A bucket list road trip

All the way from Tuam to Oberammergau and back with plenty of memorable pitstops

MORE than a century ago, in 1910, a Tuam man made the long trip to the southern German village of Oberammergau to attend the world-famous Passion Play.

Frank Guy, a teacher at St Jarlath’s College, was fascinated by the story of the play. It began in 1633 when plague ravaged Europe. The people of the village vowed that if God spared them from any further deaths, they would perform a passion play every ten years until the end of time.

A century after Frank Guy’s journey we went from Tuam’s twin town, Straubing, to see the 2010 version of the play.

It was an amazing experience, and straight away we pledged to go back in 2020.

The best laid plans, and all that … Covid put paid to the 2020 performance, and with typical German foresight the organisers postponed the production to 2022.

Cue plans for a road trip across western Europe to catch one of the last performances of the season, which runs from Easter to the end of September.

Read how it went in this week's edition of The Tuam Herald, on sale in shops or buy or digital edition here

Read Part Two next week...