Memories of Pope's visit to Galway, 1979

mchalem4

Hi all,

As the 30th anniversary of Pope John Paul's visit to Galway is coming up soon (30 September), I was wondering would people like to share their memories of the occasion, and also their memories of the Galway of thirty years ago and how it has changed since.

I'm working on this for a local paper so any help from any of you would be hugely appreciated. Feel free to PM me or post your message here.

Thanks!

Michael McHale
snip

PopeBuckfastXVI

mchalem4 wrote: »

Hi all,

As the 30th anniversary of Pope John Paul's visit to Galway is coming up soon (30 September), I was wondering would people like to share their memories of the occasion, and also their memories of the Galway of thirty years ago and how it has changed since.

I'm working on this for a local paper so any help from any of you would be hugely appreciated. Feel free to PM me or post your message here.

Thanks!

Michael McHale
<snip>

I remember being born that day.

Also, remove your email address or you will get a flood of spam.

Mrs OBumble

I wonder what proportion of people in Ireland now were born overseas, so have absolutely no memory of this at all?

snubbleste

A lot of 29 year old John Pauls around these days

biko

I removed mail address
Will move to Media Interaction forum later/tomorrow

McTigs

I remember being 5 but getting wheeled in a buggy to the gig cos we had to park so far away

And i remember pointing up a helicopter cos i saw somebody wearing white in the window and asking was that him

And we had hang sangwiches and red lemonade picnic

And me and my brother and sisters got pope badge souveniers and ma got holy water and my dad smoked a few fags

That's about it.

civis_liberalis

That's the story to run with I think Michael...

inisboffin

A friend from school had an uncle 'high up' (politics business, dunno, was a kid!) who couldn't go, so she got to go instead and bring a friend.
Had to have a photo ID done (ha ha) as we were in the red carpet section.
We were back a fair few rows, but despite being versed on good behaviour, we snook up front for most of it and had great craic and waved flags!
That's all I remember, apart from the echoy speaker system!



Whoops, sorry, misread, and thought it was the Dublin mass..I wasn't in Galway for it.

MayoForSam

I was in Knock on top of a damp and dreary hill for about 6 hours, sitting on a little fold-up stool, chewing on a 'hang' sandwich, peering at some distant figure dressed in white. Then they canceled the Popemobile - it was all rather anti-climatic. I was a bit young to go down to Ballybrit.

I wonder how many would show up if the present incumbent was to repeat the 1979 visit?

McTigs

MayoForSam wrote: »

I wonder how many would show up if the present incumbent was to repeat the 1979 visit?

I was wondering the very same thing. Ireland was a very different place back then. Everybody went to mass and being religious was pretty much taken as a given. Everybody liked that pope too.

the new guy is downright evil looking :eek:

Tzetze

I was 7 at the time. Wasn't living in Galway back then, but the parents had been telling myself and my brother how we'd be going to see him in Drogheda. Needless to say, myself and the brother couldn't have cared less about the event and would have rathered stay at home and miss out on the occasion.

As luck would have it, a week or so before the gig, a stray dog showed up at our house (in very poor shape) in the week or so beforehand. It turned out the dog was heavily pregnant and had a litter of seven, two or three days before JP's gig.

So the morning of the big event arrived, and the dog died, leaving us to look after the seven pups! Never did get to go to the gig (what a shame! ). The pups were all hand-reared with bottles, by the way, and all survived.

Wompa1

Tzetze wrote: »

I was 7 at the time. Wasn't living in Galway back then, but the parents had been telling myself and my brother how we'd be going to see him in Drogheda. Needless to say, myself and the brother couldn't have cared less about the event and would have rathered stay at home and miss out on the occasion.

As luck would have it, a week or so before the gig, a stray dog showed up at our house (in very poor shape) in the week or so beforehand. It turned out the dog was heavily pregnant and had a litter of seven, two or three days before JP's gig.

So the morning of the big event arrived, and the dog died, leaving us to look after the seven pups! Never did get to go to the gig (what a shame! ). The pups were all hand-reared with bottles, by the way, and all survived.

I'd take that day over seeing the smelly old pope any day...did you throw the after birth against the oven door for good luck!?

Fanadfanad

I was 8. I remember it on TV - and my Granny went to see him in Knock.

I particularly remember my Mother being very impressed with his "young people of Ireland" speech.

You know, 5 years later, I went to Galway to visit my cousins, and Ronald Reagan was there (I recall the big cars with the long-coated special service gaurds). I remember thinking how lucky the people of Galway were - all the cool people visit there!!! Nobody went to Donegal!

McTigs

And lets face it, they don't come much cooler than Ronald Reagan

Fanadfanad

McTigs wrote: »

I was wondering the very same thing. Ireland was a very different place back then. Everybody went to mass and being religious was pretty much taken as a given. Everybody liked that pope too.

the new guy is downright evil looking :eek:

You know, if I remember correctly, that was the first time we went to Mass on a Saturday to fulfill our Sunday obligations - all the priests were off to see the Pope on Sunday, so they weren't around to do Sunday mass.

Now, you can gt your Sunday Mass any Saturday evening!

They even put the pope on the postage stamps!:pac:

Quality

I was only 2 weeks old, My dad was minding me on his own as my mam had gone into the see him with my older brothers and sisters for the day...


My dad said it was the first time he ever had to change a nappy in his life! After 14 years of being a dad it took him that long to change a nappy!