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Declan Weir
(articles '98-'99)
Where I Came In...
The Potholes of Politics
White Cows and Waste Disposal
Here Comes the Summer
Winds of Change
A World of Similarities
Getting Away from it All (Galway
to Gambia)
The West in Winter
All Different, All Equal
The Hurdy-Gurdy Man
Dancing at Dunloughan
Island Life
Tim Robinson
Another Threat to Roundstone
Bog
A Connemara In The
Skull
Ita Kane
Bogweek Splendour
Storm on the Titanic
B+B hoopla, rootseekers and
Leaving Cert memories
Lyle McElderry
Three Poems
Even the Newscaster Cried (after
Omagh)
A
Night in Connemara Light
William Brendan McPhillips
Controversial French author Michel Houellebecq gets lyrical about the Sky Road
'Connemara'S Traditional Ways Are Threatened',
1981 Geographical Magazine article by adventurer D'Lynn Waldron
A Weight of Intellect Science Musings Blog
Robert Lloyd Praeger, in his classic work on Irish natural history, The Way That I Went, recounts an anecdote that captures as well as anything I have ever read the spirit of science. The incident took place in Roundstone Bog, Connemara, in August, 1935. (Aug.'07)
Listening to the Wind Tim Robinson
Tim Robinson has already made a reputation for himself as one of Ireland's most celebrated non-fiction writers, with the two-volume Stones of Aran. Here, he focuses his close attention and bright prose on the west Connemara territory of Roundstone, where he lives. (Oct.'06)
Connemara's Golden Wonders Judy Enright
Arctic Moon, a golden Connemara pony, changed Pat Lyne's life.
“I bought her while I was on holiday in Ireland in 1964,” Lyne said. “It changed my life when I met that beautiful golden dun pony. I gave up hunting and racing and became a fulltime Connemara pony breeder. ” Arctic Moon, by Carna Dun, had her last foal under Pat's Chiltern prefix when she was 24. (Mar.'06)
A guide to Connemara Roadsigns (The Kilkenny Advertiser)
Last summer the Bradley family from Boston stayed at the Connemara Coast Hotel in Galway. After a hearty breakfast, they set off on their driving tour around Connemara on a bright and sunny Saturday morning, armed with their picnic basket and map. Little did they know what they were letting themselves in for! (Apr.'04)
Curiosities of Connemara Michael Gibbons
Famous 19th century characters about the town of Clifden included Cailleach An Chlocháin (the witch of Clifden), a powerful and feared woman who had the power of the curse and the cure. She was part of a common Irish rural pattern, perhaps a survivor of the earlier Irish traditions, and people flocked to her from all over the west. (Sep.'05)
Portrait
of a landscape (telegraph.co.uk)
Christopher Somerville follows in the footsteps of Synge and J B Yeats 100 years
after the playwright and the painter set out to explore the remote south Connemara
islands (Jun. '05)
The Holy Sea (The Galway Advertiser)
An evening pronouncement at a festival day in Connemara: "If she was the Pope's hooker and I would do the same thing to her." The man from the boat races committee would not be shaken from his stance. The hooker had to go around the correct buoy, or else she was disqualified. He was bringing the highest authority in the Catholic kingdom to bear witness to his honesty. (Sep.'04)
Connemara School is re-living its 150-year history (Western People)
“To school through the years” is the title of a new book which was launched by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Eamon O Cuív in the Station House Hotel, Clifden, at the weekend. (Aug.'04)
Walk of the Month (The Daily Telegraph)
Christopher Somerville enjoys a lesson in history - and comedy - while climbing the mini-mountains of Connemara. (Jul.'04)
'My brutal days in Irish version of San Quentin' (Oldham Advertiser)
FAMILY man and sporting hero Stephen Joyce has just had his first book published which tells the true story of his time spent in the brutal St Joseph's Industrial School in 1940s Ireland. Stephen, now aged 70, has lived in Failsworth with his wife and family for nearly 50 years, but was born in Connemara in County Galway. (Apr.'04)
The Glinsks of Galway (The Galway Advertiser)
There are two Glinsks in Galway, both within one county, but almost 100 miles apart. One Glinsk is deep in the 50-acre farming country of the west, straddling the Galway-Roscommon borderline. The other Glinsk is perched on the stony hillocks of Connemara high above the Atlantic...next stop - America. (Mar. '04)
Commuter Science 7
Ralph Lavelle
The day I made my first proto-DVD was a good one.
Just seeing my scrappy holiday footage come up on the TV, being read and
played by my new Sony DVD player was a real thrill. By this time I realized
I had developed a serious DVD fetish, and wouldn't touch movies on video
cassettes any more. Same with music: it's got to be MP3s on a CD for me
now - no more cassette tapes, thanks. (Apr.'03)
Commuter Science 6
Ralph Lavelle
In Tim Robinson's 'A Connemara Fractal', from
his fascinating 'Setting Foot on the Shores of Connemara' collection,
the weird science of fractals is brought down to the familiar shoreline
of Connemara. In typical fashion, Tim makes you think about something
you pass every day in a new way. He foots ideas out of the turf, then
manipulates the conceptual sod like a Rubik's cube. I'm a fanboy, as they
say in the world of Japanese videogaming. (May '02)
Linda O'Malley - Person
in Profile Ben Crow (The Connemara Advertiser)
"I'm very interested in the technical side
of the radio and although I love editing recorded interviews. At first,
I didn't think of myself as an interviewer. I actually did no presenting
at all - until Mary Ruddy made me!" This is how Station Manager,
Linda O'Malley, described her reluctant broadcasting debut for Connemara
Community Radio. Still preferring to be at the controls in the studio
rather than behind the microphone, Linda has conquered her stage fright
and now features regularly in the radio schedules. (Apr.'02)
Commuter Science 5
Ralph Lavelle
Took the afternoon Ryanair over to London the
other day to remind myself once again just how different London is from
Clifden. They really are a world apart. We have our own Trafalgar Square,
but while theirs is plagued with pigeons, we have skateboarders. Every
town has skateboarders. A metaphysical enquiry: if you own a skateboard
but don't actually demonstrate any ability to use one, are you a 'skateboarder'?
(Apr.'02)
Michael Gibbons - Person
in Profile Ben Crow (The Connemara Advertiser)
“I grew up on the streets of Clifden. I say
that because in those days we kids lived out in the streets. Most people
have now moved out of the town and it’s become more of a commercial
base. But back then, all the buildings that are now just shops were houses
as well. Every family seemed to have seven or more children – I am
the middle child of seven myself. It was an amazingly social thing too,
everyone knew everyone else and their business. There were very few cars
and you could spend all day safely just out in the street.” (Mar.'02)
Commuter Science 4
Ralph Lavelle
We, as a species, are on the cusp of greatness.
I'm talking about video. Making your own videos, sticking them on your
own websites, creating and distributing your own cds or dvds. This year
I'm a video evangelist. I'm bustin' with enthusiasm for the desktop video
revolution quietly changing the old world order and I demand that you
feel the same excitement that I feel. (Mar.'02)
Notes From Inishbofin
Joanne Elliott (The
Connemara Advertiser)
The weather has been frightful all week, floods
in Dublin, Cork and Galway and enormous seas at the mouth of Inishbofin
Harbour crashing above the ‘Bishop’. Bishop Rock is uncovered
only at low tide. It gets its name from the story that the Bishop of Clonfert,
hiding from the army of Oliver Cromwell, was discovered, stripped naked
and left there to drown. (Mar.'02)
Commuter Science 3
Ralph Lavelle
The strength of the web is, in cases like this,
also its weakness - that anyone can 'publish' material on any subject,
and present it as expert and impartial, with no peer review or disinterested
critical disclaimers. Not that there's anything the slightest bit contentious
on any local websites I can think of, if you ignore the usual marketingese
. Which is a shame - all we seem to be able to use the most exciting new
medium in a generation for is to sell ourselves. (Feb.'02)
Marie Feeney - Person
in Profile Ben Crow (The
Connemara Advertiser)
A life-long Cleggan resident and author of an
authoritative account of 'The Cleggan Bay Disaster', a unique tragedy
in Irish boating history, Marie Feeney describes what compelled her to
write the book. (Feb.'02)
Kate O'Toole - Best
Actress 2001 Ben Crow (The
Connemara Advertiser)
One of the few genuine stars of theatre and film
for which Connemara is renowned, Kate O’Toole is perhaps the region’s
best kept secret. Appeared first in The Connemara Advertiser (Feb.'02)
Commuter Science 2
Ralph Lavelle
But wait a minute - doesn't Connemara also have
its own region in space? The Connemara region of Europa - one of the moons
of Jupiter - is so named because its chaotic beauty reminded the wife
of the NASA team leader of their stay in the wesht. This is perfect. This
brings it back home. (Jan.'02)
Commuter Science 1
Ralph Lavelle
Anyone who chooses the commuter lifestyle signs
up for a quixotic struggle against nature, against the particle, betrayed
by the greasy peddlers of Bluetooth, WAP, and other frictionless myths.
Half a world away from my desk, I clutch my computer goodies anxiously
to my breast. In a sense, have I even left home? How far have I commuted?
(Dec.'01)
Lepers: Alive and Well
in Boston Noel
Mannion (The Connemara Advertiser)
Beckett, Joyce, Synge, Yeats, Wilde - all household
names in the history of Irish Literature. Soon it may be time to add Ronan
Noone, a native of Clifden, to this elite list of Irish playwrights
and poets, if reviews and reports from Boston University are anything
to go by. Appeared first in The Connemara Advertiser (Dec.'01)
An Ancient History
of Connemara.net Ralph Lavelle
...I quickly set us up at www.iol.ie/clifden,
which in retrospect was probably just as knuckleheaded a web address as
CT's, implying a focus on Clifden's affairs at the expense of the rest
of Connemara. (Nov.'01)
Grading
Day Ralph Lavelle
Saturday the 12th of July was Kyokushinkai Karate
grading day in Clifden Town Hall. For many in the Clifden dojo, myself
included, it was only the second grading since starting, and therefore
a chance to trade our lowly white belts for ninja-spanking red ones. (Jul.
'01)
Kafka - Alive and Well
in Connemara Ralph Lavelle
I have recently seen a few get-togethers and conversations
with close friends and acquaintances dominated by the subject of building
a house and planning permission, and witnessed a real sense of frustration
and dismay among what I consider to be reasonable people. (Mar. '01)
The Ghost of Connemaroo
Michael Snyder
I'm talking about the Ghost of Connemaroo, the
pagan spirit that takes hope away with his "touch" and then the people
"touched" die or commit suicide.
Down Under Uploader
Ralph Lavelle
An account, personal and technical, of swanning
off to Australia for 3 months while trying not to kiss goodbye to my web
business... (Dec. '00)
Truelight Adventuring
Ita Kane
I had the opportunity to go sailing on the
Truelight, now anchored in Roundstone pier. Built in the early 1920s,
Truelight is the last of the famous Claddagh Hookers. (Aug. '00)
Surfing in Connemara Jason
Foyle
Though surfing has been in Hawaii for hundreds
of years and is already thirty years old in Ireland, it is only one generation
old in Connemara and my friends and I are privileged to have been the
first. (July.'00)
Roaming Across Europe
Ralph Lavelle
If you are a web developer who wants to learn
about the burgeoning, much-hyped field of WAP-based internet services,
then you'd be a sucker not to bring your new Nokia 7110 WAP mobile phone
abroad with you if you went to, say, Greece. (June '00)
Clifden's Flotilla
Sails to Bofin Damian Ward
Saturday 17th of June saw "Clifden Boat Club's" organised Yacht Flotilla
take to the seas, sailing from Clifden Bay to Inish Bofin. This was the
best turn out to date for a yacht cruise. (June '00)
E-commerce as Usual
Ralph Lavelle
Remember when the web was weird? I remember
the excitement I felt four-and-a-half years ago, in June '95, when my
cousin Robert Joyce showed Gavin and me the world wide web from his home
in Recess. (Dec.'99)
A Wet Weekend in Connemara (or,
How I Learned to Love the Bog) Seán Harnett
"Last autumn, having just quit my
job, I needed to get into the countryside to clear my head. Living as
I did at the time in Galway City the obvious destination was west, into
Connemara – Ireland’s land of mountains and water..." (July '99)
Where I Came In Declan
Weir
"In the lounge of Eldon's Hotel, Roundstone,
it seemed as if several lifetimes had passed since my first time there
- the inaugural Roundstone Open Arts Week back in 1997. At the same time,
without wanting to sound too much like The Carpenters, it felt like only
yesterday." (July'99)
October: On the Cusp of
Winter Lyle McElderry
...A hare is moving through the field,
its gait awkward in slow motion.
My thoughts are thus set loose,
as clumsy in their beginnings,
coiled as a hare's thighs - ready to run...
(Oct.'98)
The Galway Races Mary
Hession
This year's meeting was the busiest yet, with plans to extend the festival
for next year. (July '98)
History in the Making
Simon Murray
Why you should vote!
Aviation in Galway
and Connemara Guy Warner
At the western extremity of the county, at Clifden
in Connemara, one of the bravest of the pioneering flights reached its
successful conclusion, when on 15th June 1919, at 08.40, the Vickers Vimy
piloted by John Alcock and with Arthur Whitten Brown as the navigator
landed in Derrygimla Bog.
Hillwalking Journal
Ralph Lavelle
Tully Mountain with the Beanna Beola Walkers (Dec.
'97)
A Life on the Sea
John Ryan
My name is John Ryan. I am a charter fishing skipper
and have been for over 25 years. I still love fishing, the sea and boats,
and it shows. I fish off the west coast of Ireland among habited and uninhabited
islands where water is warmed by the Gulf Stream, or North Atlantic Drift
as the more technically correct prefer to call it.
Talking Horses
Brian Thornton
A Celebration of the Irishness of the Cheltenham
Festival (Feb. '98)
Clifden Airstrip Debate (Feb. '98)
| An
Alternative Environmental View on Clifden Airstrip Michael
Gibbons I believe those of us who actively campaign to protect our environment have a duty to act responsibly in weighing up the pros and cons of any project before we reject it outright. Unfortunately, the 'Save Roundstone Bog Group' appeal to oppose the proposed land swap at Derrygimla is poorly thought out and undermines those who wish to take a reasoned and responsible position with regard to environmental issues. Clifden Airstrip - a reply to Mike Gibbons Tim Robinson As the author of the letter from Save Roundstone Bog, I will answer Mike's arguments one by one. I would like to say that I have been exploring, loving, writing and thinking about Connemara for over fifteen years, that I know the area intimately and have some knowledge and experience in most aspects of landscape studies, that I have no axe to grind, and get involved in environmental disputes only rarely and reluctantly, but with a deep sense of responsibility to the community and the natural world. |