Castlebar Order of Malta celebrate 75th anniversary
SPECIAL celebrations will take place this weekend to mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Order of Malta in Castlebar, writes Tom Gillespie.
The highlight of the event will be the unveiling of a special plaque at the Mayo Peace Park and Garden of Remembrance at Lannagh Road, which takes place on Saturday afternoon (November 3).
It will be dedicated to the memory of the voluntary ambulance services and first aid personnel - Order of Malta, Civil Defence, Irish Red Cross and St. John’s Ambulance Ireland - in recognition of their selfless and dedicated service to the state during the World Wars and during disasters and crises both here at home and abroad.
Castlebar Order of Malta was founded in 1943 and the first officer-in-charge was Captain Eddie Lynn.
The first members held their meeting in the gate lodge of the military barracks in Castlebar, where Eddie resided.
The next officer-in-charge was Tommy Robinson, followed by John Cunningham and Tom Jennings.
The present officer-in-charge is Liam McHugh.
On Friday evening, Mayo County Council will extend a civic reception to the order and on Saturday members of the unit will be on the streets of the county town giving demonstrations of first aid and later at the unveiling of the plaque at 3 p.m.
The major task facing the unit is the raising of €200,000 to erect a new purpose built headquarters at Pavilion Road.
Their existing HQ on that site was vacated in 2013 when the building was deemed structurally unsound.
Second Lieutenant Tom Jennings said: "On Saturday we are going to give demonstrations on Market Square and we will have Mass that evening.
"I have been pressing for some time to have a dedicated area to go to where we can pray for deceased members of Order of Malta.
"I approached Michael Feeney of the Mayo Peace Park and we got permission to erect a plaque to the volunteer ambulance service for the Mayo area."
The plaque was kindly donated by Hugh Ginty of G.G. Ginty Stone, Ballina, and that will be unveiled at 3 p.m.
An invitation is extended to family and friends of deceased members of the voluntary ambulance services from around Mayo to attend the unveiling ceremony on Saturday afternoon.