There is sadness across Ballina and North Mayo as the death has occurred of Eugene Maguire, Castle Road, Ballina.
Eugene Maguire RIP.
Mr Maguire passed away peacefully yesterday after a short illness at Mayo University Hospital.
He was one of the founding members of the Ballina Credit Union, which first opened in 1968.
The first official meeting of Ballina Credit Union was held in the Town Hall on January 19 and attended by approximately 50 people. By September 30 of that year the total assets of the credit union amounted to IR68 (just less than 100).
Business was initially conducted from a sweet shop in the Savoy cinema (where Shaws Department Store is now located) and from there a premise was acquired in Barrett Street. The credit union continued to grow and necessitated a move to Bridge Street. As the popularity of the credit union increased, and with membership at 6,500, total assets of some IR5m (6.35m) and a staff of four, the move was made to the purpose-built premises on O’Rahilly Street that is now home.
Before that Eugene was also known to many for building the Pontoon Ballroom in 1962, with his business partner Brendan Kelly.
James Reddiough wrote about the Pontoon Ballroom in his Western People column last year, read an extract below:
“The ballroom cost £20,000 to build and there was 9,000 feet of a dancing floor and enough parking space for 450 cars even then this was not enough and cars were parked down the road from the hall too. The pontoon ballroom was located on the road from Ballina to Castlebar and along with the cars people cycled and walked there and also buses were laid on from Ballina and Castlebar for the dancers. There were ads for the opening dance published both in the Western People and the Irish Independent and the hall was acclaimed as the finest dance venue in the west of Ireland for its time. It was a luxury ballroom with a mineral bar, café deluxe and balcony where people could sit and watch the dancers. As was the tradition at the time men would line up on one side of the ballroom and the women would sit or stand on the other side. Then there would be a rush from the men’s side to the ladies to see would one get a dance with the object of their affections – this was the case in ballrooms the length and breadth of the country. The dance started at 8pm and ended at midnight and there were a number of all – night dances held from 9 – 2am under the terms of the licence – there was no alcohol allowed in the ballroom and the men and women who wanted a drink used to go to Mike O’ Hara’s singing lounge for a drink and then head for the dance in Pontoon.
“The hall met with critical acclaim for the scenic beauty of the location and the modern facilities in the ballroom. Many of the leading showbands of the day played there Donie Collins new ultra – modern showband, Johnny Quigley, Clipper Carlton, Jack Ruane, Melody Aces, Emperors and the Royal Blues. There were overseas acts too like Acker Bilk and Houston Wells as well as Victor Sylvester and on the domestic scene Dickie Rock and the Miami in the early years of the ballroom.
“By the mid 1960’s the by – line for the ballroom was for dancing at its best visit Pontoon the ballroom of the West. And also the pride of the west for dancing at its best. All the leading showbands of the country as well as acts from overseas played there. Then changes were afoot in the ballroom management in the late 1960’s. Brendan Kelly sold his share in the ballroom and bought The Continental Hotel in Kiltimagh. Andy Creighton and John McNally bought his share and joined in the commercial venture with Eugene Maguire and they reopened the ballroom in June 1971 to the sounds of Margo and the Country Folk on the 6th June 1971 and dances were held there throughout the 1970’s with some of the bands being Billy Brown, Big Tom, Dermot Hegarty, Mighty Avons, Joe Dolan, Maurice Mulcahy, Tommy Drennan and Top League, and Margo in former years among the bands who played there were earl Gill, Greenbeats, capitol, Ricky Vallance and the Chessmen, Dixies from Cork, Ronnie Drew, Gene and the Gents, Mick Delahunty, Danny Doyle, carousel, The Patterson’s and Don Duggan and the Savoy from Waterford. There was no dancing in the ballroom as extensive decorations were carried out in 1973 – 1974 but dancing resumed in 1975 and the bands rolled into pontoon again there was Paddy Cole and Twink, Bill Ryan and Buckshot, Maurice Mulcahy Orchestra, Margo and the Blue Ridge Boys, B Gloria and Mississippi rock Stuart and the Plattermen Julia Des Lee and Star Band as well as Liquid Gold, Tweed and the Apaches. Then in January 1979 the ballroom changed hands and was sold to Pat Jennings of the Jennings Group in Castlebar, this group or chain already owned The Royal Ballroom in Castlebar and the Starlight ballroom in Westport and dances continued there from 1979 to the final dance in Pontoon in late December 1983 when the Apaches, and the Homesteaders played there for the Christmas season.
“Pontoon was just one of the many ballrooms dotted around Mayo and the country as a whole. Some of these halls were family – owned and run, others were run by community groups and parish committees and others were parts of a chain like the – land ballrooms owned by Jim and Albert Reynolds and the Associated ballrooms owned by mining magnate Con Hynes from Galway. They were the social meeting places of their day and they will not be easily forgotten by those who danced and met their partner in them. The ballroom scene was gradually replaced in the early eighties by the singing lounges, the function rooms of hotels and the night club and there came an of an era. Pontoon very much followed this trend and the ballroom of the sixties was no more as the lines of the TR Dallas song puts it “Big Tom doesn’t plat here anymore. Many of the halls were put up for sale as was Pontoon in 1986 and 1989 but there were no buyers for it and it fell into dereliction and was finally demolished by Mayo County Council in 1994.”
Eugene, predeceased by his parents Owen and Mathilda, brother Peter, sisters Tilly, Moira, Joan and Mildred.
Beloved husband of Amy & loving father of Geoffrey (Galway), Yvonne (Abbeyfeale), Muriel (Dublin). Sadly, missed by his loving wife, son, daughters, sister Pauline Reilly (Dublin), son-in-law Gerry, daughter-in-law Lucy, Yvonne’s partner Steve, grandchildren Daniel, Kate, Ben, Sam, Finn, Ivanko and Lucián, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends.
Reposing at McGowan’s Funeral Home, Ballina on Saturday (tomorrow) evening from 5pm with removal at 6.30pm to St Muredach’s Cathedral, Ballina.
Mass on Sunday at 12.30pm followed by burial in Leigue Cemetery, Ballina.
Eugene’s Funeral Mass will be live streamed on www.ballinaparish.org