Recent Retirements
Station Officer Tom Croghan
Best Wishes to Tom and Marie on the occasion of Tom's retirement. Tom was an active member of the social club for the past 35 years. He served many of these years as a member of the social club committee.
Third Officer Michael O’ Flynn
On the 5th. April 2009 an era came to an end when Michael O’ Flynn retired from Cork City Fire Brigade after 43 years service. Michael was the last member of the 24 hr shift system.
Throughout his time in the Cork City Fire Brigade Michael was a very active committee member of the Social Club, of which he was a founder member.
Best wishes to Michael, his wife Mary and family for a long and happy retirement.
Station Officer Kevin O’Kelly
The 2nd. of June 2009 saw the retirement of Station Officer Kevin O’Kelly.
Kevin had been a member of the Social Club since he first joined the Brigade in 1977.
Best Wishes to Kevin his wife Gillian and family for a long and happy retirement.
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Aiden Bolster went to Haiti in October 2009 as a volunteer with the Haven Charity. He was part of the Build It Week 2009.
While in Haiti the group helped with the building of permanent housing for the local population.
Courtesy Visit by Firefighters from Epe
A group of firefighters from Epe in The Netherlands, paid a visit to Cork. During their visit they had a tour of Fire Brigade Headquarters.
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Diving Club
In November 2009 a group from the Diving Club went on a trip to the Maldives. While there they explored the beautiful and exotic underwater sights. Both day and night dives were undertaken.
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Mouvember
November has been renamed 'Mouvember'. The idea behind Mouvember is to raise awareness and funds in order to combat prostate cancer. In order to do this participants grow the 'best' moustache they can and then have a sponsored shave off. This year Emmett Cotter and Ruben O'Leary undertook the challenge! Didn't they look nice?
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On the 15th of January 2009, the Green Watch Ramblers successfully completed a circuit of the Gougane Barra Horseshoe Walk (OS Discovery Series Map number 85; Grid Reference IW093 659).
Gougane Barra is located off the R584 Macroom, via the Pass of Keimaneigh to Bantry scenic drive. This is an area of outstanding natural beauty, which is famous for the island hermitage and the Church of Saint Finbarr. It is also the source of the River Lee that flows through Cork City. The area is surrounded by high cliffs and boggy upland.
Hill Walk Detail
During the six hour walk, we endured wet and windy conditions as was par for the course for January weather. We set off at 10.00am on our first leg of the hill walk, which took us from the lake shore, following a way marked trail to the summit of Failastookeen (GR IW0825 IG6600) at 500m. Here, we were exposed to strong westerly winds with driving rain. The way marked trail concludes at the three small lakes of Lough Glas, Lough Fadda and Lough Namrat.
A welcome, albeit brief rest stop at the lakes, allowed the group to have a quick coffee and warm up while also reviewing the map for the next leg to ‘Barry’s Gap’ and on to the summit of Com Rua at 503m. Careful navigation was required as mountain fog had descended, with no visibility of the surrounding terrain.
At this stage the walking became more arduous as the ground was very heavy and boggy from the rain that had fallen overnight and throughout the morning. The group contoured from Cloghera to the North of Foilashrone where 350m high cliffs fall away to the lake side. As the group descended to Coomclough, the fog lifted and we were at last able to witness what is the stunning vista of Gougane Barra Lake.
As the surface water from the hillside drains here to form streams into Coomclough, crossing these could not be avoided by the group. A track out from the coom led us past some farm buildings and sheep pens arriving at the roadway and finally, returning to the car park.
The Green Watch Ramblers, whilst wet and tired from our first hill walk of 2009, were in total agreement, that a good day had been had by all!
