Thurles St Patrick's Day parade 2019 is a great success

The Thurles St. Patrick's Day Parade 2019 went off without a hitch and with a great weather to enjoy and some blue skies above, we had a huge variety of groups and some exciting new entrants to entertain the waiting crowds. There was a small animal farm at lower Liberty Square and a complete funfair at Ulster Bank Carpark to entertain those coming into Liberty Square for the festivities.

The Thurles Silver Band and Jim O'The Mills traditional group warmed up the crowd prior to the start of the parade and gave the crowd an eclectic mix of traditional music to enjoy.

The Parade M.C. Evelyn Nevin announced our very special guest Michael Long of Cabragh Wetlands, well known environmentalist and advocate for green issues which was central to our parade theme this year of our environment and the issue of plastic pollution in our oceans

The National Anthem played by the Thurles Silver Band in Liberty Square heralded the start of the parade and Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly formally opened proceedings with a blessing.

The Reserve Defence Forces lead by Lieutenant Michael Black, flanked by Sgt. Tommy Mockler and Sgt. J.J. Tierney carried the Tricolour proudly into the town centre.

The United Nations Veterans were followed by the Sean Treacy Pipe band who provided another excellent performance for the crowd to enjoy, next a very special appearance this year by St Patrick himself in splendid robes and mitre having already taken Littleton by storm as the one and only, Joe Dolan, and our ex-servicemen O.N.E. followed with military precision carrying the banners of their units.

The Thurles Fire Brigade arrived in red splendour, followed by the Civil Defence and Order of Malta and appreciated by the crowd for the work they do for us.

Dúrlas Óg marched in with joy and exuberance, the youth wing of the G.A.A. in Thurles chaperoned by their trainers and guardians and followed by our very own Olympians from Thurles Special Olympics.

Cabragh Wetlands provided a float with their very talented musicians to entertain the crowd and some walking too showing us their skills and followed by brilliant Tipperary Warriors, a newly formed team of young people who like to stay fit and active and regularly travel the country competing in sporting events for the disabled, Tipperary Warriors want it known that they cover all of Tipperary and they were warmly acknowledged by the crowd, Gaelscoil Durlas Eile embraced the parade theme with their float and gave us a sea monster to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution in our oceans and this was a whole school effort and a fantastic achievement so very well done Gaelscoil.

The Dance Academy of Performing Arts added colour and hip hop and jazz and a brilliant performance at the viewing stand for our distinguished guests and the crowd gathered to enjoy, they showed their grace, skill and athletics honed by months of practice to yet more amazement of the onlookers, delighted to show their appreciation in continued applause.

Refresh Thurles attended for the first time and joined our parade with Poseidon on display to highlight our parade theme of plastic pollution in our oceans and very much in keeping with their own work around maintaining a healthy urban environment and keeping it clean.

Thurles Gaels Juveniles GAA Club made another enthusiastic participation in our parade and came into the square with an air of excitement, buzzing from the group of young athletes and their mentors, these are the stars of tomorrow, with great potential to play on a bigger stage in time to come.

The C.J. Kickham Brass & Reid Band played with their usual professional flair, livening up the tarmac of the town much to the delight of the guests and the gathered audience and we appreciate their attendance at our parade each year and their brilliant renditions and look forward to many more parades. AQS Environmental attended our parade with a collection of their vehicles showcasing their work in helping clean up the environment and in keeping with the parade theme of Team Green goes Theme Green 2019, we had a collection of tractors from North Tipperary Vintage club and always great to see them still making an appearance and staying going, they face a herculean task each year keeping these old workhorses going so well done to Tipperary Vintage for another successful parade, the weather was perfect and the rain stayed away so our little red sports car could participate with the roof down and the wind blowing through.

Last, but never least, was Coolmoyne Vintage Group with their float based on a theme of Ireland Past and Ireland now, to highlight the difficult position rural Ireland is in today and the demise of rural Ireland as they see it from the perspective of a rural Ireland community. The youngest on the float was only 6 years old and the oldest participant was 86 so a true community effort from old and young.

The Thurles St. Patrick's Parade Committee would like to thank all our sponsors who made the 2019 parade possible, local support means everything and without it we cannot put together a pararde so many thanks.