Send flowers to Oranmore on Galway Bay

Oranmore is a town on an inlet of Galway Bay in County Galway, 9 km east of Galway city. At the 2022 census it had 5,819 residents, and it has grown as a commuter town with a railway station that reopened in 2013. The Irish name, Órán Mór or Uarán Mór, is usually explained as the great spring, after a spring or well near the village. Flowers sent to Oranmore are made up by a florist and delivered by hand, and the short distance from Galway means the journey is brief even if the weather off the bay is not.

Landmarks that help a delivery

Oranmore Castle, a tower house built around the fifteenth century and linked to the Norman Clanricarde family, stands by the water and is the first landmark most people name. In the middle of town the former St Mary's church, completed in 1803, was converted into the public library when the Church of the Immaculate Conception replaced it as the parish church in 1972, so a thank-you gift for the library staff or a book club has an obvious address. Calasanctius College, founded by the Presentation Sisters in 1861, is the secondary school, and the town has two primary schools. When you give directions, a landmark plus an Eircode does more than an estate name on its own.

Sport, clubs and celebrations

Oranmore-Maree GAA won the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Hurling Championship in 2019, and the club fields hurling, football and camogie teams. Galway Bay Golf Resort at Renville has been named the best golf resort in Connacht ten times, and Galway Bay Sailing Club is based in the town. A bouquet in club colours for a team manager, a posy for the volunteer who runs the Sunday morning junior Park Run, or flowers to mark a retirement from the club committee are all natural gifts. Oranmore is also the setting of the folk song The Galway Shawl, which makes a good card message for a song-loving relative.

Mothering Sunday, birthdays and new babies

Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent and many families in the Galway area travel for lunch, so choose a delivery date earlier in the week if the recipient will be away at the weekend. St Brigid's Day on 1 February, a public holiday on the first Monday in February, suits a small spring bunch. For new babies, soft colours and a short note with the baby's name make the best impression. For milestone birthdays, ask the florist to use seasonal stems rather than specifying each flower.

Funerals and sympathy

When a death occurs in the Oranmore area, the notice normally appears on rip.ie, and a wake or removal is held within two or three days. The medieval church ruins and graveyard in the town, believed to date to the thirteenth century, are an old burial place, but most funerals are held in the parish church, followed by burial in a graveyard chosen by the family. If a notice says family flowers only, send a card, a Mass card or a donation to the stated charity. If flowers are welcome, ask the funeral director where to send them and keep the arrangement compact enough to be carried.

Hospitals and patients

People from Oranmore usually go to Galway city for hospital care, and each hospital sets its own rules about flowers. Always ring the ward before ordering, give the patient's full name and ward, and ask whether flowers, balloons or plants are allowed, since many wards and units, including intensive care, do not accept them. At St James's Hospital in Dublin, for instance, flowers and plants are not permitted on infection control grounds. If you cannot send flowers to the ward, send them to the patient's home in Oranmore after discharge.

Getting the details right

Include the full name of the recipient, the house name or number, the Eircode and a mobile number. A short line such as the house is the third on the left beside the green helps a driver unfamiliar with the area. Choose the delivery date carefully and leave a line on the card with your name. Keep flowers in cool water, away from heaters and fruit bowls, and recut the stems every couple of days.

Did you know? Oranmore railway station opened in 1851, closed in 1963 and was replaced by a new station 1.4 km to the west, which opened on 28 July 2013.