Castlebar's Bridie Scriney was one of the best dressmakers in the business

by Auld Stock

THE death of Bridie Scriney, Station Road, Castlebar, created genuine sorrow in the community and our sympathy goes out to her family and other relatives.

Bridie was a dressmaker by profession, one of best in the business.

She was a lady with a keen sense of humour who always looked on the bright side of life.

Bridie was as a native of Aughadrina, two miles out from Castlebar on the road to Ballinrobe.

Her father Michael Corley, a hard-working farmer, was a founder member of the Clann na Talmhan Party in Mayo along with Joe Blowick, Belcarra, Bernard Commons, Balla, and Dominick Cafferkey, Kilkelly.

All three men were elected to Dáil Éireann and Joe Blowick became a senior minister in the Inter-Party Government.

Michael Corley played a major role in the election of the three men. He was a very able public speaker and I heard him deliver many stirring speeches from the famous Brady’s Steps on Main Street, Castlebar.

What Michael Corley had to say came from the heart and he never used a script.

During the years of World War 2, Michael’s sons, Johnny and Mickey, saved hundreds of tons of turf on Kilboyne bog which they later sold in their donkey carts to residents of McHale Road and Station Road.

The Corley lads made several trips to Castlebar each day. Ass carts of turf in the late 1940s and early 1950s cost 3 shillings and 6 pence. Money was scarce in those years.

Johnny and Mickey Corley were conscious of this and always treated their poorer customers with compassion and understanding.

*Clann na Talmhan (The Family of the Land) was founded in Athenry, County Galway, in June 1939.