Memories of Offaly can best be described as opening a diary into life in Co Offaly, over the last 50 or 60 years. The author of the book is Aidan Grennan, from Killina, Rahan. Aidan is to be congratulated on his second book. Both books are available from Offaly History Centre and online at http://www.offalyhistory.com
‘It is a nostalgic glimpse into the people and events in the county within my own life-time’ said Aidan. He commented: ‘I think it’s important now and then, to take a look-back over the years. I love nostalgia’, though we have to live in the present.
Chapter 1 brings the reader back to the town of Tullamore, in the 1960s. Aidan remembers visiting shops like Martin Egan’s Footwear Shop, Cahill’s Jewellers and Robbin’s Shop. In this last shop he bought Lucky Bags, packets of used stamps for collecting and Dinky cars. The weekly magazine Ireland’s Own, was always on the shopping list.
Saturday was the day for shopping in Tullamore. The six- mile journey from Killina, Rahan, was undertaken in all kinds of weather, Aidan’s father was often accompanied by one or more of his four children. A supply of meat and other food essentials was purchased from Egan’s on Bridge Street. Today, that premises is the Bridge House.
As a young lad, one of the most astonishing things he remembers was watching the steeplejacks at work on the spire of the Church of the Assumption. What an amazing thing for a child to study.
A few years later Aidan made the first of many visits to the Ritz Cinema on High Street. Cowboy films were his favourite and his top actor was Audie Murphy. Soon afterwards, a visit was made to the town’s second Cinema – the Grand Central in Market Square.
By the year 1972, it was time to visit the enormous Central Ballroom in Tara Street. Aidan remembers clearly, many of Ireland’s top entertainers from the time: Joe Dolan, Brendan Bowyer, Dickie Rock, Big Tom, Roly Daniels and Gina, among others. Some photos of singers and bands feature in this Chapter.
That same year a maiden trip was undertaken to Ballycumber Dancing Carnival. Thought he visited many other Carnivals in Offaly over subsequent years, Ballycumber always held a special place in his heart.
Other chapters in Memories of Offaly recall Aidan’s father’s fantastic wit, an example being the time when, playing cards as a young man in a neighbour’s house, a noise was heard from the attic. One man remarked it must be a mouse. My father replied, ‘if it’s a mouse, he’s wearing boots!’
Under a Chapter titled My Offaly Hurling Memories,Aidan takes a long lookback at some wonderful occasions in cheering on the men in Green, White and Gold. Glorious days like winning the county’s initial Leinster Senior crown, on 13th July 1980, and our historic first MacCarthy Cup win on 6th September 1981, are covered.
The controversial Kilkenny goal in the 1982 Leinster final gets plenty of attention, too.
He finishes his hurling chapter by selecting two outstanding Offaly teams, inviting fans to decide which team would prevail, had they met.
Our county senior footballers get a Chapter all to themselves, too, Memorable Sundays in Croke Park and elsewhere, cheering on the players, feature. The 1982 victory over Kerry gets a deserved mention.
Offaly hurling and football memories get around 16 pages in all. This includes a list of the recipients of the county’s 72 All-Star awards.
The longest Chapter takes a look at a great selection of news and events from Offaly, over the past one-hundred years. It is titled Looking Back In Time – A Century of Offaly Memories. There is at least one item listed for every year. A few examples are as follows:
1933: Birr Town Rugby team reach the semi-final of the Provincial Towns Cup. They lose to Wexford Wanderers, 8-7.
1959: The new Nurse’s Home opens beside Tullamore Hospital. It cost £80,000 to build.
2002: The new Garda Station opens in Tullamore. The date is 22nd March.
Another lengthy Chapter is headed Offaly ‘Did You Know?’ Here, Aidan presents a long and varied list of unusual and interest snippets from our county. For example:
Dr Richard Pococke, the Protestant Bishop of Meath, died on 15th September 1765 in Charleville. His death was attributed to eating poisoned mushrooms.
Rhode GAA Club was founded in 1888. To date, they have won the Offaly Senior title on 31 occasions.
In the year 1916, there were 16,287 dairy cows in our county. In 2010, there were 20,527 dairy cows.
Pillow-Fighting in 1975 gets a mention also. This unusual pastime was part of the annual Clononey Dancing Festival, which proved extremely popular in the mid-1970s.
The author’s native parish of Rahan receives special treatment, with recollections of time spent at the Youth Club; a mention of St Carthage and the results of parish sporting events long passed. These cover the Jesuit College Sodality Sports from 1926 and the annual St Carthage’s Day Children’s Sports results from the year 1951.
Some rare weather events in Co Offaly are recorded too, like the 32’5 C degrees temperature recorded at Boora, on 29th June 1976. This proved to be Ireland’s hottest day in the entire 20th century.
Many readers will recall the frightening thunder and lightning event that scared us on the memorable Saturday night/ Sunday morning of 28th/29th June,1986. That was a terrifying night.
The writer of this book – Aidan Grennan – spent a year at the Tullamore Vocational School. That year was 1971/’72. Back then, the ‘Tech’ was located in O’ Connor Square, where Tullamore Central Library stands today.
Offaly people everywhere will enjoy this interesting book. It sheds a light on times that are no more.
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