June 1959 was an eventful month. Iraq renounced US military aid as it conflicted with her policy of neutrality. The nuclear submarine George Washington, designed to carry Polaris missiles, was launched. In the sporting world, Real Madrid won the European Cup by beating Stade de Reims 2-0 in Stuttgart’s Neckar Stadium; Parthio, ridden by Harry Carr, won the Epson Derby. These are just some of the events which have a fiftieth anniversary this June.
On 14 June 2009, however, there falls an anniversary with a difference: a jubilee! The root of the word ‘jubilee’ is ‘jobel’, the Hebrew word for a trumpet. So Heaven and St Bride’s on 14 June 2009 will trumpet Canon Ryan’s fiftieth ‘birthday’ in the priesthood.
Aware of the impending day, and following an open invitation in the parish bulletin, a group of parishioners met on Thursday 14 August 2008 to set in train the Jubilee Year events. On Sunday 31 August one of the committee members, in Fr Ryan’s absence, spoke at all the Masses to inform the parishioners about the committee and its aims, and made an appeal for initial funding. The committee has met every month since then. On Thursday 27 November our thoughts were slightly diverted when Fr Ryan broke the news the he was to be installed as a member of the Chapter of Canons on Monday 15 December in Motherwell Cathedral. Some committee members took the initiative of arranging a social evening on Saturday 12 December to raise funds to pay for Fr Ryan’s new canonical robes. A quiz night on Friday 30 January saw a refreshingly high proportion of young adults involved, and a fair number asked for more of the same. Lent was seen as the time to start gathering the flowers for our Spiritual Bouquet for the Canon, and cards were made available at Masses on the First Sunday of Lent, to be returned on Palm Sunday. Subsequently, there were requests for more cards, which means that there are flowers still being sown and gathered. Where any of the Irish Diaspora is to be found, St Patrick’s Day can’t be ignored, so a great Jubilee St Patrick’s night was held in the Pastoral Centre on Saturday I4 March; Gerry Gill and Richard McKay did us proud musically. The most recent event was a highly successful cabaret featuring a professional musician on Saturday 25 April.
Quite independently of the committee, parish societies and many individuals have made generous contributions to the jubilee fund. In addition, the drama, music and dance in the shows presented by St Hilary’s and St Kenneth’s primary schools got rave notices from their audiences, including the guests of honour Canon Ryan and the other new Canon and jubilarian of the town, Canon MacNamee. This review of Canon Ryan’s Jubilee Year started with a look back to 1959.
Dare we look forward to an evening in 2059?
Picture the scene ...........
There’ s an after-dinner gathering in a pleasant hotel lounge and the conversation between some of the ladies turns to cosmetics. Fifty-three year old Mary says: ‘I can just remember the first time I had my nails painted. There was a big number of people and a lot of cheery noise. My nails were a kind of bright purple.’ Mary’s sixty-three year old sister, Joan, says: ‘Surely you don’t remember that! You were only three! You were sitting on my knee!’
Hugh Reid