Archive News
August 23, 2012
Date Published: 22-Aug-2012
1912
Cinema theatre
The cinema theatre which since its inception has in reality provided Galway with an up-to-date music hall in all its aspects, will on Sunday night present a vivid picture of local history in the making. This is none other than a series of views showing the erection of the new Diocesan College (St. Mary’s) which will have opened that day, from the laying of the foundation stone to its completion.
During the week there will be illustrated songs in addition to the usual series of pictures. The success of the theatre is on a level with the enterprise, grit, courtesy, and popularity of the management.
Another warning
The lamentable drowning fatality at Wood Quay some few weeks ago, whereby an old woman lost her life, again emphasises the need for protecting the public from what has proved a veritable death trap. It is obvious the place needs to be railed off, and it is to be hoped that the necessary precautions will be adopted without delay. We understand that the public will soon hear of adequate steps being taken in this direction.
The “spy” farce
During the week the Dublin press reproduced the following from the Brussels correspondent of “The Daily Telegraph”.
“The arrest of a military spy at Galway of the well-known Belgian barrister and writer, Mr. George Quitelet is hailed as a most ridiculous mistake. The prisoner is a wealthy and most honourable citizen. He is a grandson and great-grandson of illustrious astronomers and mathematicians, one of whom, Lambert Quitelet, whose statue embellishes the public squares in Ghent and Brussels, was tutor in London to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort.
Mr George Quitelet, who was travelling for the third time in Ireland, is much addicted to camping out. Hence, he pitched his camp in Galway, but was unsuspicious of the proximity of a fortified position. His family, to whom he has written cheerfully, adding that he is perfectly treated in jail, takes his adventure gaily and is convinced that he will be released with apologies.
1937
Reported himself lost
A Scotsman named McFarland went to spend a holiday in Sussex. He left his luggage at a boarding house and, feeling the intense heat, took off his jacket and went for a stroll. When he decided to return, he found that he had left the address of the boarding-house in his jacket and could not remember the name of his landlady.
After a search lasting for hours, he went to the police station and reported himself “lost”. The police are now waiting to hear from a landlady that her visitor is missing and they will return Mr. McFarland to her.
Poteen tipplers warned
“The public should be warned that indulgence in crude spirit may lead to permanent dementia from which recovery does not take place,” warned Dr. Douglas B. M. Lothian. R.M.S., Down Mental Hospital to poteen tipplers in his annual report. He said that the recovery rate was, for certified patients, 14 per-cent for males and 29.8 per-cent for females, which was very satisfactory.
The proportion of the voluntary patients who departed completely recovered was not so high, but the proportion improved on departing was higher (54%) more cases being “relieved” than was the case among certified patients.
Renvyle monster
The Renvyle “Merman” has re-appeared. Where he spent the winter, no one knows, but one thing is certain, and that is, that he is very hungry.
On Friday last he suddenly broke the surface a few yards astern of a currach near Fraoghlawn Island, in the mouth of Ballinakill Bay, sniffed the air in a businesslike fashion, and then made straight for the boat, using his favourite breaststroke.
The occupants of the currach, Messrs. Thomas O’Toole and Michael Warde, who were out for a few hours mackerel fishing said they got the fright of their lives. They had just had a good two hours’ fishing at the time and the bottom of the currach was covered with mackerel.
When they saw the monster coming straight for them they thought he intended to climb on board and perhaps hurl them into the sea so they picked up their oars and took flight.
The description of the monster seems to agree with that of the Renvyle fisherman who first encountered him near the same place last harvest. He had the same straw-like shaggy hair and beard with very red lips and bushy eyebrows. He swam head and shoulders over the surface and looked about fifty years of age. He kept his mouth shut and whined through his nostrils. The men believe that he was hungry and ,having got the scent of the fish, followed them for some.
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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