Connacht Tribune
Viking Long Boats set to join traditional hookers for Claddagh Festival
Two Viking Long Boats will ensure a distinctively Nordic feel to the inaugural Claddagh Traditional Boat Festival, which will run from Wednesday to Sunday, May 24 to 28, in the city’s Claddagh Basin.
The annual regatta, organised by Bádóirí an Ċladaiġ (The Claddagh Boatmen) has been expanded this year to include the inaugural Claddagh Traditional Boat Festival.
In addition to the Viking Long Boats, there will be 20 Galway Hookers and Gleoiteógs on display at Claddagh Basin for the duration of the Festival – including five Galway Hookers and Gleoiteógs built and refurbished by Bádóirí an Ċladaiġ.
This will be the first opportunity to see so many of these traditional vessels, all in full sail, gathered at the Claddagh Basin since 1920, according to the Claddagh Boatmen.
These talented boat-builders are on track to complete 14 of the iconic vessels, representing the 14 Galway Tribes, in time for 2020 when Galway will be European Capital of Culture.
Meanwhile, the two Viking Long Boats and their crew, who will travel from Ardglass in Northern Ireland, are joining their boat-making colleagues in the West as guests and invaders from May 24-28.
The Claddagh Basin will also host a Viking village for the festival. A full Viking invasion of Salthill is planned for Saturday, May 27, weather permitting.
This festival is liaising with 14 primary schools in Galway City, Kinvara and along the Connemara Coast, allowing them to ‘adopt’ one of the traditional boats being moored in the Basin. The students will learn the history of these boats and about the boating traditions of the Claddagh and Vikings. They will then take a trip to the Claddagh Basin to see the boats for themselves.
More than 150 primary schoolchildren in Viking and Medieval Galway costume will, with the invaders from Ardglass Vikings, stage an ‘attack’ and a ‘defence’ scenario on the streets of Galway, from Lynch’s Castle, down Quay Street to the Spanish Arch on the Thursday at 12pm, Friday at 12pm and Saturday at 3pm. There will be a further ‘invasion’ in Salthill on the Saturday, if the weather allows.
The Festival will also showcase Galway’s strong tradition of Irish music. With the assistance of local branches of Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann, there will be singers and dancers on the city’s streets, and trad sessions throughout the area.
Galway’s finest music and singing talent will also be on display on the quayside from Wednesday to Friday evening.
This festival demonstrates the vision and voluntary work by one Galway community to keep traditional crafts alive.
The five traditional Gleoiteógs and Hookers have been built, preserved or re crafted in Galway by the Bádóirí over the last number of years. This project is supported and funded by the Department of Social Protection.
Galway City Council and the Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board (GRETB) are also financial supporters of this initiative and festival, with the GRETB engaged in specific training and education in the marine sector.
The Latin Quarter, Galway’s Westend and The Village Salthill business groups are on board as anchor sponsors of the festival.
Support for the 14 key traditional boats being built for 2020 will also come from individual Galway City Centre and Salthill businesses.
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
