New book recalls county town life 50 years ago

A NATIVE of Castlebar has recently published a book detailing many classic pieces from the county town.

Auld Stock Tales is a collection of articles, stories and musings by Liam Egan. Most of the material appeared in editions of the Castlebar Parish Magazines from 1971 to 2020.

The book evokes the Castlebar and Ireland of the mid-twentieth century and should appeal to all natives of the town both home and abroad. Liam hopes that the book will bring to mind times past and life in Castlebar from the 1950s on.

In its pages you will meet people like Pop Deane and Louis Brennan; you will relive the schoolboy dream of your school burning down and summer days "Up the Lake", you can join Liam and the teenage gang at the Hop or in the Wimpy.

And you can discover if you are True Ould Stock!

The book focuses firmly on a strong sense of place and Liam's passionate love of his home town. The book is primarily aimed at those with Castlebar roots or connection but it is also describes an Ireland that is gone and a time that was familiar to those in most provincial towns of the period.

The book can be purchased in Castlebar at Castle Books and Eason; in Westport at McLoughlin's Bookshop and The Bookshop; and online from amazon.co.uk, choicepublishing.ie and MayoBooks.ie.