Dear Madame Editor
I was in Dublin in August last year and while I was away my August ‘NewsFour’ arrived and my daughter put it away and forgot to tell me. I just found it today and enjoyed reading it cover to cover.

On Page 22 is a story about Ringsend chapel. Reading Jimmy’s story I felt I was walking in chapel myself, so thanks Jimmy a beautiful story about somewhere I called into every evening on my way home from Arnotts where I worked.

Is Jimmy Purdy the same man who worked with my late husband Gerry Lynch as I would love to know? Also Page 27 has a Photo of 1945 school children’s first communion, I’m sure the little boy second row is a boy named Michael Sheridan who lived next door to my mammy in Coast Guard Station, Pidgeon House Rd. His grandparents’ name was Stapleton, his mom’s name Maggie. I’m sure it’s him, even if it’s 55 years since I came to Melbourne I knew his face right away.

This ‘NewsFour’ paper is so great for people like myself who live so far from home. When reading it I always feel I’m there in good old Ringsend. So thanks to you for all for your good news, it means a great deal to me and many others whom I pass it on to.
J Lynch,
Melbourne,
Australia

Dear Madame Editor
I enjoyed very much James O’Doherty’s article on cherry blossoms in your last publication. Indeed I have enjoyed all his contributions to date in your excellent newspaper.

I wonder If James can tell us anything about our own Sandymount Green. I have often wondered why it is not utilised more and when it came about etc. I am sure that James has something in his vast knowledge of Dublin Parks and landscapes about this amenity on our own doorstep.

I wish you continued success with ‘NewsFour’, it’s a great asset to our local community. I send a copy of every publication to my brother in Canada and he feels like he’s still among us when he reads it each time.
Thomas Maher,
Durham Road,
Sandymount

Dear Madam Editor
I am an Australian living in New Zealand, seeking information about my Irish antecedents.
When Robert Wentworth Wade died in 1870 in Sandymount his death notice appeared in two southern New Zealand newspapers. He was my great great grandfather, who with his wife Annie Gibbons lived in Pembroke Street, Irishtown. I do not know anything about Annie or when she died.

I only know of two sons, Frederick Wentworth Wade born about 1838 and Robert Wentworth Wade born about 1842. Both carved names for themselves in NZ. Frederick, who probably left home at an early age and was said to have been a midshipman, went first to Australia and then to Invercargill on the southern tip of NZ where he eventually became one of the city fathers, and a practising solicitor and barrister. Robert turned up some 10 years later on the wild west coast of NZ where he was an accountant and auctioneer and the Mayor of Hokitika in 1896-8.

Both brothers married Irishwomen in NZ, but only Frederick had children, whose descendants are now scattered around Australia and NZ. Frederick died in 1912 and Robert in 1903.
Would any readers have knowledge of the Wade or Gibbons families? One of Frederick’s obituaries said he was connected to the Clonebraney Wades but I have been unable to prove this.
I would welcome correspondence from readers - my e-address is ciotach@paradise.net.nz.
Nancy Gibb

Dear Madam Editor
As a former resident of Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount, I follow with great interest the proposal by the Dublin City Council to have an incinerator installed in the Poolbeg area.
No doubt, we have to have some efficient method in dealing with the vast amount of ‘left overs’, refuse and natural waste that our consumer society generates. In my days in Dublin 4 this was not such a big problem as Dublin and Ireland were not such huge consumers.

Waste management is now a very big industry in Western society and Ireland is considered a very big country if not population-wise then in spending and consuming. Before rushing to the merits of having or not having an incinerator in the Poolbeg area, we could examine the pros and cons of the proposals.

A little bit of history about Dublin 4 would not be amiss. I was born on Irishtown Road in 1934, when the Dublin City Council was beginning to off-load all the waste of Dublin on to the Strand at Irishtown. So for many years the residents of Dublin 4 had to endure the obnoxious smells from both the ‘Dumps’ as the waste disposal area became known, and the sewage plant down at the Pigeon House.

This sewage was the effluent from all of Dublin. The scenario had to be lived through to appreciate and understand what was happening. Here we had trucks trundling through our town and these trucks and lorries were all open, not like the modern ones. The filth and dirt had to be seen to be believed. Then you had the seagulls all feeding on the waste.

It was quite a scene and this went on for decades. The people of Dublin 4 were the salt of the earth and were not ones to complain. Anyway there were very few alternatives. That was then and this is now and now is the time to move the “whole process forward” to borrow a phrase from our politicians.

Where can we put the incinerator? I’m sure our political parties in the area will have some good insights. Off the top of my head I could think of a few. Howth, St Anne’s Park, Lambay Island, the Phoenix Park, I’m sure there are plenty of other areas that would be willing to take their share of the burden. But Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount have all done more than their share and it’s now time for concerned others to get a chance. Dublin 4 is lucky to have good Residents Associations and there are of course the political parties. They will be very anxious to be seen to be involved with a General Election looming.
Best wishes
Bro. Martin J.Murphy S.J.
Jesuit Mission Office Dublin 1

Dear Madam Editor
I wonder if any of your readers would know of the address of Ann Cummins (maiden name) who lived at 4 Serpentine Road until the early fiftes. She was last heard of in London in 1989. I would like to contact her.
Dick Pollard
(rapollard@xnet.co.nz)