Telegraph secures rights to liam lyons photographic collection

THE Connaught Telegraph has been granted approval to use images from the prized Liam Lyons Collection at the Mayo County Library on a weekly pages.

Starting tomorrow (Tuesday), one image from the vast archive will appear weekly in the newspaper’s Auld Stock Column, by Johnny Mee, which features stories from bygone years in Mayo.

To launch the series, we carry an eye-catching portrait of one of Westport’s best known characters of the 1950s and 60s, John ‘Buzzer’ Finnegan, who lived in The Cottages in the town.

He was a great fan of circuses and theatrical productions and collected posters of all the events he attended over the years.

As a bonus, a marvellous photograph of the 1973 Castlebar Four Days Walks Committee is also featured to mark the staging of the festival’s 48th annual event, starting on Thursday. However, going forward, a single image will be published in our weekly issue as well as on our website and Facebook page.

Readers can order copies of any of the photographs from the collection by contacting Liam Lyons at info@liamlyons.com.

The editor of The Connaught Telegraph, Tom Kelly, said the newspaper is delighted to secure access to the collection.

He thanked Liam Lyons, Austin Vaughan, county librarian, and Richard Hickey, a member of the library staff, for their help and assistance.

Said Mr. Kelly: “Liam is widely regarded as one of the outstanding photographers of his generation and his work, as our readers will be reminded over the coming months and years, is exceptional and will revive many memories of past times in Mayo.”

Mr. Lyons said he is delighted The Connaught Telegraph is publishing his collection on a weekly basis as much of his early work was carried out on behalf of the newspaper.