Connacht Tribune
Galway In Days Gone By
1918
Shot at by men dressed as women
One Sunday evening, at about 5 p.m., a boy named Patrick Ryan, son of Mrs. Ryan, Main-st., Loughrea, was fired at by two unknown men on a farm known as the Forde farm at Earlspark – recently the subject of litigation in the High Court – but fortunately escaped uninjured.
The assailants, who were dressed in female attire, with straw ropes tied around their feet, discharged one shot each at a distance of about twenty yards at young Ryan, and then fled. The police are making diligent inquiries into the affair, but so far no arrests have been made.
The farm on which the outrage was committed is being held in trust for the Forde minors and is at present under the supervision of the Ryan family.
Dangerous scourge
The alarming extent to which the influenza epidemic is spreading out to be taken as a serious warning by those who have so far escaped the scourge. In many instances, neglect to treat the outbreak seriously has ended fatally, and not a few deaths that have occurred in the West of Ireland are directly due to influenza.
1943
Ban on harvest amusements
During the agricultural debate in the Dáil, Mr. P. Beegan pleaded for the suspension of all public amusements during the “Harvest Season”, from July 20th to September 20th, so that farmers might concentrate upon harvesting.
He would have dance halls closed on week nights and open on Sunday nights only until an hour after midnight. In addition, he would ban horse-racing or dog-racing during the period mentioned.
“We all know,” went on the Deputy, “that there is such a craze for dancing and amusement all over the country all the year round, every night of the week, that it is interfering with the working capacity and usefulness of large numbers of young people in town and country.
“We all know that, no matter what they may pretend, those people are unable to work the next day after a night’s dancing. The fact that they are contemplating going to a dance disturbs their interest in their work and when they return out next morning, they are unable to give attention to what they are doing for the day.”
Another suggestion by the County Galway farmer deputy which found scant support amongst his colleagues of the Fianna Fáil party was increased remuneration for farm labourers during harvest periods.
New bus depot
Arrangements are nearing completion for the transfer of the Great Southern Railways road passenger services depot in Galway from Victoria Place to the railway station. A new waiting room and public inquiry office have been provided on the station platform and all ’buses plying to and from Galway will use the main entrance to the station platform as the terminus for journeys.
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
Galway City Centre still has highest rate of Covid-19 nationwide
Councillor calls for Leaving Cert fees to be waived
Voice of ‘Big O’ reflects on four decades
Baby boom puts strain on Galway City secondary schools
GMIT warns partying students they are delaying return to campus
Connacht Tribune tributes to loved ones
Gardaí seek help in tracing man missing from Galway City
Gardaí in Salthill seize €26,000 cash and €5,000 worth of drugs
Galway man home after 42-day battle with pneumonia and Covid – for his 93rd birthday
Property boom as home workers flock into the west
