Connacht Tribune
Man who made Galway ‘sexy’
Lifestyle – Founder of Galway Arts Festival Ollie Jennings tells Judy Murphy how the germ of an idea grew into such a headline event
If someone in Garbally College, where I went to secondary school, had said I’d be running Galway Arts Festival in 1985, everyone would have laughed,” says Ollie Jennings. They’d have been wrong. Not only was Ollie running the event in ’85, but he had spearheaded its establishment in April 1978, when the first Arts Festival was held in a pop-up venue in Galway City.
Ollie’s involvement with the arts began in 1974 when he “organised a concert and got a bit of a bug. I liked it and kept going.”
The concert was in the then UCG. Ollie had gone there as a BA student having abandoned a Commerce degree in UCD – he’d done well in exams but didn’t like it. He also spent time studying journalism and a year in a public service job in Carlow. Then, in 1972, he followed his sister to Galway where she was a medical student.
He had “a lovely year, just reading,” but had no interest in academic life.
“Then I fell into a house in Fairlands Park called Comhludhar (Company or Together), where everybody was doing something, being involved in Friends of the Earth and stuff like that. There was very little music in Galway and in February 1974, I organised a gig with (traditional group) Ceoltóirí Laigheann and got 200 people in the Aula.”
Support came from a local group which they’d named Ceoltóirí UCG. They later went on to become De Dannan.
In May 1974, having hitched to Tipperary to a Chieftains’ gig and persuaded Paddy Moloney that the ground-breaking band should do a Galway show, Ollie sold 950 tickets for a Leisureland concert.
Next up was a stint as auditor of UCG’s Arts Soc, following Garry Hynes, who then went on to co-found Druid.
Arts Soc had an annual budget of £300 which allowed Ollie to host events such as an art exhibition with Dublin artist, Brian Bourke and readings with up-and-coming poet, Seamus Heaney.
He was supported as auditor by college friends including Pat Reid, Kieran Corcoran and Conall MacRiocaird – they then decided to broaden their remit.
“We regrouped downtown and renamed ourselves Galway Arts Group,” recalls Ollie. “We had two objectives. One was to organise a Festival and the second was to establish an Arts Centre.”
Broadening their base meant they could apply for Arts Council funding and that’s what happened. The two organisations subsequently diverged – the Arts Centre in Dominick Street has run Cúirt for many years.
By then, Ollie was living in a house in St Mary’s Row with like-minded people, including Ted Turton (who later became Festival Director), Gaby Froese, and Jim Raftery, where the group ran a wholefood co-op. Mary Coughlan was a frequent visitor.
“There was a coalition of people who put the first festival together in April 1978.”
The Festival base was a pop-up arts centre where Sheridan’s Cheesemongers are now. Events included exhibitions by Laura Vecchio and James Coleman, whose installation of a crying baby alongside an Irish flag, had previously featured in the ground-breaking Dublin exhibition series, ROSC. It cost £400 to show it.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
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.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
