A unique publication in the west is approaching its 200th edition. It is a monthly with a news edge and has had many distinguished contributors.
Seamus Heaney, Christy Moore, Siobhan McKenna, John McGahern, Brian Keenan and Father Niall O'Brien are just some of the by-lines on its features "page".
The readership is select, at about 250. When it started the circulation was a modest 24.
The "newsroom" is also unusual. One evening a month An Teanglann, the NUI Galway language laboratory, is a hive of activity, as contributors gather to present their copy. They will have been contacted the previous Friday by book-man Des Kenny's secretary.
He doesn't take no for an answer, as this reporter can testify, and there are about a dozen voices in every issue.
The Galway Echo is a collaboration between the Galway Lions Club and the university. It is a newspaper for the visually impaired. Initiated in 1982 during the Year of the Disabled, it recorded its 194th issue on tape a few days ago.
As is the routine every month, the master copy was transferred on to cassette, for free distribution to the readers by An Post.
"Without the co-operation of Sean Mac Iomhair, director of An Teanglann and audio-visual services at NUI Galway it just wouldn't be possible," Mr Kenny says, making little of his own voluntary effort. "He makes it so easy for us. We come in, record, and then he and his team do the rest." The funding comes from the Lions Club, of which Mr Kenny is an active member.
The Galway Echo has had some scoops in its time. It predicted a general election, called by former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, when a TD was shafted. Seamus Heaney read a poem to his mother on air before it appeared in print. The late Colm O hEocha spoke of his experiences as chair of the former New Ireland Forum. "And then there were all the people who swear that they remember James Joyce in Galway!" quips Mr Kenny, with barely a wink.
Later this week, a tribute to a champion for the visually impaired in the region will take place in the Salthill Hotel, Galway. Paul Higgins, designer, builder, businessman and musician, died suddenly last November, leaving his wife, Anne, and many, many friends in shock. Some of these friends have organised a tribute to him which is intended to reflect his work as tireless supporter and fund-raiser for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind association.
Although visually impaired himself, he was living proof of the quality of life and independence that can be achieved with the assistance of a trained guide dog.
Sean Tyrrell, Michael Vignoles and Willie Hornibrook, Blues Connection, All That Jazz and Discovery are some of the artists booked to appear in the Salthill Hotel next Friday at 9 p.m. Tickets are £5 from the Information Desk in Galway's Eyre Square Centre, Kennys' Bookshop, Zhivago Records and Castle Print.
They can also be bought by emailing monica@kennys.ie. A tribute page to Mr Higgins has been set upon the World Wide Web, and personal memories can be added at: http://ireland.iol.ie/paulhiggins.
It includes some of the last words he typed on his own computer before his death: "Life is for living, and I plan on living every hour of it to the full because you only get one shot".