THE SLIGO WEEKENDER TURNS 40!

Sligo Weekender owner Dorothy Crean and founder Brian McHugh pictured with the first edition of the Sligo Weekender, our new 40-year supplement and a cake to mark the occasion as the newspaper officially turns 40 tomorrow, Friday.

“THE measure of my dreams” - a line from Shane McGowan’s ‘A Rainy Night in Soho’ by The Pogues was the perfect way to sum up what the late Aidan Mannion meant to those who loved him and to his community.

His son Ross gave us that line in one of three moving tributes paid to Aidan yesterday by Ross, his brother Patrick and their mum, Dympna at Aidan’s funeral Mass.

Aidan Mannion (69), was laid to rest yesterday, a day when recent sub-zero temperatures gave way to more traditional wind and rain. Despite the still biting cold hundreds made their way to St Anne’s Church, Cranmore and later to Sligo Cemetery to share final moments with a man who shared so much with his beloved Sligo.

Outside the iconic Record Room which he, one of three music musketeers founded in 1983, traditional musicians gathered to play as Aidan’s mortal remains came by for one final chorus en route to Sligo Cemetery.

Mourners stood in the rain, oblivious to the whipping wind, the notes dancing across Grattan Street as they remembered a man who stood out, a man who made a difference, someone who was a champion for his beloved Sligo - Aidan Mannion (1954-2023).

A football fan, a book editor, an accountant, a man who loved history, sporting and other, a man who loved engines and the quiet life when he might snatch it. Parish Priest Fr Pat Lombard nailed it when he told mourners at a packed St Anne’s Church in Cranmore how Aidan Mannion had packed more into one life than most would manage in two.

There was a lot to recall, much to remember, his dignity as he battled illness for the best part of a year, his bravery to take a chance in business and in life, his wit, his maze of a mind with endless corridors laden with information on everything from engines to the Easter rising.

A book editor, one day perhaps, someone will write a book about Aidan. What to leave out in a life crammed with living and doing …

More tributes inside