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John Arnold

John Arnold

Evening Echo

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John Arnold: Dave was buried in England... but his home was always Cork

John Arnold: Dave was buried in England... but his home was always Cork

Walking slowly along the path, looking at all the names, all the Irish surnames, was a strange experience. I could have been at home in practically...

yesterday 10

Evening Echo

John Arnold

John Arnold: Can you really put a curse on someone or a place?

John Arnold: Can you really put a curse on someone or a place?

Can you really put a curse on someone, or on a family or a parish, a team or a whole county? Good question that, especially now in the after-glow of...

27.08.2026 20

Evening Echo

John Arnold

John Arnold: At an ancient Cork well, I took a moment to ponder and reflect

I’m not sure where I first heard of or read the Irish phrase ‘áit iargúlta’ - maybe it was in Seadna by An t-Athair Peadar. Anyhow, is cuma,...

20.08.2026 20

Evening Echo

John Arnold

John Arnold: Back to the future..thoughts from the summer of 2086

‘How do you mean -taking books to school? Did ye actually have real books made of paper in the house and went to a real school building-like we saw...

13.08.2026 20

Evening Echo

John Arnold

John Arnold: Imagine... we nearly got our own railway here in Bartlemy

I was only ten when the train to Fermoy from Mallow and on to Waterford ceased to operate. So ’twill be 60 years next March since the last train...

06.08.2026 30

Evening Echo

John Arnold

John Arnold: What’s this Tinder? I used to swipe right for The Siege Of Ennis...

Someone was trying to persuade me lately that I sang an incorrect version of one of my very own favourite Elvis songs. We had a heated argument, and...

23.07.2026 30

Evening Echo

John Arnold

John Arnold: My pilgrimage to Fatima left me pondering mysteries of life

One of the most famous paintings by the Italian artist Caravaggio is ‘The Calling of Saint Matthew’. Painted around the year 1600 for the...

16.07.2026 30

Evening Echo

John Arnold

John Arnold: ‘When we had cash, you had to cut your cloth to suit your measure’

Talking to children lately about money and cash, and notes and coins, you know, I felt as though they thought I was living close to Stone Age times....

09.07.2026 30

Evening Echo

John Arnold

John Arnold: At my last meeting with Sr Colette she said 'God might call me'

A 14-year-old girl walks through the fields on the farm with the sheepdog. She knows that these same fields and this farm could one day be hers. She...

02.07.2026 40

Evening Echo

John Arnold

John Arnold: Fond memories of Jim... who answered SOS when I was born

Now in my 70th year, every now and then I try to remember what I first remember! That may sound strange, and maybe it is; but it’s hard sometimes to...

28.05.2026 50

Evening Echo

John Arnold

Dick’s ashes brought home to Cork, to be scattered by his parents’ graves

There’s a famous story told about Daniel O’Connell and a man breaking stones by the roadside in 1829. The Liberator was heading home to Derrynane...

19.09.2025 50

Evening Echo

John Arnold

70 years a Brother... Dan has served God and the people well

There was a huge crowd at the Dungourney versus Lisgoold hurling game in Castlelyons last Sunday. After a rip-roaring match, the men from Jamesey...

12.09.2025 50

Evening Echo

John Arnold

Down the generations, locals long had a beef with our bull!

I find it hard to imagine that Tom Scanlan is dead over 30 years. Tom was 75 when he died suddenly in June, 1994 - at the time I was 37. Though close...

05.09.2025 50

Evening Echo

John Arnold

I wept at Croker, not for Cork’s loss, but for Tipp’s ‘16th man’

Well, people are just great, aren’t they? Ah yes, I cried in Croke Park last Sunday. My tears were not for the Cork team -they came to Dublin to win...

25.07.2025 40

Evening Echo

John Arnold