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Old Galway
FRANK McDONAGH & Co.
by Tom Kenny
Frank McDonagh and Company were wholesale and retail drapers and outfitters that opened in Williamsgate Street in 1883. In early advertisements, they described themselves as “Successors to M. Hennessy, the house for original Claddagh cloaks as supplied to the Royal family”.
They were always heavy advertisers, for Christmas at the turn of the last century, they were pushing ‘ladies chatelains and handkerchief bags, fur necklets at tempting prices, lace collars, ties, gloves, perfumes, cushions, tea cosies etc,, Irish poplin scarves a speciality’. In 1903 they had a major promotion of Irish made goods − Irish-made suits and suitings, dress and costume cloths, umbrellas and waterproofs, hats and caps, shirts and collars, hosiery and underwear, ties in great variety, corsets and underclothing, rugs and shawls.
Lifesaving in Galway
by Tom Kenny
Organised water safety in Ireland really began in Milltown Malbay, Co Clare in the 1930s when a lady drowned there. This galvanised the local community into forming a Water Safety Association to help swimmers who got into trouble. The idea spread through Co Clare and eventually to the whole country. The national water safety section, set up by the government, was run by the Red Cross.
In Galway the Corporation appointed a life guard in Salthill; Christy Dooley, Bobby Molloy and Michael Roche were among the early people who held that post. The swimming clubs began to organise classes with, notably, Jimmy Cranny and Christy Dooley providing the instruction. The Presentation, Taylor's Hill, the Jes and the Bish trained and organised teams for school competitions. More and more people were qualifying as life savers.
ST. AUGUSTINE’S FORT/FORTHILL
by Tom Kenny
The site of the Augustinian House when the order first came to Galway in 1508 was on the hill we know as Forthill today. Margaret Athy, the wife of the Mayor Stephen Lynch invited them and she built a church and steeple there too. Her husband was away in Spain and got a shock when he returned to see the finished new building on the hill. The friars moved into a house within the walled city but their church was still between the city and the bay.
In 1588, over 300 members of the Spanish Armada were washed ashore, taken to Galway and slaughtered. The local people took pity and buried them at the adjoining Forthill Cemetery. In 1596, Red Hugh O’Donnell attacked the city from St. Augustine’s Hill and caused a great deal of damage.
THE HAT FACTORY
by Tom Kenny
In the 1930s, Ireland instructed all of its consul officials in Europe no to issue visas to Jewish refugees, but the country was also in a state of economic stagnation at the time and Seán Lemass realized that new industries would help the country. An Irish Jewish businessman, Marcus Witztum offered to help him and went to Paris, met Henri Orbach there who owned a small hat factory and suggested he open a business in Ireland, a safer place for people of the Jewish persuasion than continental Europe. Orbach agreed.
And so, the Hat Factory came to Galway and started life in Eyre Square. Shortly afterwards another factory called Western Hats opened in Castlebar and later Hirsch Ribbons in Longford. All three factories came thanks to the efforts of Marcus Witztum who was deeply involved in their setting up. In doing so, he brought a number of experts over from Europe to help train the staff. All of these ‘experts’ happened to be Jewish who otherwise would probably have been caught up in the Nazi murder machine and this resulted in Whitztum being dubbed “An Irish Schindler”.
IN MEMORY OF CRIOSTÓIR
by Tom Kenny
A ballad is a form of verse, a poem or a song that tells a story. It can be considered either poetic or musical and is written in short stanzas with a rhyming system abcb. These forms of folk songs were often an anonymous retelling of local legends, stories of particular events or characters.
Criostóir Mac Gearailt was a storyteller who penned hundreds, if not thousands of ballads. He wrote tributes in this form primarily about sportsmen and women and their extraordinary achievements. Local events sparked his interest too, it might be a lament for the closing down of a business, a celebration of a new service, an indication of some praiseworthy aspect of a person. He always suggested a traditional tune that his ballad could be sung to …. ‘Galway Bay’, ‘The Mountains of Mourne’, ‘The Boys of Wexford’, ‘In Oranmore in the County Galway’ etc. As you read them, you can almost hear him humming along to the air as he wrote. In 1985, he published a collection of these works in book form, fittingly titled “Tributes”. If he wrote about you, he would simply hand you the typed ballad probably with an introduction to it, with his compliments.
DONAL MAC AMHLAIGH
by Tom Kenny
Donal Mac Amhlaigh was born on Cappagh Road in Barna on December 10th, 1926. His father James was a native of Kinvara who fought with the East Clare Brigade of the IRA in the War of Independence and who later joined the Irish Army. His mother was an Irish speaker, Mary Condon from Cappagh. They had 3 sons and a daughter in family. Pádraic Ó Conaire was a regular visitor to their house.
His dad’s army career meant he was moved occasionally so Donal’s education began at the St. Vincent De Paul School in Limerick where his teacher, a Miss Hanrahan gave him a love of the Irish language. He went to Scoil Fhursa in Galway (there is a plaque in his honour on the wall of the school) and to the Bish before going to the C.B.S in Kilkenny. He left school at 16 so as to help the family income, worked for a time in a woollen mill in Kilkenny, then on his uncle’s farm in Cappagh and for a summer in the Rockville Hotel in Salthill. He loved Knocknacarra at that time because, as he said, everybody over 40 years old was very comfortable speaking Irish to him.
LEISURELAND, 50 YEARS OLD
by Tom Kenny
The front page story on the first ever issue of the Galway Advertiser in 1970 was about the announcement of plans for a proposed new leisure centre to be situated between Revagh Road in Rockbarton and the Promenade.
On this day 50 years ago, June 29th 1973, the centre was formally opened by the President of Ireland, Erskine Childers. There had been some debate about what it should be called and eventually it would be known as Leisureland. It was only a section of the original plan but it was the first large-scale recreational facility in the west of Ireland. It featured an indoor heated swimming pool, a learner’s pool, a solarium, a multi-purpose hall, a cartoon cinema, outdoor and indoor amusements. Bórd Fáilte were the main investors with a significant input by Galway Corporation. The complex was designed by Simon Kelly and cost about £1 million pounds.
The swimming pool meant that swimmers in Galway could now swim and train all the year round. There was some disappointment in swimming circles that the pool was not 50 metres long, in other words, Olympic standard, and there was a rumour around at the time that for just £11,000 extra, they could have extended it. The pool was thirty three and a third metres long and of international standard. Indeed, a number of international galas have taken place there since as well as many national and local competitions.
THE BOY’S CLUB, 83 YEARS OLD AND STILL GOING
by Tom Kenny
Our Lady’s Boys Club was founded in 1940 by Fr. Leonard Shiel S.J. “to help young lads, flung into work at an early age when their characters are most easily formed for good or for ill. The Club hopes to play its small part in the present day effort all over Ireland to help poor boys to be more reliable and useful members of society and a credit to their faith”.
It has succeeded beyond Fr. Shiel’s wildest dreams.
Our President, Michael D. Higgins in a speech some years ago, said “Like so many successful community initiatives, Our Lady’s Boys Club was built on a vision, a spirit of participation and a will to make a genuine and positive difference to the community. When Fr. Shiel established a club in 1940, I doubt that he realised just how enduring his vision would be. Today, the Club is the largest youth club in the country and had woven its way into the fabric of community life in Galway, welcoming members from many neighbourhoods including Shantalla, Westside, Ballinfoile, Rahoon, Corrib Park and Newcastle.