We can’t imagine St Patrick’s Day without a shamrock. But what about a song for the shamrock? “The Dear Little Shamrock” was written by Andrew Cherry who was born in Limerick on 11 January 1762. His father, John Cherry, was a printer and bookseller and had planned that his son would have a career as a clergyman. However, the family had some financial problems and so, at the age of eleven, young Andrew had to leave school and travel to Dublin where he became apprenticed to an old friend of his father’s, a Mr Potts, printer and bookseller in Dame Street.
Shortly before midnight on the eve of St Patrick’s Day 1922, the Parnell Guards Fife and Drum Band were parading around the streets of Cork city. This band was based in Fair Lane on the north side of the city. They were just one of dozens of bands in Cork City at that time. As their name suggests, they were loyal to Parnell and the Home Rule movement and by 1922 their loyalty lay with the pro-treaty side of the Irish Civil War.
