Speedie's Blog
My Writings (I hope!) reflect my Guiding Principles: -'Enjoy Life to the Utmost but not at other people's expense'-'Think Global, Act Local'-'Variety is the Spice of Life'-'Use Technology & Wisdom to Make the World A Better Place for All God's Creatures'-'Do Not Accept Injustice No Matter Where You Find It'-'Laughter is the Best Medicine'
The World Deserves Better than Harris & Trump
Today I enjoyed Dancing with a Lovely & Happy Partner on a Virtual Reality dance floor!
This morning/afternoon, my brilliant friend Luke Porwol (right of photo) gave a training session to his colleagues who have volunteered to mentor workshops on Virtual Reality (VR) to schools visiting our Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at the University of Galway as part of theGalway Science and Technology Festival.
Creating a 'Fairy Ring' in a sacred Oak Grove in the Heart of the Forest
The tradition of a Celtic Halloween continues at our home!
Halloween at our home in 2016 |
Help Create a new Wetland in the heart of Galway City
Making a Difference - SDG-themed Research at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics of the University of Galway.
I was very proud of my colleagues today at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, University of Galway as they presented their ground breaking research during the 'Data Science Institute Lightning Talks' event held as part of the university's SDG Week 2024. Their work is truly inspirational and benefits both people and the planet as we showed today how Insight research fulfills the majority of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Topics included 'Unlocking Health Data for Smarter Decisions' by heike vornhagen; 'Converting Wastewater into Energy' by Saeed Alsamhi; 'Decarbonisation and digitalisation of Atlantic Ports' Umair ul Hassan; 'Intelligent Pavement Condition Rating System for Cycle routes and Greenways' by Ihsan Ullah; 'Peatland Policy Portal for Ecosystem Restoration and Carbon Sequestration' by Fergus O'Donoghue ; 'Marine Planner Tool' by Carlos Tighe; and 'Monitoring & Improving Air Quality' by Eoin Jordan.
We were honoured to have present at this very well-attended event Brid Seoige, Head of Content at the University of Galway, Eugene Farrell from the Discipline of Geography at the University of Galway and Irish representative on the European Marine Board (marine science policy) Working Group on ‘Coastal Resilience’, and Michelle O'Dowd, Sustainability Officer at the University of Galway.
The University of Galway is the number one university in Ireland and in the top 50 in the world for Sustainable Development.
Insight is playing its part in helping to secure this key status for Galway and Ireland.
Finally, well done to Brian Wall for his excellent job at MC, Thomas Grigas for the technical support, Claire Browne for the logistics and Nitesh Bharot for taking this fine photo!
Our Son’s Wedding
Along with Cepta's niece Helena, her cousin and confidante Ciara (who started the wedding proceedings by lighting one of many candles) with her family, it was touching too to have her sisters Rena and Áine present as I remember them as graceful bridesmaids at our own wedding all those years ago.
Our First Date!
Forty years ago this week, Cepta and myself got married. It was the happiest day in my life and memories of that wedding day are as fresh as if it was only yesterday.
We got married in Cepta’s home church of Ryehill surrounded by our dear friends and families. Cepta had spent many enjoyable Sundays there as a young girl serving parishioners after mass in her uncle’s grocery and news agency shop nearby. I tried to bring a bit of high tech to the wedding ceremony (I was the inaugural Apple Salesperson of the Year for Ireland only two years before) by designing and producing the Wedding Mass leaflets (I still have one!) on my Apple Macintosh, scanner and printer! Even though it was a hot August day, we enjoyed seeing on route multiple bonfires as we passed through the village of Monivea and the town of Athenry- it was then and possibly still is a lovely traditional greeting for newlyweds in east Galway. As we neared our final destination we passed large numbers of lightly dressed people enjoying the scorching sunshine in Salthill and waving at the passing wedding party before arriving at the Salthill Hotel for the reception.
This location was the obvious place for our wedding.
For it was in the Salthill Hotel that we had our first date (photo) when I, a brown duffle-coated scruffy jean-wearing long-haired megaphone-holding ultra radical Student Union President, asked the beautiful classy always impeccably well-dressed Cepta to be my date for the Science Ball of December 1980. It was a joyous shock to me when she said “Yes”! And what a wonderful night we had in the company of student friends including Paddy Clancy, Damhnait McHugh, Kieran Coen, Deirdre Ní Thuama and Martin Casey(RIP).
It was on a very rocky seashore on a moonlight night two years later opposite the Salthill Hotel when I went down on my knees and asked Cepta to marry me. Luckily for me she said “Yes” once again.
The August date of our wedding was not our first choice. It was originally supposed to be in June. But as mentioned previously, it was mutually decided early on that it had to be rescheduled to late August in case I ended up in jail as one of the co-organisers of the anti-Reagan demonstrations of June 2nd.
My ‘leftism’ also got me into trouble with the celebrant priest. He totally disagreed with my choice from the bible for the reading at the wedding mass, saying it was too radical. When I humbly disagreed with him and said nicely that it was from sacred scripture, he responded with the comment that what could he expect after all from someone who came from my part of the country (Carrickmacross in south Monaghan during the time of the Troubles). But asides from the fact that Michael D Higgins could not attend due to a preorganised trip this was the only glitch on what was a perfect day. With our favourite DJ doing the music, how could it not be! Gerry Sexton was a legend in Galway during the late 1970s and early 1980s and was so much part of student life during that golden college era. In fact his disco was so good, that Cepta and myself did not want to leave the dancefloor and energetically danced until the small hours of next morning. We only left when Gerry and others lifted us off the floor and carried us struggling off to our nuptial bedroom (everyone else was so tired!).
Like all couples, life since has not always been a bed of roses. There were some challenging times but they have far outweighed by the good times of fun and laughter. I am the luckiest man alive as Cepta has been such a force for good and stability, allowing us to enjoy a loving relationship. We have been blessed with two great sons that have done us proud. Next weekend, our oldest boy Shane is getting married to the beautiful Michelle Quinn. It is the greatest anniversary gift that we could ever have hoped for.
US President Ronald Reagan visit in 1984 - A Key Moment in the history of modern Galway
https://connachttribune.ie/no-red-carpet-rolled-out-when-reagan-came-to-town/
Do You Remember the great Volvo Ocean Race festival of 2012?
Lending a Helping ARM to the Forest Park
I was so happy to speak at their celebratory event today which also represented 10 years since they started in Galway city.
Over the last twelve months, their staff on a weekly basis have undertaking a range of meaningful projects in the park including monthly surveying of the water quality (solids, temperature, pH levels etc) at different sites along the Terryland River, planting trees, litter picking, bio-blitzing and cleaning heritage signage. we thank them so much for their wondering meaningful volunteering - ARM is making a valuable contribution to the natural environment of Galway city.
Creating a Temperate Rainforest in the Heart of the City
May I use the opportunity of #WorldEnvironmentDay
to thank the thousands upon thousands of volunteers of all ages who
have since March 2000 planted multiple tens of thousands of native trees
and flowers in Terryland Forest Park. All of these wonderful people
have helped create a Temperate Rainforest in the heart of an Irish city
and have left a unique legacy for future generations to benefit from.
Their battle to tackle the Climate and Biodiversity Crises has been going on for a quarter of a century!
Foraging: Discovering the Culinary & Medicinal Plants og Terryland Forest Park
A 113 year history of School Cycling in Galway along a combined Greenway and Blueway!
In spite of the heavy rainfall I really enjoyed it and from the feedback I got thankfully so did the students and teachers.
I gave the participants details on the fascinating history of the area with rock and flora features dating back millions of years before the arrival of the Dinosaurs; its archeological finds from the Iron Age; its buildings from the Norman, Jacobean, Cromwellian, Williamite and Victorian periods; its abandoned pre-Famine village and roads; its wonderful 19th century engineering works; its stories of Anglo Irish gentry shenanigans, native Irish resistance, and clerical power; its living farming traditions, Gaelic culture and Burrenesque landscapes; and on the environmental importance of Terryland Forest Park with the potential of the locality becoming the green and blue hub of international importance.
But the school has a proud tradition of cycling excursions to this locality going back 113 years.
Photo on the left was taken of the Jes students, teachers and myself on Monday with Menlo Castle in the background.
Photo on the right was taken in 1911 of Jes students on a school cycle excursion with the Menlo Castle once again in the background! It was originally a faded black and white image. Inspired by my renowned University of Galway colleague and friend John Breslin, I am presently colourising this and many other photos for my Irish BEO work project at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics. Once I started to colourise it, I noticed that there were four boys at the back holding oars and standing in boats. So I feel that this group of Jes students cycled up to Dangan (on the site of the former Galway city to Clifden railway line and the future Connemara Greenwway) before rowing across the River Corrib in boats to the grounds of Menlo Castle to continue their bike journey back to the Jes College on Sea Road in Galway city!
So these students were laying the groundwork for a combined Greenway and a Blueway over 100 years ago!!
If you want to experience the delights of this locality and beyond, why not join my 7 Galway Castles Heritage Cycle Tour taking place this Sunday. Register at Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sli-na-gcaislean-aka-the-seven-galway-castles-heritage-cycle-trail-tickets-880079550627?aff=oddtdtcreator
From Romance & Sisterhood to War & Rebellion– An somewhat History of the Bike
On Tuesday May 14th, I will give what I hope is an interesting and somewhat eclectic overview of the history of a mode of transport invented in the latter half of the 19th century.
A Pheasant in Hare's Corner: A Good Omen for our Nature Restoration Plans!
Hard work pays off! The Before & After Look
The Bogs of Ireland, Past & Future exhibition
American Universities are becoming once again the conscience of their nation
Super Mario takes part in a St. Patrick's Day Parade in Connemara!
Remembering Mom & Dad on Mother’s Day.
When my dad Paddy Smith and my mom Bridget Agnew got engaged, they had this photo taken as a memento to a very special time in their lives. Dad was 21 years old, Mom was 19 years old,
Mom was born in Monaghan, my Dad in Offaly. They both met in Dublin at a dance club on Parnell Square not far from Drumcondra where my mom’s family had a grocery shop beside Croke Park. My dad was a bus conductor with Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ).
Throughout their lives, they like so many of their era strived to be good people with good values, taught their children to respect others, to love God, to practice a strong Christian (though not servile) faith and to work hard in order to earn an honest wage but to always realise that money was not everything and there were more important things in life.
Dad exemplified these values. Likewise with Mom who was for much of her early adult life one of a rare breed, a business woman in an overwhelmingly male-dominated retail sector.
But the Ireland they were born into and grew up in was a different country than today. It was poor, patriarchal, socially repressive in many ways, its economy rural centric characterised by small subsistence family farming with our biggest export being our young people. Both my parents endured difficult teenage years and came from families that suffered for awhile as a consequence of years of revolutionary struggle and being on the losing side at the end of the Irish Civil War.
But it was not all doom and gloom in this Irish society. For it possessed a strong local community ethos; crime was almost non-existent; most products could be recycled, repaired and reused; raw materials were sourced locally; children immersed themselves in Nature almost daily; and young people regularly went to sports matches, played music, danced, fell in love and got married; and many families took annual holidays or enjoyed weekend excursions to seaside resorts.
I consider myself so fortunate as a child to have had wonderful family summer holidays enjoying the amusements, beaches and candy floss of the seaside tourist towns of Bundoran, Bangor and Tramore; experiencing exciting working holidays with the 'country' cousins in Carrickmacross and Cloghan amongst the pastures, hayfields and bogs; picnics in the countryside; helping on my dad's garden allotment and working daily behind the counter in the family shop. My parents always allowed me to earn my own pocket money and to spend it on DC, Marvel and Thunderbirds/Stingray comics (I was always a big science fiction fan!), Action Men and Airfix aeroplane models.
Whilst physical (corporeal) punishment was all too commonly practiced by adults against children in families and in schools in those days, I cannot ever remember being slapped or beaten by Mom or Dad for misbehaving even though I was a strong-willed often argumentative child not afraid to express opinions that were contrary to those of my parents.
On Mother’s Day, I pay homage to my mom for being a feisty inspirational woman who overcame the most severe difficulties as a young teenage girl to successfully run a small business and raise a family; to my maternal grandmother Mary Ward who as the only daughter in her family spent much of early adult years feeding, clothing and supporting her 7 brothers many of whom were often ‘on the run’ as IRA volunteers during the War of Independence and the Civil War; and to my maternal great-grandmother Eliza Eccles who spent over 2 years in Armagh Prison for resisting Anglo-Irish landlord oppression during the Land Wars.
I am proud that these women in my family’s lineage kept alive the feminist ideals of a Celtic Pagan and early Christian Ireland where women often held prominent leadership roles exemplified by the fact that our country is the only country in the world (the island of St. Lucia does not count as it was named by invaders not the indigenous peoples!) called after a female.
Beir bua!
A beautiful 19th century Drystone Wall restored
Research is presently going on to find out its origins. But it is felt that it was constructed as early as the late 19th century if not before.
The Tuatha volunteers are presently actively working
with the parks department of Galway City Council in developing and implementing
what they feel is an exciting innovative programme of initiatives that will
bring a whole new array of features to Terryland Forest Park over the next year
which will enhance its importance as an example of the temperate rainforests
that once covered Ireland before the colonial period, as a native wildlife
sanctuary, an outdoor classroom, a repository of rural heritage, a major force
within the city in tackling the Climate Crisis, and in the provision of artistic
walking trails and cycling routes.
Next year we want to be fully prepared in helping the people of Galway celebrate the twenty fifth anniversary of a park that was born out of a wonderfully proactive collaboration between Galway Corporation (now Galway City Council) and the wider community. When it came into existence it was Ireland’s largest urban native woodland and was officially known as the ‘Lungs of the City’. Its founders drawn from the local government, community, state, educational, scientific and artistic sectors were in reality visionary pioneering advocates in developing within an urban environment a response to what they recognised as a looming climate and biodiversity crises. It is only now in the last few years that the public are realising the huge significance of what was happening in Galway city in the year 2000.