Footage of Mrs De Valera Opening 1921 Delgany Fete, Anyone?

Our house…

he great thing about the internet is that it can fill in the gaps you didn’t even know you had when it comes to local history…

Garden of Ireland Bazaar Delgany 1921

Like an endless Aladdin’s Cave, you never know what you might find down the back of the web’s sofa.

Especially when lovely people like Pathé News open up their archives from 100 years ago, for free.

Having already discovered 1920s Gala Swims in Greystones and Golf Meetings and Dog Shows in Delgany, plus Harry Bradshaw’s 1949 homecoming – find ’em here, kids – today, we managed to find one Sinéad Flanagan – aka Mrs De Valera – as she opened the Garden Of Ireland Fete in Delgany back in 1921.

Her hubby, Eamon, was otherwise engaged. Not sure what with. Probably that whole revolution thing.

The couple, of course, lived on Kinlen Road in Greystones for some time.

De Valera at St Killian’s Hall 1914

It would have been wonderful, of course, if the Pathé cameraman followed our lead, and just wandered off-menu a little, to capture the village itself, and the chancers therein, but, it’s still great to have these ghosts in the machine surface so many years later.

And, bejiggers, being a milliner would have made you a millionaire in those days. There isn’t one fecker here without a hat. Class.

Indulge in some more local Pathé magic here.