Templemore brothers meet their Canberra cousin thanks to Facebook

At a recent gathering in the Templemore Arms the Gleeson brothers, Paddy, Mort and Joe, formerly 4 Lacey Avenue, met up with Lesa Coleman from Canberra. It was through Facebook that Lesa made contact with Ronan Loughnane when he spotted a reference she had made to letters written in Barrack Street in 1910 which give a fascinating insight into life in the town at that time. The author of the letters, Charles Gill, was writing to his brother Denis (Lesa's great grand-father) in Australia. Denis had emigrated from Barrack Street in 1890. And as the story unfolded it emerged that Charles Gill was grand-father to the Gleeson boys as his daughter Margaret was their mother. And as it happened both Lesa and the Gleesons were staying in the Arms on Monday night Sept. 10th. And to our delight Lesa produced the original letters, along with the rosary beads that Denis Gill brought with him as he headed into the great unknown 128 years ago. A great evening was had by all as we were joined by CJ D'Estelle-Roe and Kevin Marnell with many great memories recalled. With kind permission from Lesa the letters will be reproduced in full for this year's edition of the Templemore Clonmore Killea annual review which will be on sale in the lead up to Christmas. You'll have to buy it to read them.