Archive News
September 22, 2011
Date Published: {J}
1911
Autumn tourism
It Is said (nay complained by drapers with autumn goods for sale) that this miserably fine summer is outstaying its welcome. Perhaps so. The class of people who visit Salthill, however, don’t think so, for it is on record that it was never so crowded as this week. The harvest is saved, and (the weather holding up) many a one will be able to take a holiday who would not have dreamt of it otherwise.
Incorrigible boy
As the result of a case heard in the Childrens’ Court, Galway, on Monday, at the suit of the Superintendent of the Boys’ Industrial School, Salthill, against an inmate of the school, the latter was sent to the Philipstown Reformatory. The boy is thirteen and a half years old.
The Superintendent stated that on April 27, the boy stole a razor but gave it back. He stole a razor on another occasions but did not give it up. He was in the habit of smoking cigarettes.
He was warned about it several times, but he still persisted in doing so. They boy had two other brothers in the institution, and he was an unsuitable companion to have in the school.
Who is the turncoat?
Dear Sir,
“An inhabitant of Errismore,” in that Orange rag, “The Galway Express” of August 26th, under the caption “What About Ireland ,” writes: Mr. Wm. O’Brien bravely and honestly denounced the trickery and dodgery of the United Irish League”.
Is this the same William O’Brien who owned the “Irish People” some years ago, and who published therein a lithograph of an envelope bearing the Ballyconneely (Errismore) post mark, and offered a reward for the identification of the handwriting, because (it was explained) the envelope carried insulting and blackguardly literature to Mrs William O’Brien, to Mallow Cottage, Westport? Now what about that envelope? “Inhabitant of Errismore,” do you think it was addressed by Messrs. Devlin and Dillon, and, if not, by whom?
Yours, Mr. Editor,
“Counsellor Crack”
1936
Telephone upgrade
A £65,000 scheme to speed up the Irish telephone service is to be in operation in a few months. Under the new scheme, additional links will be established between Dublin and Cork, Claremorris, Sligo, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford, Galway, Tralee, and Belfast, while an additional link is being made between Sligo and Lifford, Mullingar and Cavan, and Cork and Bantry.
It will be necessary to install new equipment of the most advanced type at each of the centres mentioned, and world has commenced at several of the post offices in the Free State. Three new channels will be made available to each of the centres mentioned in the Free State when the work has been completed.
Priests on dancing
During an application by James Cooney at Tuam District Court for 20 all-night dance licences, Rev. Father Killeen, Adm., stated that he had given the matter careful consideration and he could not understand why dances should not commence at an early hour and finish at an early hour. He considered the application for twenty all-night licences outrageous.
With regard to the age limit, boys and girls under eighteen years of age and girls under eighteen years of age should not be allowed into dances, and carparking was one of the great sources of moral harm.
The Justice granted the applicant a licence for two all-night dances from seven to three, as he agreed with Father Killeen that dances should commence and finish early.
During an application for licences for Cummer Hall, Rev. Father Joyce said he objected principally to outsiders coming to the hall. Unpleasant incidents had occurred as a result of their visits. If a licence was granted, he wanted the attendance to be confined to the parish, and so keep out undesirables.
He objected to all-night dances, they were a mistake and a danger.
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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