It is rare that it can be said of a businessman that he was loved by all. In the case of Christy Maye it is true he held the loyalty, respect and love of all who came to know him, whether as an employee, customer, supplier or competitor. He was a successful businessman, builder, hotelier but above all an entertainer. And more than that he was a great leader in the Tullamore community without ever wanting thanks or recognition. This was best exhibited in his championing and leading the Tullamore Show since he largely founded it in 1991, inspired at the time by the Mullingar Show. He was a member of the Tullamore Lions Club since it started in Tullamore fifty years ago.
(more…)Category: Obituaries
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Fr Paddy Kelly, Tullamore and the Battle of Manila in 1945. By Mairead O’Brien. No 13 in 2025 Anniversaries Series. Blog No 712, 7th may 2025
February marked the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Manila. Fought in the closing months of World War II, the operation to liberate the Philippine capital from Japanese tyranny turned into a massive slaughter of 100,000 non-combatants and the destruction of that beautiful city. Not widely known is that among those killed were five Irish Columban fathers who were based in the parish of Malate in Manila. One of them was Fr. Patrick Kelly from William Street in Tullamore. The others were Regional Superior, Fr. John Henaghan from Louisburgh, Co. Mayo; Fr. John Lalor from Cork; Fr. Peter Fallon from Dunmore, Co. Galway; and Fr. Joseph Monaghan from Banbridge, Co. Down.
On December 8th, 1941, just hours after they bombed Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, Japanese troops invaded the Philippine Islands. The defending forces, under General Douglas MacArthur, consisted of American and Filipino troops. Inexperienced and ill-prepared for battle, they retreated to the Bataan Peninsula, leaving Manila, the capital, undefended. By January 2nd, 1942, an advance column of Japanese soldiers had entered the city. Thus began a brutal three-year occupation of the islands.
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Vice Admiral Arthur Craig Waller of Tullamore and the Royal Navy (1872–1943). By Michael Byrne. No. 6 in the Offaly Anniversaries Series 2025. Blog No 695, 22nd Feb 2025
The recently announced sale on 11 March 2025 by Noonans of Mayfair of the Jutland medals of Tullamore man Arthur Craig (assumed Waller in 1920 on inheritance) is a reminder of the fact that despite being an inland county Offaly (King’s County up to 1920) has a significant association with the Royal Navy through the celebrated achievements of Birr-born Charles Parsons (1854–1951), of Dreadnought fame; Birr-born Sir Frederick Charles Dreyer (1878–1956), the expert in naval gunnery; and Tullamore-born Alexander Percival McMullen (1885–1916) who was killed at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The Birr men could have lost the war in an afternoon! Both McMullen and Craig were associated with St Catherine’s, Tullamore – the first of an old Tullamore family who emigrated to Canada in 1910, and Craig as a son of the rector of the parish from 1869 to 1902. His brother succeeded in 1902 and was parish rector up to his death in 1929.
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Banagher Brontë Group Book Launch, Blog No 677, 5th Dec 2024
AND WREATH LAYING THIS WEEKEND
BOOK LAUNCH
The Banagher Brontë Group will round off a great inaugural year with two events this coming weekend. On Saturday 7th December the group will launch Martina Devlin’s Charlotte at 2.30 p.m. in the Crank House, Banagher. The book will be launched by Nigel West whose ancestors lived in Hill House, (now Charlotte’s Way, a well-appointed guesthouse), until 1959 when it was sold to the local Church of Ireland community.
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No 3 Cormac Street, Acres Hall, ‘the best house in Tullamore’, now Tullamore Town Hall: the home of the Acres family (1786–1839), Acres Pierce family (1839–91) and the Egan family (1891–1968) thereafter leased, and Tullamore Town Council 1985– in progress). A contribution to the Living in Towns series supported by the Heritage Council. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. Blog No 635, 27th July 2024
This handsome house was built in 1786 by Thomas Acres and is set well in from the street. The valuer of 1843 wrote: ‘This has always been considered the best house in Tullamore – it is well situate – extensive pleasure grounds in front and rear, and well walled garden.’[1] Acres Hall, the town hall since 1992, is a five-bay, two-storey house with a limestone ashlar façade. In this respect it bears comparison with the house of Dr Wilson of 1789 (now Farrellys) in High Street and was built at the same time.
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Remembering John Flanagan, the Tullamore builder and developer, who died on 9 May 2024. An obituary from Offaly History. Blog No 612, 11th May 2024
John Flanagan the well-known builder and advocate for Tullamore and County Offaly died on 9 May 2024. He was the modest man from the Meelaghans, Puttaghan and Bachelors Walk, Tullamore who invested his whole life in making Tullamore a better place for people to live, work, bank and even pray in. In 2018 he was awarded the Offaly Person of the Year Award. John Flanagan was a realist in the Lemass mode. His focus was on getting things done. At the time Lemass came to be Taoiseach in 1959 John Flanagan was just 28 years old. It was ten more years, in 1968-9, before he got his first major break with the purchase of the Tanyard Lane property in Tullamore from the P.&H. Egan liquidator. The Bridge House, also owned by the Egan firm, was bought soon after by Christy Maye, and thirty years on Tullamore had two fine hotels, developed by the new entrepreneurs of the 1960s and 1970s, on lands that had been part of Egan’s extensive portfolio.
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Offaly and the Great War essays published in 2018 now on Open Access to all. Thanks to the Decade of Centenaries. Blog No 609, 4th May 2023
The bumper volume of essays (list below) in Offaly and the Great War (Offaly History, 2018) can now be accessed free online at www.offalyhistory.com thanks to the Decade of Centenaries. The book of 28 essays is also available in hardcopy from Offaly History for just €20. In all over 50 articles free to download. Go to the Decade of Centenaries on the offalyhistory.com website.
When the great historian and first ‘telly don’ A.J.P. Taylor published his short history of the First World War just in time for the remembrance days of over fifty years ago he wrote that the war reshaped the political order in Europe. That its memorials stood in every town and village and that the real hero of the war was the Unknown Soldier.
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Former Tullamore Tribune journalist Séamus Dooley recalls the political career of veteran Fianna Fáil TD for Laois/Offaly Ger Connolly. Blog No 570, 30th Jan 2023
The death of Ger Connolly at Droimnin Nursing Home, Stradbally on 25th January 2024 marks the end of an era in the political life of County Offaly.
Aged 86 Gerard C (Ger) Connolly was a former Fianna Fáil councillor, TD and Minister of State who might best be described as the great survivor of Offaly politics, with an unbroken record as TD from 1969 until his retirement in 1997. He was witness to and an important figure in some of the most turbulent times in Irish politics, as a devoted supporter of Charles J Haughey during the Eighties.
His entry onto the national stage and his electoral record mark him out as one of the most significant figures in a five seat constituency with no shortage of political titans including a former Taoiseach and three former cabinet ministers.
Colourful, engaging and often provocative in political debates Ger Connolly was hugely popular throughout the constituency, securing first preference across traditional party boundaries, especially in North Offaly. He loved the cut and thrust of politics and his one liners and bot mots, delivered with theatrical flair, often enlivened debates in Offaly County Council and Dáil Eireann.
He was also a diligent constituency worker and as Minister of State made a significant contribution to the implementation of new policies on urban renewal and inner city development.
Strongly supportive of the construction industry and a firm believer in encouraging private sector development he relished his role as Minister of State at the Department of the Environment. He had a reputation as a decisive Minister of State and enjoyed good relations with civil servants, often surprising those who might have initially mistaken his mischievous smile and faux distain for detail.
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The late Girvan McKay/Garbhan MacAoidh, Tullamore. By Declan McSweeney. Blog No 565, 16th Jan 2024
The late Girvan McKay/Garbhan MacAoidh, who died recently at the age of 94, was Presbyterian Minister in Tullamore and Mountmellick from 1983-96 and made a huge contribution to the local community. After retirement, he and his wife Máire continued to reside at Clonminch, Tullamore. A service in his memory was held at the Presbyterian Church, Tullamore on Saturday 13 January 2024.
Our thoughts are with her and their sons Ruairidh, Conall and Somhairle and their families.
He was a distinctive figure within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) due to his never having lived in Northern Ireland, in contrast to the great majority of that church’s ministers.
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