It is 50 years ago since a “Men Only” sign was removed from the entrance to Galway’s Blackrock swimming area.
Before this, bathing was officially segregated in Salthill on Galway Bay, at the request of Catholic bishops who believed mixed bathing could be occasions of sin.
From the 1930s, when swimming became popular, women were directed to Ladies beach, while families were accommodated close by.
By the end of the 1960s, however, attitudes had changed and rules were not so rigidly observed.
A 15-minute documentary by Mary Cunningham which is available online for this year’s Culture Night interviews people who swam at Salthill in the 1960s, and remember the influence of the Catholic church on social behaviour.
Jane Hogan and Maude O’Donohoe recall one young woman's rebellion against the rules sometime in the mid 1960s, when she swam up to the male section at Blackrock and left her bikini top on a flagpole.
Year round swimmer P.J. Flaherty recalls the camaraderie that existed among the men who frequented the area, and the resentment of some at the arrival of women.
In 1971, a local councillor requested that Galway Corporation ban so-called “Bikini Girls”' from the “male enclave”, as they disturbed the older men and priests who swam there.
However, by then attitudes had changed and the “Men Only” sign was quietly removed in early September, 50 years ago.
Listen to The Bracing Waters and Moral Dangers of Salthill HERE
