I t’s the summer of 1987. The Pet Shop Boys are at the top of the singles’ charts, Timothy Dalton is James Bond and Olly North is on the telly, explaining how he masterminded the sale of weapons to Iran via Nicaragua.
Meanwhile, in Tuam, Co Galway, a woman cycles across Market Square. Clad in summer dress and sandals, she is travelling light – although she has pulled on a waterproof jacket, just in case. She carries no shopping bags, not even a handbag; just her purse, bumping along in the bicycle basket. There’s an innocence, an artlessness almost, about the image. Yet it’s one of those newspaper photos where context is all.
Why was an Irish Times staff photographer despatched to Tuam on this particular day? Because the Irish Sugar Factory off the Ballygaddy Road, which had closed down towards the end of the previous year, was being demolished. "A company town which has lost its company" was the headline on the accompanying article, which chronicled the factory's history, its eventual failure, and the impact of its closure on unemployment levels in the area.
Viewed through this lens the photograph acquires gravity and poignancy. At its centre is the High Cross, the arms of the crucified Christ spread wide in agony. The shuttered shops at both street corners, Fahy and Company on the left and Square Deal on the right, have a desolate look, while the woman’s expression – on a sliding scale between scepticism and determination – can be read as emblematic of Tuam’s troubled situation. Her purse, too, suddenly takes on more significance.
Or maybe not. Maybe she was just out in search of an early-morning pint of milk.
It wasn't all doom and gloom in Tuam in the summer of 1987, either. The town's punk and reggae scenes might have been, like Irish Sugar, way beyond their sell-by dates – but they had already given birth to a band that would shortly storm up the singles' charts, bringing smiles to many faces in Ireland and beyond. "I'm surrounded by the old, stories left untold," sang the Saw Doctors in Friday Town. "Some things change, some things will remain." Quite.
These and other Irish Times images can be purchased from: irishtimes.com/photosales
