FORD CORTINA OWNERS CLUB OF IRELAND
LIMITED
MY DIARY OF EVENTS ON THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF FORD IN KILLARNEY,
IRELAND FROM 5TH TO 8TH SEPTEMBER, 2002
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THURSDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER:
We left home 9.15 am, and reached the lunch stop at 11.30am
after a good journey so far. Weather was good until we got
into Wales then we hit rain, we reached Swansea about 4pm,
we went into Sainsburys and had a meal there about 5.15pm
after that there was just a short while to wait before we
had to go to the docks to pick up the ferry. It was much easier
boarding the ferry than last year, it was a 10 hour trip so
we had a cabin. We docked at 7.30am.
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 FRIDAY
6TH SEPTEMBER:
Richard and some other members were there to meet us. We
then drove to the breakfast stop and had breakfast bought
for us by the club which was very nice of them. We then made
our way to Killarney, stopping at a restored flour mill the
grounds were very nice with the mill race you could go in
and look aroun the mill but we did not have enough time. Back
on the road again we made another stop as richard left us
to hand over the lead to Shaun who tok us on to the Castle
Ross Hotel at Killarney. We had lunch and then we were able
to get into our rom to get settled in and have a rest, the
room was very nice and comfortable. We then went int Killarney
to have our evening meal and when we came back into the hotel
we bumped into Nial and he invited us to join them at the
Committee Meeting which was interesting and gave us an insight
into how the club functioned and we met some of the other
members. Dan was elected as Chairman once again. We slept
well that night.
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 SATURDAY
7TH SEPTEMBER:
Today is the big run, we were given our instructions and
the route etc. after breakfast and we assembled in the coach
park for some photographs etc. We had mislaid our camera so
Dudley had to go back to the hotel to get it but could not
find it so we had to buy a disposable one for the day. From
the hotel driveway we turned right towards Killarney town
as we were going on a waterbus on Lough Leane at Ross Castle.
It was a lovely trip despite the rain, we then went to Muchrosse
House for lunch, after that we went to a beautiful spot called
Ladies View and spent some time shopping and some of them
had refreshments and we went back through the mountains which
was wild, lonely but a bit scary. The mountain roads or passes
were very narrow and rough in places. It was a very enjoyable
day and we returned to the hotel at 6pm so that we could get
ready for the Gala dinner and entertainment with presentations.
The meal was very nice after that we all went into Mulligans
Bar for the presentations and prizes. The men were presented
with a teapot beautifully inscribed for the event and for
the ladies a lovely glass penholder these were presented to
us by Billy Coleman an ex-rally driver for Lotus Cortinas
MK 1. I was able to give my speech about Simon's web site
and give out his business cards. Then came the entertainment
which consisted of a group of youngsters playing traditional
folk music while others performed Irish dancing also poems
and funny stories recited and then some members of the Cortina
Club took it in turn to perform in their own particular way.
The whole of evening was hosted by Dan Lucey who made a wonderful
job of it. It was a very enjoyable and memorable evening.
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SUNDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER:
We had a leisurely breakfast and then we went to the car
park to take some photographs and chatted we said goodbye
to some of the members who were going home. I got the Cortina
chair that simon wanted from Richard and paid him and then
we spent some time talking to Dan and some others, then it
came onto rain very heavily so we had to make a dash for our
cars, when the rain had cleared we decided to go off to Killarney
shopping and possibly go on the jaunty car, but when we got
into the town it can on to rain again, by then it was lunch
time so we drove to Ross Castle in the pouring rain. It did
not stop raining so we decided to go back to the Hotel and
rest as Dudley wanted to go to the leisure centre for a swim
and then we got ready for an evening out at the theatre at
the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney, s we met the others in our
Hotel at 7.30pm and then went off at 8pm. The show was the
premier of Legend of the Night which was performed by a group
of young dancers and one singer, the youngest being just 10
years old, who were excellent and it was really a marvellous
show and we enjoyed the evening very much.
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 MONDAY
9TH SEPTEMBER:
Today saw us departing after a leisurely breakfast packed
and paying our bill at the Hotel. We then left to make our
way back to Cork to pick up the ferry. Leaving Killarney we
drove first to Kenmare, then on to Ballydehop stopping for
lunch at Bantry, then Skibbereen where we stopped and had
a look round and bought some Shamrock mugs, then on to Leap,
Carbony and Clonacitty. We were just passing through a place
called Ballyinascathy when Dudley stopped to let some traffic
by and he spotted across the road a pub called the Henry Ford
Tavern, so he went across the road to take some photos and
over there was a model of the Ford T car done in Stainless
Steel to mark the Millenium.  There
was a chap standing there so Dudley spoke to him and he told
him all about it, then we went into the pub which had pictures
all around the walls of cars mainly the Mark 1. Dudley took
some photos of inside the pub and then we had some soup and
a cup of tea. We left there and then passed through Bandon,
Inishannon, Ballyinhassie and then on to Ringaskiddy which
is the port where we picked up the ferry. We arrived with
about half an hour to spare before embarking. The boat sailed
at 9pm and we docked at 7am the next morning at Swansea.
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TUESDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER:
We got off the ferry about 8am at Swansea. It looked very
dark and grey and wet, so we made our way to Sainsburys to
have breakfast and do some shopping. It rained all the time
whilst we were in Wales and then after that the weather improved
until we got home. We were very tired after such a long journey
but we had a jolly good time so that made up for it. We are
both looking forward to going back next year to Galway all
being well.
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FOOTNOTE:
The village of Ballinascathy was where Henry Ford's grandfather
William Ford lived in a bothy type cottage, which has since
been knocked down and he lived there until 1847 when he want
to America. For the future they hope to open a Museum and
have other attractions in the village as they do get a lot
of visitors throughout the summer to take photos etc. Fords
had a factory in Cork which originally made tractors then
cars of which from 1972 Cortina was one of the models made
there, the factory closed in 1984 due to economic reasons.
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