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John Arnold

John Arnold

Evening Echo

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As the bells tolled for Durcan, I toiled with the hay, recalling his wonderful poem

We were turning the hay last Thursday at high noon, no panic and no rain, until Friday at least - it never came Friday, nor Saturday either, just a...

30.05.2025 10

Evening Echo

John Arnold

Farewell to our beloved puss - a farmyard cat like no other

Our sheepdog Murph never liked cats. I suppose ’twouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he actually hated cats - all cats! We got Murph as a pup...

24.10.2024 3

Evening Echo

John Arnold

The night a pig really flew on drive home from GAA victory

While I’d be a hurling man myself, as a life-long GAA member I have a great grá for Gaelic football too. Back in the 1880s, when there was a bit of...

17.10.2024 10

Evening Echo

John Arnold

You’ll never guess which Cork ditty I sang in Pompeii arena!

I’m not sure if Pavarotti, Mario Lanza or Enrico Caruso ever sang solo in the amphitheatre in Pompeii. But only last week I got my chance in the...

10.10.2024 2

Evening Echo

John Arnold

Cork community revive harvest festival in bid to keep parish hall open

I was asked just this week by a person from the northern part of the county: “Did you ever hear of the Bartlemy Thrasher?” The strange thing was, I...

03.10.2024 4

Evening Echo

John Arnold

A master storyteller who had a wonderful way with words

The gift of bilocation - the ability to be in two places at once - would be great, but I’ve not yet acquired it! Usually, I get a diary around...

26.09.2024 6

Evening Echo

John Arnold

An uplifting experience, being close to St Bernadette in Cork

’Twas Karl Marx that said ‘religion is the opium of the people’, and on first glance it seemed as though the German thinker was just plain anti-...

19.09.2024 5

Evening Echo

John Arnold

Tales as Gaeilge, of forts, fields and Blonde Sheila of the Knife

Is maith liom an Gaeilge, and I speak it any chance I get. Yes, I have a great grá for our native tongue, though I could never get the hang of...

12.09.2024 6

Evening Echo

John Arnold

Sorry, lads, this will always be the All-Ireland Final weekend!

I dreamt all last night Oh, bad ’cess to my dreaming I’d die if I thought would come surely to pass I dreamt while the tears down my pillow were...

05.09.2024 2

Evening Echo

John Arnold

Cork community undertake marathon fund-raising cycle in memory of friend 

Cliff Richard had a huge hit one time with a song entitled The Young Ones. It contains a beautiful line ‘Once in every lifetime, comes a love like...

29.08.2024 2

Evening Echo

John Arnold

Brave Irish citizens who died in pursuit of a fairer society

Is there really such a thing as a just war? Can violence be sometimes or never justified? Was it the bould Daniel O’Connell that said, ‘No...

15.08.2024 2

Evening Echo

John Arnold

90 today, a Cork Olympian and a horse rider par excellence

The Munich Olympic Games of 1972 are unfortunately remembered by many because of terrorism and killing rather than any athletic prowess. What is...

01.08.2024 2

Evening Echo

John Arnold

Sheer bliss... carefree summer days in West Cork with my beloved grandchildren

We never went on family holidays back in the days of my youth. I’m not saying that in any ‘poor mouth’ manner - no, back in the 1960s and early...

25.07.2024 1

Evening Echo

John Arnold

This old fox is hoping Sunday will bring real happiness to all

I DO wonder sometimes do people take life too seriously? Don’t get me wrong now, I know this world can well and truly be described as a ‘vale of...

18.07.2024 2

Evening Echo

John Arnold