Archive News
June 24, 2010
Date Published: {J}
Labourers
The labourers are badly treated in Athenry, with regard to their cottages. On Saturday, there was a notice of motion on for a reduction from 8s 4d. a month to 6s. which was rejected. The labourers are determined that the cottages shall remain untenanted until the rent has been reduced to a fair standard, and the result in this case will be that the ratepayers will have to bear the whole cost and the cottages will as a result of being vacant, get dilapidated.
Some of the contractors are labouring under a grievance, too, as the cottages, although finished since last September, have not yet been taken off their hands, as they are bound to hand them over to the District Council in good order. Scarcely a week passes that some damage to them has got to be repaired as a result of being untenanted.
Child abandoned
Mrs Devaney appeared before the meeting of the Galway Board of Guardians and said a child had been left in her house on Thursday night by a woman. Her daughter was the only person in the house at the time, and she took the child, fearing the woman, who said she was going to England, would destroy it.
Chairman: What time did you come home that night?
Mrs Devaney: About 11 o’clock.
Mr. Lee: Did you report the matter to the police?
Mrs. Devaney: My husband went to the Head Constable, and he said to have the child taken to the Workhouse.
In a reply to members Relieving Officer Sullivan said the woman who left the child in the house of Mrs Devaney was a Mrs Quinn.
Mr Davoren said the police should be again acquainted of the matter.
Mr. Griffin: And the child could be kept in the house in the meantime?
Clerk: Yes, and it will be there for 15 years.
Mr. Lee: That woman should be brought back wherever she is. What age was your daughter that took the child?
Mrs Devaney: Nineteen years.
Mr. Lee: It looks very suspicious.
Mr. MacNeill suggested paying the woman for the maintenance of the child for one week, in the meantime to communicate with the Head Constable.
Mr. MacNeill’s suggestion was agreed to.
1935
Movie-making
The filming of J.M. Synge’s “Riders to the Sea” will be commenced in Ireland in less than a fortnight. The film, which will take about six weeks to complete, is being made by the Flanagan Hurst Productions, a new company recently founded by Mr, Brian D. Hurst, a native of Down, and Mr. J. Flanagan, a well-known portrait painter in London.
The headquarters of the producers will be at Renvyle, Connemara, and the main scenes will be taken at Glashawn, Leenane and Tully; and along the Galway coast. The scenario, which has been adapted by Francis Stuart and Patrick Kirwan, the well-known authors, is now ready.
The buses
It is doubtful if the railway closing will affect the tourist industry in Connemara as somewhere at first inclined to believe. The ‘buses are undoubtedly very expeditious and they give one a better opportunity of seeing the country.
The unfailing courtesy and good humour of both the conductors and drivers goes a long way towards mitigating any slight inconvenience that may be experienced and from the moment the traveller steps onto the ‘bus in Galway, he has the pleasant feeling of being in good hands and that his holiday has actually begun.
It is stated that a more luxurious type of vehicle will be used on the route in the near future and it is felt that if the Irish Tourist Association could be induced to see its influence with the company to have something on the same style as the Westport and Mallaranny ‘buses put into operation a great deal of good would accrue.
Sewerage urgency
The need for a waterworks and sewerage scheme for Ballinasloe, which has been recognised for a considerable time to be very urgent, has been again stressed by the fact that the new schools needed in the town have been held up, and also the Council’s 64 new houses are nearing completion. These houses will be ready, it is believed, towards the end of the year and so far no arrangements have been definitely made for a water supply. The Council have already stressed the urgency of a loan several times to the Department and did everything on their part to expedite the work.
Salthill church
“This glorious seaside place is really a benefit to the city of Galway … hence I say that the people of Galway should contribute their share to the erection of this beautiful church.” These remarks were made by his lordship, Most Rev. Dr. O’Doherty, Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Aposolic Administrator of Kilfenora, in the course of his address to a very large crows, following the ceremony of blessing and laying the foundation stone of the new church in Salthill.
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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