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"ABOVE WAS streaked blue, so divinely blue you’d believe in angels, so bright you couldn’t glance at it and not shudder...and amongst this hazy backdrop, I could hear the distant shearing of every make of lawn on the Island."

Reading through William Henry’s comprehensive digest of the story of Galway * from its original foundation on the banks of the Corrib to the present day, I am reminded that there was an extraordinary burst of optimism and creative energy in the middle of the 19th century despite the ravages of the Great Famine barely a decade before.

At early Mass on Christmas morning 1842, there was a dreadful accident at Galway’s Pro-Cathedral during which 37 people were killed, and many more were injured. Known as the Parish Church, and completed just twenty-one years before, it was by far the largest Catholic church in the town, surprisingly built in preCatholic Emancipation times.

November 1920 was a bloody month in Galway with the killing of Eileen Quinn, Fr Michael Griffin, Michael Moran, and Harry and Patrick Loughnane. D Company Auxiliaries had made their presence felt.

Glass artist Laura Quinn, originally from Mayo and now based in the UK, has been awarded by the Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) Future Makers programme.

This week marks the traditional start of Christmas festivities. A time when towns and cities bustle and burst, where shoppers are greeted by Christmas carols, however nauseatingly repetitive; shop windows are festooned with fairy lights, draped haphazardly to produce that festive glow; and of course, there is always a traditional Christmas market with that smell of spice and sugar.

Michael Joseph Howley was born in Oranmore in 1895. His father died when Joe was just two years old. His mother was a sister of Peter Rabbitt, the proprietor of Rabbitt’s provision shop, licensed premises, and lodgings in Forster Street. She later married William Keane, the owner of Keane’s Bar in Oranmore. Joe, as he was popularly known, attended the local primary school and later went to the Bish in Galway. He obviously worked at farming as his mother once wrote, “He made a good lot with trading with cattle and sheep”.

Last Sunday 2,945 candles were lit at Knock Basilica during a special Mass to remember all who have died from Covid-19 on the island of Ireland.

These days are very important in all our lives, as we count down the days to a return to normality.

I am sure that many of you have heard the name of Edmund Davis. I had not heard of him until I read it somewhere last week. He was the Governor of Texas who lost the election in 1873. He refused to accept the result, and he barricaded himself in the State Capital, where he and his allies accessed entry each day by ladders. I had thought that that was the way Donald Trump was going to deal with Joe Biden.