History of Father Mathew Hall and Feis Maitiú Corcaigh

Page 1

Copy FATHER MATHEW HALL, CORK AND FEIS MAITIU Sometime during the last quarter of the nineteenth century the members of the Total Abstinence Society attached to Holy Trinity Church used a nearby building in which they could meet for recreation. An old register, which has the first entry dated January 5th, 1896, shows that at the time there were over 300 male members in the Society.1 Fr. Thomas Dowling was President.2 On January 30th, 1907 the present Hall was opened in what was then Queen Street. It was a great advance on the old premises because now there was a good auditorium and plenty of rooms to cater for the many activities which had developed. There was a billiard room, a card room and a reading room; weekly lectures were given during the winter season as well as occasional plays and concerts. For a while attempts were made to run pictures - it was called a Picturedrome - but it never took on. The Christmas Pantomines became popular; the cast was drawn from the Hall members and the money made helped to defray general expenditure. In 1914, 'Aladdin' had a particularly long run and foreshadowed the many years of 'Panto' for which the Hall became famous. At different times members organised dramatic societies, bands, orchestras and choral groups; classes were held in cookery, sewing and needlework, gymnastics and first aid. For outdoor recreation they had hurling, football and cycling. Teams were entered in the Cork County Championship and local leagues. On Sunday September 28th, 1928 the senior hurling team was defeated by Mallow in the semi-final of the county championship. For many years Bob Shearman represented the Hall on the County Board (G.A.A.). In fact, from the beginning the members related well with the G.A.A. which frequently gave permission to run tournaments in aid of the Hall. One such tournament was played on Sunday July 12th, 1908 in which Dungourney, Captained by the famous Jamsie Kelleher played Erin's Own, Kilkenny, in the old Cork Athletic Grounds.3 Total receipts for the match came to £80 - 15 - 9 - at the time regarded as quite sa