Death of Tommy Weldon ,Churchtown,Navan,

Tommy Weldon from Dunderry was as nice a man as I  ever met. 

A native of Churchtown ,he came from a family brimmming with decency and honesty. 

From a very young age I  came here on holidays to my mother's people the Mc Cormack's of the Curragh Boreen and because the Mc Cormacks were GAA fanatics I  became aware of the Weldon clan ,who wre also immersed in the GAA,then and now.

Tommy was prematurely bald and still playing and I  thought it peculiar thar such an old man was still playing.Tommy Mc Cormack soon put me right and I  looked at him with different eyes afterwards.

Both he and his family have been avid supporters of Dunderry GAA Club always.

After he retired from football himself and his wife Jody took on the washing ,drying and mending of the jerseys of all the Dunderry Jerseys.They were always presented in pristine condition being washed and ironed at home.N o dry cleaners for them.

And God help you if you lost one or gave it back in flitters.Jodi would ate you without salt.

This showed just how good a kit woman she was.

They did this for decades and saved the Club thousands in the process,.

Some people may regard this as no big deal,but my wife Agnes did it for maybe two decades for the Camogie Club and I  know that it is a big deal.

As far as I  remember Tommy worked for decades for Spicers and no more assidious employee could you get, often dragging in his kids on a weekend to do something out of the ordinary but very necesssary but without pay.

I  think that a cousin of mine Larry Mallon was C.E.O. of Spicers those years .

Tommy survived Spicers ,as indeed has Larry .

Never one to be idle Tommy took up employment after his stint in Spicers as caretaker in Dunderry National School and applied the same standard of care there as he had in Spicers.

I  would say that the then head teacher Gerry  Hatch thought the world of him..

I  well remember an occassion when Gerry Hatch wanted to see me for something .    He sent Tommy across to our house and he said to me "Master Hatch wants t you to call over to see him straight away."

My response was not very polite but when I  saw the hurt on Tommy's face I  relented.

Lots of people will remember him from his time in The School.

His wife Jody is a niece of Nan M c Cormack ,the deceased wife of my uncle Jimmy and by coincidence a sister of Mary Mallon ,widow of Sean ,a brother of Larry ,mentioned above.

I hurled with Martin and Declan ,his sons,both hardy boys.

I attended Mass with Tommy and Jodi for years in Dunderry and noted the steady progress of the cancer which took him after years.

His suffering must have been a huge strain on his loving family and extended family, and my heart goes out to them.

As honest a man as ever walked from a family of equal calibre is the best compliment I  can pay to him.

I wish his wife Jody,sons Martin and Declan,siblings ,Mickey,Sean and Brendan and all his relatives and many friends my sincsrest sympathies.

Ar D heis De go raibh a HANAM Dilis.

Funeral  Mass tomorrow Wednesday in Dunderry at 11.a.m.Burial afterwards in Boyerstown  Cemetery.

Dundery's involvement in the War of Independence.

 I am reading up on this period in history when I  have time,which is not often.I have much to do in this respect.

Purely by coincidence the preedecessor to the bungalow I  own on the Robinstown Road opposite Horans was used by Sean Boylan Senior,the father of the ex Meath Manager ,to reorganiset he Volunteers (IRA ) in 1917.

I think it was then owned by people called Stephens,who were no relation.

M y uncle Tommy  M c Cormack bought the bungalow in the early 1980's and rebuilt it.He retained one feature of the original building,an inside windowed porch wall beside the front door from that time.

The bungalow is of historic importance therfor and I  intend to mark it with a suitable plaque in time.

Further up the road ,in the same Parish ,but in Robinstown ,there stands to this day ,a closed pub called Chandelers ,which during the War of Independence,was looted and in which the occupants were terrorised .

The looting and such deprivations were raised in the House of Commons at the time and made world wide news.

Maybe a plaque ought to be erected there too.

I am gathering as much information as I  can at the moment and intend to retuern to this subject asap.

The father of my good friend Liam Dalton was arressted by the RIC/Tans/Auxiliries at the time of the raid on Chandelers.His name was Peter and he was clearly active in the movement,although he didn't say much about it afterwards..

The persecution of Molly aged 90 years.

 Molly is not the name of the dignified person the subject of this post.I am withholding her name to preserve her dignity.

She recently turned 90 years of age,born 10 years after the ending of the War of Independence.Coincidentally I  am reading up on the local involvement on the War of Independence which ended a hundred years ago .

There was an I.R.A Company in Dunderry at the time consisting of about 25 active members.I am trying to work out the identities of just who they were.I am sure of just who  some of the gallant band were.

From 1919 to 1921 Meath Volunteers killed less than 3 R.I.C./Tans ,about a half percentage of the National total..In contrast 10 informers were killed in the County,because the IRA plans were leaked to the Peelers.

Probably the descendants of these informers or others of similar mind informed on the innocent activities of  Molly recently and deliberately spoiled her day.

As a birthday treat for Molly her loving family organised a drive bye for her.In other words she sat in a car and waved out the window as friends drove bye.

Social  distancing rules were fully adhered to in every respect.

Soon the Gardai arrived to break up the drive bye.They said they had received information and had to do it. 

A person close to the scene reminded me that they had not respoinded so successfully when this venerable old lady had been robbed in her house a number of years ago.

Nothing was ever recovered..

Between persecuting a Priest for saying Mass and breaking up the drive bye of a 90 year old this Government and its enforcers have much to answer for.

Two more true Gaels are dead

 The reign of the Prince of death continues unabated in Dunderry.Two of the nicest and most sincere people you could ever meet have been called by their maker.Molly Fay ,wife of Phil  and Tommy Weldon ,husband of Jodi  have passed away.

They join a long list of Dunderry Gaels recently expired.

They have put in some service to the Dunderry GAA Club in their exemplary lives and were Catholics of the highest  status.

Before this Country regressed to the Penal Laws days ,when Priests had to say Mass in secret ( NOWADAYS PRIESTS WHO CELEBRAT MASS IN PUBLIC ARE CRIMINALISED BY THE laws passed by the Godless Oireachtas and fined by the modern day version of the Redcoats) .I often attended Mass with them in Dunderry Chapel.

Tommy suuffered from Cncer for years and put up some fight ,alas to no avail in the end.

Molly was never the same since her only daughter was killed in an unfortunate casr accidend just beside her home place a number of years ago.

I will write more about them God willing.

Ar Dheis De go raibh  ANAMACA DILIS.

The Legend Falls.Death of Tommy Dowd Senior.

 In early January I  posted that a good neighbour was under severe pressure,He sure was and has been until early Sunday morning ,when  he was called home by God.

Greatly mourned by his wife Eithna,sons Tommy and Kevin,daughters Kathy and Dolly,brother Jimmy and sister Marie,by his close in laws ,neighbours and the whole Dunderry GAA Community ,by the broader GAA Community  in Meath,Leicester and London,his mortal remains will travel from his son's Kevins house in Dunderry Village to arrive in the local Church at 11.00 a.m. on Wdnesday 10 th March and thence to the local graveyard.

Alll his family ,especially his wife Eithna,gave him immense love,care and attention these last few months ,but the Lord wanted him so much that they had to let go.

I figure that He wants to set up a Football Championship in Heaven ,will probably make him the first GAA man to get perquisetes and present him with a celestial number 15 jersey.

He was a once off.

On behalf of my own family ,all the people of Dunderry and the local GAA club,the Camogie and Ladies Football Clubs I offer my absolute condolonces.

Ar Dheis De go raibh a HAnam Dilis.