A wedding group pictured following the marriage of George Gamble, Cullinagh, Kilmeaden, and Ruth Power, The Rectory, do., in St Mary’s Church of Ireland in August 1954.

Professor Ríonach uí Ógáin, Director of the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin, visited George, whose family first settled in the area in the mid-17th century, at Cullinagh House in 1987, seven years before he died.

She was introduced to him by Carrigadustra historian and author Michael Carberry and later recounted this encounter in his book Ballyduff-Kilmeaden: Portrait of a Parish (1998).

“I will never forget the meeting and recording session which took place. George had a cure for ringworm, shingles, and other illnesses in cattle and in other animals, and he explained how he came to have the cure [which had been in his family for 200 years], as well as the actions involved in performing [it, and] the accompanying prayers.”

Included in the top photograph are the couple’s parents and the bride’s brother Norman, who was George’s best man, as well as her bridesmaids, namely her sister Sadie and Hazel Booth. The organist was Mr. T. G. Cottam of Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford.

Upwards of fifty guests attended the reception at the Rectory, lent for the function by Ambrose Congreve and the couple honeymooned in Bray.