21st century brings to a close a 200-year-old Methodist tradition in Limerick

FOR 200 years and for many generations of Methodists in Limerick, the second Tuesday in June was a fixed date in the annual calendar of events: it was Adare Field Meeting day.

It was a day which brought men, women and children of the Methodist faith together at a spot that was held dear and was significant in their tradition: beneath the ash tree on the Dunraven estate where John Wesley preached to the people of Adare back in 1757.

And ever since 1819, the Field Meeting has been held there, long before the surrounding parkland  was turned into a golf course.

But last week, marked the final time Methodists and their friends gathered for this event in Adare.

From now on, Rev Ruth Watt told the Limerick Leader, the field day will be held on the last Sunday in May in the grounds of Ballingrane Methodist Church.  The 200th anniversary, she said, was considered to be a good time to make the change.

Recalling Adare Field Days as a child in the 1960s, Austin Bovenizer from Rathkeale, said it was a day on which children were left off from school. “It was an all-day affair starting at midday,” he said. “There would be a guest speaker, pedal harmoniums and forms and we all sat down under the ash tree.”

“It was better than going to the beach,” he continued. “After the service, there was a big picnic and then we had total freedom in the grounds.” As children, he said, they played in and explored the Manor and the Abbey. “In the evening there would be another meal.”

People came from circuits all over Limerick, from Kerry, from the midlands, he recalled and it was all held in the open air. No marquees then. “I don’t remember it ever raining,” he said.  “There was a big chance of meeting all sorts of people on that day and a lot of courtships started from it. It was unthinkable that you would not go.”

But times have changed. Now the golf course is there and has to be closed to allow the event take place and Tuesday no longer works for people. As a result, the decision has been made to transfer it to Ballingrane. 

Mindful of the history of the event, and in defiance of the weather, up to 180 men, women and children attended the final Adare Field Meeting last week where the guest speaker was the  Rev. Billy Davison, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland.

“In the evening,” Rev Watt explained, “ we held a ‘Walk down memory lane’ where over 60 met for a salad tea and to see photos from over the past 80 years.” In the photos, she added, the sun always seemed to be shining. “However I think that perhaps photos were not taken when it was raining.

“ We also had diary entries from the late 1930s until the 1980s from the diaries of the late Fredrick (Eric) Barkman,” she explained. “Mr. Barkman made comments on who the speakers were, how many turned up, what the weather was like and other interesting snippets of information.”

She added that while the Field Meeting celebrated and remembered John Wesley’s preaching under the ash tree to the local Adare population, he himself was reluctant at first to preach in the open and had to be persuaded to do so by a friend. It was, however, a turning point.  It was through this that the Methodist movement began locally and from which the Methodist church grew, later bringing the faith to North America.