Tom Gillespie

2 weeks 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.

2 weeks 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.

2 weeks 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.

3 weeks 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.

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

By Tom Gillespie FIFTY-seven years ago The Connaught Telegraph introduced our readers to the ‘Cupid priest’, the late Fr. Michael Keane, who in February 1968 set up the Knock Marriage Bureau, to get girlfriends for lonely west of Ireland bachelors. It was the lead story in the edition of February 29, with the heading ‘Young curate plays Cupid’.