“I was there!”

Throughout our individual journey on this wee Island of green there will be many, many events that you will look back on in your own life’s history and remember fondly and then there are those seminal events that you might just have been lucky enough to be part of to be able to say to your family, children, grandchildren and friends that “I was there!”

Max Boyce, the Welsh comedian, entertainer and singer, would reminisce about being in the old Cardiff Arms Park watching his beloved Welsh rugby team sweeping all before them and creating many a rugby legend in the process. Max would recall these days in his shows, on television, and retell the associated stories around him being at such great matches that are now part of rugby folklore.

Luckily, in my short life I have been extremely fortunate to have been at a number of events that I too can proudly say “I was there!”

1990 Grand Slam

On the 17^th March 1990 a brilliantly dogged Scottish rugby team walked very slowly onto “God’s Golden Acre”, in Murrayfield, lead by the brilliant Captain that was David Sole. This was also the very first occasion that we sang “Flower of Scotland” as our own rugby anthem. Despite not being given one iota of a chance, by any of the national media and rugby pundits, a certain boyish Tony Stanger scampered down the right wing to score the games only try and by the end of the 80 minutes Scotland were Grand Slam Champions and “I was there!”

To mark this, our only third ever Grand Slam, I commemorated the occasion with a tattoo so that I could, every weekend and at every training session thereafter, annoy all my English rugby playing teammates, at the various clubs I played for in and around London.

I was also very lucky to have been invited to take part in the historic occasion that was the visit of Elizabeth II Regina to Ireland. Better still I was invited to meet and greet her in the Dublin Convention Centre along with other members of Irish business and various sporting stars. I duly travelled to Dublin, suitably dressed in my beloved kilt, and was part of this momentous occasion that befitted this modern day Ireland that we now live in. Who would have thought that this was at all possible when I first came to Ireland in the year 2001.

This was perhaps one of those one off events that truly deserved the phrase “I was there!”

Only a few years on from this event I was once again counting my blessings to be invited to travel to Dublin to take part in the 1916 Centenary Commemorations, this time as a member of the hard working voluntary group that is the 1848 Tricolour Celebration Committee.

In many ways being asked to be outside the GPO on such a significant occasion was very humbling. To be part of my adopted Nation’s remembrance of the 1916 Rising and the events that ultimately created the Ireland we now live in was to say the very least a great honour and something I will never ever forget.

GPO Dublin 27 March 2016

There are very few opportunities to be a part of an historic event and there are even fewer opportunities to attend such an event as a guest of the State. I am sure that every member of the Tricolour Committee felt the same way as I did as we sat outside the GPO. We would also attend all the events in Dublin Castle later that evening.

A substantial Waterford contingent was representing the City on Sunday the 27^th March. As we travelled back down the motorway I have no doubt that everyone who attended the historic event last Sunday will in future years be saying loudly and proudly “I was there!”

As a footnote, I always wanted to add to and refresh my Grand Slam tattoo but after 26 years I have failed miserably to do so. Maybe next year?

Nobody does it better!

Richard Kiel from The Spy Who Loved Me.

Last weekend Waterford City hosted the sixth annual 1848 Tricolour Celebration event and I am very proud that as one of the hard working voluntary Committee members I have taken the opportunity to write, this week, about the huge effort, commitment and sacrifice given to this event by a relatively small Committee of nine and a half good men and women of Waterford (well Scotland for me if the truth be told!).

Over the last twelve months this group have been working tirelessly away in the meeting rooms of The Granville Hotel, to deliver not only the annual gala dinner, historic talks, schools programme and Flag Raising ceremony but the programme was expanded this year to acknowledge the very important 1916 Commemoration in a way that will NOT be replicated anywhere else in Ireland during this year.

This committed band of brothers and sisters produced a weekend's worth of events that could have graced any national event calendar and in recognition of the magnitude of the professionalism of the events delivered our Waterford City held centre stage with our national broadcaster on Saturday evening on both of the main news bulletins. It is these small wins and PR opportunities that are firing a warning shot across the bows of others cities that Waterford is not prepared to lie down and accept the occasional crumbs from the top table that are so often fed to us every now and again.

Great picture from Noel Browne.

Quite simply we want a bigger slice of the cake!

A summary of last weekend shows just what a significant programme this committee delivered. On Friday 4^th March 100 people, from 50 different nationalities, were naturalised as Irish Citizens, in City Hall, opposite the very spot where TF Meagher raised the first ever Irish Tricolour flag on 7^th March 1848.

On an unusually sunny afternoon, on Saturday 5^th March, 2,500 people watched as over 90 re-enactors staged the Easter Rising battle for the GPO, on The Mall, outside the Bishop’s Palace. This 40 minute historic re-enactment included forces from both side of the conflict and a period British armoured car with a Vickers and a Lewis machine gun. Whilst this event captured the public’s imagination the ticketed gala dinner that followed was really the corporate flag waving event that delivered the goods for Waterford City.

Over one hundred and fifty people attended the sell out gala dinner in The Granville Hotel. This event was attended by Mayor John Cummins, Ambassadors from the United States and Canadian Embassies, representatives from Government, members of the 69^th Infantry Division in New York, American film production companies, and 45 guests from the Twin Cities of Minnesota to name but a few. Keynote speakers were Vice Admiral Mark Mellett and Lt Col Sean M Flynn Commander of the 69^th Infantry Division New York, with musical accompaniment by the Island of Ireland Peace Choir and the Hounds of Fin.

The gala dinner was one of the best attended and certainly one of, if not the most positive, corporate events I have experienced in my time here in Waterford City. The City was sold to our guests in a glowing light and I am sure that no other City or committee could have put on such a noteworthy event.

Another action shot from Noel Browne.

On Sunday 6^th March the weekend’s events were wrapped up with the Flag Raising Ceremony on The Mall. Again this event was attended by a significant number of dignitaries and representative counties and despite some cold and damp weather, around 1200 people watched the proceedings and listened intently to the speeches. This event was supported in great numbers by local bands, the Civil Defence and of course the Waterford Naval Reserve providing all the pomp and ceremony which befitted such a symbolic event.

So Waterford City take a bow.

To the voluntary committee of Ann, Eddie, Paul, Janet, Mags, Jonathan, James, Cian and John you ALL played a blinder – roll on 2017!