An Irishwoman's Diary

IT began, as many big things do, with a chat in the local. Sally Hardiman was a friendly familiar face behind the counter in Hennelly’s pub in the north Galway village of Corrandulla, when she and several neighbours started to swap books and soon became engaged in a regular exchange.

It was mostly fiction, it was informal and it was a bit of fun. But the fun faded when Sally became ill and then passed away, leaving a young family and a large circle of heartbroken friends. Not long later, same friends, including Caroline Connaughton, Phyllis Reddington and Noreen King, decided that the best way to remember her was through her passion for the printed word.

And so, Leabharlann na gCairde, Corrandulla’s Library of Friends, was formed two years ago. There was an initial survey of the large and sprawling Annaghdown parish which runs from the shores of lough Corrib across Headford and in between. When the response was positive, the local community centre was approached, a room in the village’s old girls’ school was acquired. Blackboards and inkwell-fitted desks were replaced with rows of shelves.

A meitheal threw its collective energies into dry-lining, painting and cleaning.

Church gate and local fair collections helped to raise funds, and Galway city and county libraries gave support. On a sunny Sunday, a book drop at Corrandulla Community Centre exceeded all expectations, with what may have felt like one wing of the Bodleian in boxes running out the door.

A computer with a specialised software package was acquired, a team of volunteers recruited, and logging and cataloguing began under the tutelage of resident and professional librarian Olivia Lardner, who had formerly worked with the Chester Beatty. Supporters were asked to sponsor a shelf. Last December, the then Galway West TD Michael D Higgins was among the guests – and book donors – when the library opened its doors.

In January, the Galway County Libraries mobile unit made the first of frequent calls to supply titles ordered by members. By March, a teenage book club was formed, as was an adult counterpart. It didn’t stop there, with activities ranging from computer classes to a gardening club to a series of Sunday readings by local writers.

By April the library was hosting writer Patricia Scanlan, who gave a reading as part of this year's Cúirt International Festival of Literature. Coincidentally, Noreen King had found Sally Hardiman's own copy of Scanlan's Francesca's Partyin her attic.

“There has always been such a positive energy here with whatever we have tried to do,” Anne Butler of the voluntary management team explains. “Whatever we have done seems to have worked, and we feel that energy is due to Sally.”

Somehow in the middle of all of this activity, the community has made a film about their project with the Galway Film Centre, which has been submitted for the next Galway Film Fleadh programme. Entitled Out of the Darkness, it records the library's roots and shoots, and how it has become such an invaluable public space.

Local primary school children come regularly as part of their studies; on the film, their teacher speaks of a marked improvement in literacy skills. Pre-schoolers also come for a story. As Yohannes Gebregeorgis, founder of the Donkey Mobile Library in Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa, once remarked: “Education without reading outside the classroom is like eating food without salt and spice . . .”

PHOTOGRAPHER Reg Gordon might say the same about a book without images. Gordon, from Dublin, came to live in Galway via St Petersburg, Prague and New York. Everywhere he has lived, he says, he has been drawn to people who “swim against the tide” and who have a story to tell. His new home has no shortage of same, and his first book is an attempt to capture that spirit.

Entitled Tribe,his "document" of 101 portraits taken in 2011 opens with Stefane Griesbach, Galway market fishmonger who speaks with a unique Franco-Galwegian "blas", and it continues with images of people who are part of the essential fabric of, but not necessarily native of, the city on the Corrib.

There’s Mary Anne Wangari-Mullen, who runs Harambee charity shop to raise funds for an orphanage in her native Kenya; Gillian Gibson, youngest air traffic controller on record when she qualified; and Ronan Loughney, bog oak sculptor and prop for Connacht Rugby.

There’s masked graffiti artists or “taggers”, Baqsr and AKA Crap; former French foreign legionnaire Liam Cullinane; and New York-born doughnut seller Dan Rosen, who told Gordon he’d “find him by his sewing machine”, because he makes all his own clothes.

Cheesemaker Seamus Sheridan wears his trademark worryline, while a smart-suited pair of artsfest movers, John Crumlish and Paul Fahy, have left their socks and shoes at home. The Kenny bookshop and bookbinding family are also barefoot, but paddling off the Salthill prom, and Gordon managed to lure angler and fifth- generation greengrocer Ernie Deacy out of his Sea Road shop.

Cope Community Catering, Galway Hospice and Westside library staff volunteered for the project, and sculptor John Behan let Gordon into his Bacon-esque workshop. Chefs let him into their kitchens, and there’s a rare shot of Ard Bia proprietor Aoibheann McNamara sitting down with a raspberry cupcake to her mouth.

Tribe: A Portrait of Galwayby Reg Gordon is available in bookshops, or via website www.reggordon.com