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Sylvia, That night was nothing but getting to know how smooth your body is. The memory of it goes through me like brandy. If you do not come to London to me, I shall come to Cambridge to you. I shall be in London, here, until the 14th. Enjoy Paris...Ted. And bring back brandy. Two bottles.

Athlone Little Theatre’s latest play The Lonesome West opens this Sunday February 24 and runs until Saturday March 2 next.

On a warm Saturday evening in a little town of Arzúa, about 40kms from Santiago de Compostella, a group of Galway pilgrims watched the local brass band competition. Led by their conductors three bands marched up the street, playing marching tunes.

On Friday evening, September 15 1843, Daniel O’Connell, with a small group of close friends, including his son Daniel and Dr John Grey, proprietor of the Freeman’s Journal, arrived in Galway. The excitement was intense. O’Connell, at 68 years of age, was at the height of his powers. Fourteen years previously he had succeeded in removing the oaths that had prevented Catholics from becoming members of parliament. He took his seat as MP for Clare, the first Irish Catholic to do so. His charismatic personality, brilliant oratory, and powerful intellect, had won him an enormous following, not only throughout Ireland but in Europe as well. His achievement earned him the title of The Liberator, which had all the resonance of an ancient and powerful king who had raised the sword of freedom.

What started out two years ago, as in most people's eyes, a unique opportunity to see the wonderfully-restored Claregalway castle, has turned into one of the must-attend festivals in the west and also into one of the leading horticultultural events in the country. And in ten days, the Galway Garden Festival is back for round three, and this time it is to spawn a series of events that will see the lights on at the castle for months to come. Galway has many festivals, and indeed, many festivals in July, all honed over the years into something special. But none of these made the instant impact that the Galway Garden Festival did when it was inaugurated in 2010, over two days of differing climatic conditions at the beautifully-restored Claregalway Castle.

Week II

Galway has a multiplicity of festivals, all honed over the years into something special. But none of these made the instant impact that the Galway Garden Festival did when it was inaugurated last year, over two days of differing climatic conditions at the beautifully-restored Claregalway Castle.

Galway has a multiplicity of festivals, all honed over the years into something special. But none of these made the instant impact that the Galway Garden Festival did when it was inaugurated last year, over two days of differing climatic conditions at the beautifully-restored Claregalway Castle.

As letter writers to newspapers know, as soon as you make your point, and satisfied that it is the only salient point worth making, you can be brought back to reality smartly by a riposte! Sir Roger Casement’s letter in the Irish language newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis, in the late summer of 1904, was a hard hitting criticism of the attitude of those parents who favoured that their children learned to speak English, instead of Irish. “The general mass of the Irish speaking parents have kicked the language out of doors.” He fully supported the struggle of the people of Tawin, a small island on the east side of Galway Bay, who had withdrawn their children from the local national school because they wanted their children educated through Irish. As a result the authorities withdrew the schoolmistress, and the school, unused for years, fell into disrepair. They warned the islanders that if they wanted the school to re-open they had to pay for its repair.

I have always thought it strange why so many women feel isolated from the Catholic Church, when it has at its centre a woman, Mary - the Mother of God. It is not right that many women feel they are ‘second class citizens’ within a church that attempts to reach out to all. Surely without Mary, the New Testament would be worthless. Surely after the Nazarene Himself, the Mother of Jesus, who is venerated by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, is the first and greatest saint in heaven. Mary is revered by all Christian churches, and honoured by Islam. At the very first council of the Church, at Ephesus four hundred years after Christ, she was declared to be the Theotokos, Mother of God (the actual God bearer). But even before that her image, holding the Child, was etched into tombs in the Roman catacombs. Being the Theotokos, Mary could have become remote, unreal from the human experience. After all we are told that she was born free from Original Sin, which as a total ‘theological illiterate’ I don’t fully understand; but I accept the logic that if Mary was not the mother of God, then Jesus was not God. I believe that He was. Yet despite the supreme position of Mary many women feel isolated, uninvolved, as if they have no contribution to make.