Every year people from the local area, living abroad, return home for the annual Muff Festival. This year was NO exception. Paul McCauley from Quigley’s Point has been residing in Birmingham now for 14 years. Paul makes the trip home as often as possible for the said festival. For a few years now, he has been planning on bringing a few friends back for the weekend festivities. This year it finally came to fruition.
Sammy, Neeway, Clive, John Joe, Paddy, Trevor and Paul all landed in Muff village on Friday evening last. Of course The Squealing Pig was their first port of call. Just in time for the opening parade of the festival.
They remained in the village for the remainder of the night. Of course they couldn’t possibly miss the ‘Queen of Queen’s’ dance and all that it entailed. The Squealing Pig lounge was awash with Brummie accents and antics. And there was many an antic had by these guys. From the drinking of one local ladies guinness to dancing with the new Queen, these guys left their mark on the first night of the festival.
Strangely none of the said men were man enough to enter the ‘knobbly’ knees competition. That tells us that either those kness are perfect or perhaps more knobbly than most. We didn’t get to find out just which.
As the weekend continued the 7 lads continued to enjoy the festivities to the full. Come Saturday night they once again descended on the Squealing Pig before departing for some fun in Derry. Poor Derry that night as darkness drew upon them. There were scaring antics in the bedroom behind the curtains: there was a toilet dance to the nearest loo: and there was a poor pigeon found wandering in their hotel lobby. But of course, at all times, the Birmingham 7 were totally innocent.
As Sunday descended and the eagerly anticipated Wife Carrying race was about to start, the Birmingham 7 were fixed to a bar stool in Quigleys Point and missed the run they were all so looking forward to. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, cos some poor Muff lady may have been prone to one of these guys carrying them. Next year the race will be waiting on yas!
As the lorry pulling got underway on Sunday evening, brothers Paddy and John Joe just couldn’t resist a challenge.
The brothers are still debating the accurateness of the stopwatch as the losing brother is adamant he was faster. Sorry, guys but the stop watches in Muff are rather spot on. Try again next year is your only option.
Sunday night they were not going to miss another night’s fun in The Squealing Pig. This time they had poor wee me set as a thief. Sammi’s phone disappeared and somehow turned up in my handbag. I shall find the culprit yet!
Alas, as Monday morning fast approached we finally waved the lads off from the village and they departed in the early hours. These guys won’t be forgotten for some time. They even had the cheek to refer to the wonderfully dated TV’s in the Pig as microwaves. And the towels in the Travel Lodge apparently turned poor Sammy white. Now that would be a sight for sore eyes!
The Birmingham 7 enjoyed their few days in the village. They bought teeshirts galore, drank a pint or two and are already planning their next visit. But before all that, they are taking Craicon Muff out on the town in Birmingham in just a few weeks time for her birthday. Time for Birmingham to show if it can pull off a night’s craic as good as in Muff. Watch this space as time will tell!!
GMcC