UPDATE ON RAFFLE , SUNDAY EVENING 14th SEPTEMBER 2008: All went well, as planned! The full compliment of tickets was sold, but we only had one 'in-house' winner (congrats Alyce , and Tony B. , for having sold her the ticket!) and , already , all 600 tickets for the October raffle (for CABHAIR) have been distributed. Today's winning numbers were 482, 242, 109, 626, 269, 97, 136 and 145. The reason why tickets are sometimes numbered over the 600 figure is due to the fact that some ticket sellers have their tickets removed from them by the political police and 'new/replacement' tickets,numbered from 601 to 6--, are put in in there place.
The extra prize of the wood-burn Portlaoise plaque could have been sold many times in the pub for at least €50 , but was not: instead , as intended, it was raffled in a separate (free) draw and was won by one of three locals who had just dropped-in to the Club for a game of pool/snooker! The same crew of Republicans that run this monthly raffle for the Movement are now in the process of helping to finalise arrangements for the next event - the Annual Eve Of All-Ireland Rally. Hope to see you there! Thanks!Sharon.-----------------------------------------------------
" GET THE LAST OF THE TICKETS , NOW....! " Since the mid-1970's , a dedicated group of Irish Republicans in the Dublin South-West/Mid-West area of Dublin have held a monthly raffle , on the second Sunday of each month : approximately 600 tickets are sold each month by this dedicated team , and the money made from one raffle is given to the Dublin Comhairle ('Executive') of Republican Sinn Fein whilst the money made from the next such monthly raffle is handed-over to the CABHAIR organisation . Over €400 is handed-out as prize money in each raffle -
- and , occasionally , extra prizes are included , with no increase in ticket price : the Sunday 14th September 2008 raffle , for instance , will include an extra prize of a wood-burn plywood print , which was made this year in Portlaoise Gaol by Republican prisoners - 
- so : this wee blog would like to say a big 'Go raibh maith agaibh!' to all concerned in this long-standing fund raiser - between ye all , you have helped pay the bills in Head Office and take some of the pressure off the families of imprisoned Republicans. Thank you all for that !Sharon.
....and we're back..! We had a wild time over the last few days : 
Tipsy Bride!:from Dublin to Wexford , where the Church ceremony took place , and then down the 'Copper Coast' road into Waterford , where the party continued : having abandoned the kids [and all sense of decency ;-)!] I did at least keep one of my fingers on the camera button !
We came across this beautiful monument on a wind-swept cliff top , where we stopped to stretch our legs - 
-with this inscription plaque at its base :
By now , our thirst was well quenched but the hunger was on us , so we went looking for somewhere to get a wee bit of grub - .JPG)
-but quickly decided to settle for a few more pints of cider and a bag of Tayto crisps instead !On a more sombre note , we came across this IRA Memorial Plaque ,on that same Coast Road, dedicated to the memory of IRA Volunteer Jack (John) Cummins - "Ballyvoile (6th June 1921)On the 6th June 1921, a military cycling column of about 30 men were ambushed at Ballyvoile. Tom Keating of Comeragh, a brother of Pat‘s who was killed at the Burgery was in charge of the ambushing party. It was first decided that the enemy should be attacked at Kilminion, near Stradbally, where the County Council quarry now operates. They lay in waiting for a time, but then received word that the British were returning by the lower Coast Road. The Volunteer party hurriedly made their way across country and had just reached Ballyvoile, when a volley of shots rang out. Evidently the (British) military had seen them moving into position. Two of the soldiers moved into higher ground and opened fire again, and this time, Jack Cummins of Stradbally was shot just as he was getting over a barbed wire fence. The Volunteers returned the fire forcing the (British) military to take cover.The fight lasted about half an hour and then the Volunteers had to withdraw due to lack of ammunition. A plaque to the memory of Jack Cummins can be seen at Ballyvoile..."
-where we said a prayer for the man , and for the many brave Irish men and women that followed in his tracks and that do so today. Anyway ... although we're back , we haven't got our usual '3-in-1' post ready just yet , and have instead decided to post it next Wednesday (17th September 2008), as we need the time to concentrate on a major Republican raffle which is taking place this coming Sunday (14th) in a Social Club on the Dublin/Kildare border and also to prepare for the Annual Eve Of All-Ireland Rally in Dublin (Saturday September 20th next- pics and report on last years Rally can be obtained here)-
- so we'll leave it at that for now , but will soon be back to 'normal'. Thanks!Sharon.
.JPG)
