HOLIDAYS in IRELAND

My dear friend Cliff standing beside the bronze figures of Annie Moore and her two little brothers on the quayside at the port of Cobh in Cork. It was from here that they left for the New World in 1892 and became the first three people to register at Ellis Island. Annie was only fifteen years of age and it is hard to imagine just how difficult it must have been for her with the responsibility of minding her two little brothers on such a journey into the unknown. Vast numbers of our Irish ancestors had embarked from Cobh in the years preceding this and many of them were never heard of again, sadly to say. Many however did stay in touch and at this time of the year sent welcome parcels of gifts home, clothing especially, along with some dollars for their parents. Needless to say this was a great help to the poverty stricken people of Ireland.
Now once again we have many people leaving our country to find employment abroad and they will be sadly missed at home this Christmas. To all of them we send our best wishes and ensure them of our prayers at this special time. Let us hope and pray that we can get this country back on track once again so that we can bring them all home in the not too distant future. To those of you in the USA who want to help bring this about, make sure that you support this cause by buying Irish where you can. We do produce the best of many different products and, contributing in this way, you will help to create new jobs here in Ireland.
Horse breeding and horse racing are major businesses in Ireland and our horses are second to none and renowned for their quality the world over. The Christmas race meeting at Leopardstown, where there will be four days of fantastic steeplechase and hurdle(over the jumps) racing over the fences,begins on St Stephens day. We do not use the term "Boxing Day" here as the day after Christmas is the feast of the martyr Saint Stephen. Thousands of people will forget all about the recession as they head for the racecourse hoping to make a fortune. One way or another they will have a great time.
A cold Kinvara (my own town) on a Winters evening.

It may be cold, but that will not affect the Christmas celebrations as we leave all our cares behind and celebrate this special time of the year by giving thanks for all that we have, for the dear friends we have in foreign lands, family members and old and new friends, for the new friends we will make in the coming year, as we look forward with renewed hope, as our ancestors did many years ago when they left our shores with nothing to lose.
I send all my love and best wishes to all my own family members in the USA and to the many wonderful friends i have had the good fortune to meet through my business. To those coming to me in the coming year i send a "Cead Mile Failte" , a hundred thousand welcomes, and just want you to know that i am looking forward to showing you this wonderful country which never needed money growing trees to make it beautiful. I am fortunate to be in the position to do what i do and i honestly believe that,if ytou are in the position where you can afford to come and see Ireland for yourselves, then "get on your bike" and make it soon.
To you i can only say, "what are you waiting for? "
If i can help in any way just contact me.

dovechauffeurdrive@gmail.com

Happy Christmas, and may the New Year be kind to you all.

Your friend in Ireland
Dave