Generally Speaking: Ridge Irish march pays tribute to Larry Morrish

Last Sunday’s Bay Ridge 24th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade was dedicated to the memory of well-known civic leader Larry Morrish, one of the founding members of the popular local parade that was established in 1994.

Monsignor Kieran Harrington, the communications vicar for the Brooklyn Catholic Diocese and rector of the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, was the 2017 grand marshal. His deputy marshals included Brian Xuereb, Mary Elizabeth Donnelly, Kevin Anderson, Kelly Byrnes, Christopher Byrne, Fran Gillen, Brendan Lally and Kristen Hayes.

The parade kicked off with the All Armed Services Color Guard from Fort Hamilton. Several pipe and drum bands in addition to high school marching bands were in the line of march which ran along Third Avenue from Marine Avenue to 67th Street.

Second graders at Public School 686, the Brooklyn School of Inquiry, constructed replicas of the Brooklyn Bridge as a class project. As budding young engineers, each student built a small replica of the famed bridge which, when opened in the 19th century, was heralded as the Eighth Wonder of the World!

Weeks later, the pupils gathered in their schoolyard where they assembled a large-scale replica of the bridge which I bet became the talk of the neighborhood.

Trolley historian and railway buff Bob Diamond will be taking everyone for a sentimental trolley car ride down memory lane when he gives his presentation on former Brooklyn trolley lines at the April 4 monthly meeting of the Society of Old Brooklynites, at Brooklyn Borough Hall, at 6:30 p.m.

American veterans, family members and supporters that served during Vietnam attended an annual commemoration ceremony at the site of New York’s Vietnam Veterans Plaza at 55 Water Street.

The event, which was conducted by the United War Veterans Council of New York, included wreath layings, rifle salutes by a Marine Corps artillery squad and the playing of Taps. Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo issued proclamations marking the occasion.