€250  - Terri Mackey
€100 -  Ruth Landy
​Ham -  Jo Jo Purcell
Christmas Cake - Catriona Phelan
Brandy - Mary Butler
​Whiskey - Sean Barron

A crowd of 24 kids and three adults went ice skating at "Waterford on Ice" venue, on the quay. Before that all went on a ramble around the Winterval sites in the City.

WALKS OPENING: The opening of the two new “National Trails accredited Loop Walks will take place on St Stephens Day in Windgap. With registration at eleven o’clock the walks roll out at 11.30 with the Historical Village one taking thirty minutes and the Bearna Breac one two to three hours. The fees are €10 for adults and €25 for families. More info to follow

WREN BOYS and  MOVIES: Part of the celebration will be refreshments in the community Hall from 12.30 to 3pm with a Treasure Hunt and Movies for Juveniles in the Handball Alley from 2pm

HANDBALL: Trainers who participated in the Foundation Handball Coaching Course delivered by John O Donohue GAA Handball Tutor from Croke Park in the Alley recently were, Eamon Purcell, Jimmy Purcell, Tony Doyle, Matthew O’ Shea, Ann Foley, Julie O’ Brien, Pat Foley, Denis Foley PJ Barron, John Barron, Sean Foley, Darragh O Shea, Adrian Landy, Cian Ryan, Dave Jackson, David Doyle

CARDS RESULTS: Winners at the Hurling Club Progressive 25 Card Drive held in Guinans on Friday night were sharing 1st prize were PJ Barron and Mary Guinan, Eddie Hawe and Laurence Foley. The table prize was won by Nicky Landy and Eileen O’Gorman. Other prize winners were Eddie Hawe, Michael Cunningham, Grace Landy, Anne Marie Hawe and John Kenny. The next game takes place on Friday 1st. January and all are welcome.

BAZZAR: The annual Christmas parish bazaar takes place in the Hall in Windgap on Sunday next. Commencing at 2pm. It will include the usual Christmas Cakes, spinner, raffles and auction and all are welcome.

TIDY TOWNS: Tullahought Tidy Towns members travelled to the South East Region SuperValu Tidy Towns Awards event in the winning Regional Centre of Clonegal in Carlow recently. On the night they were presented with two cheques totalling €900 for the County Award and the Bronze medal award. The group were represented by Eamon Doyle, Dick Walsh, Kathleen Duggan and Eileen Norris.

BOUNDARY COMMISSION: Following a public meeting on the potential effects of the Boundary Commission on the Waterford border with Kilkenny in the RHU GLEN recently the collection of submissions continues in the area. The campaign is being organised in the locality by the local club. To be included contact any member of the committee of the local hurling club.

FOOTBALL: For the first time in living memory Windgap will not be entering a football team in the County Championships. The area was once one of the hotbeds of football in the county through the Slatequarries, Lamogue, Cotterstown and St. Nicholas. At county level Gerard Purcell was a member of the County side who won the British Junior title during the Summer. For a number of years the side benefitted with Callan Players, however falling numbers, emigration and the amount of players living away from the area who commute back to play hurling has seen the current situation arise. It is hoped that the interested players may be facilitated to continue playing elsewhere

LOTTO RESULTS:  The numbers drawn were 2, 4, 11, 18 and bonus number 14. They brought match three cheques to Joseph Crowley and Kathleen Doyle. Next week’s prizefund is €6,600

NUACHTLITIR: Information for the weekly Parish Bulletin at weekend Masses can be emailed to [email protected] or dropped into the Parochial House by Thursday evening. Mobile number (085) 8830756.

​NOTES: Contributors and Clubs are invited to email items for publication with a name and contact number to [email protected] by Sunday evenings at 6pm. For all the local news and photos visit windgap.ie

Windgap National  School proudly received two members of the Irish defence forces. They presented the school with an Irish Flag and a copy of the 1916 Proclamation. 
On March 15 2016, at midday, all the schools in Ireland will raise their flags to mark the 1916 Rising.

An Dara Domhnach den Aidbhint: 5/6 Mí na Nollag 2015
Windgap: Philomena Ryan, Windgap, Month’s Mind
Mass Times: Windgap: Saturday, 7.30 p.m. Tullahought: Sunday, 10 a.m. 
Masses for 30 Nov. –4 Dec. Windgap: Monday, 9.30 am; Friday, 9.30 am. (First Friday); [the 8th Dec., Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is a holy day of obligation].
Windgap:    Readers: 31 Oct. Rita Phelan; 7 Nov. Caoimhe O'Shea; 14 Nov. Martin O'Shea; 21 Nov. Michelle O'Brien; 28 Nov. Sean Foley; 5 Dec. Larry O'Shea.
Eucharistic Ministers: Oct., 31, Ann O'Shea; Nov. 7, Breda O'Shea; 14, Margaret Mackey; 21, Joan Waters; 28, Liz Jackson..
Tullahought:    Eucharistic Ministers: Leo Conalty; Patricia Power; Mary Walsh; Eileen Grace.
Advent: The First Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the Church’s Year. Formerly Advent was often seen as a kind of ‘Second Lent’ and even extended over 40 days like Lent. There was a strong emphasis on the penitential aspect of Advent in the early Irish Church.  Remnants of this survived into the early 1960s but after the Second Vatican Council the predominant austere and penitential themes of Advent gave way to sentiments of hope and joyful expectation, and the focus in the liturgy is now more on waiting patiently for the coming our Saviour. The Fathers of the Church spoke of the three comings of Christ – his birth in Bethlehem,  his coming to call us home at the moment of death; his coming again in glory at the end of time. St. Augustine reminds us that “if we have made him welcome at his first coming we have no reason to fear his second coming”. Advent is a time during which we prepare to commemorate and celebrate his first coming on Christmas night.
The Advent Wreath (Adventskranz) is a 19th century German custom (originally a Lutheran custom) which spread throughout Europe and the world in the 20th century.  The Advent wreath will be blessed at Masses this weekend. 
Windgap Annual Bazaar - Sunday, 13th December, Windgap Community Hall, at 2 pm.  Roth na Cinniúna, etc.  Christmas cakes for icing to be handed in by Sunday, 6 Dec.  Raffle tickets on sale.
Progressive 25 Cards for Windgap Hurling Club: Guinan’s, Friday, 4 December, at 9 pm. 
Right4UFitness – Wednesdays, Windgap Parish Hall, 10.30 am; 4 weeks to get fit for Christmas. Enquiries to Emer (086)3743763.
Course for current and new Readers: St. Patrick’s Centre. Loughboy, 7.30 pm, Tues. 24 Nov. & Tues. 1st Dec.. The same course is being offered in Mullinavat Church at 7.30 pm Mon. 23 & 30th Nov. and Ballyragget Church: Wed. 25 Nov. & 2 Dec.
Special Collection: Sincere thanks for your continuing support for the Special Collection.
Coolagh Cards & Raffle: Pre-Christmas card games each Thursday night until Christmas.
World Youth Day 2016, Kracow, Poland, July 2016. Pope Francis will attend. Ossory Diocese is inviting young people (over 18 years) to attend; contact [email protected] or Fr Richard Scriven ([email protected] / 087 2420033) or Derek Dooley (087 938 4242).
School of the Holy Spirit, Seville Lodge, Kilkenny: The school has its annual coffee morning on this Sunday 29 November, from 11am - 1pm, at Seville lodge. Enjoy home bakeries and pick up a few bargains at the gift stall, books cds, dvds and perhaps win an amazing hamper or two. Anyone wishing to donate gifts etc to event can contact Therese Buckley @0879040208.
Congratulations to Clare Grace for her latest achievement – winning her 5th Women’s Senior Boxing Championship (69 kg) on a unanimous decision at the National Stadium, Dublin, on Friday; congratulations are also in order for her consummate trainer Jimmy Walsh, Callan.
Vocations: Thought for the first Sunday of Advent: “Be on the watch!  Allow God to lead you in the ways of truth and justice”. How is God calling you to serve? (Jer.33:14-16)  If you think God is calling you to priesthood, call Fr. Willie Purcell Ossory Vocations Director. 056 7770261 or email [email protected]. In this time of Advent let us all be alert to God’s call to service.
Year for Religious Life: The year for consecrated life, proclaimed by Pope Francis, continues until 2 February 2016, its purpose being to celebrate the charisms, role and contribution of Consecrated and Religious life in the Church. To mark this year Bishop Freeman will concelebrate Mass this Sunday 29 November, in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny, at 5.30 pm, in thanksgiving for the extraordinary contribution Religious have made to the Diocese of Ossory. Priests and Religious Congregations and Orders in the diocese, their families and friends, are invited to attend this celebration which begins at 12.00pm with a display in St Kieran’s College featuring stands replete with information about the many religious communities who are serving in the diocese and concludes with Mass in the Cathedral.
There are in the diocese at present eleven female religious orders: Mercy Sisters, Presentation Sisters, Loreto Sisters, Sisters of Saint John of God, Religious Sisters of Charity, Daughters of Mary and Joseph, Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph, Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, Little Company of Mary, Little Sisters of the Poor, Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary (one hundred and fifty nine in total). There are at present nine male religious orders: Capuchins, Carmelites, Dominicans, Pallottines, Kiltegan Fathers, Mill Hill Fathers, Christian Brothers, De La Salle Brothers, Brothers of Charity (fifty-six in total).
Priests of Windgap Patrick Carrigan: After Dr Mansfield’s death in 1826 the parishes of Windgap and Dunnamaggin were separated. Windgap included Killamery and Tullahought, less than one third of Kilmogany and Booliaghfliugh in Cooliaghmore. Graigue, which was once part of Windgap and Dunnamaggin, seems not to have gone with the new parish. To this parish Patrick Carrigan was appointed parish priest.  Born in Parliament St. Kilkenny, he was the son of Daniel Carrigan, and was baptised by John Dunne (later bishop of Ossory) on 20 March 1781. He went to Maynooth on 29 December 1799 and was ordained priest about 1806. He worked as a curate in Aghaboe (Sept.1807-Febr.1809) and Slieverue (Febr.1809-Oct.1826) before being appointed PP Windgap in Oct.1826. In Apr./May 1840 he was transferred to Inistioge. In 1846 he became Precentor of the diocesan chapter.  He died in Inistioge on 18 June 1863, in his 83rd year. He is buried in Clodiagh chapel but there is no monument to him there. 
Placenames: Kildrummy: Cill Droma as Gaeilge, that is, the church on or at the hill ridge. According to Canon Carrigan the church from which the name is taken stood in Patrick Keeffe’s “Faugheen” (=“little green field”), at the south side of the field but he found no trace of it when he visited the area while curate in Templeorum (1893-95). There was a graveyard here too but there was no trace of it then; human bones were found on the site.
Kilmacoliver is Coill Mhic Oliféara in Irish - the wood of the son of Oliver.  The name probably goes back to the 14th century and to the family of Matthew fitz Oliver who lived in the area.

An Chéad Domhnach den Aidbhint: 28/29 Mí na Samhna 2015
Recent Death:         Carmen Egan, Baurscoob, Dunnamaggin
Anniversaries: Windgap:     Johanna Walsh, Coolhill
Tullahought:    Bridget, Jimmy, Pat Moore, Birchwood

Mass Times: Windgap: Saturday, 7.30 p.m. Tullahought: Sunday, 10 a.m. 
Masses for 30 Nov. –4 Dec. Windgap: Monday, 9.30 am; Friday, 9.30 am. (First Friday); [the 8th Dec., Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is a holy day of obligation].
Windgap:    Readers: 31 Oct. Rita Phelan; 7 Nov. Caoimhe O'Shea; 14 Nov. Martin O'Shea; 21 Nov. Michelle O'Brien; 28 Nov. Sean Foley; 5 Dec. Larry O'Shea.
Eucharistic Ministers: Oct., 31, Ann O'Shea; Nov. 7, Breda O'Shea; 14, Margaret Mackey; 21, Joan Waters; 28, Liz Jackson..
Tullahought:    Eucharistic Ministers: Leo Conalty; Patricia Power; Mary Walsh; Eileen Grace.
Advent: The First Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the Church’s Year. Formerly Advent was often seen as a kind of ‘Second Lent’ and even extended over 40 days like Lent. There was a strong emphasis on the penitential aspect of Advent in the early Irish Church.  Remnants of this survived into the early 1960s but after the Second Vatican Council the predominant austere and penitential themes of Advent gave way to sentiments of hope and joyful expectation, and the focus in the liturgy is now more on waiting patiently for the coming our Saviour. The Fathers of the Church spoke of the three comings of Christ – his birth in Bethlehem,  his coming to call us home at the moment of death; his coming again in glory at the end of time. St. Augustine reminds us that “if we have made him welcome at his first coming we have no reason to fear his second coming”. Advent is a time during which we prepare to commemorate and celebrate his first coming on Christmas night.
The Advent Wreath (Adventskranz) is a 19th century German custom (originally a Lutheran custom) which spread throughout Europe and the world in the 20th century.  The Advent wreath will be blessed at Masses this weekend. 
Windgap Annual Bazaar - Sunday, 13th December, Windgap Community Hall, at 2 pm.  Roth na Cinniúna, etc.  Christmas cakes for icing to be handed in by Sunday, 6 Dec.  Raffle tickets on sale.
Progressive 25 Cards for Windgap Hurling Club: Guinan’s, Friday, 4 December, at 9 pm. 
Right4UFitness – Wednesdays, Windgap Parish Hall, 10.30 am; 4 weeks to get fit for Christmas. Enquiries to Emer (086)3743763.
Course for current and new Readers: St. Patrick’s Centre. Loughboy, 7.30 pm, Tues. 24 Nov. & Tues. 1st Dec.. The same course is being offered in Mullinavat Church at 7.30 pm Mon. 23 & 30th Nov. and Ballyragget Church: Wed. 25 Nov. & 2 Dec.
Special Collection: Sincere thanks for your continuing support for the Special Collection.
Coolagh Cards & Raffle: Pre-Christmas card games each Thursday night until Christmas.
World Youth Day 2016, Kracow, Poland, July 2016. Pope Francis will attend. Ossory Diocese is inviting young people (over 18 years) to attend; contact [email protected] or Fr Richard Scriven ([email protected] / 087 2420033) or Derek Dooley (087 938 4242).
School of the Holy Spirit, Seville Lodge, Kilkenny: The school has its annual coffee morning on this Sunday 29 November, from 11am - 1pm, at Seville lodge. Enjoy home bakeries and pick up a few bargains at the gift stall, books cds, dvds and perhaps win an amazing hamper or two. Anyone wishing to donate gifts etc to event can contact Therese Buckley @0879040208.
Congratulations to Clare Grace for her latest achievement – winning her 5th Women’s Senior Boxing Championship (69 kg) on a unanimous decision at the National Stadium, Dublin, on Friday; congratulations are also in order for her consummate trainer Jimmy Walsh, Callan.
Vocations: Thought for the first Sunday of Advent: “Be on the watch!  Allow God to lead you in the ways of truth and justice”. How is God calling you to serve? (Jer.33:14-16)  If you think God is calling you to priesthood, call Fr. Willie Purcell Ossory Vocations Director. 056 7770261 or email [email protected]. In this time of Advent let us all be alert to God’s call to service.
Year for Religious Life: The year for consecrated life, proclaimed by Pope Francis, continues until 2 February 2016, its purpose being to celebrate the charisms, role and contribution of Consecrated and Religious life in the Church. To mark this year Bishop Freeman will concelebrate Mass this Sunday 29 November, in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny, at 5.30 pm, in thanksgiving for the extraordinary contribution Religious have made to the Diocese of Ossory. Priests and Religious Congregations and Orders in the diocese, their families and friends, are invited to attend this celebration which begins at 12.00pm with a display in St Kieran’s College featuring stands replete with information about the many religious communities who are serving in the diocese and concludes with Mass in the Cathedral.
There are in the diocese at present eleven female religious orders: Mercy Sisters, Presentation Sisters, Loreto Sisters, Sisters of Saint John of God, Religious Sisters of Charity, Daughters of Mary and Joseph, Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph, Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, Little Company of Mary, Little Sisters of the Poor, Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary (one hundred and fifty nine in total). There are at present nine male religious orders: Capuchins, Carmelites, Dominicans, Pallottines, Kiltegan Fathers, Mill Hill Fathers, Christian Brothers, De La Salle Brothers, Brothers of Charity (fifty-six in total).
Priests of Windgap Patrick Carrigan: After Dr Mansfield’s death in 1826 the parishes of Windgap and Dunnamaggin were separated. Windgap included Killamery and Tullahought, less than one third of Kilmogany and Booliaghfliugh in Cooliaghmore. Graigue, which was once part of Windgap and Dunnamaggin, seems not to have gone with the new parish. To this parish Patrick Carrigan was appointed parish priest.  Born in Parliament St. Kilkenny, he was the son of Daniel Carrigan, and was baptised by John Dunne (later bishop of Ossory) on 20 March 1781. He went to Maynooth on 29 December 1799 and was ordained priest about 1806. He worked as a curate in Aghaboe (Sept.1807-Febr.1809) and Slieverue (Febr.1809-Oct.1826) before being appointed PP Windgap in Oct.1826. In Apr./May 1840 he was transferred to Inistioge. In 1846 he became Precentor of the diocesan chapter.  He died in Inistioge on 18 June 1863, in his 83rd year. He is buried in Clodiagh chapel but there is no monument to him there. 
Placenames: Kildrummy: Cill Droma as Gaeilge, that is, the church on or at the hill ridge. According to Canon Carrigan the church from which the name is taken stood in Patrick Keeffe’s “Faugheen” (=“little green field”), at the south side of the field but he found no trace of it when he visited the area while curate in Templeorum (1893-95). There was a graveyard here too but there was no trace of it then; human bones were found on the site.
Kilmacoliver is Coill Mhic Oliféara in Irish - the wood of the son of Oliver.  The name probably goes back to the 14th century and to the family of Matthew fitz Oliver w