Search Results for 'Christy Dooley'

When is a swimming pool not for swimming? When it is a multi-million euro renovation project to re-open an old tidal swimming spot in Salthill, obviously.

Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water as a form of recreation, exercise or survival. It has numerous health benefits and is good for all ages and all levels of fitness. It is among the top public recreational activities. One can swim in the sea, the lake or river.

THE CASE AGAINST:

Organised water safety in Ireland really began in Milltown Malbay, Co Clare in the 1930s when a lady drowned there. This galvanised the local community into forming a Water Safety Association to help swimmers who got into trouble. The idea spread through Co Clare and eventually to the whole country. The national water safety section, set up by the government, was run by the Red Cross.

The ladies and children’s bathing pools in Salthill were blessed by Canon Davis in 1930. These were two linked tidal pools which filled up when the tide came in and emptied when the tide went out. The floors were of sand so they were a perfect playground for children even when they had dried out. Thousands of children and adults learned how to swim there with Jimmy Cranny of Galway Swimming Club and Christy Dooley of Blackrock Swimming Club teaching organised groups on alternate evenings throughout the summer.

Shortly before midnight on February 18 1946, the cargo ship The Moyalla steamed into Galway Bay. It was a foggy night. The Galway pilot, Coleman Flaherty was watching the approach of the ship from the bothareen at Barna waiting for the ship to signal for a pilot. Unusually she steamed along without requesting any.

The first people to sell produce along the Promenade were women who carried buckets of cockles and mussels and sold them to tourists. They would sit on the concrete seats and announce their wares. I don’t know if they sang “Alive alive oh” in a Galway accent or not.

HE FOUNDED The Capitol Showband that scored a number of firsts for Irish bands at home and abroad. He discovered songwriting legend Phil Coulter, he set visionary trad band Planxty on the road to success, he is Des Kelly.

He founded The Capitol Showband that scored a number of firsts for Irish bands at home and abroad. He discovered songwriting legend Phil Coulter, he set visionary trad band Planxty on the road to success, he is Des Kelly.

If you think Saint Patrick’s Brass band seems to have been around forever, you are almost right. It was founded 119 years ago in 1896, in Forster Street by Peter Rabbitte, Michael Spelman, and Paddy Walsh. It was originally a fife and drum band known as St Patrick’s Fife and Drum Band Society.