A Rural View: More on the Carnival at Kilnaleck

Last week's piece on the Carnival at Kilnaleck ended with an anecdote from the late, great Patsy Cooke of Mountnugent (the townland of Garrysallagh to be correct), gentleman, raconteur and fiddle player supreme, writes Peadar O Brádaigh. Some time following the submission of the copy it dawned on me that a few words on the unique man might be appropriate in the circumstances. As a powerfully built, broad shouldered and very handsome young man in the late 1930s he had the misfortune to develop tuberculosis (TB) of the spine. He was already an accomplished fiddle player and was much in demand for all types of rural celebrations. He had also played with a number of céilí bands and appeared to have a career in music in front of him as a matter of course when disaster struck. However, the TB put an end to all such aspirations when he found himself lying flat out on a surgical bed in Cavan's old sanatorium - the "san" as it was called. It is now well known as the office building of McDwyer Lennon on the Cathedral Road. It was there he was to spend almost eleven years and was in fact the last patient to be removed from the old san to the new and modern one at Lisdarn, which forms part of the General Hospital complex. See this week's Celt for more of Peadar's recollections of the carnival...