Connacht Tribune
Tales of bygone days
Lifestyle – Series of books chronicle memories of older people of what life was like in bygone years. Judy Murphy spoke to Pauline Bermingham Scully who has compiled the oral histories.
The devil has all the best tunes, according to the old saying, but in the 1950s and 1960s the town of Gort had the best bands. That’s according to Loughrea man Pat Barrett, who makes his observation in a new collection of oral histories complied by Ardrahan woman Pauline Bermingham Scully.
This is the third in Pauline’s collection, South Galway Stories: Oral Narratives, and it captures the memories of 35 local people, all of whom are over 70, with most being in their 80s and some in their 90s.
Among them is Pat Barrett from Loughrea and his brother Joe. Pat told Pauline about a time in the late 1950s, before the town’s new Temperance Hall existed, when dancing opportunities locally were limited.
The Loughrea lads used to go over to Gort for their weekly dance – until “one night there was a big row”, he recalls.
Hurling supporters from Loughrea and Craughwell took each other on in a barney over a match, and their hosts in Gort were not impressed with their behaviour, as Pat explained to Pauline for the book.
“After the row, the Loughrea lads were barred for a year, I think it was. We missed Gort as they had all the big bands; we had no big hall in Loughrea. We had the Town Hall which would only hold about 300 . . .
“The Classic Ballroom in Gort was one of the best dancehalls in the county, apart from Seapoint and other big dancehalls in Galway,” he added, explaining that it could hold 1,000 people.
The owner of the Classic Ballroom was Paddy Mullins and Pauline also interviewed him for this book. Born in 1926, Paddy now lives in a nursing home in Kilcolgan and shared many happy memories of the dancehall days, when the Classic hosted showbands like Big Tom and the Mainliners and the Dixies as well as “all the good céilí bands, the Tulla and Kilfenora”.
The Classic attracted big numbers, Paddy told Pauline – something due in large part to his business skills.
“I used to be running buses from Galway and Ennis. It was 18 miles from Ennis and 20 miles from Galway. . . you had some great dancers that time, and they liked dancing. It used to be packed, no drinking only the mineral bar, I never had any trouble, I wouldn’t let in the ones that would be drunk. . . there was manners in my place.”
That the Classic had never had or never needed bouncers was a source of great pride to Paddy.
Pauline’s face lights up during our interview in Gort’s Gallery Café as she recalls interviewing these men and many other older people from South Galway – by now, it seems like there can’t be anyone left whom she hasn’t recorded since she first began working on a history project while studying for a History and Geography degree in NUIG in the early 2000s.
Pauline, a mature student, had to pick a module for her course, and oral history was a natural choice for someone who grew up listening to stories of ‘the old days’.
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
