Galway In Days Gone By

1916

Serious accident

A very serious accident occurred to Mr. S. Craughwell at Ballinasloe Station on Saturday evening. While immediately inside the door of the goods store, a wagon was blown along the siding. Striking the door with terrific force, the latter caught Craughwell on the side of the head, removing the scalp and taking the top off the left ear. He was removed to St. Michael’s Hospital where his head was stitched and he is now progressing favourably.

Asylum vacancy

The favoured candidate for the Junior Assistant Medical Officership in the Ballinasloe Asylum is Dr. John Murnane, who has had over two years’ service in the institution, during which time he won the affection of the patients to whom he was most devoted, tending them with the greatest care and kindness and unsparingly working for them in their terrible affliction. With the staff he is most popular, a very important factor for the successful working of the institution. His abilities as a medical practitioner are held in very high regard in the Asylum.

South Park plan

The Urban Council of Galway has unanimously decided to call a public meeting of citizens with a view to forming a committee that will run next year’s Race Week Bazaar for an object that will tend to the material advancement and prosperity of the town.

The object which appears to find the most favour is the completion of the work of South Park, so that the City may become possessed of a suitable athletic grounds and recreation park within easy reach of its inhabitants.

1941

Salthill beach plans

“Beautifully desolate” is a description that has been frequently applied to Salthill by visitors, according to Mr. W. Emerson, Secretary of the Salthill Citizens’ Committee. In a letter to Galway Corporation, Mr. Emerson said that visitors came to Salthill as a matter of necessity rather than choice last Summer.

There was no reason, however, to suggest that the resort would not attract crowds in the future if visitors were catered for.

Plans prepared by Mr. C.J. O’Callaghan, former Borough Surveyor and recommended by the Committee were based on a scheme for the clearing of the foreshore; the laying of groynes from the foot of the Promenade to the low water mark so that a sandy beach would be provided between Blackrock and the Eglinton Hotel; the building of a revetment wall at the foot of the existing Promenade and the erection of railing on the Promenade; the building of a proper swimming pool and the provision of shelters and proper sanitary accommodation.

“If it is to keep up with other Irish resorts, the scheme suggested above should be put into operation immediately. Owing to the international situation, Salthill was well patronised last year, but more from necessity than by choice, but there is no reason to suggest that it would not continue to be full in the years to come if visitors were properly catered for with bathing facilities and amusements.

“The Irish people would willingly support Irish seaside resorts if they were catered for on the proper lines,” the letter concluded.

Ald. Miss Ashe said that if they intended doing anything for Salthill, now was the time to start. The railing of the Promenade and the clearing of the foreshore were things that everyone would approve of.

The Mayor said that the whole scheme would cost thirty or forty thousand pounds.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.