1985 revisited: 'Cork has every imaginable claim to fame' — City's 800th year celebrated

1985 was a historic year for Cork, marking 800 years since it was granted a charter by Prince John in 1185. A year-long celebration to mark the 800 years was officially launched by the president. Maurice Gubbins was there for the then Cork Examiner

Fri, 03 Jan, 2025 - 10:08

Maurice Gubbins

Ireland’s biggest public festival was launched in Cork when President Patrick Hillery opened Cork 800, the year-long celebration to mark the 800th anniversary of the city’s first charter.

Mr Hillery called for courage and confidence, and hopes were high among the civic and religious leaders who attended the ceremonies that the great event would signal a vigorous revival in a region devastated by economic body blows.

The dignitaries expressed determination that this should be the case. Lord Mayor Liam Burke said: “My plea, on this great day, is that we should renew our patriotism, not in any nationalistic sense, but in its true meaning: That we should love our home, our community, our city and our country.”

He appealed to the young people of the city who, he said, may feel they had cause to be disillusioned.

He asked them to be imbued with a spirit of patriotism, and to have hope and generosity.

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“For you must take on your shoulders the task of moving this city towards its next anniversary and, indeed, its millennium, and I know you will do this, with vigour, with confidence and with hope.”

The lord mayor invited Mr Hillery to unveil a memorial to the opening of Cork 800 at the entrance to City Hall at Anglesea St.

This was the major public part of the ceremonial and was watched by a large crowd, as well as the several hundred invited guests, consisting of distinguished citizens from Cork’s commercial, industrial, educational, religious, sporting and cultural life.

“Cork has every imaginable claim to fame,” Mr Hillery said, as he unveiled the large granite stone, sculpted in classical style by the renowned Cork stonecutter Ken Thompson.

All Cork’s sons and daughters were born with the special gifts of wit and eloquence, Mr Hillery added. He expressed the hope that the year would be special in the annals of Cork and also a year of “peace, new hopes and dreams realised for all of us”.

Cork, he said, had long been renowned as a seat of learning and culture, a centre of industry, trade and commerce, a meeting place of ships and a mingling ground of cultures.

Anthony Crowley of Dillons Cross at a break-dancing exhibition in St Luke's as part of the Cork 800 celebrations. File picture

Its citizens were rightly proud of its history, had always been at ease with that history, and had always looked ahead with self-confidence.

“Those who have gone before us left us examples of fortitude, selflessness, and self-sacrifice, which, in their courage and generosity, should be sufficient to sustain our courage and confidence to the end of time.

“Among those who have set for us a shining example are numbered many sons and daughters of this city,” the president said.

The several hundred invited guests at yesterday morning’s City Hall ceremonies were treated to Cork’s traditional dish — tripe and drisheen — served with mulled wine, and the reaction was little short of ecstatic.

To their shame, many of those present admitted it was their first taste of these delicacies. The atmosphere was such that many, including Mr and Mrs Hillery, managed to overcome any reservations they may have had about eating cows’ belly and congealed pigs’ blood.

As a first-timer, this reporter can testify to the good taste of all the Cork people who have held the dish so dear. From the reaction of the first-timers, and that of many others who had not eaten tripe and drisheen for years, there should be something of a rush on city outlets this week.

The feeling of well-being engendered by the tripe and drisheen and mulled wine added to the hearty new year’s atmosphere that characterised the ceremonies.

A note of harsh reality was struck for the dignitaries emerging from City Hall by a group of unemployed people carrying pickets and demanding jobs.

This reminder of Cork’s biggest problem emphasised the hopes of a considerable employment spin-off from the positive investment climate, which the organisers of the Cork 800 festival aim to create.

There was some criticism of yesterday’s ceremonies in that there was not a major involvement for the general public.

However, the public can expect plenty to interest them in the comprehensive programme that has been prepared for the year.

The events started on a welcome, it somewhat unexpected, note, when the band of the Southern Command struck up ‘The Boys of Fair Hill’ as Mr Hillery inspected an FCA guard of honour outside City Hall.

The ceremonies went smoothly, although there was a hitch when somebody got his timing wrong, and the planned sounding of ships’ sirens in the port came in the middle of Mr Hiller’s speech.