Bridge of Athlone over River Shannon
'The town' was a garrison one and most families
had a connection to the Free State Army, and the factories, Gentex and the
Woollen Mills. The dance halls and the
Celli Houses was the hub of young people's entertainment in the town and that
was added to with the coming of the cinemas to Athlone town.
At one stage there was three cinemas in
Athlone. The Savoy, the Ritz and the
GardenVale.The Ritz, which opened in 1940, evokes many strong memories with people of 'The Town'.
The cinema was built beside the town bridge on the banks of the River Shannon. One of the first movies shown in 'The Ritz' was 'Three Smart Girls' starring Deanna Durbin.
The poster advertisement for the film prompted one young man to run to the home of the Flynn family who had three daughters. As he arrived gasping at the house, he shouted to the mother of the family: "Mrs. Flynn, Mrs. Flynn! There is a sign up outside 'The Ritz' looking for three smart girls. Get your daughters down there now and apply!"
It was probably the first time the well-meaning man had ever saw a movie poster.
The town has a long soccer tradition dating back to the 1890’s. 'C'mon The Town' was the affectionate catchphrase used to cheer on the Athlone Town soccer team. 'C'mon The Town' could be heard on the terraces at St. Mel's Park and among the schoolchildren and adults of Athlone, on the week leading up to an important game.
There were many bars and groceries in Athlone during the 30’s and 40’s including Priors, The Palace, Williams, Maguires, Butlers, 41's, Molloy's, Stephen Kelly's and Coyles.
Other shops include Liptons, Parson's Corner Shop, Macken's Drapery and Miss Prices Drapery, Boushell's Shop, Parson's Corner Shop and Morrissey's Sweetshop.
The Woollen Mills factory employed men and women of all ages, some as young as 14 years old.
One morning in November 1940 a fire erupted in the factory and created an enormous amount of damage.
"There was a huge storm the night before." said Mick Carroll, who was a 22 year old man living in Athlone, at the time. "The Athlone Gasworks was right beside the factory, and the gas was released to save the town, otherwise it would have ignited and the town would have blown up."
"I worked in the Woollen Mills, like countless other girls from the town. My uniform and my shoes and apron were burned inside the building, but Thank God, there was nobody inside." says Elsie Carroll, Mick's wife.
The residents of the nearby, Northgate Street, Railway View, St. Francis Tce. was evacuated to The Crescent Ballroom.
Sparks flew across the early morning November sky, windows were broken and wooden planks flew in the air, to a radius of a mile.
"The Army was called out and we were taken out of our beds and evacuated to the Crescent." says Kathleen Moriarty, who lived in Athlone at the time. "The whole town could've went up that morning."
Lemonade was the main beverage consumed by young people in the 30’s and 40’s. There was no such thing as buying bottled mineral water in shops then, although Spring Water was consumed a lot. People used to walk to the Springwell Road, on the Connaught side of town, close to the Railway line, to visit the Springwell and collect some beautiful cool spring water.
Ice cream was a great treat and it was consumed in The Genoa, which was a popular ice-cream parlour, set up by an Italian man, Frank Magliocco in 1943.
The Provincial Bank of Ireland Ltd. resided on the banks of the Shannon, on the Leinster side of the town bridge.
"Everyone went for long walks in those days - out to the Thatch or the Park or to Sandy Bay to bathe." says Mick. "They were lovely times. You could walk out the door and leave it open then. They were hard times but better times."
"Times were also stricter. I remember when I was off sick from school, the school garda visiting the house." says Elsie. "In fact he came up to the bedroom to see that I was really sick."
The Gaelic League Hall was fondly nicknamed the Sweatbox. This was one of the nighttime entertainment venues in the town. The Gaelic League mostly catered for people interested in Irish traditional music and dancing.
The Longworth Hall, The Crescent Ballroom, The Foresters Hall, the Sportex Gym and St. Mary's Hall were other dance venues of the time.
"Most of us were sitting in the garden at the back wall, listening to The Eucharistic Congress in the Phoenix Park on a radio in a house behind the wall." says Kathleen Moriarty. "It was a bright day and it was great, it was really something different for us, because there was no television, and very few people had radios at that time."
It was a great treat for Athlone families to go to Galway by train. They would bring packed lunches and travel to Salthill and be back in time for the evening train back to the town.
"My father used to keep pigs and chickens and had the garden sowed with all kind of vegetables. In those days most people in the town used to sow their garden." says Kathleen.
"There was also no such things as coffee shops and going out for coffee. Although coffee was drank in the house. Irel Coffee was very popular because there was no tea because of the rations." says Kathleen.
"There used to be people selling apples on horses and carts and somebody always came into the town to the houses selling country butter on an ass and cart. For Christmas you got Custard and Jelly and grey turkeys were always cooked. There was a really lovely flavour off them."
In Athlone in the 30's and 40's the main reading material was 'The Westmeath Independent', 'The Irish Press', 'The Irish Independent, The Messenger', 'Dublin Opinion' and 'Ireland's Own'.
Mick Flynn remembers reading 'The Dandy' and 'The Beano'. " I also remember reading about a character called 'Fireworks Flynn' in 'Hotspur". says Mick.
"I loved watching the westerns of Buck Jones and the movie 'Clancy of the Mounted' in the Ritz."
'Clancy of the Mounted' is a long forgotten feature film from 1933, which starred Tom Tyler
"We didn't think the world was large at all, we thought we were all close together." says Mick.
Children played on the streets with spinning tops, and were generally safe from traffic with the exception of the occasional horse and carts.
Dr. Kerley, Dr. Power and Dr. Coen were the main family doctors in Athlone of the 30's and 40's era.
Fr. Pinkman and Canon Crowe were parish priests from the two neighbouring parishes of St. Mary's and St. Peter's and Pauls' respectively.
Athlone is the birthplace of the world famous tenor John 'Count' McCormack in 1884.
"I remember listening to Delia Murphy on record, in the early 40's singing 'If I were a Blackbird' and Three Lovely Lassies'. Also I remember the beautiful voice of Vera Lynn singing We'll Meet Again and 'White Cliffs of Dover'. Radio Luxembourg 208 MW's Top 20 was the highlight of our week." says Joe Flynn.
"We used to come home from school to do the weeding in the garden and to sow potatoes or we'd have to work in the bog. There was no fruit available, but a great recipe was parsnips blended with some kind of vanilla which was used to make to bananas."
Those were the days of the 30’s and 40’s in the place Athlonians called ‘The Town’.
