Search Results for 'British army'

John O'Connor, presenter of On My Radio, Flirt FM

THERE HAS been much tweeting lately about inclusivity in Irish poetry publishing and reviewing, particularly in relation to women poets. I’m all in favour of giving platforms to poets who are not white heterosexual males.

Galway politicians have it easy. I have been told that when each and everyone of them kneels down beside their bed at night to say their prayers, they thank God that Galway has two major hospitals. For all their faults, Galway University Hospitals, comprising University Hospital Galway (UHG), and Merlin Park (MPUH), provide a comprehensive range of services, from serious injury to cancer care, serving a catchment area in the region of one million people along the west from Donegal to Tipperary North.

In 1852, the British war department bought lands at Renmore with the idea of building a new military barracks to replace the existing ones in the city, the Shambles and the Castle Barracks. These two building complexes were getting old and deteriorating and needed to be replaced. In 1880, the new barracks were built at Renmore. They were occupied by the Royal Irish Fusiliers and later by the Connaught Rangers.

I was asked a question some time ago that stopped me in my tracks, “What, for you, would be the seven wonders of Galway?” It made me think long and hard and I decided to draw up a list. It might be the sunrise on the bay on December mornings, the sunset on the bay on November evenings, the atmosphere on the streets, hearing Irish spoken on the streets, the Druid, An Taidhbhearc, the Pádraic Ó Conaire statue, the tower at Blackrock, the Saturday market, the River Walk, Lynch’s Castle, the Arts Festival, Galway oysters, the Garden of Remembrance, Cúirt, and so on. All of these are important to me, a source of joy to me, parts of the fabric that make up this city I am proud to live in.

To coincide with the 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day, marking the end of World War One, Moate Action Group’s Heritage Committee recently published a small book commemorating those soldiers from the locality and nearby parishes, who joined the British Army for wartime service.

This is the time of the year when children are preparing to go back to school, a time when many of us would think back to our own schooldays, the happiest days of our lives.

A WELL Spent Smile is the title of an engaging collection of poetry recently published by Robert Hilton, captain of The Aran Flyer ferry. The ups and downs of Hilton’s long seafaring life infuse poems that are sometimes funny, sometimes serious, and constantly a pleasure to read.

The battle for Normandy June-August 1944, launched on D-Day exactly 75 years ago, marked, after Stalingrad, the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany. It was a major battle. The Allies suffered 209,672 casualties of whom 36,796 were killed. Some 28,000 Allied airman were lost in the months preceding and during the campaign.

The first regular public transport service in Galway was run by the Galway and Salthill Tramway Company which started business on October 1, 1879, and by 1885 was being used by in excess of 105,000 passengers per year. During World War I, most of the company’s best horses were commandeered by the British Army and there was more and more competition from motorised vehicles, so the tramway ceased trading in April 1918.