Boyle is ready to welcome the Ballooning Championships
The 54th Irish Hot Air Ballooning Championship takes place from Saturday September 19th to Friday September 25th in Lough Key Forest Park in Boyle. Flights are scheduled for morning (7am) and evening (5pm), weather permitting, with the first flight set to take off at approximately 5pm Saturday evening.
* A major traffic management system will be in place when entering Lough Key Forest Park for the daily launches and parking must be pre booked here. Please do not drive into Lough Key Forest Park for the morning and evening flights if you do not have a pre booked parking ticket.
* A free shuttle bus will operated for scheduled evening flights only from the Abbeytown side of St. Joseph’s Church car park with first departure at 3.30pm. This is a limited, first-come, first-served service and places cannot be guaranteed.
* No drone flying is permitted in the vicinity of the event.
* TV3 are planning to visit during the week to film the event.
* The Boyle Balloon Festival is also taking place over this weekend in Boyle town with numerous events planned. Unfortunately due to adverse weather, the planned Balloon Launch from the Abbey Park this evening has been cancelled but all other events are taking place over the weekend including live music and a free fireworks display in Boyle on Saturday night at 9pm which will be visible from anywhere in the town centre. Paint and Prosecco, Sligo Comedy Club, Make your own Perfume workshop and the Courtyard Sessions along with live music and discos in various bars make for an exciting and action packed weekend in Boyle. (Full list of events on the homepage of this website)
* Balloon Festival merchandise will be on sale over the weekend in the Abbey Park/King House Friday evening, the Courthouse Market on Saturday morning and at the ‘Courtyard Sessions’ in the grounds of King House on Saturday evening before the Fireworks. There are some lovely Boyle branded merchandise available (all made locally) so make sure to check the stands out.
* Boyle Gardai have issued advance notice of Traffic Restrictions on Saturday evening at Bridge Street, Boyle for the Fireworks Display. There will be temporary traffic restrictions from 8.30pm to 9.30pm approx. Restrictions will be in place on Bridge Street to allow for attendees to view the fireworks safely from the viewing point on the bridge. Traffic will be diverted around the location via Main Street and Shop Street. Boyle Gardai ask all motorists and road users to please comply with Gardaí and stewards on the night to ensure the safety of attendees. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation.
* Please check the various Facebook pages to see if flights are going ahead or cancelled each day. We will have details also on Boyletoday Facebook page when information is made available to us.
Courtesy of the Championship Directors, below are a few examples and information on the kind of weather needed for Ballooning:
NO FLY both the wind and gust speeds are double digits, this is a no for Ballooning (12 knots would be an absolute max but preferably max 10), the dark rain type clouds are also an issue, we cannot fly in the rain (or if there is a possibility of rain) or in cloud – we have to be able to see the ground at all times and be able to fly at a minimum height of 1,000ft+ so the cloud base height is also an important factor.
POSSIBLE FLY we would need to make sure that the gusts that are forecast either don’t materialise or, are not as strong (again, 10 knots or below preferably). It may be that heading out to the launch field and experiencing the wind/ gusts first hand is the best option for the Pilots. We wouldn’t be able to fly though if it had rained/ was still raining.
FLY both wind and gust speeds are single digits and, no cloud/ rain forecast.
HOWEVER! Those forecasts are for what is happening down on the ground, as we fly up to a few thousand feet we also need a forecast that shows wind speed up at those heights and the cloud height etc. It can look great down on the ground but, for example, the winds at 1,000ft could be way too fast (always a good idea to look up and see how fast the clouds are moving) or, the cloud base is at around 1,000ft and therefore too low for us to fly safely – yep, there are a LOT of factors to take into consideration!
We obtain a specialist aviation forecast at each Pilots briefing so the meet Director (and Pilots) can make the necessary FLY/ NO FLY decision. However, if you have a weather app and keep an eye on the forecast for Lough Key, you should be able to get a rough idea of whether we might be able to get airborne or not. We will of course confirm this as soon as each Pilots briefing is completed – and not before, even if you message us asking, we will not reply to individual messages (we get too many!), all information you need will be posted on the Irish Hot Air Ballooning Championship Facebook page as soon as we have it!
Boyle connection at Irish Open Golf
They say there is always a Boyle connection to anything big that happens! And that was the case last week at the Amgen Irish Open when Co Cavan golfer Patrick Flynn took part in ‘Beat the Pro’ competition. Playing superbly, 1 handicapper Patrick can now say he outdone six-time Major Champion Rory McIlroy after his exploits at the event last Saturday where he beat him in the competition. Patrick produced a sensational tee-shot before walking down to the green with McIlroy while soaking up the applause from the crowd. Patrick is son of Helen Flynn (nee Finn) formerly from Marian Road and is a regular visitor to his mother’s native town. See the video of Patrick and Rory McIlroy here.
Speeding continues on Mockmoyne Road
This month last year, following protracted requests from local residents, traffic calming measures were installed on Mockmoyne Road, west of Boyle. While the ramps did have the desired effect of slowing down vehicles in that area, it did not address the problem as one comes into Boyle from Mockmoyne where vehicles are now building up speed after they drive over the ramps. Trying to cross into the Green Street Car Park from St. Patrick Street is a danger as vehicles travel at speed from Mockmoyne and with Aldi hopefully coming to this street, perhaps additional ramps are needed closer to town. In the interim, a speed check or reprimand by Gardai of those who constantly speed on this road may be of some benefit.
New ‘settlement plan’ for Boyle
A new settlement plan is being devised for Boyle as part of proposed changes to the Roscommon County Development Plan 2022-2028. The plan is being progressed by the local authority in response to revised national housing growth requirements. The new plan will set out the planning and land use framework for the town along with revised zoning provisions. Back in March, Councillors were informed that approximately 7% of zoned residential land in Boyle had been utilised. The Boyle settlement plan is being progressed along with a new plan for Roscommon town and a separate land use zoning strategy for Cortober.
News snippets from around Boyle
A number of coffee mornings will be held around Boyle next Thursday to raise funs for Hospice. Full details of venues closer to the day here on Boyletoday.com……….Boyle Defibrillator Group church gate collection this
weekend Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September in aid of Boyle Defibrillators. All money collected will go towards the upkeep of defibrillators and training for first responders……….All roads lead to Orchard Park in Elphin this Sunday when Boyle take on Oran in the Roscommon Senior Football Championship Quarter Final at 1.30pm……….There is so much happening this weekend in Boyle with the Irish Hot Air Ballooning Championship and Culture Night on Friday night. Well done to all involved in bringing so many events to our town……….Interesting to see Carrick on Shannon receive €14m for public realm upgrades with Roscommon town receiving over €9m for two projects. Hopefully Boyle will get the local authority backing for similar public realm upgrades of St. Patrick Street and the Crescent area that are currently under consideration at local level………..Every Wednesday morning the Tidy Town volunteers do their best to keep the town litter and weed free but it would be a great help if property owners and those leasing premises pulled the weeds from paths in front of their buildings instead of waiting for others to do it for them……….Junior parkrun is cancelled this Sunday morning due to the Ballooning Championships. Back next week…….A medical evacuation on Wednesday last from Abbey Park to Galway with the Air Corps Augusta Westland helicopter took 25 minutes………Best of luck to Boyle’s Roscommon Masters players Aaron, David, Mark, Seamus, Sean, Roch and all the Roscommon Gaelic Masters who take on Meath in the All Ireland final this Saturday in Drumlish at 3:00pm.
And finally….!
John hit rock bottom.
He was going to jail for insider trading and it couldn’t get much worse than that.
As the jail warden brought John to his cell, his worst fears were materialized.
Sitting hunched over on a bed was his soon to be roommate.
He was a hunk of a man wearing a sleeveless undershirt, with vicious looking tattoos on each arm.
As John approached the prison cell the giant looked up at him and said in a deep booming voice, “Hey man, what did you do to get yourself in here?”
“White collar crime” responded John nervously.
“Well how about that? Me too,” the giant said.
“Phew,” said John feeling his body relaxing, “To be honest I got a bit nervous when I saw you.”
“Nah” responded the giant waving his hand “what’s there to be nervous about?”
“So tell me,” questioned the giant “How many priest’s did you kill?”
