Aoife Doherty delves into the archives to bring you the news and images from yesteryear.

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Saturday, August 30, 1975

40,000 expected for All-Ireland Fleadh at Buncrana

OVER 40,000 people will make their way to Buncrana this weekend to take part in the All-Ireland Fleadh Ceoil. This is Donegal’s second big festival in succeeding weekends, and it is anticipated that places as far away as Letterkenny could be used as accommodation for many visitors.

The festival organisers were dealt a severe blow when the Lough Swilly Hotel was burned down recently. The problems of finding accommodation and feeding the anticipated 40,000 is already causing major headaches. The town of Buncrana now only has one hotel in operation. The Swilly was to be used as the base for the VIPS, the adjudicators, the special guests – many of them from the USA, as well as other visitors. Finding alternative accommodation at this late stage has proved extremely difficult; it is believed that there isn’t a spare room in the whole Inishowen Peninsula. Places such as Carndonagh, Moville and Malin are all booked out.

The only possible solution for those searching for accommodations is to move south a little. The Fleadh Committee and Buncrana Urban Council are providing serviced sites for campers and a caravan site is also being provided.

The feeding of 40,000 hungry people is also no small matter of importance. The town caterers have been busy stocking up during the week and it is thought that outside caterers will also make an appearance.

New heights of success for Letterkenny’s superb International Folk Festival

SUPERB! Magnificent! Fantastic! Superlatives were the order of the day in describing the seventh Letterkenny International Folk Festival last weekend.

Nothing less would suffice for those who experienced the amazing variety and high standard of performance; groups of folk dancers, musicians and singers assembled in this North West provincial town from Russia, Brittany, France, Italy, Norway, Belgium, Malta, Latvia, Spain, Holland, England, and from various parts of Ireland.

For five hectic days and nights Letterkenny was in a highly festive mood. The streets were garlanded with the colour of the bunting and flags, and the traditional costumes of the dancers from the various countries.

It was a festival crowded with events through day and night. And this year the standards zoomed to new heights in almost every sector.

There were parades, folk dancing, singing, and band recitals at the Market Square; choral recitals, indoor exhibitions of folk dancing, the big group folk singing competition, carnival, band, industrial and agricultural parades through the streets, numerous novelty events, fancy dress, pet show, flower show, children’s art and a host of other events to crowd the happenings of the festive days.

Lough Swilly hotel extensively damaged fire

ONE of Donegal’s oldest and best known hotels, the Lough Swilly in Buncrana was badly damaged by fire in the early hours of Friday morning last. About one third of the floor space was completely ruined.

The hotel manager said that the fire was thought to have occurred shortly after 11pm.

It is also thought that the fire started from a cupboard underneath a stairway on the first floor. This is where the fuse box and electrical connections were stored.

Forensic experts from Letterkenny examined the building for a number of days and it is believed that they hold no suspicions of arson. It is unlikely that an electrical fault was the cause of the blaze.

Many of the hotel staff fought the blaze with the small fire protection containers and other handy utensils. However, a ventilation shaft under the floorboard aggravated the fire and they were forced to yield to the intense heat.

Most of the hotel’s reception area was destroyed. Included in this was the lounge, dance hall and about ten bedrooms. Fire fighting units from Derry, Carndonagh, Moville and Letterkenny took part in the battle against the raging inferno. As most of the first floor was ablaze they concentrated on saving the main portion of the building.

Luckily there were no casualties, as most of the holiday visitors were out at the time.

However, the firemen checked the rooms, even those which were alight, on the look out for any heavy sleeper who might have been unaware of the danger. Most of those who were left without accommodation were transferred to the nearby White Strand Motor Inn, where they spent the rest of the night.

September 1, 2000

St Eunan’s ladies win fifth championship title

ST EUNAN’S ladies captured their fifth senior championship title in-a-row in Killygordon on Sunday after defeating a young Four Masters side who put up a brave fight throughout.

The Cathedral town ladies now play Monaghan Harps in the Ulster Club championship which has been provisionally fixed for Sunday, September 17.

Despite winning by eight points in the end St Eunan’s hadn’t an easy time of it with only three points separating the sides with 15 minutes to go.

Maureen O’Donnell who came on as a substitute at half time had a big bearing on the final result. She had 1-1 on the scoreboard within two minutes of her introduction and her second goal with ten minutes left killed the game as a contest.

Ann Doherty opened the scoring for St Eunan’s with a point from play. Four Masters were then awarded a penalty after one of their players was pulled down in the square and Denise Cassidy made no mistake from the spot kick to give the Donegal Town girls a two points advantage.

The Letterkenny girls stamped their authority on the game early in the second half with Maureen O’Donnell getting a goal and two points. Suzie Tinney and Liz Gordon added points to give St Eunan’s a nine points lead.

Four Masters produced some fine football midway through the half and scored two goals. The first came from Nicola Lacey while Michelle Heaney produced a fine finish for the second to leave just three points between the teams.

A goal from Maureen O’Donnell and two points from Ann Doherty sealed the St Eunan’s win. Nevertheless it was a spirited performance from the Four Masters girls.

Gael Scoil Adhamhnain takes proud place amongst schools of Letterkenny

A BRAND new school is awaiting the teachers and pupils of Gael Scoil Adhamhnáin when they begin term next week.

Principal, Maire NicGairbhe was looking forward to leaving behind their former fragmented campus and portacabins at Ard O’Donnell to occupy the nine purpose built classrooms at Glencar.

The school has enjoyed significant growth from when it first opened in September 1991 with 56 pupils.

The school roll this September will have 250 pupils, a reflection of the growing demand among parents in the Letterkenny area for an all-Irish education for their children.

Until the new Glencar building opened, the pupils and teachers used make-shift classrooms in portacabins at the VEC car park, a room in the VEC building and other rooms in the Pastoral Centre and Trinity Hall. From Monday the ten full time teachers and shared remedial teacher will all be located in the same building.

“We are all very excited about our new school and the teachers have been working this week to complete the move,” Ms NicGairbhe added.

Letterkenny shook during worst electrical storm of 15 years

HOUSEHOLDERS in the Letterkenny area awoke in the early hours of Saturday morning wondering if an earthquake was striking the town as houses shook under the worst electrical storm in the area for 15 years.

Terrified children ran to their parents’ rooms as the storm arrived overhead and at its worst the rattles of thunder were deafening.

Sheet and fork lightning illuminated the town in the hour just before dawn.

More than 40 ESB workers went into action as thousands of homes lost power supplies due to the severe lightning striking electricity carriers. Power was restored to most houses within hours but some households in the Letterkenny area had to wait until Saturday afternoon for services to be operational again.

Telephone poles in the more remote areas of Fanad and Fintown were damaged leaving powerless householders without a means to contact the ESB who later discovered a number of transformers in the Fanad area had been blown.

A spokesperson for the ESB said they had expected electrical storms as a result of the forecast, but not of the severity that arrived. “We have not seen such severe electrical storms in this area for the last ten to 15 years. Our staff were out from 5am on Saturday morning and worked right through until the next morning,” the spokesperson said.