Archive News
January 27, 2011
Date Published: {J}
1911
Exciting incident
An exciting incident occurred at Oranmore on Tuesday, when a horse attached to a side car suddenly took fright and dashed into the sea. Sergt.
Golding, of Oranmore, and Const Brennan promptly procured a boat, and despite the fact that it was minus rowlocks, and the sea was choppy at the time, succeeded in reaching the animal, and after a struggle in which the plucky policemen placed their lives in eminent danger, brought the horse and car ashore, and restored them to their owner – the head of a leading Galway posting establishment.
Hospital lighting
A report having been read from Dr. McDermott, residential medical officer, Galway County Hospital Board, to the effect that the light in the wards was not sufficient to enable patients to read, and Dr. Kinkead having stated that he had often to procure candles going through the wards, it was decided that the Electric Company be asked for an estimate for certain necessary works, vis.: surgical wards and operating theatre and that the Gas Company be written to with reference to bad lighting of the wards.
Dr. Kinkead said the present lights were no better than “a farthing dip” and Mr. Crowley observed that they should look before them in those contracts.
Brother stabbing
The accused, from Ballygar and had been in America, lent his brother £100 on his return to set him up in business, and the quarrel arose about the balance due on foot of that loan. Defendant had no knife in his hand at the time of the assault, only a piece of “kippen” which keeps meat together.
The prisoner’s brother swore the accused and himself were the best of friends up to this quarrel, and were the best of friends at present.
His Honour: What about the police? Have they anything to say?
Mr. Blake: Excellent character.
His Honour said under the circumstances he thought the ends of justice would be met not by sending the prisoner to jail, but by allowing him out, himself in £20 and two sureties of £10 each.
1936
Galway industry
The Galway Industrial Development Association are at present in touch with two companies which are making enquiries regarding the suitability of Galway for certain types of factories.
These negotiations are being conducted privately up to the present.
An appeal is being sent out to all businessmen in the city to attend a special general meeting of the Association next week.
Heavy snowfall
Very heavy snowfalls were experienced throughout Connemara during the early part of the week.
In some places, the fall reached a depth of seven inches, and on Sunday morning, traffic on the main Galway-Clifden Road was delayed owing to the condition of the road about Maam Cross and Recess.
Severe flooding
The oldest inhabitant in Kinvara and district cannot remember an occasion when the tides were so high as they were there last week when they plunged over the quay walls and submerged the adjoining streets to a depth of several feet.
Many occupants in houses opposite the quays were forced to leave and one old lady, Mrs Connor, an old age pensioner, was taken from her house when the floods and tides threatened it. They were up to the door at the time.
Price of apples
Dear Sir,
At Wednesday’s meeting of the Galway Committee of Agriculture, I am reported as saying that I could not get more than 8d. per stone for apples. I did not sell any apples at this price, but I am aware that some people sold them at this price packed in bags and in a bad condition. It is time those who sell apples should be compelled to market them in a proper manner, as eggs, butter and other agricultural commodities. It is a slipshod method of marketing apples which is the cause of the low prices as compared to foreign ones,
James Haverty, Springlawn, Mountbellew.
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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