Search Results for 'Jim Cunningham'

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.

We have two photographs today of groups from Our Lady's Boys' Club. Firstly, a club rugby team that made history by winning the Connacht Junior League for the first time in 1959, and secondly, some club members taken on the annual camp in Lough Cutra Castle, c1956.

“There is nothing as Galway as Our Lady's Boy’s Club,” was how our president Michael D Higgins described OLBC some years ago at a function in the Columban Hall. It is more than 80 years since it was founded and it is the longest-running youth club in the country. It was set up by Fr Leonard Shiel SJ at a time when there were was a lot of grinding poverty in Galway and no recreational facilities or extra-curricular activities for young people in areas like the Claddagh, Bohermore, Shantalla, and ‘The West’. The club provided these and has been a source of guidance and inspiration to thousands of young men and boys since, especially those from a working class background. From that first day of nervous membership, right through their teens, and even after they had taken up the challenges of adult life, the spirit and watchful eye of the Club is ever with them.

“There is nothing as Galway as Our Lady's Boy’s Club,” was how our president Michael D Higgins described OLBC some years ago at a function in the Columban Hall. It is more than 80 years since it was founded and it is the longest-running youth club in the country. It was set up by Fr Leonard Shiel SJ at a time when there were was a lot of grinding poverty in Galway and no recreational facilities or extra-curricular activities for young people in areas like the Claddagh, Bohermore, Shantalla, and ‘The West’. The club provided these and has been a source of guidance and inspiration to thousands of young men and boys since, especially those from a working class background. From that first day of nervous membership, right through their teens, and even after they had taken up the challenges of adult life, the spirit and watchful eye of the Club is ever with them.

This building on Kingshill in Salthill was originally a guest house known as St Columba’s and was run by a Mrs Delaney. In 1933, Paddy and Bridie Hussey bought it and changed the name to The Summer-Set. They renovated and decorated it and advertised it as, “Beautifully Situated on the Sea Front, Home Comforts at Moderate Charges, Excellent Catering and Efficient Service under Personal Supervision, Touring Cars on the Premises for Hire, Free Lock-up Garage, Special Terms for Winter Months, Bus to Door.” The phone number was Salthill 36.

This club is one of Galway’s treasures. It was founded in 1940 by Fr Leonard Shiel SJ at a time when there were no after-school recreational facilities for working class-area boys in the city. The Jesuit Community gave them the use of a clubhouse at the back of the Columban Hall and here the boys were involved in many activities that helped prepare them for life. They were taught loyalty, self-respect, how to help others, and the importance of team spirit. Much of this was through the medium of sport — soccer, swimming, boxing, Irish dancing, table tennis, snooker, etc.

THUNDER ROAD opens at Jim's mother's funeral. He is the only one of her three children to attend and he is very emotional. He suffers though an ill prepared eulogy, and begins to look deranged when going off on tangents about himself.

THUNDER ROAD opens at Jim's mother's funeral. He is the only one of her three children to attend and he is very emotional. He suffers though an ill prepared eulogy, and begins to look deranged when going off on tangents about himself.

When President Michael D Higgins, officially opened the new Our Lady’s Boys’ Club clubhouse in 2015, he said: “Like so many successful community initiatives, OLBC was founded and built on vision, a spirit of participation and a will to make a genuine and positive difference to the community. When Fr Leonard Shiel SJ established a club in 1940, I doubt that he realised just how enduring his vision would be. Today, OLBC is the longest running youth club in the country and has woven its way into the fabric of community life in Galway, welcoming members from many neighbourhoods including Shantalla, Westside, Ballinfoyle, Rahoon, Corrib Park, and Newcastle.

This club has been a source of guidance and inspiration to the youth of Galway, especially those of working class background, since its foundation by Fr Leonard Shiel SJ, a priest of great vision, in 1940. Indeed this wonderful structure owes a great debt to the Jesuit Order. Since the beginning the club has been based behind the Columban Hall in Sea Road. From the first nervous day of membership, right through their teens, and even in adult life, the spirit and ever watchful eye of the club is with the boys.