‘It is important to instil a sense of pride in where we come from’

Mary McKay has been volunteering her time with community development group Scurlogstown Olympiad for over 30 years. The group, which is based outside Trim makes an ongoing effort through its festivals and undertakings, to revive past times, sports and ways of life of the Irish people

“It is important to instil a sense of pride in where we come from,” says Dunderry native Mary who has always had a keen interest in Irish heritage and has a collection of artefacts and old-style fayre that are showcased each year by the group, like wash boards and washtubs, reminding us of our culture and our past - both important facets in our own make-up.

Mary has been secretary of the group for the past five years ago, which involves doing paper-work, like applying for grants for festivals and its annual popular annual High Nelly event, ensuring insurance is in place, taking minutes at committee meetings and keeping track of all the old artefacts that the group exhibits. Like everyone else, she also mucks in where needed.

“I enjoy it and I’ve met many friends along the way,” who have provided great company and camaraderie, but there is a real risk that the Olympiad’s days are numbered. “I wouldn’t like to tell you the average age of the committee,” she says. “We need new blood into it and younger people. You need a lot of people to help out on the day of the Haymaking festival and a lot of people have gone too old for that physical work involved – including myself.”

“In my day, (most) women stayed at home and didn’t work outside the home. But now I see it even with my own daughters…they’re working and at the weekends they are playing catch-up and trying to run a house and children are involved in things, they don’t have the time. Families are busy.”

71-year-old Mary and husband Des run a small farm. They downsized considerably recently after spending 40 years running a large dairy farm, when time for anything else other than milking cows and feeding calves was in short supply. Dessie too is involved with Scurlogstown Olympiad in the role of vice chairperson. The couple have three grown-up daughters and six grandchildren. One daughter lives near them in the townland of Freffans, one in Trim and another in Tipperary. When not helping out on the farm, Mary ‘fill in gaps’ for her daughters helping here and there with school runs and other requests.

“It’s nice to be busy, as long as you’re well and able to do things,” Mary says hard-working multi-taker Mary who makes sure to walk 5km most days to keep fit and moving.

Scurlogstown Olympiad, was originally started in 1968 as a festival to celebrate past times, sports and the heritage of local people with an old village built in an old mill yard and the waterwheel on the mill restored. 30 volunteers got together at the time, with funding remaining from the short-lived Scurlogstown Gaelic Football Club, that was formed in 1954 and disbanded four short years later due mainly to emigration in the area. Given that the year 1968 was a year that the Olympics was held, the athletics event and festival were given the name Scurlogstown Olympiad.

“It was a major thing. They came from every place to it,” says Mary with big names such as The Dubliner’s and Gay Byrne attracting large crowds. Since then, the event’s guise has changed, firstly to a week-long festival on the streets of Trim in 1991, with a move into large open space at the Porchfield in Trim in 1999. In 2001 the festival became known as the Haymaking Festival (which hasn’t run in the last two Covid years), usually run in June – and set for Sunday 19th June 2022 - and a major event in the festival calendar for Meath and beyond.

What remains today as a pivotal part of the festival is the recreation of an old village scene in little cottages that promotes history and shows how people lived in days gone by. At the festival for example, Mary makes jam and sells soda bread from a stall, with recipes and traditions passed down through generations.

During Covid, Scurlogstown has held a couple of small events, like Dancing at the Crossroads and a mini-parade for St Patrick's Day, which kept the momentum going when bigger events like the Haymaking Festival were off. Scurlogstown Olympiad also continues to run a Heritage Garden opposite Jack Quinn’s pub, just off the main Trim-Dublin Road. The grounds are maintained and tended to by a small number of volunteers including one of the main custodians of the garden – John Gerald Bradley – a loyal and hard-working member of Scurlogstown Olympiad. John Gerald – who attends ReHab in Navan - can be found there morning, noon or night tending to the flowerbeds and keeping the area clear of weeds. Mother Miriam Bradley says: “He really enjoys it, it’s great for him to have the work there.”