A wild and wet night in Foxford, we will have a big flood after this. I’m happy to report that we have visited a local stream and witnessed good numbers of salmon heading up to spawn. I also seen a video clip of sea trout running another tributary. Some of the Salmon we saw were very vulnerable so its good that this rain will get them moving. This clip sent to our club Whatsapp group shows just how vulnerable they were. The video is not mine and I hope Brendan you didn’t mind me using it, i’m pretty sure the fish will have moved by now.
The Murphy Memorial Table
I have mentioned in the past the importance of Angling clubs or more importantly, Your involvement in a local angling club. Having a club is great, but for the club to succeed, thrive and exist it needs active members who work together, for the good club, its members, and the wider community. I am fortunate to be involved in a little angling club in Foxford. The club holds five or six angling competitions each season which are more of an excuse to go fishing as opposed to what one might consider competition. There is the build up to the day, the day itself, fishing, chatting, lunch and there is always the prize giving in the evening. All a bit of fun, the prizes are not large and for most members it is a matter of taking part. We have an annual “Away trip,” normally to a put and take fishery sometime after the game season has ended and we have monthly meetings. Its at these monthly meetings we make our plans which include the aforementioned activities along with projects we want to do or things we would like to see done. In recent years we have been involved in placing some anglers’ shelters on Lough Conn and some memorial tables on the shore which serve as memorials to friends of the club and as very nice places to meet and enjoy a break during a day’s fishing. The most recent table we placed was the Jimmy and Bridget Murphy memorial table.
A lot of you will know the Murphy family, Gerry Murphy still runs the family boat hire business which was set up by his late father Jimmy. Jimmy and Bridget lived on the shore of Lough Conn and were very much a part of the angling scene there. I don’t think there is an angler who fished from Gilaroo bay that Jimmy did not help in some manner, myself included. I remember on many occasions when I was younger and working as a boatman (with a very dodgy outboard motor) there were several mornings where Jimmy gave me the use of one of his 4hp Johnsons. He would wisely remind me that if the day was too rough for the 4hp then it was too rough to be on the Lough, “Anything bigger is like bringing a bus to mass”. I could never fully figure out that one but I knew it was good advice.
Not surprisingly that when the Foxford Angling club decided that the Massbrook shore on Lough Conn was a good location to place a picnic table (the most popular lunch location had the shelter of a tree but just a few stones to sit on) then the obvious name to go on it was Jimmy Murphy who had Passe away in August 2021. Jimmys wife Bridget was still alive at this point. All the normal procedures were followed and boxes ticked, talk to the family, talk to the land owner, consult with fisheries and other authorities, fund raise, purchase and place the table with a plaque, then prepare for the unveiling. All easier said than done and it all takes time. For several reason which were out of our control, unfortunately, this one took long enough for Bridget to have passed away also.
A quick discussion at a meeting and it was decided to approach the Murphy family and see if they would like or mind if we dedicated the picnic table to the memories of both Jimmy and Bridget. It did not take long for Gerry to consult with other family members and come back with a positive reply. Once again plans were made to unveil the table along with the Murphy family. May failed due to bad weather as did August when a gale hit at the last minute. September was too busy so it was decided to have the official unveiling in early October.
Finally, on the 12th of October it happened. The day started of with large black clouds and a freshening westerly wind. We had agreed to meet on the Massbrook shore at 2pm and as I loaded the boat an hour earlier there was a shower of hailstones. Were we going to have to postpone again ?. A few of us set off in advance to check it out and prepare the area. We motored the ten minutes from Gliaroo bay to the Masbrook shore and I do not think any of us could believe it when we arrived to rays of sun on the table and the shore illuminated. It was like we had arrived in a different country; the sun was shining.
At 2pm we were joined by the Murphy family and more club members. The table was unveiled by the youngest member of the family, a few words on behalf of the club, a few words on behalf of the family, a minutes silence and a lament on the tin whistle followed by tea, coffee sandwiches and sweet cake, a Toast and back across the Lough. All this with the sun still shining. At 4pm I was strapping the boat on the trailer, the wind blew down from Neiphin, the Lough was white and the rain battered of the ground around me. It took us a while to finish this project but we all stuck with it until the end, id even go as far as to say that the people whose memory is honoured gave a helping hand on the day, someone was looking down on us.
