Galway in Days Gone By

Galway In Days Gone By

Published

2 years ago

July 29, 2021

Stephen Corrigan

Three boys catching up on their reading at the Galway Races in Ballybrit on July 28, 1988. Photo: Joe O'Shaughnessy

1921

Impure milk

Impure and dirty milk supplies do a serious injury to our population. Milk is, perhaps, the most important part of the diet of our infants, who will some day have to take their part in the work of the nation.

It is our duty to see that all forms of disease, which are likely to weaken the race by sapping its vitality, should be vigorously battled with. No form of food is so susceptible to contamination as milk, for it is a natural and complete food substance which is eminently suited to the growth of all kinds of disease germs, especially the dreaded germ which is the cause of consumption.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of our milch cows suffer from tuberculosis. The disease may not be apparent to the eye but can be easily detected by the veterinary surgeon by means of the “tuberculin test”. Milk from these cows often contains germs of the consumption which is causing such havoc and misery in Ireland.

Something must be done by public bodies to insist on the testing of suspected cows, and the frequent sampling and testing of public milk supplies. Educational authorities should urge farmers to take a personal interest in the matter and stamp out disease by keeping cowsheds sanitary and paying strict attention to cleanliness of milking.

It must be brought home to the farmer that it is his duty to produce an article which is acceptable to the public by being pure, of high quality, and free from the germs of infectious disease. It is only by working on these lines that the farmer can hope to gain the confidence of the consumer.

Races weather

Nothing is more necessary to the complete success of the Galway meeting next Wednesday and Thursday than the rainfall which is pretty general all over Ireland at present.

I learn from a reliable source that Galway is getting its quota and that the course is in good condition. This is all necessary to induce owners and trainers to send on horses, and I have no fear that runners will be plentiful on both days.

Writing as a metropolitan, I can safely predict a great attendance – one can only wish he could predict other things so surely. On all sides one hears the questions, “Are you going to Galway? Have you booked your room” and a reference to “the fun of the fair,” otherwise the Bazaar, nearly always follows.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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Galway in Days Gone By

Galway In Days Gone By

Published

3 hours ago

June 8, 2023

Stephen Corrigan

Crowds taking a dip in the sea and at the tidal pools in Salthill. Photo taken between 1957 and 1964.

1923

Cancer campaign

After tuberculosis, cancer takes the greatest toll on human life in these islands. A serous effort is about to be made in England to grapple with the disease and an appeal has been issued for £1,000,000 to be expended in research work.

Medical men are optimistic enough to hope that as a result of research it will be possible, sooner or later, to prevent and cure the disease.

In Ireland, outside Dublin, little has been done to help in the campaign against cancer. It is a peculiarity of some people that, in this matter of the cure and prevention of disease, they adopt an attitude of indifference. They accept preventable disease as something inevitable and with the resignation of the fatalist.

This attitude of mind and the utter disregard for the ordinary laws of sanitation made Ireland in the past a hotbed of disease. The man who shifted the spittoon fearing that he would soil it with a tobacco spit is still with us.

Enlightenment is, however, coming slowly but surely. In this fight against cancer, Ireland can join hands with the sister isle in the common cause of humanity. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the appeals made to hospital committees like those in Galway and other parts of Ireland for financial help will not fall on deaf ears.

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.

Galway in Days Gone By

Galway In Days Gone By

Published

1 week ago

June 1, 2023

Stephen Corrigan

A group of young people sitting on PJ Ruane's horse cart off New Road near the canal in Parkavara, Galway City in 1985.

1923 – The impact of war

It is just nine years since the news of the European War fell upon a Galway gathering to celebrate Race Week. The banks closed, international credit and stability rocked upon their foundations.

True, the waves of that terrible conflict broke harmlessly enough upon our shores; our farmers and our few manufacturers grew opulent by supplying John Bull with food and clothing for the war, a few of our towns benefited by a temporary, if fickle and untrustworthy, increase in trade.

But that evening in 1914 marked the beginning of a period during which the progress of ordinary business sense was impossible.

The intervening nine years have not been wasted years: they have been rich with gain to Ireland; they will yield greater wealth in the future if only all of us, putting personal vanities or the desire for political domination aside, will work for the honour and glory of Ireland, material as well as punctual.

One useful way in which this can be done immediately is by brightening our towns, making them put on a cheerful and attractive summer garb, keeping our streets and alleyways bright and clean. In Galway there is little encouragement to do this, for deserts of dust and limestone grit lie upon the streets and are the sport of every wind that blows.

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.

Galway in Days Gone By

Galway In Days Gone By

Published

3 weeks ago

May 18, 2023

Stephen Corrigan

Some of the attendance at the opening of the new school in Ballymacward on June 24, 1974.

1923

Gloom after war

The special correspondent of the “Independent”, who has been writing of the aftermath of civil war in the West, notes that a feeling of apathy, due to the uncertainty of events, exists amongst the sorely-tried people of Connemara; that politics are referred to only with disgust and that not more than fifty per cent. of the people would vote at a general election; that poverty and unemployment are rife, and there is a growing tendency towards emigration; and that there are bitter complaints of the huge impost of rates and taxes.

It is only too true that there is enough of material for the pessimist to brood over, and that a feeling of gloom permeates country towns. But it is a poor tribute to patriotism that has survived such horrors to encourage this gloom.

It is the duty of all of us to get this pessimism out of the national body and to rid ourselves of the notion that we have not enough Christianity and moral sense left to restore our people to cheerful and ordered progress and industry.

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.