Memories of times past revived as Navan hosts a country fair

The late parish administrator of Navan, Rev Dr Hugh Dunne, would have been very content looking out the windows of Navan's parochial house on Monday, if he was still around. For outside the railings of the clergy's residence were gathered members of the Ward Union Hunt, on horseback, complete with hounds. In fact, the reverend gentleman, a well-known huntsman in his day, would not have been looking out his window for long, but would have made his way onto the back of a horse himself for the occasion. It wouldn't even be considered now, but back in Dr Dunne's time as pastor in Navan in the 1940s and '50s, he was known to host hunt meetings on the Fair Green outside his parochial house. It was to such a period that the organisers of the Navan Town and Country Fair were attempting to hark back to on Bank Holiday Monday, when they staged the first re-enactment of a fair on the Fair Green since 1961. The area was cordoned off and fair-goers were asked to pay €5 entry in support of local charities. It wasn't unlike the Fair Green on a typical market Friday, but there was the added presence of live animals in pens, from rare fowl and common hens to cows with shorthorns, long horns, curly horns, and even sheep with four horns. One poor animal that didn't make it out alive was the pig roasting on a spit, while there were other novel foods such as Italian waffles and Spanish paella available from stalls. Other stalls included originally designed t-shirts, goats' cheese, solar panels, and in a throwback to olden times, coppersmiths and tinsmiths, as well as the Navan Travellers' Workshop with its restored barrel wagon. The other festivals and fairs from around the county, including Dunderry, Scurlogstown and Moynalty, were lending their support and livestock, while North Meath Macra was offering the chance to dunk a person of your choice with their dunking contraption. The Lambert Puppet Theatre was entertaining children in the CYMS Hall. Tribute The three members of the Ward Union, Pat Coyle, Ciaran Ryan and Darren Campbell, arrived for the formal opening by the Mayor of Navan, Cllr Phil Brennan, who described the event as a tribute to Ireland's agricultural heritage. And he got a political cut in on behalf of his late father, Cllr Andy Brennan, when he said he couldn't allow the event pass without paying tribute to all those who had opposed the development of the Fair Green a number of years back when the council put forward plans to transform the area. It was great to see the Fair Green still intact, he added, and paid tribute to his fellow councillor, Francis Deane, and his wife, Fiona, and all who had planned the fair. Navan Mental Health Association was one of the benefiting charities as well as Meath River Rescue, St Vincent de Paul, the Alzheimer's Day Care Centre, and the Last Hope Animal Charity. Organiser Cllr Francis Deane said he had a conversation in recent years with the late local historian, Willie Battersby, who told him of the fairs in Navan. When he researched it, he discovered that the town council had attempted to revive one in 1959, but that the townsfolk didn't appreciate the activities and it came to an end in 1961. This re-enactment of the fair was to mark that anniversary. One man who was in town to see the event was Oliver Russell, a Navan native who is also a past chairman of the Ward Union Hunt. He was reminiscing about the fair days held there in his youth, and the streets being washed down after the animals, with the water and contents flowing down Church Hill to the streets below. Fifty years on, it wasn't dirt from the animals that was obvious, but human litter, as council workers were left with plenty to keep them busy when the day was done.