Search Results for 'Thames'

There is a fascination about achievement unearthed — when the extraordinary meets the ordinary; about the juxtaposition of celebrity and the commonplace.

It was Manchester airport, March 2008, and the flight to Galway had been delayed. Disgruntled passengers wandered through the departures terminal, concerned that Galway Airport might be closed by the time their plane landed. The complaints grew louder with the announcement of a further two hour delay. ‘All intending passengers’ were impatient and fed up. Well, almost all. There was one exception. In the midst of the unhappy throng, there was one person who would have more reason than most to complain and bemoan their predicament. Accompanied by her mother, Aileen, was a young Clarinbridge girl, who was returning home having just had re-construction surgery performed on her foot in a hospital in Sheffield. This was another staging post in what had been a series of operations carried out over a number of years in the English city. Amidst the doom and gloom of the delayed passengers, she stood out like a beacon of light. Smiling, friendly, warm and chatty, welcome to Katie O’Brien. She was twelve years of age.

Irish pro-sailor, Joan Mulloy of Westport, has sailed along the River Thames to Tower Bridge, completing a special journey that replicates one made by her formidable ancestor, the legendary Granuaile, over 400 years ago.

We know very little about manmade piers and quays along the western seaboard before the beginning of the 19th century, when a lavish programme of safe harbours were built not only to encourage fishing, but as relief programmes in times of distress. It was also an attempt to replace the activities of piracy and smuggling with an industry based on the believed bounty from the sea.

Galway 2020 invites Galwegians to embark ‘On a Voyage’ and witness the epic, heroic and extraordinary journey of a life-size paper boat setting sail across Galway Bay this weekend. This astonishing spectacle coincides with Sea Fest 2016, Ireland’s national maritime festival, taking place this year at Galway Harbour from today Thursday June 30 to Sunday July 3.

Life’s pictures flicker around me as I linger outside the weather-beaten door. A crow perches on a branch of the skeleton ash on the lawn and a hearse stands in the lane. Bodies hide under a roof of umbrellas. I recognise some, even though years of humanity have battered them. It’s not peculiar that they don’t acknowledge me. They give their condolences to my sister, Margaret. I lost Jamie a long time ago. She’s only losing him now.