On Saturday last, our chairperson JJ Hurley delivered an in-dept lecture on the Upton Train Ambush of 1921. Remembering the eight civilians, along with the three volunteers, who were also killed as a result of the incident. Having spent the past week’s researching the events of February 15th 1921, JJ argued that the failure to plan for the additional soldiers that boarded the train at Kinsale Junction proved catastrophic. He also suggested that the early success had become somewhat mutated by the English having learned not to send lightly armed patrols into areas dominated by the IRA. The frustration may well have encouraged Charlie Hurley to pursue the ambush, when in retrospect it may have been more prudent to call off the ambush. The lecture was well received by all those who attended, with special thanks to Imelda Twohig, Tim Crowley, Richard Keyes McDonald, Cathal Deasy, Bunny Dunne, John Allen and John Desmond.
