Archive News
August 30, 2012
Date Published: 29-Aug-2012
1912
Burglary at school
On Sunday night a number of small boys broke into St. Mary’s College (which had been formally opened and blessed on the previous day) but found nothing portable which they were able to take away. They then consoled themselves with drinking champagne left over by the abstentious participants of the previous evening’s lunch, and on Monday morning were found wandering about the grounds in that exhilarated state which is said to be one of the rewards of the famous French wine.
Galway Cathedral
The foundation stone of the Galway Cathedral, which, in style and splendour, is going to throw the old into the shade, will be laid on St. Patrick’s Day, 1914.
It is going to be an everlasting specimen of Irish architecture, carried to its full logical development, which it has never been yet and may be looked upon as the first authentic expression of the Romanesque school, rising up under the aegis of the new National University.
In everything but old memories, our new shrine will eclipse St. Nicholas’s. The one or two who have been permitted to see the design have been carried away in transports by its exquisite delicacy and lace-like loveliness of its frontage. Verily, they say it will be “a thing of beauty and joy forever.”
Famous visitor
Galway is to be favoured next week with a visit to the Town Hall of the great London comedian, Mr Charles Coborn, the original “Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo.” And the gentleman of “Two Lovely Black Eyes.”
He will be supported by a strong array of specially selected artistes, including Miss Mabel Mavis, the most wonderful lady musical entertainer in the world (direct from the London Hippodrome).
It may be mentioned that Mr Coborn was specially held in reserve to appear at the recent Royal Command performance at the Palace Theatre, London. Coming with strong credentials, Mr Coborn and his company should attract crowded houses to the Town Hall next Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Seats may be secured in advance at Miss Sweeney’s, Mainguard Street.
1937
Cemeteries a ‘disgrace’
“Ireland is the only Catholic country in the world where cemeteries are kept in a careless and disgraceful manner,” observed Most Rev. Dr. Doorly, Bishop of Elphan, prior to consecrating the new cemetery for the Strandhill (County Sligo) parish.
“I dare say all those old burial places up and down the country were at one time, consecrated with the same ceremonies we are using today,” went on his lordship. “They were placed in the neighbourhoods of religious houses, and while these houses still stood, the cemeteries were kept with scrupulous care.
After a time, the foreign invader came and drove the religious from their monasteries; the endowments for Masses were confiscated, and the care of the cemeteries handed over to the ministers of the foreign religion and afterwards to the secular power – the Boards of Health. The cemeteries were then called graveyards; the good old name of the cemetery, or sleeping place for the dead was lost.
Rat infestation
Residents in Mount Pleasant Avenue, Ballinasloe, complained to the Ballinasloe Urban Council that refuse dumped in the Duggan Memorial Park and Sports Field was causing an unbearable nuisance and asked the Council to take the necessary steps to abate it.
The complainant stated that owing to the dumping, there was a plague of rats and flies in the place and a most unpleasant odour.
Mount Pleasant Avenue adjoined the park, which was used as a football pitch and the filth in the football grounds and in a lane at Mount Pleasant Avenue should be abated in the interest of the residents’ health.
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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