Sheridan’s Winebar for a tipple

Thu, Oct 22, 2015

Sheridan's Winebar is located on the lovely St Nicholas’s Church square in the centre of the city where the famous Galway market is held every Saturday. Having launched their cheesemongers more than 20 years ago, Kevin and Seamus Sheridan have added this wine bar above the cheese shop and overlooking the church. This is where you will find the chefs of the city on their day off and it is a social hub for the market traders. If you are observant you may see the ladies on the organic vegetable stall across from the entrance keeping warm with a glass of red in the winter, or cooling off with something sparkling on a hot day.

Aquaclean technology now available at An Siopa Troscan

Thu, Oct 22, 2015

An Siopa Troscan is located in An Fuaran, a great shopping destination in the heart of Moycullen. The spacious shop stocks everything from bigger pieces such as three piece suites, beds and sideboards, to lockers, mirrors, lamps, pictures, and frames. Suites are available from €1,799.

Conneely Flooring and Carpentry for all your carpentry needs

Thu, Oct 22, 2015

Greg Conneely is fully trained as cabinet maker with 18 years of experience in the furniture and renovations industry, spending 10 years with Conneely Custom Built and eight years working in renovations and finished carpentry work.

Bernie Grealish worked in sales with Tuohy and Grealish for a number of years. This year Conneely and Grealish had an opportunity to trade from where Tuohy and Grealish used to in Carnmore, and went into business together in January.

Tom Dunne has pioneering Laser Eye Surgery

Wed, Oct 21, 2015

Tom Dunne, Radio Broadcaster and Musician, has undertaken a pioneering Laser Eye Surgery treatment called Presbia that provides an alternative to reading glasses.

Experience the charm of Hotel Meyrick

Thu, Oct 15, 2015

On walking through the doors of Hotel Meyrick an immediate sense of calm envelopes you. It is quiet and serene with a roaring fire in the foyer, a place you could easily sit and while a few enjoyable hours away. The hotel manages to capture the perfect balance between modern and old world elegance. Quite simply the Hotel Meyrick is pure class.

A letter from Seamus Heaney

Thu, Oct 15, 2015

Irish traditional music is one of the great survivors of history. Maybe it was because we are an island, way off on our own in the western Atlantic, and until the latter decades of the last  century, out of hearing from the mass cultural movements of popular cinema, radio and TV, especially the modern music from Europe and the US, that something distinctive has survived. As a boy I would only hear traditional music sessions in a few Gaelteacht areas, or from the welcoming Standún family in Spiddal, or at the Féiseanna at An Taibhdhearc, which was more memorable for the day off from school than it was for the music.

Radio Éireann played traditional music at times, but my memory is that the airwaves were dominated by the  sentimental singing of people like Delia Murphy, known as the Queen of Connemara, and her If I were a blackbird, which seemed to have been played endlessly. 

Joe Young’s ‘Windy Waters’

Thu, Oct 15, 2015

James Hardiman, in his history of Galway, mentions a spring well that was reputedly 1,000 years old. He described it as “A Chalybeate spring of the same class as the celebrated Scarborough Waters, outside the East Gate was in great repute here. A spa house has been erected over it by a Mr. Eyre (who sailed with Columbus when America was discovered) and is much frequented.” Hardiman attributed to the tonic qualities of the water the numerous instances of longevity which he observed in the district.

Taste of France — come in, discover, and taste it

Thu, Oct 15, 2015

Taste of France, located in Cross Street Lower, is owned and run by Thierry and Catherine Schreiber, natives of France. This store offers a wide range of products from renowned French suppliers known for their made-in-France tradition from areas such as Provence, Drome, and Basque country. The product range on offer includes candies, linen, accessories, natural cosmetics, and a delicatessen.

Celebrate your graduation in style at The Ardilaun

Thu, Oct 15, 2015

The Ardilaun hotel has recently launched its graduation menus for the season with lunches and dinners to mark that special occasion. As graduations take place from October 19 to 23 in NUI Galway, The Ardilaun, situated on leafy Taylor's Hill, is the ideal setting for celebrating with family and friends, as it is only 1km from the university and offers ease of access and plenty of free parking.

Take a cake walk

Thu, Oct 15, 2015

For lovers of all things sweet, Sheena Dignam, who runs the Galway food tour Around the Market Place, is holding a special Pastry Food Tour visiting a selection of the best bakeries and cake shops in town as part of Galway Bake Fest.

Lunchtime favourites at Nox Hotel

Thu, Oct 15, 2015

Tucked away in the Liosban Industrial Estate, off the Headford Road roundabout, is Nox. Galway’s newest hotel is a surprising oasis for visitors coming to Galway. Set back from the busy road that encircles the city, it also has the advantage of being just minutes from the centre of town.

An Unusual connection between Breaking Bad and ‘Eva of the Nation’

Thu, Oct 08, 2015

Most of us are mad jealous that we cannot claim some kind of connection with Caherlistrane. A new book by Mary J Murphy*  manages to link the north Galway parish with an extraordinary number of writers, artists, singers, poets, actors, and historical personalities, that leave all other parishes in Ireland bereft of personality and character. There can be no other competition. We are all characterless by comparison to Caherlistrane.

Mexican food - it’s so hot right now

Thu, Oct 08, 2015

There is something hot happening in Ireland — Mexican food, one of the biggest food trends of recent years, has gone mainstream, and shows no signs of cooling down just yet. 

High tea and fashion — let’s celebrate

Thu, Oct 08, 2015

PoppySeed Clarinbridge hosts its Fashion and High Tea event on Thursday next, October 15, at 8pm. Following the excitement of last year's event the PoppySeed team will introduce the finest fashions from Ail Ruin Design Centre, Inspired By Accessories, and Meadows & Byrne while guests enjoy a sumptuous high tea of handmade treats.

This is an evening to celebrate with friends and enjoy the simple pleasures of scent, sight, and taste. There will be prizes and surprises galore at this wonderful event. Tickets are €25 and are available from PoppySeed Clarinbridge or on 091 796019.

Mícheál  Ó Droighneáin, 1916 veteran

Thu, Oct 08, 2015

Mícheál Ó Droighneáin was born in Spiddal. He left school when he was 14 and got a job in McCambridge’s for 6d a week. Lady Killanin convinced him to go back to school and he became a monitor, went on to training college in Dublin, and it was there he became a Nationalist. “I became a member of the IRB towards the end of 1910 when I was teaching in Dublin [from August 1910 to January 1913]. Then I came to my native place, teaching in Spiddal for one year and then coming to Furbo.”

Shantalla in 1953

Fri, Oct 02, 2015

Walter Macken’s first published English language play Mungo’s Mansion was about people in the tenements of Buttermilk Lane about to be rehoused away out in the country, in the wilds of Shantalla. This was causing great distress to the ‘townies’ who would have to move less than a mile as the crow flies.

‘A ghostly presence through trees and over bog’

Fri, Oct 02, 2015

One of Ireland’s great engineering feats in the 19th century was the building of the Galway - Clifden railway. After 30 years of argument as to which was the best route, the first train steamed out of Galway to Oughterard on January 1 1895; and the final section to Clifden was finished by July of that year.

Declutter your home and make some money

Thu, Sep 24, 2015

Attics, garages, sheds, and spare rooms can end up filled with all sorts of items that have never been used because they did not fit in with the decor or were unwanted gifts. The children and teenagers are back to school and it is the perfect time to give the house a good clear-out and make some spare cash as well.

One war that Fr Conway lost

Thu, Sep 24, 2015

Before Fr Peter Conway was appointed parish priest of Headford, he was a curate in Ballinrobe. His very considerable energies were thrown into building a new church and presbytery. He also succeeded in acquiring a site for the Convent of Mercy and Christian Brothers’ schools in a primary location in the centre of the town. And all may have been well, and the good father praised for his building and organisational skills, and allowed to live in peace, were it not for the Mayo general election of April 6 1857.

Conway became obsessed, going way beyond the bounds of respectability in his use of descriptive language, his threats of hell and damnation, even using intimidating terror gangs and physical force to support the Catholic George Henry Moore who was being seriously challenged by two powerful and wealthy Protestant landlords Rodger W Palmer and George Gore Ouseley Higgins.The outgoing member for parliament was the hard working, but vehemently anti Protestant, George Henry Moore, of Moore Hall, Ballyglass, Co Mayo. He spent a good deal of his first decade as MP for Mayo calling for the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland.

Aer Árainn, the early years

Thu, Sep 24, 2015

There was a ferry service to the Aran Islands in the 1960s, but the ship could only dock at Inis Mór. In 1969 Colie Hernon wrote a letter to The Irish Times complaining of the inadequate transport facilities to the islands, which prompted Hayden Lawford to conduct an aerial survey of Inis Mór. Meanwhile Ralph Langan, whose business was fruit wholesaling in Galway, and who had problems shipping fresh fruit to the islands, had also seen Colie’s letter.

E-paper

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