Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By – A Browse through the archives of the Connacht Tribune.
1913
Gigantic caravan
The advent of a huge motor caravan to Mr. Ward’s fully equipped modern garage at noon today attracted a considerable amount of public interest. The imposing outlines and build of the car were viewed by an admiring crowd, and the spectator was at once struck by the perfect workmanship, as well as the evident indications of strength and durability which it displayed.
On the invitation of the courteous owner, Mr. Albert Fletcher, of Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, our representative entered the caravan. The outward appearance of the van conveys no idea, though fitted with cut-glass windows, of the sumptuous appointments of the interior.
It reminded one of a railway corridor carriage, but the latter is not provided with all the comforts of a miniature hotel. A coal stove is fitted at the side of the car, and there is every sanitary convenience. Lockers are arranged at the sides and a compact little pantry is provided.
There are six beds of bunks, and the car throughout is lit with electricity, made as the car is in motion.
“It is simply a pleasure tour,” said Mr. Fletcher. “I am accompanied by six gentlemen, including the chauffeur. We have already visited Belfast, the Giant’s Causeway, Portrush, and around the coast to Galway.”
“What do you think of Irish roads?” he was asked.
“All I have seen up to the present at any rate, are very poor compared with the English roads. We had a terrible job to get from Cong here. We shall stay a month touring Ireland,” he said.
1938
Black with visitors
Sunday, the warmest day experienced in Galway this summer, brought record crowds of visitors to the West. The beaches all along the coast from Salthill to Tully were black with people. A conservative estimate of the number of bathers at Furbough beach would be five thousand.
Galway families intending to pass the heatwave at Barna and Furbough found the strands already overcrowded and were compelled to proceed further afield to Spiddal and Knock.
Two special trains arriving in Galway from Clonmel and Boyle on Sunday brought over eight hundred excursionists. In addition to the usual ‘bus service from Sligo to Galway, four special coaches carried over one hundred visitors to the city.
Most of the visitors, however, travelled in private cars, with which the roads were literally crowded. The Castlebar Troop Catholic Boy Scouts who are under canvas at Furbough, together with between thirty and forty private campers, helped to swell the crowds on the beaches on Sunday. There is also a full attendance of students at the Pearse College, Spiddal.
Never since the inception of the Irish Tourist Association has Connemara reaped such a bountiful harvest from the tourist industry as it is reaping at the moment.
Last year’s season was considered good, but this year’s has broken all records. Since the beginning of July, visitors have been pouring into the area in buses, chars-a-banc, private motor cars, on motor bicycles, push cycles and on foot.
The capacity of the hotels have long since been overtaxed, even when sitting-rooms, dining-rooms and even bathrooms were pressed into service as sleeping quarters.
It was midnight on Tuesday when visitors arriving on the 9pm bus in Clifden had found temporary sleeping accommodation in private houses, whose owners were prevailed upon to take them in for the night.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
1923
Gloom after war
The special correspondent of the “Independent”, who has been writing of the aftermath of civil war in the West, notes that a feeling of apathy, due to the uncertainty of events, exists amongst the sorely-tried people of Connemara; that politics are referred to only with disgust and that not more than fifty per cent. of the people would vote at a general election; that poverty and unemployment are rife, and there is a growing tendency towards emigration; and that there are bitter complaints of the huge impost of rates and taxes.
It is only too true that there is enough of material for the pessimist to brood over, and that a feeling of gloom permeates country towns. But it is a poor tribute to patriotism that has survived such horrors to encourage this gloom.
It is the duty of all of us to get this pessimism out of the national body and to rid ourselves of the notion that we have not enough Christianity and moral sense left to restore our people to cheerful and ordered progress and industry.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
Peace negotiations
As we go to press, An Dáil is discussing the Peace negotiations between the Government and Mr. de Valera. It was announced on Wednesday for the first time that such negotiations were begun following Mr. de Valera’s “cease fire” proclamation of April 27, and that by the 30th of the month Senators Andrew Jameson and James Douglas were asked by him to discuss proposals.
They said it was for the Government to discuss; they could only confer. Into the ensuring conferences the Government declined to enter personally, but on May 3 the senators placed before Mr. de Valera the Cabinet’s terms, which were that future issues should be decided by the majority vote of the elected representatives of the people, and that as a corollary and a preliminary to the release of prisoners, all lethal weapons should be in the custody and control of the Executive Government.
Mr. de Valera relied to this on May 7 with a document in which he agreed to majority rule and control of arms, but added that arms should be stored in a suitable building in each province under armed Republican guard until after the elections in September, that the oath should not be made a test in the councils of the nation, and that all political prisoners should be released immediately on the signing of this agreement.
“You have brought back to us,” wrote President Cosgrave, “not an acceptance of our conditions, but a long and wordy document inviting debate where none is possible”.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
1923
State of the parties
Speculation as to parties after the next Irish elections is exceedingly interesting, especially in view of the enlarged franchise.
In Dublin, the view appears to be held by a number of people that Labour will make a great bid for power.
Dublin, however, has a curiously insular habit of thought where matters that concern all Ireland and in which Ireland has a say are concerned. We hope this insularity will rapidly disappear under the new conditions.
The country as a whole is backing the Farmers’ Party, and has not the smallest doubt that it will be the strongest combination in the next Dáil, and that it will oust the purely political parties, the one because it has resorted to force, the other because it has been compelled to use force to supress force, and the Labour Party because Ireland feels that at the back of its policy lurks the danger of Communism.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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