All-female colour party to lead county town parade

By Tom Gillespie

HISTORY will be repeated in Castlebar on St. Patrick’s Day when an-all female colour party will again lead the parade in the county town.

The first all-female colour party ever to head the parade was in 2015, when Sergeant Rowena Gillespie, Lieutenant Lisa Chambers, both Castlebar, and Sergeant Geraldine Muldowney, Swinford, carried the national flag.

This year, Rowena Gillespie and Geraldine Muldowney, recently promoted to Lieutenant, will again be in the lead group and they will be joined by Sergeant Laura Timoney, Foxford.

The parade, organised by Castlebar Chamber of Commerce, will commence from McHale Road at 2 p.m. on March 17. Those taking part are asked to assemble at the industrial estate/An Sportlann at 1.15 p.m.

The chief marshal for the parade, as in previous years, will be retired local businessman and Mayo Person of the Year, Sean Horkan, who is an ambassador for the event, while the honorary grand marshal for 2022 is business woman Mary Fahey-Tighe.

Chamber of Commerce president Bernard Hughes said: “To celebrate a return to normal activities in our world and being able to interact once again with people, in a more normal way, the theme for this year’s parade is ‘positivity and inclusiveness’.”

The compere on the reviewing stand on Main Street will be Henry McGlade of iMayoTV.

Mr. Hughes said volunteers and marshals are welcome to join the committee and those wishing to enter a float should contact Bernard on (087) 264472 or Liam on (086) 2871252.