Ireland and Sligo in the year I began work at Snia

MCHUGH’S VIEWS is this week again viewing the Sligo of 1972. Last Thursday, in nostalgic mood, I cast my mind back 49 years to when I first came to work in Sligo on February 14, 1972. So let’s go back in the time tunnel again.

On the political front, Michael Carroll was

Mayor and John Fallon was chairman of Sligo County Council. Sligo Corporation, now disbanded, was then more relevant to the people of the town than the overall authority Sligo County Council. In the Dáil, the TDs for Sligo-Leitrim were Joe McLoughlin (FG), Ray McSharry (FF) and James Gallagher (FF).

On the news front, tragedy struck in July when three local men were drowned in Rosses Point. James Leyden, Michael McLaughlin and Michael Kilgallon died when their boat was struck by a freak wave near Blackrock Lighthouse. Three others who were with the victims were rescued.

The Northern troubles were at boiling point in 1972. The British Army in Derry killed 13 innocent civilians on Bloody Sunday, January 30.

Days before I came here, in one of the biggest ever local protests, at least 10,000 people angered by the killings took part in a march organised by Sligo Trades Council.

And Sligo dockworkers refused to unload a British ship until it lowered its flag and flew a tricolour at half-mast. The Derry shootings were a big talking point in Snia when I started work in the factory.

On a lighter note, in sport, locals David Pugh and Gerry Mitchell were joint-managers of Sligo Rovers.

In GAA, Sligo were defeated by Mayo in a replay of the Connacht Senior Football Championship semi-final after the first game ended in a draw. Curry were Sligo county champions. Entertainment-wise, the great Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy played two gigs in Sligo that year, in Summerhill College in July and again at a ‘Pop Carnival’ in The Showgrounds in August. Also on the line-up for The Showgrounds carnival were the Memories, Chicory Tip and Planxty. Admission each night was just 60p.

There was local interest in the National Song Contest, the qualifier for Eurovision, in 1972. McLynn’s Old Market Street folk group – born out of the pub of the same name – were entrants in the televised show from the Cork Opera House. They performed a song called A Certain Sunday, composed by Paula McLynn and Alan Zeserson. Another local group getting national airplays at the time were the Duggan Brothers, who later went on to be known as Brotherly Love.

After local gigs in venues like the Silver Slipper Strandhill, the Blue Lagoon, and the Marine in Enniscrone, they caught the ear of a young Louis Walsh, who became their manager. Not generally recognised now, in reality they were Louis’s first boy band.

Way back then Sligo was ahead of its time, with a ‘piped’ TV system bringing all the channels available then to subscribers all around the town. It was run by a company known as Marmac, owned by John Martyn, who lived up the Green Road direction. Marmac also built and sold televisions.

John Martyn, along with Joe Corcoran and others, was among the founders of Sligo airport.

Sligo was a very different place back then, as described here last week. But for me and 500 others who spent 10 years turning out millions of miles of nylon yarn in Snia, it was a great place to work, rest (a bit), and play a lot.

Those were the days, my friends.

l Brian McHugh is the founder and former editor of the Sligo Weekender. He can be contacted at brian.mchugh@sligoweekender.ie