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The ups and Downs of a store front
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
KATE’S Kitchen/Hopper & Pettit is a regular port of call for all lovers of life’s luxuries in Sligo. Located at 3 Castle Street, the well known ‘twin shop’ combines an extensive delicatessen and toiletry unit.
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Earning my service medal
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Martin Gormally continues his look back at his years in the Irish Defence Forces during ‘the emergency’.
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Dev’s army 1939-1945
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Inadvertently, while searching for something, I recently came across my LDF service medal, which I reproduce here in all its splendour.
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When Ryanair made its move
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
FLASHBACK to Friday, January 12, 1990 and a report in the Sligo Weekender which revealed Ryanair was planning a direct service from Sligo to London
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Pupils were paid travel allowance
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
We look back at the way it used to be in the era of the vocational school in Ireland.
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The way we were…
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Shortly after 3pm this Friday, the Mayor of Sligo, Cllr. Matt Lyons, will become the first person to cross the Michael Hughes Bridge after its official opening.
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Angelus bell rings time for turf cutters
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
I stand on the road and look across the white field stretching out before me. The last time I looked at this field it was just another cutaway bog, now it’s wearing a beautiful dress of white bog cotton.
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Battle of the gladiators in full view of enthralled congregation
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Father Gallagher, a stern man of the old school, led his flock most of the time, but had no hesitation in driving them when he felt circumstances demanded it.
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Day I entered the magic kingdom of ‘Famous Five’
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Sean White remembers living in Kinlough and how the Courthouse in the town used to be home to the library where he graduated from Enid Blyton to PG Wodehouse.
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Rescued by a flying angel
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
James Lambert spent 11 days stranded on Blackrock Lighthouse in Rosses Point before an angel came to the rescue.
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Death toll dilutes joy of liberation
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Donal Gihoy of Monasteraden continues his experiences of being in Amsterdam in World War Two
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Sligoman caught in Amsterdam in World War Two
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Whether it was parental persuasion, loyalty to a schoolfriend who had hitchhiked with me through part of Europe to Ireland, or the numbing effect of many previous war scares, I don't remember.
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‘Guards on duty’ call prompts rush out the back door
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Members of our first national police force following Independence were commonly referred to as 'The Guards'.
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Remembering old O’Connell Street without the flowers
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Standing at the foot of Harmony Hill, Sligo on Friday last August 17, I wasn’t asking “where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?”
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The man in the beetle turns on the lights
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Twenty-three years after its foundation, the Electricity Supply Board arrived in Cloonlaragh in the person of a pale-faced young man in a Volkswagen Beetle and a duffle coat.
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Quay Street roof kick turns Oisin into an All-Star
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
It's lunchtime, Friday, February 1956 - the yard, at the Tech, Quay Street. A rough and ready match had ended in the usual way - ball punctured off railings.
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Sea delivered whiskey galore
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
A new decade had dawned, the forties had arrived. This was April 1940 and myself and a niave group of teenagers were about to set the world on fire.
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The hard way to hardware in Tubbercurry
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
One of the most imposing buildings in Tubbercurry since 1894 in the centre of town has been Michael Howley’s big house in Teeling Street.
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Old meets new at scaling of ‘Reek’
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
It is immensely difficult to determine a static definition of what it means to be Irish these days. Every generation brings its own perceptions and values – and with these changing parameters comes multi-faceted identities.
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Fr O’Beirne took a very sensible attitude to religion
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
At public prayers he’d sometimes be ‘stuck’, Our Father, Hail Mary – a quick canter in both languages.
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A short history of Tubber’s ‘old bill’
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
After a lot of to-and-frowing and the usual old red tape, Tubbercurry garda station is at last going through long overdue repairs.
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Sligo’s last steam ship sails home
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
The S/S Sligo was the last vessel owned by the Sligo Steam Navigation Company, which went out of business in 1936 after many years of trading.
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I have difficulty letting things go
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
When it comes to saving things I am a squirrel - books, papers, postcards, letters, redundant pieces of equipment accumulate within our house, in the attic, in presses and wardrobes; they spill over into the garage when space becomes a priority.
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Step back in time at Sligo Abbey
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Sligo town’s history is very well documented by the story told in what’s left of its oldest building, Sligo Abbey.
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Jumping in at the deep end
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
While in our lovely warm swimming pool at the Sports Complex contemplating what’s next, the steam room or the Jacuzzi, or both, one of the usual suspects happened to say ‘‘Hey boy, where did you learn to swim?’’ I thought a moment, ‘‘Down the Burra,’’ I replied.
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A memory trip down the Point
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The summers were really summer that time. Oh, I can get the smell of the evening scented stock. We played hopscotch on the road as the cars were few and far between.
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A memory trip down the Point
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
The most beautiful May morning I've see in a long time. Hardly a breath of cold and the sea so very, very calm.
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Irish farming in the days of war
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Livestock prices today are far removed from those that prevailed in the 1930s. Governments of that time refused to remit to the British Exchequer annuities on land purchased by tenants from their landlords under various land acts.
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Learning lessons from primary test
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
It began after the Christmas holidays. The teacher produced a small sheaf of coloured papers and summoned sixth class to come up and stand at the table where she sat at the front of the classroom.
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Memories of an Irish summer
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
I spent three weeks on the Gaeltacht on Aranmore island in the summer of 1973.
The island is situated off the west coast of Donegal and the nearest town on the mainland is fishing village Burtonport.
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30 men had to dig path to grave
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
In my home town of Longford on Monday 25th February 1947, my 89 year old grandmother, Annie Gillespie was nearing the end of her life. At 7.00pm snow started to fall and at 9.00pm Gran quietly slipped into eternity.
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How I tamed the ‘Cluainte’ girl
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
It was 1948, I was ten and things were getting back to normal after the war. There was a ready supply of white flour, tea and tobacco again – even luxuries such as bananas and tomatoes were reappearing in the shops.
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Bathroom blues for visiting aunts
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
When my mother ‘got the hump’, my father was the wrong person to sort her out because, as often as not, he was the culprit in the first place.
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Fast action to survive Lent
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
If a second woman were to be assumed body and soul into heaven, it would be my mother.
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Shop reigned for 113 years
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Rebecca Henderson McHugh, formerly of Tubbercurry, recalls the history of Henderson’s shop in the town. Rebecca is a great-granddaughter of the shop’s founder, Abraham Henderson.
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Debbie comes to the harvest fair
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
The year of 1959 was a great one weather wise. I should say it was one of the great years of the 20th century and I think I should know as I’ve seen most of them.
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Ballyshannon Harvest Fair
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
It went on for well over a century. Crowds thronged to it from miles around. It was the one day in the year that nobody wanted to miss out on. People started to get exited about it from the fifteenth of August.
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Keeping a firm grip on the ass
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Ours was the liveliest donkey in the village and when yoked to his cart on a fast journey, would leave any neighbour's ass standing. It took two of us to restrain him, as a rule, while my grandmother got on board for the town on pension day.
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Owner took pride in his ‘wee shop’
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Stretch your memories back to an Ireland of the past. No doubt you could recollect alot of different memories from various times and eras.
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Open blade was a brush with danger
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
'You'd better shave before you go, my mother advised when an urgent call demanded father's tremporary absence from home.
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Fragile victims of a deadly disease
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
In the Ireland of the 1930s and 1940s, the dreaded TB or ‘consumption’ ended many young lives. Martin Gormally recalls some of the fair faces whose lives were tragically cut short by the deadly disease.
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There’s no business like snow business
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Maybe I am odd or crazy or both, but whenever the forecast promises the slightest possibility of snow - I do get excited.
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Christmas charms in the Windy City
Thursday, December 29, 2005
This writer lived in Chicago from 1960 till 1973 and celebrated the birth of baby Jesus there 1961-1972 in all.
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The innocence and youth of Christmas in Derrykinlough
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Declan Henry grew up in the village of Derrykinlough on the Sligo – Mayo border. He is a senior social worker who lives in Kent but is a frequent visitor to his home area. This article is an extract from his childhood memoir, ‘Defining Moments’ about Christmas during the 1970s. He is also the author of a set of short stories entitled ‘Glimpses’.
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Proof positive that a way to reward
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
John Leamy recalls a time when he was sure Santa had passed him by thanks to careless adults that wouldn’t keep quiet, but a mysterious mousehunt brings about unexpected rewards.
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The origins of a country shop
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Noreen Donoghue recalls a time when her parents used to run a country shop and when businesses supported and complimented each other.
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Warm memories of dull November
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
It's the start of the dull and weary season. Halloween is over, Christmas isn't official yet, even though it's already visible everywhere since August.
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Walkway replaces Yeatsian home
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
The reeds on the raised island between the weir and the river bank grew very tall in summer which made ideal covering for a hut.
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Hallowes lived in Calry Lane
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
I read, recently, of the latest turn in the good fortune of Harry Hallowes, former resident of Sligo. Perhaps, I can shed some light on that part of Sligo which Mr. Hollowes left behind.
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Fr Joseph was a beacon of light
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Father Joseph had just arrived and was finding his feet so to speak when this broad individual stood there. He was Pat Gilroy and he knew from the off they would become friends and it proved to be.
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Father Joseph comes to Sooey
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
For many he represented the second coming. Although small, given to being a touch overweight and as one kind parishioner declared on catching sight of Father Joseph for the first time... "He is young but he is bald".
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Debbie made big impact in 1961
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Now that hurricanes Katrina and Rita have blown themselves out and a big clean-up is underway in the USA we turn our thoughts to the horrific hurricane that hit the west of Ireland in September 1961.
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Bringing home the harvest
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
We always planted a half acre of oats, my father cut this golden crop by hand with the scythe, because it was only a small amount of ground and also because the ground where we sowed it in was stony and not suitable for the horse and mower.
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Bringing home the harvest
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
By the time we returned to school in September, some of the harvest would already be in the haggard. The cocks of hay that had stood in the fields for some weeks were checked regularly by dad to make sure that they did not "heat".
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Sunday in Sligo was a truly wondrous place
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Sunday morning in Sligo was different to Sunday morning anywhere else. To a child, it was a truly wondrous place.
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God gave us memories that we might have Roses in December
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Roses in December. What a contrast. It reminded me of some golden moments I experienced over the past few months.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Patsy Barry looks back at how his native Grange was 50 years ago and how things have changed dramatically in that half-century.
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Band parades part of Sligo Sunday morning
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
As we returned from Mass in the Cathedral, via O’Connell Street, we listened for the approach of the Connolly Pipe Band. They would march proudly through the streets with measured restraint.
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Sunday in Sligo was a truly wondrous place
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Sunday morning in Sligo was different to Sunday morning anywhere else. To a child, it was a truly wondrous place. The sun on the river breeze danced and sparkled gold through the tall cathedral of willow trees along the banks of the Garavogue.
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You are sticking the times well, Canon
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Long before the appointed time the neighbours began to gather, as the stations were as much a social occasion as a holy one.
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Preparations start as station date is set
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Noreen Donoghue of Doocastle, Ballymote, recalls the preparations for the house stations in bygone days
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A trip down memory lane
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
You may like to hear of some fond memories of Sligo Town from many years ago.
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Stinking of the good old days
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Martin Gormally recalls memories of the past based on indeliable smells, some pleasant and some not so.
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Memories are made of this
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
This week’s Nostalgia is an email that is currently doing the rounds in Sligo. We don’t know who originally wrote it but it will evoke memories for people of a "certain age".
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Stump and the Communion dress
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Never the less his understanding of Hamilton’s work transcended that which could be gained from a primary school education.
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The all-important Communion dress
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
We should have been friends. Eighteen months divided us in age and geographically we lived side by side. One of the first big days in our lives that we hold memory of is that of our First Holy Communion.
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News, views and downright lies
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
In an age before wireless telegraphy, telephone facilities and modern transport became commonplace, in order to keep contact with each other, people were forced to evolve their own particular means of communicating.
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GAA greats will not be forgotten
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
ONE night recently, I accidentally tuned into an English sports channel on which they were discussing the great sports personalities of the first half of the 20th century and the hero worship that accompanied them.
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‘Howley’s House’ standing tall
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Few buildings can still equal Tubbercurry’s local landmark, which has a structure and character of its own and a history that proved a sad ending for its original owner.
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Revisiting Normandy
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
In the light of current celebrations commemorating the ending of World War Two, there has been a resurgence of interest in events of that time.
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‘Hitler’ goes on parade in Tubbercurry
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
COMEDIAN and star of the silent films Charlie Chaplin took his first speaking part in a film that he also directed.
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‘Mrs M’ provided welcome fair tea
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
When I was deemed old enough and wise enough to accompany my father to fair days I felt I had achieved a special status.
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Mother had a famous lookalike
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Back in the middle 1930s the stars of the silver screen were goddesses, such as Greta Garbo. And women grew weak at the sight of Clark Gable.
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Sligo group found wonder and horror
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
The spirit of adventure got into me when I heard about a pilgrimage to Poland and Prague. I checked the date on the passport, booked my place and got some currency organised.
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Tubbercurry barber shop hosted first Late Late Shows
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
In recent years various shops, bars and the like were the scene of TV comedies on Irish and British channels. Shows like “Hair-Today Gone-Tomorrow”, were RTE productions with Martin Dempsey, set in a barber’s shop in the 1980s.
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Schooldays are a sounding board
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
We remember school with fondness now. The old stone grey building no longer resembles the prison we once imagined, where our wings of adventure got clipped and we would sit obediently for hours listening to the teachings of those who knew better.
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Bundoran Road to pass into history
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
As reported in a recent issue of the Weekender, the preferred route for the new Sligo to Bundoran road has been announced. Which in effect means that in a few years the present N15 road will be relegated to the status of a by-road.
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Second best suit didn’t fit
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
There was a time in Ireland and particularly, in rural West of Ireland, when every man and boy attending Sunday Mass was attired in a dark suit, white shirt and suitable tie.
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U2 in Sligo for St Patrick’s weekend gig
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
St. Patrick’s Day is an age-old tradition celebrated by the Irish all over the world. With it only a few days away I’ve decided to delve into the past and see how the day was celebrated in the past and also have a little look at what else was going on at this time many years ago.
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Day centres began with sandwiches
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
The story of how day centres originated in Sligo is interesting because it highlights how local initiative helped to spur developments in community care.
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Loose tea aroma takes me back in time
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
I went to make a cup of tea recently, the tea caddy was empty, and a search for tea bags proved fruitless. But I did find a packet of loose tea, unopened.
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Men and fish fought heroic evening battles in the heart of the town
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
The Back River has gone. In recent years it has been built up to such an extent that the name no longer applies. The glass fronts have taken away its last secluded secrets.
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Jam brought early recycling
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
For those of you who are not old enough to remember, stories of Ireland in the Thirties and Forties almost beggar belief.
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Contraception bid fails to work
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
IN 1955 I persuaded my father to buy me a bonham despite the fact that he did not like pigs.
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Growing up in Sligo in fifties
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
HAVE you memories of growing up in Sligo in the 1950s? Do your memories differ from those of your children?
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Farmers had dread of red haired women
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Skreen man Joe Coulter recalls the old fair days in nearby Farnaharpy.
THE 27th of each month, except March, when it was on the 30th, was the fair day in Farnaharpy in Skreen.
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Rubber shortage prompted straw substitutes
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Martin Gormally looks back at how improvisation was needed to survive "The Emergency".
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Grange always had a stripper
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
WHEN walking in the countryside, one of the more common sights is herds of cows grazing peacefully.
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Redundant, I tick away the seconds into a new year
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
I began my life in a watchmakers shop in Switzerland at the end of the 19th century.
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Santa brought a naked baby to our thatched cottage
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
The first Christmas I remember was the year my sister Christina was born. Now I didn't even know it was Christmas being very young. She was born on December 23 which was very close to Christmas alright.
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Christkindel now struggles with Santa Claus
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
It was 1993 when we spent our first Christmas here in South Sligo. My husband, me and our three-month old baby, Seamus.
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Memories of Santa in ‘big Dunne’s’ and Four Lanterns
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
“Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please put a penny in the old man’s hat. If you haven’t got a penny a ha’penny will do, if you haven’t got a ha’penny then God bless you!”
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Going to school was a challenge on the turkey market days
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Those of us old post war lads who grew up in an Ireland that was not as fast or fruitful as the present times have many memories of the way we celebrated Christmas way back then.
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First car brought thrills and spills
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Remember your first bicycle or your very first car! Riding someone else's bicycle or driving somebody else's car was not quite the same as having your own wheels.
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Sisters enriched lives of many
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
I saw my first spinning wheel when I was six years old. It was standing in the corner of a small kitchen near a huge open fireplace which was black in colour, possibly from the original wood, but more likely from the soot and smoke of a half century.
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Friendships from school days remain
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
On an April morning in 1929 I headed off for one of the two schools in Castlegal, two years after Charles Lindbergh made his famous solo flight across the Atlantic.
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Memories of Macra nights
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
It was around 1962 and I remember going to a fancy dress parade which was organised by Macra under the leadership of Gordon Kilgallon.
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As a young boy Sunday was a big day
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
As I look back through a mist of years, memories of my childhood well up before me.
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Mullaghmore as it used to be
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Let us linger for a while along Mullaghmore’s rugged seacoast and reflect on a lifestyle now gone.
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War takes four from one family
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Patrica Cunningham was about to turn four at the start of the second World War.
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People had to be dug from houses
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
MANY of the older residents in Sligo may remember the "big snow" which began on Sunday, 26th February 1947, and continued without break until the following Tuesday.
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Autumn brings back nostalgia rolled in gold
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Close bosomed friend of the maturing earth – John Keats, Ode to Autumn. What an apt and beautiful description of the most lovely of seasons in its mellow maturity.
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Carney became dance Capitol for GAA club
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
IN an effort to revitalise football interest in Drumcliffe GAA club in 1964 a suggestion was made to bring the players on a weekend outing in return for a commitment towards training.
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Dancing in O’Beirne’s field at the feis in fifties
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
IN the early part of the last century there was a great movement in the parish of Templeboy for the revival of the Irish language and things Irish.
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Crackling radio brought news of World War 2
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
At the outbreak of World War Two 1 was sixteen years of age. On September 1, 1939, despite earlier protestations of peaceful intent, Hitler invaded Poland.
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Double-shod bikes brought us to Hollywood
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
BY 1941 I was 17 years old and beginning to take an interest in the opposite sex.
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Cork dives while fishing for fairer sex
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
The summer of 1947 – it might have been '48 I can’ recall which – was redolent of languid warm evenings.
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Far from the TV we were reared
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
DURING the course of a conversation with an elderly neighbour one day recently, I suggested to him that he should purchase a television set to while away the long winter nights.
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Demolition brings back memories
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Reading the report in the Sligo Weekender on the demolition of Nicholson’s Garage brought back many memories of what was originally Burgess’s Garage.
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Cattle stampede through Dublin twice a week
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
This was not a newspaper headline, but a weekly and sometimes twice weekly occurrence in Dublin in times gone past before the widesprad availability of cattle lorries.
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Tubbercurry fairs go back to 1750
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Wednesday sees the return of the Tubbercurry Old Fair Day after an absence of two years. Here we relive the fair days of the past.
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Sligo Boys Club was a nursery for local soccer
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
A CLUB was formed in Sligo town around 1960 to cater for the needs of the growing population of young boys in the town.
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Big changes since the first Grange Show
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
THE North Sligo Agricultural Society or Grange Show, as it is and was more commonly known, celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
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Wheel turned full circle after Economic War
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Livestock prices today are far removed from those that prevailed in the west of Ireland in the 1930s.
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Old ambulances halted by garda on push bike
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
THE publication to mark the last gathering of North Western Health Board members offers a fascinating insight into the evolution of the ambulance service into the sophisticated operation it is today.
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Paddies see last glimpse of Ireland from cattle boat
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Rathanna, Cornageeha, Sligo.
It’s not too many years ago when live cattle from Ireland were shipped via the North Wall in Dublin to Liverpool.
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Only three cars on road
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Viewed from today’s perspective of multi-transport facilities, the position that applied in rural Ireland in the 20s was extremely basic.
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Gunmen interrupt cutting of turf on Ballintrillick bog
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Those of us who grew up during the second world war have stories to tell. Stories that today’s generation will find difficult to believe.
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Leafing through the cones of memory
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
I have shed this pine cone with many others. I am a tall, quite old, rather stately Scotch pine growing here along the mountainside.
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We heard three blasts as bombs brought chaos
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
The Dublin bombings in May 1974 left a deep scar in Irish society. Martin Gormally of Carraroe was in the city centre on that fateful day when all changed utterly.
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Wild Geese fly very high on the wings of memory
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
One Spring morning some years ago when I was up to greet the dawn, I had a wonderful experience.
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Fret saw and plywood helped pass the night
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
In the 1930s we had proprietary toys to play with at Christmas time only. During the rest of the year playthings were improvised, boxes, tin cans, bottles and used containers were employed in playing Shop and other children’s games.
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Victoria Cross man drowns at ‘Point
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Sligo’s Martin Moffatt was the last Irishman to win the Victoria Cross on the Western Front in the First World War.
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Three Pats go rambling
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Winnie Burke of Sooey recalls when her home was ‘a rambling house’ like many were in those days. In particular she remembers the ‘three Pats”.
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Games from pre-television
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
In these dark wintry evenings my mind wanders back to blazing coal fires and lots of books for reading.
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The grunt of pigs and cackle of hens not heard as much
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
ON April 25 the Sligo Ploughing Championships takes place in the Sea field at Lissadell. As a keen ploughman myself and as PRO of the Sligo Ploughing Committee I am looking forward to the big day.
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Postmen’s legacy still lives on
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Historically the post office has always played a huge role in the lives of the community and Templeboy is no exception.
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A year to remember in Drumcliffe
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
THE year 1958 is a memorable one amongst GAA followers in Drumcliffe because the local team won their first county title in 24 years and just their second since their formation in 1888.
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Yard’s old stores make way for dwelling houses
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Every Saturday morning I would see the yard full of horses, carts and farmers with all their wares: hay, potatoes, cabbage plants (when in season), oats, turf and blocks.
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Lent is now a very different season
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Martin Gormelly of Carraroe recalls when Lent involved a season of denial, fasting and abstaining from the things you liked most.
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Market Yard without the gates
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
This week, Sligo town’s Bernie Gilbride gives a vivid account of Sligo’s Market Yard as it was in bygone days. The below article is taken from the book, Hearths and Homes.
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Stud was town soccer venue
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Before the turn of the last century Ballymote actually had two successful teams, Round Towers and Ballymote Rangers.
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A forgotten generation
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
As I scan the death columns of the daily paper names leap out at me – names of people I had known in early life but about whom I had heard but little in the intervening years – William (Finchley, London), Margaret (Oldham, Manchester), Thomas (Parkhead), Anthony (Glasgow).
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Tobernalt remains a special place
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
From my youngest days, Tobernalt, or the Holy Well as it is sometimes called, has held a special fascination for me.
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Memories of 1947 big snow live on
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
The most talked about natural phenomenon of our grandparents and great-grandparents time was the ‘Night of the Big Wind’ which occurred on January 6, 1839.
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Milk trip was five hour expedition
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
GOING to the creamery in the mid fifties to early sixties with an ass and cart was a five-hour expedition.
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Townie spends a day on the bog
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Bernie Gilbride from Sligo town recalls her only day spent in the bog. Entitled “A Townie’s Day on the Bog” this story will ignite memories of summer days spent footing turf.
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Waking gran was big event
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
This week our look back at times gone by is written by Martin Gormally of the Sligo Active Retirement Association. It is just one of the stories he has written as part of a book called Hearths and Homesteads.
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Festive ‘drop of the crature’ lifts Sligo’s Christmas spirit
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
November the traditional month for remembering the dead in many cultures was in times past honoured in Ireland similarly to Lent.
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Flight from Geneva takes me home
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Geneva Airport, early morning in December, dark and foggy. Slowly the plane moves to the runway, goes fast and faster, then it takes off at last.
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‘New’ fitness craze is actually 80 years old
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Let’s face it. We could all do better in the healthy living stakes. This coming at Christmas time probably causes more discomfort than ever, what with mince pies and Christmas pudding, turkey, stuffing, ham, and so forth.
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Christmas goose runs amok and damage costs a week’s pay
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
It was an evening a few weeks before Christmas in the late 1950s. It was already dark, and whereas the weather outside was wet and windy, the scene in our living room was cosy and calm.
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Reek climb is an annual social event
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
On the occasion of the annual pilgrimage, the last Sunday of July, Westport resembled to my mind all that I had read about the Klondike during the early years of the gold rush.
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Bill had no money but he did have many friends
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
BILL Horkan never saw Tubbercurry as it is now and never in his wildest dreams could picture the town as it is presently.
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Dromard man was in Croker on Bloody Sunday
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
MATT Brady, a native of Springgarden in west Sligo who taught for practically all his teaching career in Culleens NS, was a great GAA man.
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Batty Noone was one of Tubber’s great characters
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Sligo Weekender’s Tubbercurry correspondent Jackie Coogan remembers on of the town’s great characters, the late Batty Noone.
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Sligo’s war memorial is 75 years old
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
ON this date in 1918 the guns fell silent on the Western Front in the First World War.
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Church marks its 20th anniversary
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
THIS year is the 20th anniversary of the opening of Saint Joseph’s Church at Ballytivnan.
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Photos recall times gone by
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
A BOOK of photos published by the Western People newspaper to mark its 120th anniversary will provide a real trip down memory lane for many.
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Memories by the basketful come flooding back
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
My first recollection of a basket is of my mother’s egg basket. This was a tall circular basket, with a flat base and carried by a tall circular handle.
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‘His Lordship’ buys the drinks in McGarrigles
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
My grandfather, John Foley, was born at Cregg in 1872. His father, Charles Foley, was born Charles McSharry in Calry circa 1820.
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Grange Hall has centre of village for a century
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
GRANGE Temperance Hall hosted its first functions on Christmas 1903, although its was not officially opened until September 1904.
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Maisie was from Tubber’s ‘old stock’
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Tubbercurry has had its share of glamorous ladies now, and in the past. But the first lady that took the lead was a blonde, and boy, was she a honey.
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Bulk milk carriers replace horse cart
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
AT one time each rural area had its own creamery, which was one of the hubs of a local community and a much cherished social institution.
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Memories of school tours and four course dinners
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
SCHOOL plays and concerts were great occasions, when nerves became frayed in the run-up to the big night.
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Saint Anthony Guide makes way for OK tanx
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
When was the last time you sat at table, with a Basildon Bond notepad, fountain pen and a jar of Quink ink in front of you?
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High tea and knickerbocker glory days at Rosses Point
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
“WELL done, Aileen, you look just lovely today. We’ll bring you all on a nice trip on the bus out to Lissadell tomorrow for being so good and ye’ll see where Constance Gore-Booth lived when she was a little girl”, said Sister Officiata in front of my mother and dad, knowing well that the following day she would also tell the whole class not to be so vain about how we looked and all that stuff, as it was a mortal sin!.
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Nuns tell Sligo Mercy girl to ‘sing-up’ on her big day
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
I was born on St. Patrick’s Day of 1947 at Alma Terrace in Finisklin, Sligo Town, out by the sea, not far from The Harbour House and the Ursuline Convent.
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Cries for help cause panic at Saint Brigid’s
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
THE first all-night public lighting in Sligo followed the installation of sodium lighting on Pearse Road in the autumn of 1968. This was also the initiation of underground electricity cables in Sligo town.
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Remembering Ross School
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Dromard National School, locally known as Ross School, is situated one mile from the former Mercy Convent, now Holy Hill Hermitage. It was built and in 1891.
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Driving a gentleman conman to prison
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Hackney cars in Ireland transported brides to weddings, infants to christenings and mourners to funerals.
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Mum sings anthem as daughter says goodbye
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
OUR mum was a remarkable lady from a generation who faced hardships unknown to those of us who have the good fortune to be born after the war.
She was born Delia Mulvaney in 1920.
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Top executives cut their teeth selling ice cream
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
The availability all-year-round of fresh fruit and vegetables and frozen foods in general is greatly due to refrigeration.
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James and Rose met many miles from here
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
“The times of kings and queens are gone. History is now down to ordinary men and women. This is the story of two such individuals that made the ordinary extraordinary.”
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Our rich place names should be handed down
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
RECENTLY reading planning applications on the Sligo County Council website, I was appalled at the names of housing estates in Sligo that bear no relation to Irish history, and worse do not reflect the locale in which these estates are.
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Era of home baking is a nostalgic memory
Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Everyone loves to eat, but the palate has tired of commercially engineered food, with so many E additives and preservatives pumped into it that it is barely palatable. Our taste buds have become as bland as the food we eat.
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Maye’s cars say no to gas works yard move
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
In 1965 after two years at ‘The Tech’, I got a job with Maye Motors in Adelaide Street as a junior car salesman.
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Television brought the sodalities to an end
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
LAST year’s 850th anniversary of the coming of the Dominicans to Sligo was a special occasion for the Friary at High Street.
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Sister ‘Roch’ delivers it all for Ballymote
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
In 1953, rationing was just coming to an end, Cavan were All-Ireland Gaelic football champions and Sister “Roch” first came to help set-up a famous nursing home in Ballymote.
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When the cuckoo calls the Spring says slan to Winter
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
When the cuckoo comes to Wimsey’s wood in Springtime, it’s special, it’s significant and, in a strange way, for me it is re-assuring. Springtime in rural Ireland is a vibrant growing and urgent time.
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Wartime stories of the Irish in England
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
MEMORIES of wartime experiences of Irish people in England form part of the book ‘Birmingham Irish: Making Our Mark’ by Carl Chinn.
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Sligo gardai miss a truck load of ducks
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Declan Foley tells the story of how Sligo gardai got confused between ducks and ducts in the 1960s. A native of Sligo, Declan now lives in Australia. He is secretary and editor of Beyond Ben Bulben, an Australian Yeats society. Declan is a regular contributor to our nostalgia column.
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Memories of terrible cattle boat crossings
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
A NEW book ‘Birmingham Irish: Making Our Mark’ by Carl Chinn deals with the history of Irish people in Birmingham and explores in detail their origins, mainly in Connacht.
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When Sligo builders ‘made the world’
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
The old penny catechism contains the question, "Who made the world?" To the laughter of the nuns teaching in "The Line School", Sligo 60 years ago, the answer was, "Kilcawley, Maloney & Taylor."
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Easkey resident links rugby with voodoo
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
If you think that rugby has nothing to do with voodoo, then think again. In 1974, following their defeat of the All Blacks, the British Lions rewrote the rugby record books in South Africa.
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Taking the Lodge Road to castle of Belclare
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
ox mountain tour: PART TWO
The late Patrick James Rochford from Lough Talt continues with the second part of his nostalgic trip across the mystical Ox Mountains.
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Beware of demons as you walk the Hungry Rock way
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
The range of mountains extending from Ballisodare in Sligo to Foxford in County Mayo is also referred to as the Ox mountain range.
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Marathon man recalls Manorhamilton memories
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
I first came to live in the Lurganboy village near Manorhamilton in September 1973.
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Suitcase from the 1950s is chuck full of memories
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
I was a small boy of no more than five years old, and my younger brother was with me on a very ordinary evening.
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Boyle’s bastion of British Rule and how it was infiltrated
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
Rockingham is a name forever associated with Boyle. The house which bore its name was the seat of Thomas Stafford.
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When a Catholic band led the Orange parade
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
SLIGO in the 1800s boasted a “sort of active” Orange Lodge. According to the Orange Order website it comprised of a Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, Grand Chaplain, Grand Treasurer, Grand Secretary and Assistant Grand Secretary.
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Player directs match traffic at GAA ground
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
I am grateful that God has allowed me well past the biblical three score years and ten and blessed me with a good memory.
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Musician serenades his girl at Riverside, Sligo
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
Our Rosses Point correspondent Albert Bree takes a humorous and poignant look back at New Year celebrations in the 50’s, when the Bughouse Five sang merrily down the streets of Sligo. They caused a stir in their bowler hats, pyjamas and loud ties with the conductor in coat tails.
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New High St. church meets changing needs
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
The present Holy Cross Friary church in High Street dates back to the early seventies. With the old church, built in 1848, falling into disrepair, it was decided in January 1970, to build a new church capable of holding 800 people.
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'Model T' car brings four on Sligo ramble visit
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
DURING my schooldays in Kilmactigue I was taught Irish history as it was portrayed in the books supplied by the Department of Education.
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Carney pint drinkers lament passing of turf
Wednesday, January 08, 2003
“Did you get the turf saved this year?”, his boozing companion asked of Darby as they met in town on pension day and blew the froth from their pints in a Carney public house.
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Grange had all the big days for a busy pub
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
My first introduction to the pub trade was on the 20th April (fair day) 1953 when my father, who had just purchased the premises from Frank Sweeney in March of that year, took me along to help out.
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Lighting a candle and rekindling memories
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
This is the season of candles burning brightly in windows as Christmas approaches. Our Lavagh/Mullinabreena correspondent James McCarrick takes a nostalgic look at those who light candles on the eve of An Nollaig, but not just then.
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‘Emergency’ boxers drive on scarce petrol
Wednesday, December 11, 2002
This is a story told to me many years ago by a man that participated in an adventure on a day in the merry month of May between September 1939 and May 1945, a period known as ‘The Emergency’ to residents of the then Irish Free State.
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Congress flag making proves to be a good money spinner for Joe
Wednesday, December 04, 2002
THE VISIT of the Pope or World Cup fever would probably be the equivalent in modern times of the excitement generated by the holding of the Eucharistic Congress in Ireland in 1932.
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The ‘Master’ of arts ran the hedge schools of South County Sligo
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Master Denisey was a Hedge-School teacher and lived for some years in the townland of Townaneileen where the people provided him with a very comfortable cabin.
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Sweet snapshots open up the time tunnel
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
As a youngster of around 7 or 8 years, I was subject to the occasional cold, sore throat, etc.
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Tales of Cnoc na Cluiche hurlers live on
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
Cnoc na Cluiche - the hill of games - is a clean dry patch of rough grazing land not far from Scraugh Lake in South Sligo.
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Joe has been part of Sligo’s long panto history
Wednesday, November 06, 2002
JOE Burns admits that when he and some friends decided in 1932 that Sligo needed a pantomime, none of them had ever seen one or indeed knew an awful lot about them.
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‘Gentleman Jim’ takes a drive back in time
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Many Irish towns have walking encyclopaedias. But it’s doubtful if many town have a driver/historian who has clocked up 2.5 million miles and never had an accident.
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Memories of coffee, mothballs and yanks returning
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Simple things can evoke memories one doesn’t even realise are there. Such happened recently when I was seated beside a very smartly dressed lady of advanced years.
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Shooting the shadows high over Skreen Hill
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
This is a story, a true story, about a trip myself and another man had up Skreen hill after rabbits.
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‘Good old mountain dew’ leads to heady and strange tales
Wednesday, October 09, 2002
THEY are both dead now, and I am not going to give their names in case any of their descendants might feel embarrassed at the thought of the fact being made known that their forebearers were poteen makers.
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Bell tolls for new servers as ‘happening’ goes unnoticed
Wednesday, October 02, 2002
In the autumn of the year there is a happening in Catholic churches that goes unnoticed by most people. It is the introduction of new mass servers.
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Jackie snips at the pages of history
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
Jackie Coogan, king of the old fashioned barbers recalls a colourful career snipping and clipping in quiet corners of the memory.
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The excitement of threshing days of old
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
WHEN the harvest was secured and fields or haggard boasted many well thatched and well built stacks of oats, the days were noticeably shorter.
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Sligo should learn from its history
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
In recent months the news in Sligo has been about the Corporation of Sligo leasing a car park to a property developer.
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Village ice house has lost its cool
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
The Ice House in Ballisodare lives in the folk memory of many people around the historic town. But what was it? Historian and Ballisodare native, Alfie Gallagher, reminisces.
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Big snow delays start of eight school years
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
Patsy Barry remembers his schooldays in Grange in 1947 and the big snow, turf for the fire, prayers and been tested for T.B.
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‘Dad’s Army’ in a costly war-time false alarm!
Thursday, August 22, 2002
Around 1941 America had joined the War. American planes were passing over this Massreagh area around Skreen. They were going down to a base in the North.
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Piling hay ricks amid porter bitter sweet!
Wednesday, August 14, 2002
The Meitheal is the old Irish word for the team of men who would gather to help a neighbour gather the harvest and help neighbours build the golden haystacks of Autumn.
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Plastering the cracks of memory - overseas!
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
It was August 1969. As I was tidying up after my day’s work as an apprentice plasterer to Michael McGlynn, my boss called me aside and informed me in his steady solemn voice “young McCullagh, I’m sending you overseas to a job”.
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