Connacht Tribune
Galway In Days Gone By
1918
City submerged
During the torrential downpour of the weekend, Galway witnessed the most storm-tossed seas that had been experienced in living memory.
The tide ran to nearly 18 feet at Nimmo’s Pier, and the Spanish Parade and Flood-street were under water, while the south-westerly wind drove the seas over the Salthill Promenade, hurled a bathing box belonging to Mrs. Gerald Cloherty against the Ladies’ Pier and smashed, while a boat belonging to Tom Smyth was driven from its moorings and smashed.
At Rainey Point, a visitor who was indulging in a spray bath on the Promenade got struck on the nose by a stone hurled up by the tide, and bled freely.
Sea water and sand were driven in across South Park and just stopped short of the allotments at Salthill park, while all the crops in the reclaimed farm at the Industrial School were submerged. The yacht of Mr. Anderson, dentist, was broken from its moorings.
1943
For the lamps of Aran
The people of Inishmaan, Aran Islands, were responsible for the carcase of a whale which came ashore in Spiddal a few weeks ago. The whale was first washed in dead on the island and the practical minded islanders, having relieved it of about one hundred gallons of blubber, pushed it off to sea again. All that the Spiddal people got was the smell, and it was not even the smell of oil.
War on disease
The provision of a new abattoir in Galway City is recommended in the annual report on Galway’s public health services which has been issued by Dr. C.F. McConn, acting County Medical Officer of Health. He describes the present abattoir as “most unsatisfactory”.
Dr. McConn also expresses dissatisfaction with the manner in which some meat is brought through the dusty streets from the abattoir to the shops, and points out that contamination by careless transport defeats the purpose of slaughtering under hygienic conditions.
Referring to milk production, he points out the dangers of milk that is not produced under health, sanitary conditions, and calls on the public to cooperate with those entrusted with the task of safeguarding the public health.
Woman attends still
The exodus of manpower from Connemara is having its effects on the poteen “industry”. Last week, Gardaí Fitzgibbon and Kinnealy, guided by “the smoke and the smell” somewhere in the Lettermore district, found a woman attending a still which was going full steam.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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On the first anniversary of Covid-19’s deadly arrival into Ireland, the head of the Saolta hospital group has predicted that all who want the vaccine will have received it by the end of the summer.
Tony Canavan, CEO of the seven public hospitals, told the Connacht Tribune that the HSE was planning to set up satellite centres from the main vaccination hub at the Galway Racecourse to vaccinate people on the islands and in the most rural parts of the county.
While locations have not yet been signed up, the HSE was looking at larger buildings with good access that could be used temporarily to carry out the vaccination programme over a short period.
“We do want to reach out to rural parts of the region instead of drawing in people from the likes of Clifden and over from the islands. The plan is to set up satellites from the main centre, sending out small teams out to the likes of Connemara,” he explained.
“Ideally we’d run it as close as possible to the same time that the main centres are operating once that is set up. Communication is key – if people know we’re coming, it will put people’s minds at rest.”
Get all the latest Covid-19 coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie
Growing up in Galway where four seasons in a day is considered a soft one, Linda Hughes always had a keen interest in the weather.
But unlike most Irish people, instead of just obsessing about it, she actually went and pursued it as a career.
The latest meteorologist to appear on RTE’s weather forecasts hails from Porridgtown, Oughterard, and brings with her an impressive background in marine forecasting.
She spent six years in Aerospace and Marine International in Aberdeen, Scotland, which provides forecasts for the oil and gas industry.
The 33-year-old was a route analyst responsible for planning routes for global shipping companies. She joined the company after studying experimental physics in NUIG and doing a masters in applied meteorology in Redding in the UK.
“My job was to keep crews safe and not lose cargo by picking the best route to get them to their destination as quickly as possibly but avoiding hurricanes, severe storms,” she explains.
“It was a very interesting job, I really enjoyed it but it was very stressful as you were dealing with bad weather all the time because there’s always bad weather in some part of the world.”
Read the full interview with Linda Hughes in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie
Her family are understandably calling her their miracle mum – because an 81 year old great-great-grandmother from Galway has bounced back from Covid-19, a stroke, heart failure and brain surgery since Christmas…to return hale and hearty, to her own home.
But Mary Quinn’s family will never forget the trauma of the last three months, as the Woodford woman fought back against all of the odds from a series of catastrophic set-backs.
The drama began when Mary was found with a bleed on her brain on December 16. She was admitted to Portiuncula Hospital, and transferred to Beaumont a day later where she underwent an emergency procedure – only to then suffer a stroke.
To compound the crisis, while in Beaumont, she contracted pneumonia, suffered heart failure and developed COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – the inflammatory lung disease that causes obstructed airflow from the lungs.
“Christmas without mom; things did not look good,” said her daughter Catherine Shiel.
But the worst was still to come – because before Mary was discharged, she contracted Covid-19.
Read Mary’s full, heart-warming story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie
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