Search Results for 'Augusta, Lady Gregory'

IN MAY 1921, Margaret Gregory, widow of Lady Gregory’s son Robert, was the sole survivor of an IRA ambush at Ballyturn House, near Coole Park.

I brought her a bag of apples on our first ‘date’. Not very romantic, I hear you say. True. And not very generous. Also true (Tesco special offer – one pound for a ‘family bag’). I was merely continuing a tradition. She was Anne Gregory and during her childhood at Coole Park, “every year John Quinn, Grandma’s great friend in New York, used to send a great case of apples to us.” So it is recorded in Anne’s beautiful book Me and Nu, Childhood at Coole. ‘Nu’ was Anne’s sister, Catherine. If you haven’t read Me and Nu, treat yourself to a copy for the New Year. It is still in print after nearly 40 years.

Sir William Gregory, a wealthy widower was 60, 35 years older than Augusta, when he first met her. It was at a cricket match at her home at Roxborough in the summer of 1877, to which he was invited. He was late, and sat at the only vacant place left at the table, beside Augusta. ‘Augusta wore a fashionable dress bought at Bon Marché in Paris, and a black and white straw hat decorated with corn ears and poppies. The usually plain, quiet, girl was noticeable and pretty.’ By the end of the day Sir William was smitten.

One of the most unusual strategies ever used by a young wife to keep a faltering marriage together was employed by Mrs W B Yeats on their honeymoon.

The Galway County Council has made the Gort Poor Law Union archive, with material dating from 1841 to 1921, available for the public to view on microfilm.

THE Spring element of the Coole Park Cultural Programme was launched this week and includes a wide range of lectures as well as performances by singer songwriter Julie Feeney and All-Ireland talent show star Emma O'Sullivan.

Fáilte Ireland officially launched its newly-revitalised Yeats Passport Trail — which takes in three sites in south Galway — at an event at Sligo City Hall this week. The event coincided with the 70th anniversary of the death of William Butler Yeats on January 28 1939. The trail was officially launched by another Nobel laureate, the renowned poet Seamus Heaney.

How WB Yeats changed his wife’s name to George, and annoyed his lifelong friend Lady Gregory as a result, is one of the lighter topics to be explored during this year’s 15th Autumn Gathering.

The Lady Gregory Hotel, now celebrating 10 years in business, is already one of the finest hotels in the west of Ireland. Serving its loyal customer base has been the privilege of proprietors Michael, Maura, and the O’Grady family, along with their management team and staff.

The Coole Park biannual series of cultural events continues this winter with a feast of culture for the upcoming Winter Arts and Heritage Programme 2009. The programme aims to integrate arts, culture, and education with a series of events for adults, young people, and families. Environment and heritage lectures, children’s drama and Lady Gregory plays, traditional Irish, Mexican, and classical music, creative writing, children’s outreach workshops, and an art exhibition by The Orchard Gort, all feature in the exciting programme of events taking place between now and December.