ON FRIDAY night, we headed for the YDC where a special retirement party was taking place for four members of the Dundalk Fire Service who had amassed a staggering 120 years service between them.

Brendan Thompson from Cluan Enda, Kieran Carroll from St. Nicholas Avenue, Eugene Quinn from The Bush and Damian Devlin from Drumcar were being honoured by their workmates and a huge crowd had turned up especially for the celebrations.

Brendan Thompson told me he had finished 24 years with the service and was looking forward to keeping busy with various projects now that he has retired.

He was there with his wife Georgina and kids Trevor and Wesley.

I then headed over for a chat with Eugene Quinn from Bush, Riverstown, who told me it was time to let some of the younger members of the service to shine and he was going to be concentrating on his golf!

He was there with Theresa and his children Lisa and Kerry, sons-in-law, Peter Cunningham from Knockbridge and Gerard Devlin from Darver, and his sisters Frances and Martina, who were with their husbands Owen and Paddy, and Theresa's sister Freda Adamson, who were all looking forward to a piece of the fire tender shaped cake!

I then got talking to two lads who had travelled from Donegal to be there on the night. They were Bob Mcmenamin and Kevin Muldoon who were enjoying the company of Chief Fire Officer Eamonn Woulfe, who told me the lads had actually finished back in November but this was the first time they could have an official party for them.

I met Paddy and Mary Donnelly from Belfry Gardens, who

were with Rose and Clem Bailey from Chapel Street. Next I headed over for a chat with Catriona Rooney from Saltown who was with Mark Watters from Avenue Road and Paddy Lawless from Carlingford and Mark told me he was looking forward to getting stuck into the cake, as was Paul Mceneaney from Glenwood.

Right beside them, I then caught up with Station Officer Michael Donnelly who was enjoying the proceedings with Senior Assistant Chief Fire Officer in Cavan Michael Doyle and Station Officer from Belturbet John Flynn. They told me they were there to support Kieran, who had been involved in running training courses all round the country and was responsible for opening up the Training School in Dundalk. Michael told me that the lads have over 120 years service and it is like losing your right arm now that they

have gone!

After this, I headed over for a chat with Corina and Michael Mcgeown from Blackrock and Corina told me they are all great officers and will be sorely missed.

I then got a word with Kieran Carroll from St. Nicholas Avenue who told he has been with the service for 33 years and is now really looking forward to his time off. He said that walking and swimming are only two of the activities he'll be enjoying in the future years, but grandkids would also feature heavily too. Kieran was there with wife Ann and kids Eveleen, Josephine, Liam, Claire and Michelle.

I met sisters Josephine and Claire Carroll from St. Nicholas Avenue, and one man who was very helpful to me on the night was Colm O'hanrahan from Point Road who was with his wife Tracey.

He told me he'd be sad to see them go, he had been blown up with one and the rest were great mechanics!

He was with Bernard and Maria Freeman from Belfry Avenue and Bernard told me that Kieran had been his instructor when he started and would certainly be missed.

I bumped into Don Larkin from Cluan Enda and his son Tallon just as they arrived and, after, this I caught up with Vinny and Audrey Duffy from Manydown Close who were there with Brian and Mary Duffy from Belfry Gardens. Vinny said that now that the lads were gone, the ship was rudderless!

Finally, before we departed I caught up with Kevin Cunningham from Belfry Drive and Paul Byrne from Dunmor who have 26 years service between them and they wanted to wish all the best to the lads in their retirement.