Tom Gillespie

Reporter at The Chronicle (Toowoomba, QLD)

Journalist at @the_chronicle_ and muso. Opinions are mine, and they're very boring. Broncos tragic.

Featured in: Favicon

thechronicle.com.au Favicon

msn.com

theguardian.com Favicon

mirror.co.uk Favicon

thesun.co.uk Favicon

yahoo.com (+1) Favicon

express.co.uk Favicon

nypost.com Favicon

sky.com

sagepub.com + 94 more

Articles

The evils of the ‘Devil’s Brew’ in Mayo recalled

5 days ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

by Tom Gillespie ON this date 92 years ago - June 17, 1933 - The Connaught Telegraph published an article on the evils of poteen making, which was prominent at the time, and asked: ‘How long will it be before Ireland is rid of the Devil’s Brew – poteen’. The report read: It is well named and takes a toll which only the devil would think of demanding. A few months ago (early 1933) a young boy was left in charge of a ‘run’ out in the wild country north of Easkey.
Mayo memories: county town residents alarmed at disappearing road

1 week ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

By Tom Gillespie A SCORCHING June sun played havoc with poorly laid tarmacadam on Castle Street, Castlebar, in 1962, which had local businesses on the street up in arms amid complaints that tar was being carried into homes and splashed up on the front of homes.
From the archives: Mayo was crime-free county in 1948

2 weeks ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

By Tom Gillespie SEVENTY-SEVEN years ago (1948) Ireland was a very different place, politically, to what it is today. The Connaught Telegraph, in reviewing that year in their edition of January 8, 1949, reviewed the outstanding happenings of the previous year, including a general election. It was held on February 4. The 147 newly elected members of the 13th Dáil assembled on February 18 when the first inter-party government in the history of the Irish state was appointed.
Mayo clinic makes history with third consecutive national aesthetic award

2 weeks ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

By Tom Gillespie ALICIA Von BrowZ, an innovative aesthetics and permanent cosmetics and medical tattoo clinic based in Mount Street, Claremorris, has once again been recognised at a national level, winning the prestigious Aesthetics Professional of the Year Award - marking their third consecutive award in just three years of operation.
Demise of urban councils in Mayo is regrettable

3 weeks ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

By Tom Gillespie THE Local Government Reform Act 2014 was an Act of the Oireachtas providing for a major restructuring of local government in the Republic of Ireland, with effect from the 2014 local elections. This sadly saw the abolition of Urban District Councils and the introduction of municipal authorities.
Mayo memories: a disastrous debut as a Mass server

3 weeks ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

By Tom Gillespie WHEN I was a schoolboy in St. Patrick’s National School in Castlebar in the 1950s and early ‘60s we were trained as Mass servers. Back then it was confined to male only, something that has thankfully changed. But unlike the modern day servers we were unique as we were one of the last batch of servers to respond to the priest in Latin. Latin was the international language of Catholic ritual for centuries. The English version is from the 1970s.
‘The Little Wall’ has been a gastronomic success for Mayo’s Al Muretto

1 month ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

By Tom Gillespie WHEN restaurateur Marco Volpara arrived in Castlebar in 1998 he was looking for a name for this new Italian eatery. He came up with Al Muretto - meaning ‘The Little Wall’ - because he was so taken with all the dry stone walls he saw in the Irish countryside. Likewise, five years later, when he expanded to High Street in Westport with II Vulcano, he came up with the name after seeing a small cloud over Croagh Patrick which reminded him of a volcano erupting.
From the archives: No room for belly dancer in Mayo pub’s kitchen!

1 month ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

By Tom Gillespie WHEN Sergeant James McLoone heard music coming from a tiny thatched village pub at 11 o’clock at night he looked in and found three couples dancing on the kitchen floor and 40 people watching them. And that was how Ireland’s smallest ballroom came to be closed. For dancing was only allowed to 10.30 p.m. in the kitchen, which measured 18 feet by 12 feet, and only 20 people should have been there while dancing was in progress.
Mayo eye-witness account of evacuation from Dunkirk

1 month ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

By Tom Gillespie A READER of The Connaught Telegraph gave the newspaper a graphic description of the battle of Flanders and the flight from Dunkirk in the north of France in May 1940. In the edition of June 22, 1940, the reader wrote: It was a very interesting experience getting a close up of the tatters of European civilisation. The whole thing has convinced me more than ever that there is no justification for the continued existence of human beings.
Mayo memories: The Sunflower Lounge was a pace setter in county town

1 month ago | con-telegraph.ie | Tom Gillespie

By Tom Gillespie PADRAIG Flynn’s Sunflower Lounge on Shamble Street, Castlebar, was one of the first modern day watering holes in the county town. It was unique in that it consisted of two lounges - one downstairs and one upstairs. Access for staff from inside the lower bar was via a trapdoor to the upper floor.