Search Results for 'Bernie Raftery'

Martin Brennan came from Kildysart in County Clare and was apprenticed in a drapery shop, probably in Ennis, in 1861. In 1881/82, he moved to Galway and set up business on Shop Street. Twenty years later, he had a fire in his premises and had to organise a major Salvage Sale in which to sell off all goods left after the recent fire, some partly burned and a large portion damaged by water. He obviously recovered and made a success of the business as you can see from this advertisement c1910, his premises had taken up a good portion of the street. He brought his nephew Martin into the business in 1906.

I have written before about the woeful lack of ambulances that serviced the old Central Hospital, especially in the 1930s. That shortage became acute during the war. Because of the severe rationing of petrol, and the unavailability of spare parts, for a long period only two ambulances were available for the whole county. As they were frequently on the road simultaneously there was no reserve vehicle to answer any emergency.