Inspirational Woman of the Year nominees revealed

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

The Mayo Rape Crisis Centre have this week revealed the seven nominees who have been selected to go forward for the Mayo Inspirational Woman of the Year award. The recipient of the award will be revealed at the annual Nollaig na Mban event which will be held in the Ballina Manor Hotel on January 6 and it will be presented by Marian Harkin MEP on the evening.

Ballyhaunis gears up to remember one of its own next year

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

The story of Patrick Gallagher is something that is truly heroic and is more likely to be seen on a silver screen, rather than coming from a west of Ireland town.

Claremorris sports coaches join Mayo Goal to Work network

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

A group of jobseekers mainly from the Claremorris area have just completed a 10 week specialised sports coaching course which is hoped will provide them with the tools to coach in the local community, or gain some part time employment. The Goal to Work Sports Coach Training Programme, which ran for three days each week in Claremorris GAA Centre and Claremorris Family Resource Centre, allowed trainees to become qualified GAA, soccer, rugby, and athletics coaches, with additional sports modules in child protection, first aid, disability awareness, and walking leadership completed.

Westport House up for national award

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

Just before Christmas, Westport House found out that it had been shortlisted in the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) Awards for Best Leisure Tourism Innovation.

Clare Island Lighthouse wins prestigious international award

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

Clare Island Lighthouse has been named Europe’s Best Coastal Boutique Hotel at the World Boutique Hotel Awards.

Hospital boss outlines progress after busy year

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

The recently appointed General Manager of Mayo University Hospital, Catherine Donohoe last week outlined the growth in activity at the hospital and some specific changes over the last year and highlighted the number of job opportunities at the hospital currently.

Mayo hoteliers upbeat for 2017

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

The latest Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) quarterly barometer released last week shows that overall hotel and guesthouse owners in Mayo and across the country are optimistic for their businesses in 2017. Nine out of ten (91 per cent) state they recorded increased business in 2016 while over half (57 per cent) of hotels and guesthouses grew their workforce during the year. Coming to the end of one of the strongest tourism years since the recession, the barometer also shows that nine out of ten (89 per cent) have plans to reinvest in their properties in the New Year.

Try out sea angling in Mayo in 2017

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

Have you ever thought about casting your line and trying out sea angling? If you have, there is good news this New Year, because the Connacht Provincial Council of the Irish Federation of Sea Anglers are looking for new members.

Mayo angling projects get national funding

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

A number of angling development projects in Mayo have been awarded funding to improve angling access in the area. The projects are some of 50 angling development projects across the country which will receive support from Inland Fisheries Ireland as part of its Capital Works Fund. The projects, which focus on improving angling access and infrastructure, will now be delivered in 2017.

In Mayo, the following projects were selected to receive funding (1) River Moy at Bohola/Straide for Angling Access for the East Mayo Anglers Association. This €4,269 project will improve access and safety for anglers through the provision of new stiles and footbridges at specific angling pools.

Old-world charm at the Court Yard Hotel

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

The four-star Court Yard Hotel, steeped in history, is built on the original site where Arthur Guinness created his brewing empire and situated in the colourful heritage town of Leixlip, Co Kildare.

The economics of maintaining the Mayo Gaeltacht

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

In 1851, the Mayo Gaeltacht stretched west across the county from a line between Kilasser and Ballindine, excluding the town of Ballina. The official census figures for that year record that 65.8 per cent of the county’s population could speak the Irish language. By 1926, that figure had plummeted to 36.8 per cent and today, 47.2 per cent of the Mayo population claim the ability to speak the language, though to vastly different standards. Statistics for where the language is living and in everyday use are more important and telling. In that regard, the Mayo Gaeltacht is now confined to the Erris region, the eastern half of Achill Island, the Corraun Peninsula and a pocket around Tourmakeady on the western shore of Lough Mask.

Christmas in Mayo, one hundred years ago

Fri, Dec 23, 2016

This is it, the last Friday before Christmas. Just two days to go, and no doubt you are busy completing Christmas time chores like whitewashing your house or making a three branched tallow candle. The way we celebrate, observe or mark Christmas has changed and will continue to change. That is not a criticism of modern life, that is life. Traditions and customs evolve, they always have done, they always will. How did you mark St Martin’s Day on November 11 last? Did you kill a rooster and sprinkle the four corners of your house with its blood to keep all danger and trouble away? Rightly considered bizarre today, but that was a custom in Mayo some 100 years ago. Recognising that those long established traditions were in danger of being forgotten to an albeit slowly modernising Ireland, the Irish Folklore Commission developed a recording scheme that ran between 1937 and 1938 and which invited Irish Free State primary schoolchildren to compile and submit folklore from their local area. The children responded in their tens of thousands with folktales, customs and crafts, gleaned from their extended families and written down by their own hands. Thankfully, schoolchildren from across Mayo participated and their returns document our county’s not too distant Christmas beliefs and practices. 

Young Nellie Caulfield from Tulrohaun, close to Mayo’s borders with Roscommon and Galway, paints a picture in her recordings of a time when everyone celebrated the Nativity. Nellie’s research added that in some places it was a mortal sin to bear enmity for past offences. At Christmas, she continued, every door is thrown open and everything in the house is shared willingly with whoever enters to ask for shelter or refreshment. There was an observance of forming a three branched tallow candle to commemorate the Trinity. Each of the branches was lit at dusk on Christmas Eve, but all three were extinguished at midnight. The remains of the triple candle were, however, carefully preserved until the following year as a protection against the visits of all evil spirits except whiskey. The practice of leaving one’s door open was not just to welcome mortal travellers. After interviewing his 40-year-old father Patrick, schoolboy James McDonnell wrote that the people of his village, Belcarra near Castlebar, left their door open on Christmas night so that the Blessed Virgin would have shelter. They would light a candle on that night to direct the Blessed Virgin so that she may leave her blessing on the house. In James’ village, the old people used to give bread to all the animals and at twelve o'clock on Christmas night all the dumb animals would begin to talk and each of them would go down on their knees.

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