An Overseas Excursion

Collooney Bicentennial

by Angela Parker

I've been to places with better weather. I've had weekends with more sleep, but I've never received a warmer welcome anywhere than I did from the people of Collooney in Western Ireland. It is more than 25 years since I last went to Ireland, possibly because of the Troubles but more probably because of the annual search for hot sun and cheap drink, the way one does. I certainly won't leave it so long before I return. Re-enactors - Odd looking people with bulky luggage were arriving at Dublin airport all through the Friday and, whatever problems may have been encountered with muskets, swords and drums at airports on departure, the authorities at Dublin just chucked everything out on the baggage carousel without question! We all managed to meet up in the bar for a quick Guinness while waiting for the last few flights to come in and it was a multi-lingual busload that set out that evening. It would have been nice to see something of the countryside but by then it was getting dark and the main road across the country is a narrow unlit country lane. On a three hour coach ride we only went through three or four large villages and met practically no traffic. It was strange to know that I was in a foreign country, using different money and yet I was speaking English and more or less understanding the replies I got. Our urgent questions to our bus driver went along the lines of "was there a chip shop in Collooney , what time did it close and would the pub still be open?" An emphatic yes to both questions put our minds at rest; for future reference the chip shop stayed open until 2am and the pub never did seem to close. We arrived at the Teeling Sports Centre about 10.30 and dumped our bags in a suitable spot and headed off for the pub (I never did find out its name). The rest of the contingent was there crammed in with the locals and the remainder of the evening was spend catching up on news and greeting old friends. Saturday morning dawned dark and wet. It wasn't just raining, it was throwing it down. The cavalry went off to meet their mounts about 8am and were drenched before they got there. Everyone else was to meet up at The Glebe to make cartridges at about 11. This being Ireland, the Garda and the Army had taken the powder in to safe keeping on arrival and spent most of the morning "discussing" with the commanders the format of the battle and how many cannon they were going to allow on the field. An amicable agreement was at last achieved and despite the downpours which arrived promptly every half hour, (hailstones coming at you horizontally is an interesting experience!) we set off to the battlefield. The incentive to get us through the weather was that lunch was being served in the army marquee at the top of the hill. Slipping and sliding up the hill in my new dress was just about enough to ruin it; I still can't believe that I didn't even consider it might rain! It was amazing how many people suddenly appeared from out of the gloom to watch the battle re-enactment. An interesting encounter on both days with the NA forces being splendidly supported by groups of local re-enactors who had gone to great trouble to play their part. The British were particularly fortunate to be boosted by a number of enthusiastic pikemen. As Ed said English civil war re-enactment command experience came in useful here even though the insulation tape holding the cardboard pike heads got so wet that they kept falling off - but no one really noticed. In keeping with the events of 1798 , the timely intervention of Colonel Teeling heralded the victory of the French and their Irish allies over the British and Irish coalition forces. Congratulations to the British and French artillery, the stars of this particular show keeping up a non stop barrage throughout the battle and the splendid Irish yeomany Cavalry who provided the opposition for the always impressive Hussars de la Mort. The Irish army insisted that all powder had to be discharged during the battle and all muskets had to be handed in for transport to their barracks for safe keeping overnight. Trying to get some men away from their wives would have been easier than taking away their firearms! That evening, the Teeling Centre looked like a refugee camp full of bedraggled soldiers and their womenfolk. Pretty authentic really, except for the nylon sleeping bags and air beds. Hot showers and the central heating did much to revive us all and after a superb hot meal served up the Army practically everyone decamped to the pub where we engaged in a singing battle, Dutch/French on one side, Brits on the other. It was a credit to both sides that the moral tone of the songs did not degenerate too far. With perhaps the exception of The Moose song Lyrics are out of print – sorry!) which really seemed to catch on and I think has probably now become the Collooney Anthem. We found later that this is perhaps more than appropriate that would at first appear – the animal on a 1-punt coin is an antlered beast – possibly a Moose? By Sunday morning it had stopped raining and thanks to the heating most uniforms had more or less dried out, shoes were still a bit damp, but then so was the ground! We were scheduled to meet at the battlefield at 2pm so after another delicious meal from the army we trudged our squelchy way back up the village and prepared for battle. Yet again the French/Irish won, my dear husband was killed (aah!) but he recovered in time to join everyone else for a great tea in the village hall where yet another impromptu singing session started. The locals looked on in amazement as one by one these guys in soldiers uniforms climbed on their chairs to sing the Sunshine Mountain song, until the whole hall was singing their hearts out. I don't think they had ever seen anything like it. That evening we decided to try a different pub and were rewarded by the landlady offering us sandwiches at 11 o'clock at night and tea or coffee while Arthur played us a selection on the pipes. Ed says he will always remember the sight of me sitting in an Irish pub surrounded by Guinness glasses, drinking tea from a china cup at 11 at night. Then it was over to the Irish musicians and I think we would have tried dancing if we had had the space. Is this perhaps why the Irish dance with their arms by their sides? There's no room to do anything else. It was an early night for us (2am) the bus was leaving for the airport at 4.45 the next morning and the night was cut even shorter by our being awakened at 4am by the Collooney Committee just in case we missed it. Several of them had come out at that terrible time on a Monday morning to wish us farewell and thank us for a successful weekend and to ask us to return at any time. If we were to make ourselves known to them as re-enactors who were there in September 98 we would be welcomed with open arms. I can tell you that's quite some welcome. Thank you Collooney. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #44 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com