My Treasured Object
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object. We will be sharing ours too!
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media. To get the ball rolling we have some of Galway City Museum’s staff member’s picks.
Enjoy – Bain sult as
My Treasured Object
Many thanks to Joan Finnegan who sent us her Treasured Object. “My treasured object is two games that belonged to my Dad, which he has passed on to me. One is a box of Dominos and the other a game of Draughts. My Dad was born in the UK and came to Galway when he was 12. He and my Mom went back there in their twenties to work before settling back here in Galway again. My Dad always played Dominos and Draughts with his friends from when he was a teenager and continued to do so in his twenties and thirties. These two sets he bought when he was living in the UK in the 1950's.
They have been part of my home house since before I was born and were taken out every Christmas for the family to play. Dad would keep the score with a little dominos score board which had little holes that he put broken matches into to keep count. At other times during the year, my sister and I would ask to play with them, not as Dominos and Draughts but as building blocks, building little structures and designs.
They bring back such happy memories of my childhood and especially Christmas. When I see them I am transported back to when I was little”
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum #museum #galwaycitymuseum
My Treasured Object
Thanks to Eva Kieran who sent us her treasured object, which she says is of endless fascination to her. "This book of accounts/shopping lists/diary belonged to my grandmother. Her name was Eva Golding (née Kirwan) born in Gardenfield, Tuam in 1880. This book starts in 1928 after she was widowed, she had four children and was living in CarraigMore House in Furbo"
If you would like to see more of this treasured object Eva Kieran has recently started an instagram account @evagoldinglist with the contents.
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
My Treasured Object
Thank you to Emma Laffey from Menlough Co Galway. She says "My treasured object is my Grandmother May Kierans Turkey plate. It was given to her by her mother in law( my great grandmother Bridie Kierans). Bridie received this plate when she got married in 1927 by her mother Mary Byrne. They were all Navan Co Meath women. The plate is now in my home in Galway. There are many of these kinds of plates but few where the juice of the turkey rolls down into a hollow to collect for gravy. The plate I'm sure was second hand even in 1927 and is over 100 years old"
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
#galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#TreasuredObject
Thanks to Denise who sent us her favourite possession. "My most treasured object is a little bear, which I used for about 13 years as a class mascot. He would travel in a suitcase with a diary to a child's house every weekend and return with his story recorded in the diary"
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Thank you to Caoimhe Ni Chiardha who sent us her treasured object.
“Truthfully I don’t know much about this religious medal or what is represents. Only that it belonged to Daideo who passed away six weeks after I came into the world. Mamó gave it to me shortly before she left us some 20 years later. I was close with Mamó and she seemed to think I was wonderful which always baffled me a bit at that time! I remember feeling elated that she trusted me to have it. Daideo left a big hole by all accounts and I am still sad that I didn’t get the chance to remember him. For the next decade it came with me everywhere. It was pocketed for every exam, test and job interview. I spent some time abroad and naturally packed it up with the rest of the essentials. I had many a sweaty search for it in my stuffed backpack. The horrible feeling of dread pouring over me at the thought that I had misplaced it followed by a jolt of relief and delight once I finally got my hands on my prize. Always tucking it back into a safe place where I was sure I would find it quickly again. It was the only truly irreplaceable item I carried with me while I was away from home.My Mamó and Daideo still come into my head a lot especially now that my parents have inherited those titles. I don’t rely on it so much these days and I might not think about it for months on end. When I do I have to drop everything and run to make sure it is still safe. It is the only real treasure in my jewelry box.”
#gcmonline #galwaycity #galwaycitymuseum #museumonline #museumfromhome #treasuredobject
#MyTreasuredObject
Thank you to Christina Dowell for commenting on Facebook about her fabulous print. "This Georgian print, which belonged to my 4x great grandmother, Harriot Burke, daughter of James Burke of Danesfield in Moycullen. It was one of the few things my 2x great grandmother brought with her when she emigrated to Canada in 1908, and has now been in my family for eight generations. I believe it tells a story of the Ribbonmen, a group that agitated for Catholic land ownership rights & were transported to Australia for it"
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media. To get the ball rolling we have some Galway City Museum staff member’s picks already posted online.
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Jackie Uí Chionna
This 3 gallon cast iron lidded pot, which dates from c.1870-1900, would have been a familiar item in many Irish homes, and could be hung over an open fire or used on a coal range. It was made by Archibald Kenrick & Sons of West Bromwich, England, a company established in 1791, and still in existence today. The pot was inherited from my grandmother, who was born Margaret Williams in 1903. At the time of her birth she and her older brothers were living in a house at Townsend Street, Dublin. The pot would have been the main cooking utensil in the tenement rooms the family occupied at the time. The 1911 census, taken when Margaret was 8 years old, shows her father, Joseph Williams, was a “Coal Labourer”, and her mother, Kate, a “Dressmaker”. What the census doesn’t show was that Joseph Williams was also an ardent trade unionist, and when the 1913 Lockout began, as a coal labourer and union man, he was one of the first out, as were his two eldest sons. His family were fortunate that Kate Williams was a dressmaker, and she was the sole provider for the family during the long, hungry months of the Lockout. The limited food her wages could supply were cooked in this cast iron pot. As the only girl in the family, my grandmother inherited the pot when she married. Until I inherited it a few years ago, it was used every year to cook the family Christmas pudding! Sadly, cast iron posts like this don’t like induction hobs, so that family tradition has come to an end, but this is a much treasured item nonetheless, which cooked many a meal, in difficult times, for my ancestors.
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Helen Bermingham, Collections Officer, Galway City Museum
My ‘treasured object’ is my Grandmother Ellen Connaughton’s wedding ring. Ellen married Thomas Bermingham, my grandfather, on 24 January 1929 in Mountbellew Church, Co. Galway. Born 3 January 1900, Ellen passed away in 1983 – a lifetime which saw many significant events including the First World War, 1916 Rising, War of Independence, Civil War and World War 2. In April 1923 shortly before the end of the Civil War, Thomas her husband-to-be was one of three neighbours in the locality taken from their homes early one morning by armed and masked men. While Thomas was released later that day, one of the men was shot and killed. At the inquest into the killing, the Coroner stated the circumstances of the tragedy were cowardly and that ‘It was up to every Irishman to put down such crimes as these and to give any information possible of the perpetrator of those crimes.’
Ellen’s wedding ring is one of the few mementos we have of her – especially poignant as I was quite young when she died and remember very little about her. We do not know when or where the ring was purchased and we know nothing about their wedding day. Rings have been used as love tokens and to symbolise marriage since Roman times. As with all gold and silver pieces, the ring is hallmarked on the inside. The Dublin Assay Office was established in 1637 to assay and hallmark all items of gold and silver manufactured in Ireland. In 1638 a date letter system was introduced (continued below).
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Eithne Verling – Museum Director
Landscape – Barr A Doire, An Ceathrú Rua, Co Na Gaillimhe. – This is a painting done by my father, Walter Verling, a landscape painter, in about 1972. When I was a small child we moved from Youghal in County Cork to Carraroe. Both my father and mother began teaching in the local comprehensive school – one teaching art, the other music – and we children learned Irish, went to school and enjoyed a carefree existence. The move to Carraroe was inspired in part by my father’s friendship with the great Co. Down/Connemara painter Charles Lamb. Lamb moved to Carraroe with his wife, Catherine, one of the first two female veterinarian’s to qualify from UCD and the daughter of the English novelist, Ford Maddox Ford, in 1922 and lived there until his death in 1964.
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media.
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Damien Donnellan, Education and Exhibitions
This book is called ‘Between Ourselves’, it is the 7th Volume of the internal staff magazine that was produced by Cόmhlucht Siύicre Eireann Teo, otherwise known as the Irish Sugar Company.
My uncle Christie Donnellan gave me this book while I was doing research for my college dissertation on the Tuam Sugar Factory. My uncle trained and worked as an electrician with the Irish Sugar Company in its Tuam Factory. Christie, along with my father and a number of uncles and aunts all worked in the factory in various roles at various times. The factory was an important feature of life in the town for such a long time.
Researching the Tuam factory allowed me to spend time with and find out more about the lives of my family and for that reason it is one of my treasured objects.
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media.
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Harriet Dundon – Marine Institute Graduate Intern in Marine Science Communication
This painting was by my great grandfather Eric Rosewarne. He was a customs and excise officer in the 1920’s and 30’s at Holyhead Port, Wales. He used to see the Irish mail boats coming into port and leaving for Dublin.
He took up painting when he retired and most of his pictures had a nautical theme. This painting of the RMS Hibernia was completed in 1974. It shows the ship coming into the breakwater at Holyhead, circa 1938 and is remarkably accurate in the detail. I love the painting itself, which was always on display in my grandparents’ house and also the information that he typed out and put on the back of it. To me it symbolises the connection between the East coast of Ireland where I was born and grew up and North Wales where there is strong family history and where I went to University. It is a route that I have taken by boat many, many times.
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media. To get the ball rolling we have some Galway City Museum staff member’s picks already posted online.
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Riona Egan - Marketing and Communications Officer.
There is no one object I treasure but there is a digitised collection of old family photographs I do treasure very much. They were salvaged by my dad who spent many laborious hours scanning and restoring each one so that he was able to pass them to me. Thanks to his efforts these snap-shots of lives past can be seen again in a new light, released from the dusty old shoebox of history. They can now be enjoyed by future generations and faces long gone recognised, remembered and recorded for posterity. So I guess if I had to pick a tangible thing to save in an emergency it would be my external hard drive where this collection is stored. As an object it is nondescript, but what's inside is gold.
My dad, Ciaran Egan, is from Co. Clare and his family were anglers and boat builders. The photographs here feature my great-grandfather Frank (the Jar) Egan who's credited in the rare 1929 publication, An Anglers Paradise, with the invention of the 'Cockrobbin fly' still widely used in fly fishing today. My grandfather, Martin Egan worked as an attendant on fishing expeditions or as a 'ghillie'. Without these photographs it's possible I would never get to know these interesting threads of family trivia. A photo prompts a thousand questions and helps to keep memories alive.
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media. To get the ball rolling we have some Galway City Museum staff member’s picks already posted online.
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Thank you to Álainn Donnelly-Larkin, age 5 who sent in a photgraph of her treasured object. She also wrote us a little story.
MIA & LOTTIE "Lottie is the horse; Mia is the human. And Mia found Lottie at a railway station, she was neighing loudly, she was stuck to a rope, and Mia unlocked the rope and she sat on the horse and said “giddy-up” and the horse ran back to our house and they both lived happily ever after. (Actually) I got the unicorn at winter solstice and I got Mia at winter solstice too, but they were both in different packets. They don’t go together.
They are my favourite dolls, Mia and Lottie, because they’re so beautiful. But Mia is my most favourite, because she works on the farm and stuff, and I like her clothes and her beautiful long hair and how it’s so black, and I like her jeans and her tshirt and her coat and her welly boots.
All done. Thank you very much for reading. "
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media.
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Karen & Kathy Cawley
Brampton, Ontario
Canada "Our most prized possession is a 17th century needlepoint picture we refer to as the Blind Harper which has been passed down through our family, originating in Ireland. It is approximately 19” L by 15” W. without the frame. The original plain brown frame lies beneath this more decorative one. This beautiful picture must have been painstakingly created by my ancestor as there are 144 stitches per inch.
I have just found some paperwork referring to some of its history. The Blind Harper referred to in these documents is named Torlough O’Carolan. When I started looking into him, I came across the Galway City Museum post about harpist Sorcha McCague’s Celebration of Torlough O’Carolan.
It would be great if anyone out there could tell us if this is what Torlough looked like in old age and who the girl might be? We would love to get any information that we can about this work of art"
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does
it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object.
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media. To get the ball rolling we have some Galway City Museum staff member’s picks already posted online.
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would
grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you?
Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object. We will be sharing ours too!
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with
the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media. Some Galway City Museum staff member’s picks have
already been posted - have a look! www.galwaycitymuseum.ie
#mytreasuredobject #galway #galwaycitymuseum #museumfromhome
#inthistogether #personaltreasures #objectswithmeaning #virtualmuseum
#museum
#MyTreasuredObject
Dr Deirdre Forde, Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath,
This is my book 'Understanding Myself'
I wrote it in Salerno in 2nd year (written in Feb 1974). I was 13 years old. I am now just under 3 months from my 60th birthday.
It is very special as it reflects my thoughts then, along with some photos. I was so delighted to find it in my parents shed about 10 years ago.
Please continue to share your objects with us at museum@galwaycity.ie with the hashtag #mytreasuredobject
#galway #galwaycity #museumfromhome #museum #inthistogether #treasuredchildhood
#mytreasuredobject
Galway City Museum is excited to post the first public participant for "My Treasured Object"
Please continue to share your objects with us at museum@galwaycity.ie with the hashtag #mytreasuredobject
Eimear Greaney, Galway
My treasured object would be my 1952 Singer Featherweight. I have a few vintage sewing machines and the featherweight would win out as it sews through any type of fabric, it is very quiet, very light (5kg), and packs into its own little suitcase. Once the machine attachments and buttonholer are packed in there, this machine can do anything. It is currently sewing a new set of covers for a sofa!
I prefer to sew on vintage machines, as the stitch is nicer and manual controls are better for tailoring, and that although this machine is now 68 years old, I expect it will be sewing for a long time still. There is a lovely feeling of continuity in using these machines and carrying on a tradition of making. I think the appeal also lies in they represent a time when people valued and took more care of things, not only would these machines have sewn clothes, curtains and bed-linen for family, they would have been repairing and altering too ensuring nothing was wasted.
Mr Singer was a consummate salesman and focused his marketing efforts on women shrewdly pointing out that these machines would pay for themselves and secure an income, so many women bought these on hire purchase and used them to take in sewing and securing financial independence for themselves, and at times being the main breadwinner.
This machine was purchased in a charity shop in Galway, it had a broken piece inside and luckily the genius who repaired it had the patience to locate the piece online and get the machine in perfect working order. I am always surprised at how inexpensive it is to get a vintage machine in general, they can be picked up for very little, and once they are not rusted, are well worth oiling and using again. They will outlast most modern machines as they are all metal, as well as being a joy to sew with, and when you factor in the money saved from not paying for alterations and repairs, they really do pay for themselves!
#mytreasuredobject #galway
What is YOUR most treasured object? Think of the first thing you would grab and save in an emergency. What is its background story, who does it remind you of, what feelings or memories does it evoke, and what does it say about you? Galway City Museum would love to hear from you about your most treasured object. We will be sharing ours too!
Please send a photograph and your story to museum@galwaycity.ie with the heading #mytreasuredobject
A selection will be posted on our website and social media.
Enjoy - Bain sult as
Brendan Mc Gowan, Education Officer
In April 1968, my Mayo grandparents, who had been working in Leeds for two decades, took over the licence for the Regent Hotel in an Irish area of that city. As they had no experience working behind a bar or managing a business of that nature, it was a big risk, but the pub soon drew large crowds and became a sort of mecca for Irish musicians.
Soon after, my uncle commissioned a backdrop for the stage from a craft artist in Tynagh, Co. Galway. Measuring 180cm x 90cm, it is a rural scene made of felt and woven materials. It was collected from Tynagh and returned to Leeds, via Mayo, strapped to the roof of a rental car. Over the next decade, traditional Irish musicians from all over Ireland and England shared tunes under the scene.
My grandparents retired home to Mayo in April 1978 and the framed scene came with them. It was mounted inside the front door of their new home, over the telephone. It was gifted to me in April 2018, fifty years to the month after it was commissioned. I had it reframed and it now takes pride of place inside the front door of my Galway home.
#mytreasuredobject #galway
#galwaycity #museumfromhome #museum
Brendan Mc Gowan – Education Officer
In April 1968, my Mayo grandparents, who had been working in Leeds for two decades, took over the licence for the Regent Hotel in an Irish area of that city. As they had no experience working behind a bar or managing a business of that nature, it was a big risk, but the pub soon drew large crowds and became a sort of mecca for Irish musicians.
Soon after, my uncle commissioned a backdrop for the stage from a craft artist in Tynagh, Co. Galway. Measuring 180cm x 90cm, it is a rural scene made of felt and woven materials. It was collected from Tynagh and returned to Leeds, via Mayo, strapped to the roof of a rental car. Over the next decade, traditional Irish musicians from all over Ireland and England shared tunes under the scene.
My grandparents retired home to Mayo in April 1978 and the framed scene came with them. It was mounted inside the front door of their new home, over the telephone. It was gifted to me in April 2018, fifty years to the month after it was commissioned. I had it reframed and it now takes pride of place inside the front door of my Galway home.
Jackie Uí Chionna
My treasured object is a Singer sewing machine. My great-grandmother, grandmother and mother were all dressmakers, so the machine had seen a lot of use before I inherited it! Founded in 1851, The Singer Corporation was the largest manufacturer of sewing machines in the world. Each machine carried a serial number indicating its place and year of manufacture. This machine was manufactured in Kilbowie, Scotland in 1933, one of 50,000 machines produced by the factory that year. Still in full working order, I used it to make the curtains for my home in Galway when I moved here in 1992.
Harriet Dundon – Marine Institute Graduate Intern in Marine Science Communication
This painting was by my great grandfather Eric Rosewarne. He was a customs and excise officer in the 1920’s and 30’s at Holyhead Port, Wales. He used to see the Irish mail boats coming into port and leaving for Dublin.
He took up painting when he retired and most of his pictures had a nautical theme. This painting of the RMS Hibernia was completed in 1974. It shows the ship coming into the breakwater at Holyhead, circa 1938 and is remarkably accurate in the detail. I love the painting itself, which was always on display in my grandparents’ house and also the information that he typed out and put on the back of it. To me it symbolises the connection between the east coast of Ireland where I was born and grew up and north Wales where there is strong family history and where I went to university. It is a route that I have taken by boat many, many times.
Eithne Verling Museum Director
Landscape – Barr A Doire, An Ceathrú Rua, Co Na Gaillimhe. – This is a painting done by my father, Walter Verling, a landscape painter, in about 1972. When I was a small child we moved from Youghal in County Cork to Carraroe. Both my father and mother began teaching in the local comprehensive school – one teaching art, the other music – and we children learned Irish, went to school and enjoyed a carefree existence. The move to Carraroe was inspired in part by my father’s friendship with the great Co. Down/Connemara painter Charles Lamb. Lamb moved to Carraroe with his wife, Catherine, one of the first two female veterinarian’s to qualify from UCD and the daughter of the English novelist, Ford Maddox Ford, in 1922 and lived there until his death in 1964.
Eoin O’Neill Collections Officer
Landscape – Barr A Doire, An Ceathrú Rua, Co Na Gaillimhe. – This is a painting done by my father, Walter Verling, a landscape painter, in about 1972. When I was a small child we moved from Youghal in County Cork to Carraroe. Both my father and mother began teaching in the local comprehensive school – one teaching art, the other music – and we children learned Irish, went to school and enjoyed a carefree existence. The move to Carraroe was inspired in part by my father’s friendship with the great Co. Down/Connemara painter Charles Lamb. Lamb moved to Carraroe with his wife, Catherine, one of the first two female veterinarian’s to qualify from UCD and the daughter of the English novelist, Ford Maddox Ford, in 1922 and lived there until his death in 1964.
Damien Donnellan – Education and Exhibitions
This book is called ‘Between Ourselves’, it is the 7th Volume of the internal staff magazine that was produced by Cόmhlucht Siύicre Eireann Teo, otherwise known as the Irish Sugar Company.
My uncle Christie Donnellan gave me this book while I was doing research for my college dissertation on the Tuam Sugar Factory. My uncle trained and worked as an electrician with the Irish Sugar Company in its Tuam Factory. Christie, along with my father and a number of uncles and aunts all worked in the factory in various roles at various times. The factory was an important feature of life in the town for such a long time.
Researching the Tuam factory allowed me to spend time with and find out more about the lives of my family and for that reason it is one of my treasured objects.
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