29th Annual Rally Killarney July 2018
This year our Annual Rally took place in Killarney, Co Kerry. Based at the Castlrosse Hotel in Fossa, the event was organised by Cork members, Matthew Byrne and Timothy Keane.
Most of us arrived on Friday evening in beautiful sunshine and friendships were renewed as we strolled through the car park to greet the cars as they arrived. Matt and Tim had a packed itinerary over the two days and we picked up our route maps and pack to look over before the rally began.
Saturday 14th July 2018
We were up bright and early on Saturday morning for our driver’s briefing before setting off on our trip in the lovely Kingdom of Kerry. It was a truly wonderful sight to see almost 40 Model T cars, all in pristine condition, ranging in age from 1909 to 1927 sally forth from the hotel.
There were some delighted Austrian visitors leaving the hotel around the same time and camera and mobile phones were very busy capturing the unexpected sight of our vehicles as we began our run.
Our first stop of the day was in Glenbeigh for a coffee break. While we had our instructions, some of us took slight detours and travelled different roads, we all arrived in time for coffee eventually! Glenbeigh is a popular holiday spot and the visitors and locals alike were very happy to see us.
Off we went again, heading for Cahirciveen and then on to Portmagee where we crossed the bridge over to Valentia Island and parked up on the quayside near the Royal Valentia Hotel for our lunch stop in Knightstown.
After lunch, Vincent Kidd proprietor of the hotel gave us a brief talk outlining the history of the island and of course the most interesting and historic story of the laying of the first transatlantic cable to Newfoundland in 1858. It is quite extraordinary to think about how far we have come in terms of technology since those early days.
When we got back to our cars, a heavy Kerry mist had descended and as we made our way to the ferry and back onto the mainland it really had turned into the “soft day” we are all familiar with in this part of the world. On our return journey the planned visit to Kells Bay was cancelled due to the rain and we carried on back to base.
On Saturday evening, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at our hotel. This was followed by some short speeches by our President and Honorary Secretary who presented our event organisers, Matt and Tim with hand carved wooden platters.
This year the silver salver was presented to Paul and Sandra Murphy. Presentations were also made to our visitors from the United States Steve Ellis director and representative of International Model T Ford Club and Mike Kemp from UK and representative of The Model T Ford Register of Great Britain.
The sing song and fun which followed lasted well into the early hours for the hardy souls who stayed the pace and a great night was had by all.
So, in wrapping up the Saturday story, just a few more images of our happy crew (see photo gallery above) as they set off for the tour.
Sunday 15th July 2018
Sunday morning dawned grey, wet and misty so it was decided to amend the planned route somewhat and head to Kenmare.
This we duly did and during our time there the skies cleared, hoods were taken down and we went back to our route and drove to Molls Gap where we stopped for a break.
A curiosity quick spin to Kate Kearney’s Cottage. A delightful way to wind down our day and the rally.
Some of our members went back to the hotel to pack up and head homewards. Others stayed to take the tour of historic Muckross House or have a stroll around Killarney town.
Former President, founder member and scribe, famed for his “eternal project” in County Waterford wrote of the T ferried back to base by land and sea thus: click to view
The weather had picked up by now and we were back to some sunshine so there were happy faces all round.
It was a most enjoyable and successful rally. An enormous thank you to Matt and Tim for the huge amount of work and organisation to provide such a great weekend for us all. A special word of thanks to John Hayes for being Tailend Charlie. Always a comfort to know he was there.
Looking forward to next year already!
POST SCRIPT | 23rd JULY 2018
Gerry McCabe wrote in via e-mail as follows:
Please find attached a link to my cloud file with the Killarney photos on same. You should be able to download from same.
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AgVLEPK2HBXSgZhKTd_VKpUHXJJRmQ
Gerry McCabe
POST SCRIPT 2 | 23rd July 2018
Olene and Raymond sent in a few photographs too qhich can be seen in the photo gallery above.
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