M.S.O.I. Excursion to Limerick
The M.S.O.I. excursion to Limerick took place over the weekend from Friday the 5th of October to Sunday the 7th of October. A jovial crowd assembled for dinner at the Absolute Hotel, in the centre of Limerick at 7pm on Friday evening and after a pleasant meal and an even more pleasant exchange of views retired for the night.
The group reassembled after breakfast on Saturday at 10am for a stroll down to King John's Castle where we were met by David O'Brien of the Limerick Civic Trust who ensured that we had complimentary access to the Castle.
We spent over an hour wandering around the castle, and then crossed over the road to the Bishop's Palace, which is the headquarters of the Civic Trust. Here coffee and scones awaited us in the boardroom while we were treated to a short display of the Trust's current activities. We were shown over part of the Bishop's Palace which has been restored by the Trust from what was formerly a mere shell. We viewed the Carrol Collection of medals, uniforms and other militaria, part of which is on display and we were told about the Armstrong Collection, which is on its way.
The Trust has recently acquired St. Munchin's Church, which stands in a large and ancient graveyard immediately behind the Bishop's Palace. It is in this building that the Trust intend to set up a Military Museum in the near future.
The members of the Trust next brought us on a tour of the Graveyard surrounding St. Munchin's Church where many interesting graves were pointed out to us. We then had the opportunity to examine the interior of the Church and the recently acquired Bannatyne staircase which is in fact a war memorial in it's own right, having been constructed as such for a church in England.
We were next brought to a local restaurant where we had lunch and said goodbye to our friends in the Trust. It is their aim to establish a Military Museum covering every aspect of the warfare in which our nation was engaged and would welcome any donations of military items for display. They were exceptionally kind to our members during our visit and as individuals were an extremely agreeable bunch of people. Our sincere thanks again to David O'Brien, Hiram Wood, Colm de Barra, Brian McLoghlin et al. We next visited St. Mary's Cathedral which was unfortunately just about to close its doors. 
Those of us interested in rugby now sought the comfort of a public house where we watched Leinster beat Munster in a thrilling game. We returned to the hotel for dinner at 8pm and held a Medal Society meeting the next morning at 11am during which many important issues were discussed. All in all it was a most enjoyable weekend.
Further photographs can be seen on our Facebook page.
Pat Casey
President M.S.O.I.
