Archive News
April 1, 2010
Date Published: {J}
Gort water
A letter relating to the Gort Dispensary District was read at the Gort Union for the half-year ending on September last, which stated that the Local Government Board for Ireland have already indicated their willingness to fix the cost of the improvement of the water supply and sewerage of the town of Gort upon the three townlands into which the town extends, and the Board would request that the Council would proceed to formulate a scheme for dealing with these matters.
Congestion in Galway
The following resolution, passed by the Ballinasloe Board of Guardians, was received: – ‘That having regard to the fact that considerable portions of this county are congested, while other portions are given up to ranches, it is the opinion of this Board than an immediate application to this county of the recent Land Act is highly desirable, and this being so, it is inexplicable why the Co. of Galway should be left unrepresented on the Congested Districts Board, and we deem it ours duty to call upon the Government to repair the omission by the appointment of a suitable representative for this county.’
Suit of clothes
At the weekly meeting of Loughrea Board of Guardians, an inmate named John Greene applied for a suit of clothes and boots to enable him to leave the house.
Chairman: Is this man leaving the house?
Mr. Killeen said he believed he was. He went out every summer.
Chairman: Supposing he gets the clothes and don’t go out?
Master: He couldn’t remain in the house after getting the clothes.
Chairman: I think he is a useful man in the house.
Master: He did all the painting in the hospital last year. He recommended that the clothes be granted.
This was agreed on.
Weather danger
Some anxiety exists as to the result of the inquiry regarding the water and sewerage of Athenry. Now that the warm weather approaches the damger increases. It is to be hoped that something may be done to rectify these matters in the immediate future.
Sir Acheson MacCullagh, it appears, sent off his report and recommendations some weeks ago, and the delay has arisen at the Custom House, Dublin.
1935
Banker promotion
Much satisfaction has been expressed in Galway at the promotion of Mr. Rd. J. Maume to the general managership of the National Bank of Ireland.
Mr. Maume was born in Headford, County Galway, during the period in which his father was manager of the branch of the National Bank in that town. The family came from Rathkeale, County Limerick.
An excellent golfer and a good all-round sportsman, Mr. Maume was exceedingly popular in Galway and his promotion in s regarded with complete satisfaction. His brother, Mr. George Maume, is now on the inspection staff of the head office.
Pig supply
At the pig fair held in Galway on Tuesday moning, the supply greatly exceeded the demand. Buyers were conspicuous by their absence. Limerick buyers are usually very prominent at Galway pig fairs, but only one or two of them were to be seen.
The demand, was, all round, very poor, and fell far short of expectations. Light pigs fetched from 34s. to 36s. per cwt. live weight, and heavy pigs fetched from 30s. to 32s. per cwt. live weight. Bonhams were sold at prices ranging from 20s. to 25s.
Connemara beet
The first definite news of an acre of beet being put down in Connemara comes from Clifden. Mr. Tobias Joyce has six men employed at present on the work at his farm at Island View, Faul. He is enthusiastic about the prospects of the crop. Although the season is very far advancd, it is expected that several more acres will be planted in Connemara within the next couple of weeks.
House-building
Under the provision of the Working Classes Act, Ballinasloe UDC have built nearly 100 houses, 60 being at present in course of construction. Over 100 houses were condemned by successive medical officers of health within the past few years as being unfit for habitation, owing principally to their location in areas devoid of air, light and proper sanitation.
Although the Council have tackled the clearance of the slums in a serious manner, there still remains much to be done before an adequate supply of suitable houses are ready to relieve congestion in other areas.
Loughrea’s streets
The insanitary condition of the town streets – particularly the main thoroughfare – after the weekly market, was referred to by Mr. J. Corry, who suggested that the matter be referred to the town steward with a view to having them cleansed immediately after the people attending the market in the town on Thursday evening. An order was made in accordance with Mr. Corry’s suggestion, the same ruling to apply to fair days.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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