Blog Archives - Reading the Signs

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Road Opening

16/10/2014

In 1844, it appears that the date and the name of the road was sufficient for a new road.

Now, the message needs to be in two languages, most probably needs to include at least one politician, a public servant and a builder.

Progress is not always good.

Dangers of Rebranding - Chapter 8

15/10/2014

I am still not a fan of changing the names of stadiums (or Stadia if you prefer) or venues.

I can understand the financial benefit of allowing some body corporate to attach their name but for me it remains Lansdowne Road – and will continue to do so.

This evening, listening to the radio, there was talk of a boxing bout at the Three Arena and I was reminded of these photographs taken last February, of what was, is and will remain, for me and Luas anyway, The Point.

Two, Three, Four or the like may come and go – no Point remembering any of them…..

Oh - Glad I never used 2

Con Leahy – More Learning About Olympics

15/10/2014

Today I was in Liam Ruisèal Teo and purchased a book by Colm Murphy, Irish Athletes & The Olympic Games, Stockholm 1912. It profiles 46 men who participated in the 1912 Games.

I was flicking through this afternoon and was reading about Timothy ‘Tim’ Leahy who is described as ‘the last of the brothers’. He was from Cregane, Co.Limerick and went to school at Charleville C.B.S. – where Éamon deValera was also a pupil. He had the highest jump in 1910.

I am unsure as to why he is included in the book as the book does not state that he participated in the 1912 Olympics which appears to be confirmed by the Athletics Ireland website.

National Health Insurance Society

13/10/2014

I spotted this plaque in 2013, on the wall of a building in Castlegregory.

It was suggested that The National Health Insurance Society was a pre-cursor to Pay Related Social Insurance (P. R. S. I.). On the web, I have found reference to its formation but the need for a local agent is as yet unknown to me.

Another for that long TO DO list.

“The National Health Insurance Act 1933 provided for the merger of 65 friendly societies to form the United Health Insurance Society. In 1942 the National Health Society announced that hospital treatment would be provided for insured people (but not their families). GP treatment had to be paid for by individuals.”

NUIM website

“It was in this context that the Fianna Fail government decided to amalgamate the societies, with a view to making ‘all the assets of the society available for all the members’64 through the National Health Insurance Act of 1933. The act replaced the 83 branches of Approved Societies, formerly responsible for administering health insurance, with a single National Health Insurance Society, Cumann an Arachais Naisiunta ar Shlainte, which took over the assets and liabilities of the former societies. A provisional three-member committee of management appointed by the minister was charged with overseeing the transfer to the unified society of the activities of the Approved Societies, after which a fifteen-member committee of management was to be appointed.”

Adrian Kelly, NUIM

T. C. MURRAY - More Questions Than Answers

12/10/2014

QUESTION ONE

OLYMPICS

I was very well aware of this plaque from many years of passing the building but it was only in July that I stopped to photograph. My instant thought was that it was another for the sports collection – Dr. Pat O’Callaghan, Denis Horgan, Dan O’Leary and Steve Casey all justifying a daily blog comment earlier in the summer following on from the likes of John C Lordan and Jack Doyle.

There has been a delay while I have read (most of) a book on T. C. Murray as the web provided contradictory information with regard to an Olympic Medal – which was for literature and not for sport.

Please expect some more plaques to sports people for times past in the near future.

I have added to my mental To Do list further research as to the 1924 Olympics – was the “‘literary competition ‘for men of letters’ associated with the 1924 Olympic Games” the same as the “Art competitions at the 1924 Olympics in Paris” or were they different competitions; and who were the prize-winners.

I suspect that this item may remain on the list for a good while.

New St., Macroom

T. C. MURRAY
1873 – 1969
PLAYRIGHT, POET, NOVELIST,
OLYMPIC MEDALIST
WAS BORN HERE

LEE VALLEY ENTERPRISE BOARD

“Years after its initial success, Birthright earned European recognition for Murray. In 1924 it was awarded the bronze medal and a diploma in the literary competition ‘for men of letters’ associated with the 1924 Olympic Games (VIII Olympiade) in Paris (Ms. 23,510, TCM, NLI.)The play was eligible because of its references to hurling. A news report from Dublin’s Weekly Freeman, ‘Olympic Honour for Irish Dramatist’, published on 9 August 1924, explained that the literary adjudicators included ‘such distinguished names as M. Jean Richepin, Gabrielle d’Annunzio, Paul Claudel, Marcel Provost, Blasco Ibanez, and Maurice Maeterlink’ (Ms. 23,510, TCM, NLI). Another article, ‘Irish Playright’s Honour’, published by the Dublin Evening Mail on 4 August 1924, drew attention to the international significance of the award: ‘In the modern drama of Europe, Synge, Yeats, and Lady Gregory have won universal recognition. Mr. Murray has further emphasized and enhanced the literary attainments of the nation’ (Ms. 23,510, TCM, NLI). “

T.C. Murray, Dramatist – Voice of Rural Ireland – Albert J. DeGiacomo [Syrause University Press – 2003]

“It has been stated both by A DeGiacomo and by R Allen Cave that in the Art competitions at the 1924 Olympics in Paris France Murray was awarded a bronze medal for his play Birthright However according to the official record for the games although Murray was a participant in the literature category with this play and also with Maurice Harte he did not win a medal”

Biographies.net AND Wikipedia

“The bronze medals went to French Charles Anthoine Gonnet for Face to Face with Olympia's God and Irish Oliver St. John Gogarty for Ode to the Tailteann Games. Gonnet also played rugby for the French national team from 1921-27. In 1924, he was a substitute for the French national team at the Paris Olympics, but did not play in any match. He was also an athlete, swimmer and boxer. Besides his writing Gogarty was a physician, sportsman, pilot and politician, and from 1922-36 served as a senator in the Irish Parliament.”
Sports_Reference.com

“In Cork city he co-founded the Cork Little Theatre Company with other authors such as the famed Daniel Corkery and Con O’Leary and the heroic Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence McSweeney, who died on hunger strike at Brixton Prison, England in 1920. The group became known as The Cork Realists.

The new theatre soon blossomed and many who threaded its boards became household names in the 20 th century.

Murray won a bronze medal for Literature at the 1924 Paris Olympics for ‘Birthright’ a play central to hurling.”
Scoreboard Memories

Art, Craft - Both

11/10/2014

Craft, Art, Skill, Creation – call it whatever you prefer – but it was visible in spades when we went to the Open Day at the Joseph Walsh Studio, outside Belgooly, as part of the Kinsale Arts Festival.

After a while on minor and more-minor roads, we pulled into the studio car-park. I was immediately impressed – to put such thought and detail into a gate. And then we saw the thatch of the canteen, the timber cladding to the showroom and the suspended bridge between showroom and design studio.

The furniture was so calling out to be touched to feel the curves in all directions. They were not only beautiful to the touch and the eye, they were comfortable.

The Process

The Models

Mater Hospital Mistakes

10/10/2014

The Mater Private Hospital claim that they have ‘A Reputation For Excellence’.

I suspect that, if true, it does not extend to translation.

I think that my Irish is improving but I am still at the novice stage. If I were any better, I might be able to find even more than four errors in four lines of the notice at the Mater Private Hospital

'Pregnant' is translated as ‘ag iompar clainne’ (which literally translates as carrying a family)

'To' does not appear to exist in Irish whereas ‘tú’,which is pronounced like the English 'too', is the second person singular personal pronoun (you) which does appear in the English version.

The Irish for 'baby' is ‘Leanbh’ – there does not appear to be any word ‘Leanabh’

‘Raibh’ is a past tense of the word ‘bí’ and so translates as ‘was’. ‘Roimh’ translates as before. ‘Raibh’ is pronounced like ‘rev’ whereas ‘roimh’ is pronounced like the English ‘riv’ as in ‘rivets’.

The English message contains reference to double conditional – ‘ If you think you may be pregnant’ whereas the Irish version has only one condition, translating roughly and assumed corrected as ‘In case you are pregnant tell the Radiographer or the nurse before the X-ray’. It is strange that the nurse is absent from the English version.

I hope that they are better at translating and interpreting scans and x-rays that they are at translating into Irish.

Nellie Cashman

9/10/2014

Another name that was completely unknown to me until a plaque prompted some web searching.

Some interesting items that I now know include Tombstone, Arizona celebrates Nellie Cashman Day on August 23rd to remember its "Angel of Mercy; she has had a U.S.A. stamp in her honour; she had dealings with Wyatt Earp; she was a gold prospector and entrepreneur and is in the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame; she is credited with saving a snowbound party of miners; and she had a great name on her company, The Midnight Sun Mining Company.

I do like that these plaques and monuments do introduce me to names and lives of people of whom I have not heard previously but I am not sure the plaque is good value at the reported €73k.

Riverside Way, Midleton

Main Street

8/10/2014

My struggle with improving my Irish by using streetsigns continues.

Those responsible for translating and erecting the streetsigns can in no way be accused of consistency.

One would think that Main Street should be reasonably standard. After all, it does appear in very many towns, villages and cities.

So far, I have come across three options – which roughly translate as Principal, Big and Middle. And even among them there are variations.

Príomhshráid, I can understand as it is the merging of two words into one – similar to cúlbhóthar and seanathair.

Príomh Shráid, Príomh-Shráid and variations without the h (séimhiú) and fada, I have difficulty with as my understanding was that the adjective should follow the noun – streetsigns are obviously an exception, at least in Kiltimagh, Killavullen,Caherciveen, Manorhamilton, Castlelyons, Youghal and Ballinrobe.

Claremorris’ Middle Street translation has me completely baffled – I hope it is an error of translation. Otherwise, I fear for my chances of improving my Irish vocabulary.

Bob Seger considers Main Street as one word

Mór = Big, Great, Large, Grand, Main

Príomh = Prime, Principal

Variations on Príomh

Leaving One's Mark

7/10/2014

Last month, for work, I had to visit the lovely arched building in Cobh – Market House. Cobh Library is in the building and it is undergoing upgrade works.

I was so impressed with the fireplace on the first floor with the crest carved in the stone surround – such a detail is so rarely seen these days that I did stand and admire while the building works continued around me.

The crest is also on the face of the building and also on the entrance to Fota Estate – Mr. Smith Barry was obviously keen to see his crest.

Fota Estate

Fota Estate

"The Market House was built c.1806 for Mr. J. Smith Barry, owner of Fota Estate, whose family crest is still visible on the front of the building. It was later used as the offices of Cobh Urban District Council and currently houses Cobh Library and District Court. The building was used as a temporary morgue for the victims of the sinking of the RMS Luisitania."
Cobh Visitor Information Board

Cobh Library - First Floor

Cobh Library - First Floor

Market House. Cobh

Market House, Cobh

Fota Estate

Who Writes History?

6/10/2014

Over the weekend, I was reading on Ireland in History, Day by Day of the end of the H-Block Hunger Strikes on 3rd October, 1981.

Back then a friend from school and I did have many a discussion as to matters Republican. To this day, such discussions would rarely end in agreement – be it with regard to justification, cause, validity of actions, or even use of words.

The anniversary of the end of the Hunger Strike reminded me of these plaques that I saw earlier this summer and the discussions over the intervening years, particularly those relating to the interpretation of what had been written.

The plaque in Galway says ‘Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hEireann’ which roughly translates as ‘They died for the Freedom of Ireland’ – a contention that I have difficulty in accepting.

My recollection of there being five demands of the Hunger Strikers was confirmed by the internet:
The right not to wear a prisoner uniform
The right to free association with Republican political prisoners
The right as political prisoners not to do prison work
The right to organize their own educational and recreational facilities, and
The right to one weekly visit, letter and parcel

Nowhere among these five objectives is stated the ‘Freedom of Ireland’. A free and united 32-county Ireland may well have been among the reasons for partaking in Republican activities which led to their imprisonment but this was not the stated aim of the Hunger Strike.

Arguably, as both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland remained as free after the Hunger Strike as they did before, were their deaths failures in the stated objective of Irish Freedom and if so, why state that in a plaque commemorating them.

Is this an example of an attempt to write history with a certain slant………

Galway

An interesting aside is that it is Winston Churchill who is misquoted as having said that ‘History is written by the Winners’…..

Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford

Not a Strange And

5/10/2014

I always understood the sign that looked a bit like the number 7 to be just Irish shorthand for &. It would regularly have been used in school.

Its most common use now would be in ‘P ˥ T’ on post boxes. It would also be on Civil War/War of Independence Memorials.

Thanks to Sentence First, I now know it is a Tironian et.

Still learning every day.

Bandon

Kinvara

October 4th, 1939

4/10/2014

I can almost picture the screenplay.

A German submarine, having been many months away from home, having had some close escapes, spots a British warship and torpedoes it but realises just too late that it is a merchant ship and not a warship.

Dilemma time. Leave the innocent seamen to die or put the submarine at risk to rescue and make good your bad decision. Facial anguish. Moral responsibility to right a wrong. Fear of putting one’s own life and the life of the crew in danger to effect the rescue.

Then began the run from the enemy ships and planes who had a fix on their location.

And then where and how to land the sailors – more danger. A harbour not before accessed so its underground contours unknown.

All live happily ever after.

Resorting to the web, my life as a screenwriter was ended before it started. U-35 did not sink the Diamantis – or did it .

Reality provided a perfect cinematic twist in Commander Werner Lott, who was in charge of U-35, being rescued by Lord Louis Mountbatten’s flotilla. He returned to West Kerry 45 years later - 30 years before I became aware of U35.

U-BOAT IN VENTRY HARBOUR 1939

THE GERMAN U-BOAT U-35 LANDED THE CREW OF THE GREEK MERCHANT VESSEL, DIAMANTIS, WHICH IT HAD SUNK OFF THE COAST OF CORNWALL, AT AN DÚINĺN IN VENTRY HARBOUR ON OCTOBER 4TH 1939.

This magnanimous action put U-35 in considerable danger.

2009 Ventry Historical Society

Writing on the Door

3/10/2014

I cannot remember very may door surrounds used as a medium for art and message.

This was spotted on my first ever visit to Donoughmore. I like and thought I’d share.

Can You Take A Joke?

2/10/2014

futue eos, si iocum non admittant – F*** them, if they cannot take a joke

When in Galway some time back, I spotted these two plaques, one under the other, on the wall of Thomas Dillon’s on Quay Street.

Recently, I got around to doing some web trawling to find out about the puppeteer and stone carver, Pat Bracken who passed away in 2010. I had never seen the puppet performance but from what I have read, I think I would have enjoyed.

I hope that I am in the category that can take the joke…….

“Some of us die physically on the way,
some emotionally, some spiritually, creatively.
Nevertheless it’s a journey
back to the spawning ground,
instinctively drawn back to the womb’s safety,
love and nurture. This is my journey”

Pat Bracken
1951 – 2010
Artist – Stonecarver - Puppeteer