Ballinrobe Magazine

No 3, Christmas 1972 of 'The Bridge' a periodical of Ballinrobe Parish. Printed by Mallee & Co. Knock

Averil Staunton

The Bridge - Ballinrobe Parish Magazine

By Averil Staunton

The Bridge Magazine was created to record contemporary and historical events of a very multi-layered town.   The social fabric of Ballinrobe was diverse and one of the aims of the publication was to record and savour the blending of this diversity.

Aims of the magazine

Another of its major aims was to bridge the gap between emigrants and their home families.

Magazine's title

The Bridge Magazine’s title was not in any way “the Bridge below the Town” but rather a bridge to respect the people of the past, their skills, crafts and their culture too.

Initial inspiration

The original inspiration for the magazine came from Fr. Ned Crosby, with Mrs. Kathleen Ryder happily joining forces with him as, in her own words “his aide de camp”.

Mrs. Ryder, who came to Ballinrobe in 1955 was a teacher of English and Latin and later French at the local St. Joseph’s Convent.

A number of issues were printed in the late 1960s and early 1970 with different coloured covers; blue, red, green and purple.   Some copies of the publication are available at the Local Library.

Source:

Mrs. Kathleen Ryder, kindly supplied this information in an interview in June 2011