Arts Festival opening next Thursday
Next Thursday will see the official opening of Boyle Arts Festival and let’s hope the fine weather continues for the evening and the duration of the event. The festival committee have been working really hard behind the scenes for months now to bring a diverse range of events, exhibitions, performances and shows to our town. The festival also attracts many ‘locals’ who make Arts Week a time to come back to Boyle to renew old acquaintances while enjoying all the various events. It’s a great time to be around Boyle.
The organisers are asking members of the public and the people of Boyle to line the streets of the town on Thursday next for the opening parade at 7pm. They are inviting everyone to wear blues and greens to mimic the river and become part of the spectacle. They would love people to join in singing too. “Let’s fill the town with colour, song, and celebration!” the organisers added.
The parade will be followed by the official opening of BAF 25 by Brian Dobson in the grounds of King House.
The Arts Festival office is now open in a new location and in a building with tremendous potential – The Courthouse on The Crescent. Opening Hours: 10th – 12th July: 2pm – 5pm, 14th – 26th July: 10am – 5pm
You can check out the full programme of events for what promises to be a great festival here.
More rail delays causes concern
Passengers on last Sunday evening’s train to Sligo were quite understandably irate as the service that was scheduled to leave Dublin at 19.32 did not arrive into Boyle until after 12 midnight. With no online staff working on Sunday, there was no update on “X” which is the now the normal mode of communication for the company. There were also other problems over the weekend with reduced capacity on the line and and an event outside the companies control when a passenger took ill and the train had to be held in Mullingar for an ambulance to arrive. The problems were not just confined to the weekend. On Tuesday morning the 05.40 service stopped outside Boyle due to ‘technical issue’. It got going after a while and stopped again in Dromod, finally arriving in Dublin 40 minutes late. But back to Sunday night, and with no catering facility on the train there was not even an opportunity to purchase a bottle of water for the passengers who were travelling for over five hours, some with small children and others advanced in years. Every effort needs to be made to have catering resume on the Dublin – Sligo line, especially in light of all the delays that are happening at present.
Do we have a housing crisis in Boyle?
The above question has been asked by many in Boyle in recent months. Currently there is very little house building in progress in the town and only a small number of houses for rent. Like the lack of overnight tourist accommodation, the lack of houses to purchase is holding the town back and also proving a deterrent to employers who are seeking to attract people to work in their businesses locally. What Boyle needs is a nice development of two and three bedroomed apartments near the town centre along with the refurbishment of the vacant buildings on the second and third floors of the many retail premises in the town. Hopefully the vacant property refurbishment grant (details here) will incentivise owners of vacant properties in the town centre to do something with them, or sell them and in the process, provide much needed rental accommodation for visitors and those who wish to live in our town. How you incentivise developers to build the aforementioned apartments is another story.
A great weekend in King House
There was most certainly something for everyone in the King House 30 year celebrations last weekend. From talks and lectures to theatre, drama and performances, it was an enjoyable weekend to celebrate a great local asset. On Saturday, a number of former County Mangers, retired engineers and people who were associated with the saving of the building enjoyed an afternoon of reminiscing and conversation. Former President of Ireland Mrs Mary McAleese and her husband Martin were also in attendance and Mrs McAleese spoke glowingly of her association with the house saying she had memories of buying coal in the yard of the building with her late father many years ago. Mrs McAleese also acknowledged and spoke highly of recently retired tour guide Mary Lavin who earlier had given a most detailed insight to the invited guests on the history of the house and the King family. Members of St. Joseph’s Church Choir joined with the Contempo String Quartet to give a brilliant performance, on an evening that would have made you proud to be from Boyle.
Viewers views on Boyle’s blockages
Following last week’s piece on the blockages that are hindering Boyle from developing, a viewer was in contact with their opinion. They mentioned some derelict buildings in the town centre that thankfully are in the process of being sold so that part of their mail is omitted. The viewer continued: “I recently read your latest edition of the Boyle’d Pot and I would like to share my thoughts on how we might boost footfall in our town. While turning the back lane into a coffee shop is a wonderful idea, I strongly feel there is a more pressing issue we need to address first – the empty buildings scattered around town. If we look at what Louth County Council is doing in Dundalk & Drogheda, (they are buying up vacant properties in the town and refurbishing them for rental), we might learn a valuable lesson. Their success is largely due to the council’s proactive approach in dealing with property owners of vacant buildings. Our council could adopt a proactive approach similar to Louth County Council, where they actively purchase and refurbish vacant properties. This will not only provide rental income but also attract more businesses and residents. Perhaps our council could follow suit and adopt a similar strategy”.
“Also, there seems to be a few people looking for shops to work out of, but they can not find anywhere despite there being so many vacant properties. Finally, by encouraging more people to live in the town, especially above shops, I believe the rest will naturally fall into place”.
News snippets from around Boyle
Progressive local sports club Boyle Celtic are set to announce some exciting news on their latest new development – “The Celtic Community Hub” – this Sunday evening at an event in King House. This hub will be a further enhancement of the current brilliant facilities in Celtic Park and a great addition to the community when constructed. It is understood the Hub will incorporate a community event space along with new modern dressing rooms, referees room and toilets…………Great to see work commencing on The Lawn upgrade this week. Paving work has commenced from Boyle bridge into The Lawn and landscaping will follow. The cutting back of tress etc will have to wait until the nesting season is over in September. Some similar work took place pre April for the same reason………..Boyle Celtic Reserve first open training session takes place this evening Friday July 11th. WhatsApp Patrick on 0833151615 for more information………There has been a great response to the new mural by street artist CANVAZ that is being painted on the walkway wall from King House to the Boyle River. Commissioned by Boyle Arts Festival to mural will “celebrate the creativity, culture, and community spirit of Boyle”…………Following on from the piece on not enough restaurants in Boyle, the question has been asked: “If Boyle had the restaurants people are looking for, would the local people support them enough, especially in autumn and winter, to make them viable?”……….An indication of when the major upgrade of Lough Key Forest Park might commence was given by Night and Day Festival earlier this week when they announced their 2026 dates. In a post on social media the organisers said “Next year’s event will take place on 29-31 May (June bank holiday weekend) due to redevelopment works at the park which are scheduled to commence afterwards”………..Boyle town clean up will take place on Monday 14th July meeting at the Post Office carpark at 7pm to tackle some more areas in advance of the Arts Festival…….It has emerged that Sligo Hospital received €410,000 in car parking fees last year………Entries are now open for next Friday evenings Boyle AC 5k road race. You can enter here with more details available on the club’s Facebook page and on Boyletoday.com next week……
And finally…..!
A young man named Tom bought a horse from a farmer for €250.
The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day.
The farmer drove up to Tom’s house and said: “Sorry son, but I have some bad news – the horse died”.
Tom replied: “Well then, just give me my money back”
The farmer said: “Can’t do that… I spent it already”
Tom said: “Ok then, just bring me the dead horse”
The farmer asked: “And what are you going to do with him”
Tom said: “I am going to raffle him off”
“You can’t raffle off a dead horse” said the farmer
“Of course I can, just watch me” said Tom “I just won’t tell anyone he’s dead”
A month later the farmer met Tom and asked: “What ever happened to that dead horse”
Tom said: “I raffled him off like I told you I would. I sold 500 tickets at €5 each and made a profit of €2245
The farmer asked: “And did anyone complain?”
Tom replied: “No – just the guy who won, so I gave him his €5 back!”
