The Galway Hooker Sailing Club an the Village Salthill are joining forces to revive An Tóstal – Currach Racing in Salthill on Saturday and Sunday 6th and 7th May 2023.
Currach racing is an age old traditional around our coasts and is particularly popular in Connemara – Here is a poignant image of racing in 1953 at Blackrock.
It will be the 70th Anniversary of An Tóstal or ‘The Gathering’. 60 Years on Fáilte Ireland launched “The Gathering Ireland 2013, referred to as The Gathering was a tourism-led initiative in Ireland.
It aimed to mobilise the Irish diaspora to return to Ireland during 2013 to be part of specially organised local gatherings and events during that year.
Now ten years on again we welcome the Currach’s back to Salthill.
The festival is the brainchild of the Galway Hooker Sailing Club and is supported by the Galway City Council.
The government even issued postage stamps at the time
Here are some wonderful audio visual pieces which aptly position ‘what it’s all about’
Tom Kenny and Ronnie O’Gorman bring their own inimitable style
The following two videos give some insight into life in a remote enclave in Connemara