Thanks to Gordon Parker, a remarkable snapshot of forgotten life in a village in rural County Sligo has re-surfaced and returned home after over 50 years. Gordon’s family, based in London, recorded the image below in Aclare village way back in August 1961 when touring Ireland on a summer holiday. The rare, high quality colour picture was captured by using the now defunct Kodachrome camera film with the resultant photograph then developed and mounted as a slide, for viewing through a projector. The age of the digital camera has made all that processing a thing of the past … like an ass-cart.
The village is full of asses …. in 1961
The date of Gordon’s photo is significant, i.e. August. The village of Aclare was full of animals and other eccentric characters because the Parkers passed through on the Summer Fair Day. The (sometimes infamous) history of this once well-known and important livestock trading fair has been discussed in previous posts. Refer to Aclare Fair Day and Old Fair Day (Revived).
The asses have all gone; never to return
Where's Merrill? 
Hi, I have enjoyed your blog. I can’t recall exactly how I came across it. Only I noticed the Neary name. Although not connected, my mother was a Neary but from Tooreen, Ballyhaunis, Mayo.
I am reminded looking at this Aclare Fairday photograph of happy holidays in the west.