This week marks the stuff sought by The Guinness Book of Records. It’s happening in the parish of Ballon and Rathoe and it is Michael’s 40th year as The Nationalist’s local correspondent.
With the zeal of the young he complained to the Nationalist that they carried no coverage for the area. To the surprise of the young student he landed himself a job which he pursued with diligence for forty year.
His first scribal contribution appeared on September 8th, 1967 and with the sureness of the solar system he submitted his graphic account of the events in the parish to this day.

He has seen many changes over the years particularly with technology. In the beginning the copy was handwritten, then came the typewriter and fax: and when computers came along Michael was the first to embrace the magic of word processing. Today all his copy and pictures are submitted by e-mail. He is one of the few correspondents to submit pictures regularly and makes a special effort to include one with each obituary. He also seeks pictures of the lesser known to give them a moment in the sun.

As well as the notes, Michael has also covered a number of major stories for The Nationalist. He recalls some of these as being the launch in 1968, of They First Arose a historical novel written by Bill Nolan of Ballon; the visit of President Cearbhall O’Dalaigh in 1976 for the official opening of Ballon Community Centre; the opening in 1982 of Rathoe Sports complex by Bishop Patrick Lennon, the golden jubilee of Fr. John Flood PP and the launch of John O’Donovan’s book- Ned Doyle of Ballon – in 1991.

Michael also reported on the cutting down and replanting of the famous Bull Tree, an iconic landmark in the centre of Ballon Village. That was in 1988 and the next big news was the purchase and development of James Morris GAA Park, which commemorated the area’s most famous footballer. Other major stories included the Ballon National School reunion in 1995 and the many tragic road deaths that occurred locally during this sad time.

Michael was also a regular contributor to The Nationalist’s very popular Young Thing column back in the early 1970s and for more than two decades reported on Gaelic football matches in surrounding counties including all games in Eire Og’s march to the Leinster Club final when they contested the All-Ireland decider.

Even during holiday periods, Michael never allowed the Ballon/Rathoe Notes to disappear and thanks those like Matt Canavan, John Smyth and Michael Martin who gave a helping hand.

Michael has proven a valuable asset to The Nationalist and the parish. Without him, many of the activities and achievements over the past 40 years might have gone unnoticed.
Our wish is that he will continue as scribe with the same dedication for many more years to come.

Commenting on Michael’s record service to The Nationalist, Margaret O’Rourke, former News Editor, said: Michael’s copy was always word perfect with the notes arranged in order of their local importance.

‘In my long association with Michael, I cannot remember ever receiving a complaint or correction regarding his copy – which over 4O years is quite an achievement.

‘My husband, Seamus (also a former News Editor of The Nationalist) and I send good wishes to Michael on his 4Oth anniversary and hope that his association with The Nationalist will continue for many years to come.’

Breda McDonald of the Fighting Cocks writes:
Michael always gave the Cocks fair coverage and it was great for the locals, clubs and groups to see their names in print and better still when the pictures appeared. Without the notes there was no other outlet and they were eagerly awaited each week. They helped to integrate the villages in the parish admirably.
The football games got great coverage all over the county but especially the local derby with Ballon and Kilbride.
All in the Cocks thank Michael for his support over these many years

John Mullins PRO of Ballon/Rathoe Athletic Club:
On behalf of the Club & Community Games I would like to congratulate Michael on reaching this milestone. Most of our PRO is is done through the notes and Michael has always been accommodating and helpful to us.When we give our notes to Michael for an individual or group he can immediately link it with a past achievement which shows his deep knowledge and interest.

Well done Michael

Ballon National School is delighted to have the opportunity to join with the community in acknowledging Michael's dedication to the notes over the last forty years. His contribution has been an invaluable community asset and has provided a great local history archive. His coverage of the school's different activities has been excellent and has been a great source of encouragement to the children.
The school's own fundraising group - Kenya Helper's Association (KHA) is especially appreciative and Michael has been instrumental, through his articles, in its great success.
A heartfelt thanks to you Michael and keep up the good work.

On behalf of the Parish Council, and on my own behalf, well done.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Michael Dawson for the last forty years service to the parish of Ballon/Rathoe as reporter and political correspondent.
He has kept "The Ballon Notes" going all this time. I know many people who buy The Nationalist just to catch up on things by reading his report every week.
Now that he has 40 years experience in the job; I hope he will remain there for as many more. So in conclusion, all I can say is keep up the excellent work.

Tony Byrne.

On behalf of the Rathoe Hall and Sports Centre, we would like to congratulate Michael Dawson for his excellent work with the Nationalist for the last forty years. In doing so he has made a permanent record of the history of the parish of Ballon/Rathoe over that period; and we wish him the good health to continue doing so well into the future.

Thanks Michael for the support and fine coverage you have given to the various activities we've been involved with over the years. It's great to know that the activities and events will be readily and fairly reported on.
Mick O'Toole

From Ballon Improvement Group and the village web site.
We'd like to add our thanks for all the coverage too. The Notes and the Web Site are complementary to each other and attracting different audiences. Sharing news, as we are doing, adds a value to each of the media.
Best wishes.

Congratulations Michael on your 40 years of scribing the Ballon/Rathoe Notes, from Ballon Gaelic Football Club, Being "One of our Own", a founding member and having served as Chairman, Secretary and PRO at various stages of our club's development we never lacked for publicity in any of our ventures and, indeed, the same can be said of today. In fact, the history of the present Ballon club could, no doubt, be well documented by a trawl through the "Ballon Notes" (as we knew them) spanning Michael's reign as pen pusher supreme. Keep is going Michael and what about another 40 informative years?

When I came to Ballon in nineteen seventy four was when I first encountered Michael Dawson. He was the vital link between me and getting to know what was happening in my new Community. All I had to do was telephone Michael any notices , announcements of happenings in Ballon would be very well taken care of. I was involved with Ballon Rathoe Athletic Club, Ballon Community Games, Ballon ICA, Ballon Development Group, St. Patrick's Day Parade and now the present day Ballon Improvement Group.
Michael was always very pleasant to deal with and promoted all the activities and happenings to a very high standard.
Lets hope that he will continue with the very good work in the Nationalist.

Maire George

It gives me great pleasure to join with so many in giving my warmest congratulations to Michael in reaching the hugely considerable feat of forty unbroken years reporting on the pulse and heartbeat of Ballon/Rathoe life.

I have worked closely with Michael for many years editing our annual magazine The Chronicle which, in itself is testimony to his innovation, application and his trade mark attention to detail.

With forty years up in this much loved and greatly appreciated area a whole new vista now awaits Michael and it would, indeed be only natural and commensurate with his talents to produce the best of his legendary Ballon/Rathoe notes in a best seller.

Michael, your legion of readers as well as history awaits your response. Good luck and no doubt the best is yet to come.

John Smyth

Congratulations Michael on your 40 years of scribing the Ballon/Rathoe Notes, from Burrin Celtic Football Club.
Michael was appointed as PRO in 1987 at our first AGM and has ben reporting for the past twenty years giving us excellent coverage. I do also recall , Michael, being a competant tennis player and we broke even with the amount of trophies that we collected in the local tournamets althoug your reporting did not agree with this!.. On behalf of Burrin Celtic I wish you many more years of top class reporting.

Seamus Cummins - Chairman

* It is interesting to note that Michael has kept each and every one of the Ballon/Rathoe notes for the 40 years and has them filed on chronological order. They solve many an argument, he says.