Old Galway
High Street Facades (18 12 2014)
Galway Grammar School was founded by Erasmus Smith about 1667 in a temporary premises and it moved to High Street about 1684. An entry in the records for January 22nd 1684 reads “That Dr. John Coghill be desired to write unto Mr. Patrick Mains in Gallaway that he will more particularly inspect the house there belonging unto Sir Robert Ward concerning the necessary repairs to make it convenient for a school and a commodious dwelling for the schoolmaster and usher and for boarders lodgings that it will amount to”.
A Postcard Of Toft’s Amusements (11 12 2014)
The Toft family were associated with Eyre Square for many years since 1883 when they first brought a carnival there. Abby Toft, a Dub, ran the amusements through the early years. He married Florence Piper from Tramore and they had three children, Claude, Kenneth and Maureen. Kenneth joined the RAF during World War II and his plane was shot down over Germany. He parachuted to safety but was captured and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp. He came home after the war and by way of celebration, his mother built the amusement arcade in Salthill for him.
Galway Three-In-A Row Teams (04 12 2014)
The Galway Senior football team played in four All-Ireland finals in a row from 1963 to 1966. They lost the first one to Dublin but achieved a magnificent three in a row in 1964, 1965 and 1966. They were not the only Galway team to do so as the New York Galway Senior Hurling Team managed a similar treble, winning the New York Championship in 1964, ‘65 and ’66.
O’Beirn’s Pharmacy, Henry Street ( 06 11 2014)
Our photograph today is of the Galway Committee of the Pharmaceutical Union who organised a national conference of their peers here in the early 1960’s. They are, back row; Paul Hayes, Lydon’s Pharmacy; Gussie Hayes, Portumna; Tommy Farmer a medical rep and also a qualified pharmacist who lived and worked out of Devon Park. In front are Eibhlín Ó Beirn, Ó Beirn’s Pharmacy, Henry Street; Mary Breen; Mary Barry who worked in Merlin Park; Judy Walsh, Spiddal; Síle Ó Beirn, Henry Street; Laura Cunniffe, William Street and Salthill.
Calling All Jes Past Pupils (27 11 2014)
Like most National schools in the nineteen fifties, the Bun Scoil in Coláiste Iognáid (The jes) used to have a little break, known as a ‘sos’ mid morning. The lowest class in the Jes was Bun Rang II and they had a charismatic teacher named Power, who was known only as ‘An Paorach’. This man was a gaeilgeóir who taught everything through Irish but made it fun. You had to learn songs like “Beidh aonach amárach i gConntae an Chláir” or “Trasna na dtonnta ag dul siar ag dul siar”. Weather permitting he would use the period of the ‘sos’ to take his pupils out drilling around the pitch always carrying a whistle and issuing his commands in Irish.
Remembering Foggy Spelman (23 10 2014)
Paschal Spelman may have been given that name at birth, but to the many thousands of people (especially old Galwegians) he entertained down the years, he was simply known as ‘Foggy’.
He was born in New Road, one of 8 children, went to the Bish, worked for a time at the paint counter in Naughtons and later for a while in Dublin. In 1956, he was persuaded by fellow entertainer Dermot Murray to come back to Galway and form the successful insurance brokerage ‘Murray and Spelman’. They were known in the business as ‘D’ and ‘P’.
Hartmanns Of Galway (20 11 2014)
The first member of the Hartmann family to arrive in Galway was Alphons. His older brother Joseph was already established in business in Limerick. Joseph went back to Triburg in the Black Forest in Germany in 1895 to get married, and when he and his bride were about to return to Ireland, his father asked him if he would take Alphons with him.
Lowering the Old Wall ( 16 10 2014)
Church Lane was a dark place up until 1983 because of the very large high stone wall that ran the length of it. This was part of a wall that was built around St. Nicholasí Collegiate Church and its adjoining graveyard. The removal of most of the wall and its replacement by the railings that once surrounded Eyre Square was one of the earliest ideas for improving Galway as it prepared for the Quincentennial in 1984. This project transformed the area around the Church making it much more attractive and opening it up to the passing public. It let a lot of light into the city centre.