Galway In Days Gone By

Turf famine

The old turf fire which means so much to the Irish country dweller, by which many an exile best remembers home and kindred, will be missing from many a hearth this year.

Reports from all parts of the country indicate a veritable turf famine. In Roscommon, the lords of the big woods and demesne plantations have permitted the local people to take timer ab libitum in order that they may not have an altogether cheerless hearth this year.

Gort also reports a turf famine. In the Skehanagh and Peterswell area, little is being burned beyond wet timber. The people have been permitted to take wood from the grounds of Tullyra. In Kinvara and New Quay, there is nothing like the old traffic in turf boats from Connemara, although it must be said that the indominable Connemara peasant has succeeded in saving a fair quantity of turf in face of the most discouraging conditions.

Fireplaces do not exist in Irish country houses in the West for burning coal. This, of course, renders the problem acute. But the ingenuity of the Irish farmer will conquer the difficulty by substituting damp wood that lasts and burns well, and on which his good wife can achieve the most remarkable results.

Pictured: St Mary's Club, Claddagh, who took part in the Inter-Club Talent competition in the Dominican Hall, Claddagh in November 1986. Front row, from left, Angela Manogue, Teresa O'Shaughnessy, Ursula Colohan and Teresa Shoer. Standing: Kathleen Cloherty, Eileen Cloherty, Teresa Flaherty, Mary Colohan, Annie Keane and Molly Browne.