Mayo Alive - 30 April 1996

I Miss Mayo

by
Tom Foley, Connecticut, USA

I am not a Mayo man. I wish I was but fate dictated that a Corkonian was my penance. My elder sisters were luckier, born in Castlebar General Hospital in 1958 and 1959. You might have heard of one of my sisters, Carmel, she's currently the head of the Equal Employment Agency. Before that she was Head of The Council for the Status of Women. This is news to Mayo, she is yet unclaimed by the county. That however, is another story,.

My father is a Foley. He was a Kerryman with a fierce pride of land and a loathing of oppressors that tried to take his soil. It ran in the family. His father Tim (my grandfather), was tried for treason by the Crown Forces, his crime being stopping tenants from taking up evicted lands. That too is another story, worthy of a separate article.

In 1922, my father upped and awaye'd from his native Kerry to become a policeman in what is now called The Garda Síochána. The family were not at all enamoured by this, what with he being the eldest son and a farm to take care of, and the country in turmoil after the Civil War. They said it was certain death to be involved with what was then called The Irish Free State. He was a patriot.

He was eventually stationed in Swinford as a Sergeant. In Mayo, he found the same qualities as his native Caragh Lake. Irish speakers abounded. Families who made their livelihood for the soil, turf or otherwise. He was frequently called upon to give testimony in Irish against the poitin makers who were the main lawbreakers at that time. I think a lot of confiscated evidence ended up at home, as there was always a bottle of firewater in the sitting room. He was very happy there, apart from the moonshiners but also as evidenced by the two births (me big sisters).

Anyway, he did so well that he was promoted to Inspector and then Superintendent. I have pictures of him in uniform, and Jaysus boy, you wouldn't want to mess him, a stern hoor if ever it existed.

So by now the new Foley family is on a roll, and a shiny Vauxhall Viva to boot (that's a car to the uninitiated). I was born in between as was my other sister Martina (in Donegal - don't ask!), and where do we go for the holidays ? Louisburgh of course!! I was only six or seven at the time, but I remember every detail exactly. We stayed in Mrs. Friel's house, just 500 yards from the beach. And what a beach it is. Three miles long and sandy and unspoiled and heaven. I lost a toenail to a crab, Carmel experienced puppy love for the first time ( I know I sneaked a look at her diary, don't tell her!), and The Carpenters were singing on Radio Luxembourg (every shanna every woe oh woe oh). Boy were those the days.

Well Dad retired, and we moved to Athlone. I started going to secondary school. I was unruly. My parents sent me to Garbally boarding school in Co. Galway as a result. I met more Mayo men - excellent!! Tom Merrick used to run the school shop, and when I didn't have the 21p (50 cents) for ten Carrolls he'd give me credit. That's a Claremorris man for you, Tom and his brother Pat too, are indelibly inked on my mind for being generous human beings, without they ever have to have been.

Then there was Conor Gradey from Tourmakeady . Conor always had what boarders called scoff, aka food! Conor had a locker full of it. He was partial to cheese if I recall.. He was the only one in the dorm that had a working lock on that locker. He had to!

Then from the West we had Eddy Mulvey, an Achill Island bowsie. Eddy had great difficulty taking instructions. That's a euphemism if you catch my drift, Eddy answered to no one.

After school I went to the RTC in Athlone and the following summer did some work on a fish-farm in Leenane. I also met a nice girl from Letterfrack. She had a sister too, couldn't make up my mind.

At this point in my life what was weeks has now become years, and things have changed. I'm living in Connecticut, but go home once a year or so. Karin, my better half, and I were back in May of 1994 and toured Mayo. I liked the Ceide Fields an awful lot, and I liked the Golden Acres in Killala, where we stayed.

I miss Mayo.

Tom Foley tomfoley@soho.ios.com

The Nallys of Rockstown in County Mayo, Ireland