GREEN GREETINGS - A VERY HAPPPY St. PATRICK's DAY.

May Irish beauty & Love, whisper to your Heart. May Music on the wind, sing sweetly to your soul... May the Earth be soft beneath your feet and Heaven smile on you Always.

GRANAGH COLLECTION: Note - Change of Date to Sunday 27th March: The Bishop has written to say that a collection for Ukraine will be held in all the churches of the dioceses on the 27th. Therefore Granagh will follow suit. Monies can be included in your weekly envelope and the full contents will be forwarded for the Ukraine.

St. PATRICK's DAY: Happy St. Patrick's day greetings to all, at home and abroad. Mass on 16th in Ballingarry at 7pm, in Granagh 10am on 17th. The parades are back and hopefully it will be a nice day. The main Limerick parade begins at 12pm, Rathkeale also begins at 12pm and Adare begins at 3pm. Sunday 20th will see the return of the 50th International Band Championships at 12pm. All the weekend activities can be found on www.Limerick.ie

DAFFODIL DAY:

Fri 25th April: 1.30pm - 4pm, in Granagh Community Centre. Mary Morrissey will hold her annual daffodil day in the community centre this year. She will have her usual door raffle with the most beautiful prizes. She could do with a few volunteers to help out with the teas, so if anyone is free she would be delighted to hear from you.

LENTEN APPEAL:

This year Trocaire is highlighting its work in Zimbabwe, the family of three you see on the Trocaire box are Thandekile (31), her daughter Nomatter (11) and son Forward (8). Last year as her husband was working over the border, he caught coronavirus and passed away. His death was so sudden that they still find it hard to accept.

Her greatest fear now is that she will die from Covid-19 or hunger, and that there will be no-one to look after her children. She says " Following my husband's passing, my life was very hard financially since he was the breadwinner. It also affected my ability to earn an income as at times I would be so stressed and too sick to even go out and work. I did not have the means to pay school fees for the children, to buy uniforms and all our other basic needs because I had no source of income ” . The family – like thousands of families in Zimbabwe – have been struggling with the triple challenges of Covid-19, climate change and a devastated economy which are exacerbating the daily struggles they face. Due to Covid-19, a lot of businesses were shut down which made a lot of people unemployed. This worsened the ability for anyone to have access to money or at least get a job. Children could not go to school because of the lockdown and you can tell that their progress has been greatly affected According to the World Food Programme, 63 per cent of the Zimbabwe population of over 15 million live under the poverty line. Before the coronavirus outbreak, 7.7 million Zimbabweans faced food shortages after a drought and cyclone in 2019, and ongoing drought in the last year has exacerbated the situation. Please collect your Trocaire box from the Church and whatever you can contribute, will be most welcome. For more info see www.trocaire.org .

REMEMBERING OUR DECEASED: For the month of March, we remember our family, friends and neighbours, whose mortuary cards are displayed on the Church noticeboard:- Tom Treacy & David Conway, Killoughty. David Clifford, Kilmacow. Mai & Michael Hourigan & Johanna (Bob) Daffy, Knockfierna. Stasia O'Regan, Graigacurra. Eileen Noonan, Granagh. Kitty Fitzgerald & Margaret Boyce, Kilmore. Edward Sheehan, Lisduane. Eileen Houlihan, Ballynashig. Christy Noonan, Ballyelan. Fr. Ronald Costello, PP. Tom O'Regan, Liskennett. Margaret McEniry, Derryclough. Ellen Flynn, Ardagh. Leo O'Connell. Morgan & Maria Power, Pallasgreen. EASTER MARKET: Sat 16th April; 10am - 2pm, in the Community Centre. Delighted to say we are going to have our very first Craft/Food Market coming up. If any Vendors out there would like to participate, please contact our FBook page - granaghcommunitynews or e-mail - granaghcommunity@gmail.com. or any member of the committee. So far we have several stands taking part, including; Soap/Candles, Cookies, Cards, Quilts, Knitting & Pebble craft. All these items are handcrafted and designed by local crafters, who would appreciate and value your custom.

DID YOU KNOW:

13th Mar, 1996:- Dunblane Massacre in a kindergarten in Scotland. 14th Mar, 1966:-The film "Born Free" based on the book by Joy Adamson, was released. 15th Mar, 1964:- Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton marry for the first time. 16th Mar, 1961:- Burt Lancaster wins a Golden Globe for Spartacus. 17th March, 432:- Patrick kidnapped & taken as slave to Ireland. 18th March:- Global Recycling day, keep doing it to protect the planet. A cluster of bananas is called a “hand”. Along that theme, a single banana is called a “finger”.