friend we have lost,” Ms McHugh added.
