50 years of letting off steam in Moynalty - from humble beginnings to welcoming 25,000 visitors this weekend

A GROUP of Moynalty stalwarts got together 50 years ago to raise funds for renovations to the local church and on a sunny October day held a steam threshing demonstration in the local football field.

The event, which included a parade of old agricultural machinery, traps and sidecars from the village to the football field, attracted around 500 people and raised £1,000 for the Church Fund, a phenomenal amount of money at that time.

“It was only supposed to be a once off event, but it was a big success, everyone enjoyed it and we decided to do it again,” says Willie Daly, one of the founders of the iconic Moynalty Steam Threshing Festival which attracts around 50,000 people annually and celebrates its golden jubilee this year.

Willie was a member of the Community Council at the time. “There was money being raised in the parish for the work on the church and someone suggested we should do a fund raiser for it and Dickie Gilsenan suggested steam threshing.

“Six of us went down to Clonbologue in Co Offaly where they were holding a steam threshing festival to see if we could learn anything from it. It was a small enough event, but it gave us ideas of what we could do.

Willie remembers that the first Moynalty Stream Threshing festival took place in October. “It was a good enough day, the sun came out in the afternoon. We decided to have a parade to the football field and there was great excitement. John Crowley and Biddy White Lennon (Tom and Maggie Riordan) were there and there was great music.

“We decided we would do it again and it got bigger every year to what it is now,” he said.

Sean Quinn was one of those who rowed in behind the organisers to help out on that first occasion. “Most of the young fellows in the parish lent a hand. We put up signs all around the countryside, there was no social media in those days,” he said.

One of the big features that of that first festival was the replica thatched cottage. Sean's late father, Mickey put a lot of work into it. “We had a lot of the old furniture at home and he remembered what an old thatch cottage was like so he recreated it. It proved a great attraction and it was there at every festival afterwards.

Sean helped out with the cottage as well as other tasks around the field and his Dad continued to develop ad maintain the thatched cottage when they acquired their own site and developed the museum.

“Dad passed away in 1981 and they asked me to take it over ad I have been doing it ever since,” he said.

Sean has overseen the development of the permanent museum, which attracts visitor year round.

It was Sean Gilsenan's late uncle, Dick, who came up with the idea for a stream threshing festival along with the late Tommy Sheridan and Sean got roped into making a water wheel. “It took a couple of weeks, but was very rudimentary, but it worked and has been used ever since,” he recalls.

“For the first few festivals it worked on the Moynalty river beside the football field but now it operates on the Borora.

“It has grown every year but there is the worry every year of what the weather will be like. Will people turn up? It was easy in the beginning there was such novelty value in it.

“We were also lucky that the late Douglas Gageby, editor of the Irish Times, lived nearby and he gave us lot of publicity which particularly attracted visitors from Northern Ireland.”

Sean said it was great to see how many young people are involved now, “They are very enthusiastic, have their own ideas, they are a formidable bunch, much more professional.”

Peter Gaynor is the current chairman and has been a member of the committee for 18 years.

He was a child when the first festival was held, but was involved from the beginning. “I painted the waterwheel - there was more paint on me than on the wheel!

“A lot has changed from those early days, we now have out own land and the museum. We have raised an awful lot of money and helped a lot of charities over the years.

Betty White has fond memories of the first festival. “I had young children at the time, and I brought them to it. They were absolutely delighted, so excited.”

As the children got older, Betty got involved with the committee, holding a number of positions and has been administrator for many years. She now works in the museum, all year round.

Cormac Donegan, the current secretary, is one of the young people who have started to shoulder the responsibility in recent years.

“I don't think people realise how much work goes into it,” he says. “From about the 14th or 16th August, we will be planning ahead for next year's festival,” he said.