Agenda/Events

Byrne Reunion
Kilcar, County Donegal
August 2005

Activity Schedule

Day/Date Time Activity

Thursday 4th August 9pm -Welcoming committee
John Joe Byrne’s Bar in Kilcar - Followed by Traditional Night
(same venue)

Friday 5th August 7pm 8:30/9pm - Blessing of the graves in Kilcar
followed by a buffet, and craic in the
Bluehaven, Kilcar (20 Euros per person
cash bar)



Saturday 6th August TBC Choices of the Day

- Climb Slieve League

- Boat trip to Rathlin O’Bryne
Island from Dooneen Pier

- Mountain trip to Glen Lough to
where the painter Rockwell Kent did
Painting of same of same by Christy
Gillespie (Bring mountain shoes)

- Surfing in Bundoran (Gear for hire on
site)


Sunday 7th August 11am Mass at the Bogagh House followed by a Barbeque session! Bogagh/Byrne family
farm.


Monday 8th August - Relax and enjoy the beaches

- Golfing(NEED TO KNOW NUMBERS IN ADVANCE)
Portnoo


The Big Night is Friday night. First we will attend the Blessing of the Graves at the St. Cartha Cemetery at 7 p.m. For the Blessing, we all stand at the place of burial of your great great grandparents and great grandparents. The Blessing is held on the first Friday of August every year, and this beautiful cemetery is filled with people from all over. All of your cousins will be there. I have been to the Cemetery Blessing a few times and it is always very moving. Mass is celebrated at an outdoor altar and the priest walks about and bless the graves. On one of my research trips to Kilcar I found the handwritten St. Cartha Burial Book from 1846, the year the cemetery was created. Your great great grandfather was one of the first to purchase a site. At the start of the book is the history of the parish; next each section is shown with a grid for each grave site and you can locate your relatives’ place from this. We will stand at the site where Laughlin, Catherine, Michael and Mary – your great great and great grandparents - are buried. On the same site are your great aunt and uncle Francis and Mary Byrne.



At 8:30 p.m., after the Blessing of the Graves, the big party will be at the Blue Haven and a “Craic” (Irish for a good time) will be had. The cost is 20 euroes per person cash bar. Poetry will be read and one person from each original Byrne family will speak about their ancestor. I will say a few words about Connell Byrne. Some of our younger cousins are champion dancers and I understand they will perform. There are also some fiddlers and other musicians in the crowd and I believe they will perform, too. But most of all, we will all get to know each other and hopefully I can introduce my Yankee nieces and nephews and cousins to our born in Ireland family.



In addition to the items on the agenda for Saturday, I want to make arrangements to take any of you interested to the homes of our family on the Bogagh Road. The Doherty home is exactly the same and the McShane home is new as of 1960 but the original cottage is in the back with the original rooms exposed. Our cousin, Hugh Byrne and his wife Maryann live on Bogagh Road in Strateel Townland. Hugh’s aunt and my father were first cousins and were very close to my parents. They came to parties at our home all the time.



On Sunday, the Byrne family is having a Mass at the Bogagh Home, which is the home of the Byrne family since the early 1840’s. Afterwards, the Byrne family cousins are putting on a barbeque at this home. It will be our final time together for this trip for some of us. The original home is gone, but a beautiful new home is in its place and the old barn is still there.



Here is some information on the golf course: Portnoo Golf Course is about 5 miles beyond Ardara, and about 15 miles from Glencolumkille. The phone number is (074) 954 5107. Michael Gillespie, who is the current Club Captain, will give you all the information you require on the club. If you want to call from the States, it would be 011 353 74 954 5107.



Please everyone: email your address, email, and telephone number, and full name of yourself, spouse, and children with dates of birth for all. Please also send information on your parents with date of decease, if they are deceased. Please use maiden name for all of the women.