When a childhood hero made a dream come true in Cloonmore

When a childhood hero made a dream come true in Cloonmore


People and Places
Michael Commins

IT’S long way from Medicine Bow in Wyoming to the gentle lands of Cloonmore, but James Drury brought a touch of the Old West to our small country roads when he dropped by for a visit. The famous star of The Virginian series livened up a quiet day in the old heartland when he dropped by to say hello.
May Forkan had one of the first televisions in our village when we were growing up in the 1960s. And from the mid to late part of that decade, Friday nights in winter meant a journey of a few hundred yards up the small hill with the ice wavers in the potholes cracking beneath our feet and the shooting stars lighting up a silent sky.
The Virginian was the highlight of our week and we were transported to another world where cowboys were our heroes and where good always won the day. We didn’t know it then but this was the golden era of the western genre. Life was hard in the Old West and, like the Yukon, it too had its own tough code as many lived on the margins in those far-off days. Danger breeds awareness and in dangerous country, it is an essential commodity.
The neighbours gathered in Forkin’s house and May always made the tea. No matter how many youngsters watched The Virginian and Trampas and all the cast, we never left without the tea and the bread and the biscuits. She was a gentle soul and one of a lovely generation of Irish people who gave us an appreciation of the simple things that matter most in life.
It would have been beyond our comprehension back then to think that some day, the man who played the role of The Virginian in front of our very eyes would grace our small village of Cloonmore, that lies in the northern-most reaches of Claremorris parish and bordering Kiltimagh, with his presence.
But truth truly can sometimes be stranger than fiction and on Monday, August 4, 2008, James Drury stood in the very same kitchen where 40 years earlier myself and the neighbours had gathered to watch him in his famous cowboy outfit run the show in faraway Wyoming. It was a deeply emotional occasion as Paddy and Margaret Forkin welcomed us into the very room where all those years ago we sat entranced by the life of the American cowboys in that magnificent television series that outshone them all.
Just down the road, my mother Patricia was delighted to welcome James to the village. As the most senior citizen of this part of Cloonmore, she was well aware of the special occasion. Not everyday we have limousine-driven (thanks to Cyril O’Neill) celebrities passing through Cloonmore! James and his wife Carl Anne spent a pleasant quarter of an hour or so at my old homeplace as we all shared memories from back the years. Showing a fine knowledge of cattle and horses, he chatted away with brother Seamus as his friend Eamon Finnerty and Tom Garvin from Claremorris swapped stories with my other brother Tommy about their days in the P&T in former times.
A mobile phone call alerts neighbour Michael Hyland that The Virginian is in the village. As the limo makes its way over the road, Michael and his wife Kathleen make their way down to the gate at the head of the road. “Feckin’ hell’s fire!” exclaims Michael as he throws his arms around James Drury. “I can’t believe it. The Virginian in our road! Christ almighty, I can’t believe it! We watched you as children. We loved The Virginian. It was our favourite show. Who could have thought you would ever come to Cloonmore and Cuiltybo!”
Earlier on his way through Ballyfarna and Dalton, we stopped for a quick photo with John Groarke and Jimmy Morley who were completely taken by surprise when James Drury stepped out of the limo. Memories are made of this!

Padraig alive to tell the tale…of his own unexpected demise


RUMOURS of Padraig McHugh’s demise were greatly exaggerated in recent weeks. The man from Lissatava, Hollymount is alive and well and as familiar a sight as ever as he journeys though south Mayo.
Word that Padraig had kicked the bucket spread like wildfire throughout Garrymore, Hollymount, Claremorris, Ballindine and Crossboyne. He had not been seen around for two days and word got about that Padraig had gone to gloryland.
“That’s true right enough,” says Padraig. “I heard all about it. People thought I had passed on. Some got a big shock when they saw me in Crossboyne and Claremorris the next evening. The word went around everywhere but thanks to be God I’m still here.
“Sure there was nothing wrong with me at all. Some neighbours came around and knocked on the window to see if I was okay. Faith and I was. I get around a lot but I think this was the first time that people thought I had moved upstairs.”
Keep on the sunny side, Padraig!
The Virginian was everything we expected him to be. Even before the great John Wayne, perhaps the greatest cowboy of them all on the silver screen, we knew The Virginian on the small black and white screen. Childhood heroes retain a special magic that seldom dims with the passing of time. James Drury came to Ireland on his first visit and carried us back to simple times when our world was brightened by the allure of the Old West and its heroes. Greatness is always inspiring and James Drury carries it with ease on his broad shoulders. The real Virginian in Cloonmore…. what a memory!