Beauty on a budget

Thu, Dec 12, 2013

Would you like to try out the latest beauty products but are prohibited by the cost? If so, Ireland’s newest monthly beauty subscription service - which allows you to sample items without buying the full size products - may appeal.

Give your skin a boost

Thu, Dec 12, 2013

Lack of sleep, cigarettes, too much sun, pollution, stress, an unbalanced diet... These not only affect our health but also our skin. When skin

Lipsmacking treats

Thu, Dec 12, 2013

Burt’s Bees has introduced a new addition to its popular lip balm range, the number one selling natural lip balm in the US and the UK - two Burt’s Bees balms are sold every second globally.

Brighten up your tresses

Thu, Dec 12, 2013

Hairchalk from L’Oréal offers an affordable, quick and temporary hair colour which lasts for a minimum of two shampoos.

Care for your locks

Thu, Dec 12, 2013

Are your locks less than lustrous? Are they dull and brittle? Then maybe too much heat styling is the culprit.

Pampering treats

Thu, Dec 12, 2013

Still searching for the ideal beauty gift or stocking filler as the season of the holly and the berries is just days away? Well, look no further than Ziaja’s Christmas gift collection.

Christmas Day in the Pro-Cathedral, 1842

Thu, Dec 12, 2013

This photograph of Lower Abbeygate Street was taken from the top of a warehouse on the corner of Whitehall c1870. In the foreground you can see the remains of the Browne Mansion, and the original site of the Browne Doorway. Further up the street is the Pro-Cathedral, which was the site of an appalling disaster on Christmas Day, 1842. The following, which appeared in The Dublin Pilot, is a graphic account of what happened.

A royal visitor in ‘Pollok’s Time’

Thu, Dec 12, 2013

Earlier this year Galway Diary discussed the evictions implemented by Marcella Netterville and John Gerrard on their 7,000 acre estate at Ballinlass, near Mount Bellew Co Galway. In 1846 more that 400 families were heartlessly thrown out on the road, without any compensation. The land was being cleared to fatten cattle, which would have been far more profitable than tenants; many of whom, as the Great Famine tightened its terrible grip, were unable to pay their way. The Times of London famously commented that the Ballinlass evictions showed ‘the sublime indifference to social considerations of which no one but an Irish landowner is capable.’

Keeping winter ailments away with acupuncture

Thu, Dec 05, 2013

As the Christmas holidays approach and as we look forward to gatherings with friends and family, we may neglect our health due to packed social calendars.

Quality dental care at a reasonable price at Rdent

Thu, Dec 05, 2013

Rdent is a new state-of-the-art dental surgery recently opened in Galway Shopping Centre on the Headford Road, providing a high standard of cosmetic and general dentistry at reasonable prices.

Outstanding dental care at Roscam Family Dental Practice

Thu, Dec 05, 2013

When it comes to your dental health the team at Roscam Family Dental Practice believe that prevention is one of the best cures and you are never too young, or old, to start caring for your smile.

Expand your life in three weeks

Thu, Dec 05, 2013

Harvey Wasserman’s Expand Your Life In Three Weeks workshops have one major purpose — to demonstrate that many emotional problems can respond to simple techniques. Wasserman will present exercises that help with depression, anxiety, and other emotional problems. They will help identify negative thinking and the many beliefs and experiences that limit personal growth and expansion.

Home Renovation Incentive — a great opportunity for homeowners

Thu, Dec 05, 2013

Among the cuts and taxes announced in Budget 2014 was a great incentive in which homeowners will obtain a tax credit for any applicable home renovations completed in 2014 and 2015.

Spiddal craft village to hold fundraiser for local children’s cancer charity

Thu, Dec 05, 2013

Ceardlann, Spiddal Craft Village and Café will host a late night shopping event next week to help raise much needed funds for local children’s cancer charity, Hand in Hand.

The Conradh na Gaeilge Oireachtas and Ard-Fheis held in the Town Hall 1913

Thu, Dec 05, 2013

Conradh na Gaeilge, also known as the Gaelic League, was founded by Douglas Hyde and Eoin McNeill in July 1893. Their aim was to keep the Irish language alive and preserve the Gaelic elements of Ireland’s culture. It was open to all creeds, was non-political, and accepted women on an equal basis. It used a broad approach, organising classes and competitions in Irish music, dancing, literature, and games. After a sluggish six years in existence, it suddenly morphed into a mass movement.

Irish metal industries

Thu, Nov 28, 2013

Over the last few weeks we have been writing about the building on Earl’s Island which began life as a bleach and flax mill in the 1850s. It was then converted into a jute factory, became a bonded warehouse, a factory for making cannon shells during World War I, and was occupied by the 6th Dragoon Guards and the 17th Lancers during the War of Independence. After the British army left, it was vacant for a while before being converted into a factory known as IMI, or Irish Metal Industries.

James Michael Curley’s Last Hurrah

Thu, Nov 28, 2013

Despite all his bravura and political showmanship, his coarse humour,* a great fixer, a downright trickster and grafter, yet with a genuine kindness that endeared him to vast swathes of Boston voters, James Michael Curley’s personal life was unusually tragic. Following the death of his first wife ‘ Mae’ (nee Herlihy), he remarried a widow, Gertrude Dennis with two sons. This was on the last day of his term as Governor of Massachusetts, January 7 1937, “ to give her at least one day as first lady of the Commonwealth.” Between his two wives he had nine children; but incredibly seven of them predeceased him.

Shantalla village, 1945

Thu, Nov 21, 2013

This remarkable photograph of Shantalla village was taken in 1945 by Pádraic Mac Dubháin and is from the National Museum collection. You will sometimes see the place name written as Shantallow and you will hear it pronounced Shantla by people with Galway accents. It is derived from the Irish ‘Sean Talamh’, old ground, though why Shantalla should be older ground than that which surrounds it is a mystery. Maybe it is because some of the land was not being worked.

Boston - A tale of three cities

Thu, Nov 21, 2013

James Michael Curley - four times mayor of Boston, twice elected to the House of Representatives, one term as Governor of Massachusetts, and two terms in jail, was the son of County Galway parents who emigrated as children to the US in the 1860s. The stories told about Curley are proverbially legion. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter rarely let an Irish politician go without asking if they had any stories about James Michael Curley. (The one president who shunned anything to do with Curley, was president John F Kennedy. But more about that in a moment).

Through chicanery, charm, bullying, and barroom brawls, with unashamed bribery and corruption, laced with brilliant and passionate oratory in a fine clear voice, James Michael Curley brought Tammany Hall politics to an art form. In the early decades of the 20th century, he mobilised his Irish Catholic constituents by doing what the best machine bosses do well: He gave them all municipal jobs, good, fat municipal contracts, and created a network of favours, which he called in on election day.

The 17th Lancers in Earl’s Island

Thu, Nov 14, 2013

When World War I finished and the National Shell Factory on Earl’s Island closed down, the buildings were taken over by the 6th Dragoon Guards who had a reputation for wanton brutality. This was unusual in that most well armed British army units, with few having a role in the intelligence conflict, were rarely attacked during the War of Independence in the west of Ireland. While individual RIC men became defined as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, it was army regiments, rather than individual soldiers, that became so defined.

E-paper

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