Westport Quay, a bit of God’s heaven

By Auld Stock

THE area around Westport Quay is a bit of God’s heaven.

The work begun by the late Mick Collins around The Pond, close to the harbour, several years ago marked the beginning of many improvements.

Now there is a proposal the area around Westport harbour should be developed as a marina.

Westport is one of the leading holiday resorts in the country and a fully developed marina would put the icing on the cake for the west coast town.

The marina project should proceed with full steam ahead. All the ingredients are there to further enhance Westport as one of the leading tourist attractions in the country.

Soccer games were regularly played at The Point, Westport.

In a game between Castlebar Celtic and Westport Town in the 1960s, a hefty clearance by one of the Celtic defenders ended with the football drifting away with the tide.

However, Celtic’s Mickey ‘The Hero’ Guthrie, a noted swimmer and lifesaver, dived into the sea and retrieved the ball.

The game ended in a 2-2 draw with John Foy and Pat Grady scoring the Westport goals and Danno Rainsford and Patsy ‘Bisto’ Feeney netting for Castlebar.

Mickey Guthrie was father of Fr. Chas. Guthrie, Castlebar, a top boxer in his day, Larry Guthrie, Ballina, and Séamus Guthrie, Dublin. He was grandfather of Gerry Guthrie, Ballina, popular country and western singing star.

As well as being fine soccer players, John Foy and Pat Grady were outstanding cyclists and alongside Mickey Palmer, Ray Kennedy, Noel Bourke, Pádraig and Vincent Conlon brought many honours to Westport.