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by Paddy Cullivan

It is 2032 and a bustling Galway city is powered by 26 hydroelectric water wheels churned by the Corrib’s torrents.

The funeral will take place today (Thursday) of Fred Johnson, a man who over several decades made an in delible mark on the literary scene in Galway and the west.

Last week we were writing about Cremen’s Health Spa and Sea Baths at Seapoint, and how the complex was bought out by Salthill man, Noel Finan in 1944. He closed down the baths in 1946. He realised that young Galway people wanted something more than the clean invigorating air and to be clean, so he sold the family pub (now Killoran’s) and borrowed heavily from the EBS to build a first class ballroom and restaurant. The restaurant was 4,000 square feet, had 90 tables and could seat 350 diners. Attached to it was a kitchen with the most modern steam and electric equipment. The ballroom had a floor area of 5,200 square feet and was laid with a specially sprung maple floor capable of accommodating more than 2,000 dancers. It also had a balcony which could seat a few hundred people and from which patrons could spot the talent and could, from a distance, comment safely about them.

In a move widely expected for some time, outspoken councillors Noel Thomas and Seamus Walsh have joined the newly formed Independent Ireland party and will stand on that ticket for the forthcoming local elections.

An excerpt from Curraghboy native, John Scally's new book, '100 Extraordinary GAA Occasions', pays homage to former Meath supremo, Sean Boylan, who celebrated his 80th birthday this week.

Historical entertainer Paddy Cullivan brings you the incredible story of the mysterious death of Theobald Wolfe Tone, the founding father of Irish Republicanism, in The Murder of Wolfe Tone at the Roscommon Arts Centre on Friday, October 20.

“We were led to believe that from St Patrick to the Book of Kells was this highpoint of Irish history; that after the Vikings and Normans invaded it was all shite and misery until Packie Bonner saved that goal at Italia ‘90. But there were a few good bits in-between, and even though our good bits were epic failures, comedy can be a great pathway to tackle these deadly serious topics.”

Athlone Musical Society take to the stage with their production of CHESS, in the Dean Crowe Theatre from Friday, March 3 to Saturday, March 11.

As a direct consequence of the death of three National Army soldiers during a botched raid on the barracks in Headford on Sunday April 8 1923, six anti-Treaty young men, already in Galway jail, were selected for immediate execution. They had been arrested during a raid on their training camp in the Currandulla area six weeks earlier.