ONCE UPON A THYME
Many years ago, when I was young, foolish, golden thighed and surprisingly supple, I had the glorious responsibility of chairing the Thursday night get-togethers at the Kirwan Theatre. I’ll never be able to forget them - which is a source of almost inconsolable grief to me. The motions for debate may well have been silly, but they were never dull. We tended to notice that that was what the audience wanted. It was a show and we approached the whole business with the gusto and professionalism of any entertainer. This approach may not have pleased everyone - but it worked.
It is only natural, I suppose, that I remember most from the year when I was auditor. For some it eclipsed many other years in the societies long history - in that the Kirwan was usually full. Only first legal science could compare to our numbers. The committee was brave and bold in its advertising and our attention to honest facts and politically correct sensibilities were dubious, to say the least of it. We enjoyed causing controversy and getting up the noses of the students union and the occasional member of the Chemistry Department - savage behaviour! Ah well! As I’ve said, we were young. Life was an adventure, authority had to be challenged, insults had to be thrown and the entire committee had to be bedded in a mesmerising myriad of permutations.
Memories, of course, have a tendency of growing golden with the passing of time, and it would be a mistake to forget this. So try not to.
On the subject of trying and being tried, I
would allude to our remarkable success in the arena of raising money for
important society business. The bulk of this important business was transacted
in the back bar of the Skeffington Arms Hotel,
usually until we could transact no more. Ms. Pauline Burke was the manager at
the time and Mr Michael Small was our Treasurer. What merry times and jolly
japes we had as we conceived a bewildering selection of fund raising ideas It
is testament to our numerical success that we were able to actually sell tickets
to the Siobhán McKenna Memorial Debate; and even then the Kirwan proved unable
to hold our numbers. We managed to get over a team from the
Another Pithy memory from a Pithy Speaker came on Gibs night. This Gib strode confidently up to the podium and introduced her topic. She said “Ladies and gentlemen, tonight I would like to speak on the art of Brevity. Thank you very much and good night”. After which she promptly sat down. Brilliant. Sadly we never saw her again. Pity!
One of the great luminaries of my year was the infamous Mr. Paul Creedon. His hilarious heckles eventually led him to win the “Irish Times Best Heckle Prize” at the finals of the same competition. He now works in Industrial Relations - which speaks for itself (that is if he has nothing personal to add). A man I’ve always admired, primarily because I don’t know why.
Mr Sean Crossan was our Literary Officer and I seem to remember the fun we had when Sean lost the computer disk on which he had the entire (and only) transcript of “Literatum” stored. A deeply moving speech was made by Sean for its safe return - which proved unsuccessful. A fact which led to the magazine’s budget being re-directed to other areas of “society business”. Mines a vodka. Thanks awfully, darling.
Well, dear reader, that was the Lit’n’Deb of a few years ago. I have visited the Kirwan almost every year since and I know that the essential desire to be entertained is still there even if the multitudes are not. That can always change the drop of a hat. Any student worth his salt should want the society to succed. He should turn up on a Thursday night and give it all he has - and so should she. End of broadcast - Roll credits - Pip! Pip! Pip!
Kieran Duffy B.A. H.Dip.
Auditor
1992-1993