Dressed in Style from Jack and Jill Charity Boutique

Fiona O’Neill wears this beautiful green dress to the Presidents Garden Party in Áras an Uachtaráin.

She purchased her dress for this special occasion at Jack and Jill Charity Boutique, Friary Street, Kilkenny.

Fiona told e Kilkenny Observer that she is a great advocate for second hand fashion and she has an Instagram account which showcases her nds.

https://instagram.com/ sittingprettyinsecondhand e man in question had no watch or clock in his house and trusted no timepiece in the world but the Friary Clock or the clock in Owen Richardson’s window. ough this was an extreme case, many people felt a strong loyalty to the church clock. ey saw it as part of Callan’s heritage, apart from nding it useful in keeping apace of each day’s events.

Prior, Fr. Crotty, felt obliged to assuage local concerns about a landmark that was close to their hearts.

Owen advised him that the temporary absence of the clock could upset many people in the town, as they regulated their lives by it. One man, whose attitude Owen found incomprehensible, viewed the Friary Clock through binoculars every day from his farmhouse three miles outside Callan.

To put local minds at rest, Fr.

Crotty looked out through the empty circular space in the clock and waved at dumbfounded bystanders. “Mr. Richardson will have the clock back in place by the weekend”, he hollered reassuringly.

On the three occasions that the clock face was taken o for repair, the Prior made his appearance, his head and shoulders encircled and framed by the imposing church tower. In the middle of a winter hailstorm, onlookers stood aghast as his snow-white head emerged to assure them that the clock would be “returning to its normal functions as soon as possible…with the help of God”.

Cries of “Yes Father”, “What did you say, Father?” and “ ank you Father” greeted his calming words.

Fr. Crotty liked the idea of having this real life halo surrounding him, and he gave a moving sermon on the eeting nature of time, a talk inspired by his dealings with “that genius of a man”, as he called Owen, and the crucial maintenance of the Friary Clock.

Owen Richardson passed away in 1980 after almost half a century of service to Callan. e shop did not survive him. Like the old clock in the window, it quickly disappeared from the heart of Lower Bridge Street.