Boyle Christmas Display Awards hope to brighten our town
In their efforts to light up Boyle this Christmas, the volunteers on the Christmas Lights Committee have come up with an additional way of enticing business and home owners to decorate and brighten up their premises for the Christmas season. While the committee can erect the street lights, if the businesses and home owners help by decorating their premises it will make Boyle so much more visually attractive in the run up to the festive season. With this in mind, the inaugural “Boyle Christmas Display Awards” was launched recently with the aim of celebrating the brightest and most festive homes and businesses in our town.
Award Categories include: Best House Display, Best Front Garden Display, Best Retail/Restaurant Display, Best Pub Display and Boyle Christmas Display of the Year (Overall Winner). To enter, simply decorate your home, garden or business for the festive season, judges hope to visit as many as possible or you can email your entry to [email protected]. The winners will be announced on December 20th. Details of the switching on of the Boyle Christmas Lights on Saturday December 6th will be announced shortly. In the meantime, you can donate to the lights GoFundMe here.
Boyle man’s involvement with ‘The Great World Race’
Well known Boyle Gym Owner, Fire Chief and Bodywork Therapist Darren O’Flaherty will have travelled further around the world this week than most people will do in their life time! Darren is physical therapist to the 60 participants currently taking part in the “The Great World Race”, where competitors run 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days!! The team arrived in Cape Town on November 12th before heading to Wolfs Fang, Antarctica for the first marathon on November 15th. Then it was back to Cape Town for the second one on November 16th, Perth, Australia on 17th, Abu Dhabi, Asia on 18th, Algarve, Europe on 19th, Cartegena, South America on 20th and concluding in Miami, North America on November 21st. All travel has been on a private charter jet on what must have been a lifetime experience for Darren and all involved. You can read more about this extraordinary adventure here.
Boyle Group Scheme seeks your support
Boyle Group Scheme are holding a fundraising collection after all Masses on this weekend of Novemer. The scheme has operated in Boyle since the 1980’s and supports various improvement works in and around the town. Projects during the past year include building of walls in Greatmeadow and Drum and supporting Boyle Tidy Towns with planting and flower beds. The scheme also helps Boyle GAA, Boyle Celtic and Plunkett Avenue Famine and Memorial Ground with ongoing maintenance. It provides support to Boyle Citizens Information, caretaking at St. Joseph’s Resource Centre and in past years assisted the FCA with the archiving of historical records at King House. The scheme thanks all it’s workers, sponsors and suppliers and the Department of Social Protection who provide annual funding. The scheme is operated by a small committee of volunteers. John Healy is current Chairperson and Robert Cullen is the scheme supervisor. The scheme’s employees are both local and from the surrounding area. The Church Gate Collection will assist further works and the committee appreciate all donations.
Boyle features in Council Budget meeting
Boyle featured prominently in last Monday’s Roscommon Co Co Budget Meeting. The meeting heard that the Lough Key Masterplan (which according to the meeting is “coming into focus now”) will see an investment in the region of €20m with the local authority contributing €3m and the balance coming from Coillte and Failte Ireland. The meeting also heard that the Boyle Library, which is currently under construction and due for completion in 2027, is a €6.5m investment in the town with grant aid of €5.2m and Council input of €1.3m.
A great honour for Boyle man Frank Feighan
Congratulations to Boyle man and Sligo Leitrim T.D. Frank Feighan on being elevated to the position of Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation with special responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment. This position will see Frank lead the agenda on better procurement of public contracts and advancing the government’s digital agenda.
Frank was first elected to Roscommon Co Co in 2009. He entered Dail Eireann in 2007 and was the party deputy Spokesperson on Transport and Education with special responsibility for Rural and School Transport from 2007 to 2010. In July 2010, he was appointed as party spokesperson on Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs. In July 2020, Frank was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Public Health, Well Being and the National Drugs Strategy.
While Frank is currently a T.D. for the Sligo – Leitrim constituency, he has never forgotten where he came from and is a regular visitor to Boyle, quietly working behind the scenes with other stake holders to advance the town. Our social media post announcing his appointment on Tuesday last received unanimous welcome and good will towards Frank and his new job, testament to the esteem in which the Boyle man is held for all the hard work he undertakes in this area.
News snippets from around Boyle
Stand Up Comedy Night takes place in Daly’s Bar this Saturday night commencing at 8pm. With numerous comedians in attendance, it promises to be a fun night. Tickets €15 area available from Daly’s Bar, Erita’s Salon and Betterbuys. All proceeds will go to Boyle Christmas Lights……..Fotofit Camera Club will launch their “Moments” calendar this morning at 11am in Better Buys on the Crescent. The calendar will be available to purchase after. All are invited to attend……..From 1st December North West Credit Union Boyle Office will be closed on Mondays. New opening hours are Tuesday – Saturday. The Member Services Team is available by phone and email six days a week, and online access is always on………The Saw Doctors were announced during the week as one of the headline acts for Night and Day Festival 2026. Hothouse Flowers, Richard Thompson, Jenny Greene and Paddy Casey were previously announced with more music acts to be made public next year…….Boyle town features in a current Department of Rural and Community Development promotional clip for the final phase of consultation on the next Our Rural Future policy. You can share you views on the policy up to December 12th with information available here…….St. Attracta’s Church Killaraght 150th celebration will take place on Sunday November 23rd at 11am with Mass celebrated by Bishop Kevin Doran………It has emerged that of the 194 new Gardai attested last week, not one has been allocated to the Roscommon-Longford Garda Division………Interesting results in our online poll “Does Boyle need a CCTV system” with over 80% saying ‘yes’…………Well done to local man Paul Little whose this week presented NorthWest STOP – Suicide Prevention with a cheque for €28,565 which he raised by his Shannon Swim………There has been a change of venue and date for the upcoming Pop Up Gaeltacht. It will now take place in Boyle Resource Centre on Thursday December 4th from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Pop in for cupán tea, ceol, caint, seanfhocail, local history and place names, filíocht agus amhráin. Fáilte roimh gach duine!……..Shame on those responsible for the recent alleged act of criminal damage at King House that resulted in a significant kerosene spill in and around the building. Acts of criminal damage and vandalism like this were alien to Boyle in the past so why are they now becoming more prevalent? If you have any information in relation to this incident or know who was involved, please inform Boyle Gardai on 071 9664620 or of course you can contact the Garda Confidential line on 1800666111. It is imperative that we stamp out this type of behavior once and for all and not allow it to take hold in our community………..Those with an interest in aviation may have observed, or heard, the light aircraft over Boyle at around 12 noon yesterday morning that earlier had left Sligo on it’s way to France and which subsequently crashed in Waterford. In clear blue skies, the aircraft was visible heading south at around 12 noon. Unfortunately the pilot suffered fatal injuries in the crash.
And finally…..!
It was at the end of the school year, and teacher was receiving gifts from her pupils.
The florist’s son handed her a gift. She shook it, held it overhead, and said, “I bet I know what it is. Some flowers.”
“That’s right” the boy said, “but how did you know?”
“Oh, just a wild guess,”” she said.
The next pupil was the sweet shop owner’s daughter. The teacher held her gift overhead, shook it, and said, “I bet I can guess what it is. A box of sweets.”
“That’s right, but how did you know?” asked the girl. “Oh, just a wild guess,” said the teacher.
The next gift was from the son of the off licence owner. The teacher held the package overhead, but it was leaking. She touched a drop of the leakage with her finger and put it to her tongue.
“Is it wine?” she asked. “No,” the boy replied, with some excitement.
The teacher repeated the process, taking a larger drop of the leakage to her tongue. “Is it champagne?” she asked. “No,” the boy replied, with more excitement. The teacher took one more taste before declaring, “I give up, what is it?”
With great glee, the boy replied, “It’s a puppy!”
