Retail footfall could move to a new location in Boyle
During the Aldi discussions, it was regularly stated that St. Patrick Street in Boyle was ‘on it’s knees’, ‘badly needs investment’ and ‘is almost empty’. Those making such comments should have stood back and looked at the street in more detail. In the last number of years, nearly any new business that has opened in Boyle has opened on St. Patrick Street. This year alone there have been four new business open on the street with others waiting on premises to be complete before opening. At last count, from the Bridge Street corner to Gala, there were over 30 businesses operating out of St. Patrick Street. When Aldi arrives, you will find the commercial life of the town will most likely move to St. Patrick Street and you could see coffee shops/carts etc and other businesses popping up on the west side of town to cater for the shift in retail footfall. The upgrade of the public realm on the street and the undergrounding of power cables – something Boyle Town Team have been advocating for with Roscommon Co Co – is now a priority and is well justified considering how busy the street is set to become.
Memorial walk in Cloonloo on Sunday
A memorial walk for the late Breege Tighe will take place in Cloonloo this Sunday July 12th commencing at 11am. According to the organisers: “Our community has come together to organise a 6km family friendly walk in memory of Breege, who passed away earlier this year in the wonderful care of North West Hospice, Sligo. In honour of her long-standing voluntary work and dedication to Cloonloo Development and our local area, we will walk from Cloonloo Hall (F52 XC90) via Kiltybrannock to Templeronan Cemetery and back. This is a quiet family friendly traffic controlled route. Refreshments afterwards and all are welcome to participate”. Donations in aid of North West Hospice and Cloonloo Development here.
Preparations continue for Arts Festival opening
This time next week Boyle Arts Festival will be in full swing with an exciting line up of concerts, exhibitions, theatre, talks, workshops and family events planned for the following ten days. More info here. On Thursday next July 16th, the festival commences at 7pm with a spectacular Visual Movement through the streets of Boyle, inspired by the festival theme -Visual Threads. The performance will bring together over 60 local children, community groups, musicians, dancers and artists in a vibrant celebration of creativity featuring music, movement, striking costumes, giant puppets and a very special operatic performance in collaboration with the Irish National Opera. The Festival committee encourage people from across the region to come along, line the streets of Boyle, cheer on the children and be part of this unique community celebration as it makes its way through the town before culminating in the official launch of the festival at King House by Mary Coughlan. Motorists travelling through Boyle on Thursday evening should note that traffic will be stopped around the town from around 7pm for a short period to allow the Parade to move safely to King House.
Viewers concern at lack of maintenance around town
A viewer contacted us during the week with the following: “I read with interest your comments re verge cutting in last week’s Boyle’d Pot. My wife and I were walking with our child in a buggy on the footpath on the Carrick Road last week – the Boyle side of Maple Drive heading back into town. We had to walk single file as the grass and growth is so far out on the footpath. As two other people approached I had no option but to step onto the road as there was no space and by sheer luck avoided being hit by a car coming from Carrick that decided to overtake on that straight stretch and skimmed the footpath. It was a frightening experience for us all. It is a total disgrace that the footpaths around Boyle are so overgrown that you cannot walk safely on them. You also wrote about the cycle path in the Park. This is also a disgrace and is half the width it originally was. Why are the rate payers in Boyle not up in arms at the lack of maintenance by the Council? Are they onto Roscommon County Council to see where their rates are going around Boyle? It’s certainly not going into maintenance and upkeep”.
A piece of local history many pass unnoticed
An interesting article was published during the week by the National Monuments Service on a piece of our heritage many pass every day going to or from Sligo without even thinking of it’s historical significance. “Ballinafad Castle was built in 1590 by Sir Richard Bingham and created to protect the route through the Curlew Mountains, known as the Curlew Pass. Ballinafad, also called Castle of the Curlews, is a four-storey limestone castle, with a main rectangular body and four round towers on each corner. Presently, two walls are missing, and the other two are largely rebuilt. The internal floors were wooden, but none have survived, nor have the spiral wooden stairs housed in the west tower. The towers on the east and north still retain their chimney stacks. The castle was partially destroyed in 1595 by Red Hugh O’Donnell, and was again attacked during the 1641 Irish insurrection, when the owners had to surrender due to a lack of water. It was again garrisoned by Crown forces in the mid-1650s and was out of use by 1680. The structure was substantially repaired by the OPW c. 1940 when nearly every embrasure was rebuilt and concrete lintels inserted. The lowest floor was likely an unlit basement, and the only surviving features are three gun loops. The first floor has a large fireplace and window embrasures in each corner tower. In the stairs tower there are more gun loops, two covering the entrance door. At second-floor level each tower room has a fireplace, and numerous gun loops. The third floor has a similar arrangement. Most of the windows at higher levels have stone seats set into their embrasures”.
News snippets from around Boyle
Good luck to Boyle GAA Under 15 players who take on Kilmore/Shannon Gaels in the Garda Cup Final in the Abbey Park on Sunday at 2pm……..The Sligo – Dublin rail line could be busy tomorrow as east Mayo football fans use this line to head to the game in Croke Park………..Once again abandoned cars and buses are being left in the Green Street car park taking up valuable parking spaces. One particular vehicle that has been there for a long period of time has no insurance or NCT cert and tax expired in 2021!………… Boyle Family Resource Centre “Uniform Drop and Swap” – Get ready for back-to-school savings! Have you got school uniforms your children have outgrown? Drop them off and pick up items that fit — completely FREE! Uniform Drop-Off Tuesday 7th – Friday 10th July 10:00am – 1:00pm. Uniform Collection Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th July 10:00am – 1:00pm. “Together, we can reuse, recycle, reduce costs, and support local families as we prepare for the new school year”………..Is it time to put up bollards outside the entrance to King House, An Rioga and Creightons to stop illegal parking on the footpaths?………Boyle Tidy Town group has put out a request to all property owners ahead of the opening of Boyle Arts Festival: “We are putting a request out to all premises owners in the town to sweep and weed outside their properties especially the routes for the Arts Festival. There is a lot of fallen moss on the footpaths and our volunteers can only do so much. In addition, while the dog poo bags are now being used by dog owners can we ask that you dispose of the bags appropriately. Unfortunately we have noticed bags of poo left lying around”……….A hardworking committee has been meeting regularly for months now to put together a number of exciting events to compliment the upcoming Hot Air Ballooning Championships which will be held in Boyle’s Lough Key Forest Park from September 19th-25th. Details will be announced near the end of the summer………..Eagle eyed viewers who checked the credits of Wednesday night’s “The Girl in the Water” on RTE 1 will have noticed local lady Grainne Creighton named as Co-Editor of the documentary. Grainne continues to make a name for herself in documentary and TV programme editing. You can watch “The Girl in the Water” here….
And finally…..!
A Garda is interviewing three recruits who are in training to advance to detective level.
To test their observational skills, he shows the first recruit a photograph of a suspect for five seconds before hiding it.
“This is your suspect,” he says. “How would you recognize him?”
The first recruit answers, “Easy. We’d catch him right away because he only has one eye.”
The officer sighs. “That’s because I showed you his side profile.”
Trying again, he shows the same photo to the second recruit for five seconds.
“This is your suspect. How would you recognize him?”
The second recruit smiles confidently. “Even easier. He only has one ear.”
Now the officer is furious. “What’s wrong with you two? Of course he only has one eye and one ear. It’s a side-profile photo! Can’t either of you come up with a better answer?”
Completely exasperated, he turns to the third recruit. “This is your suspect. How would you recognize him?”
Then he adds, “And think carefully before you give me another ridiculous answer.”
The third recruit studies the photo for a moment. “The suspect wears contact lenses.”
The officer blinks in surprise. He doesn’t actually know whether the suspect wears contacts.
“That’s… an interesting observation. Wait here while I check his file.”
A few minutes later, the officer returns with a huge smile.
“Incredible! You’re right. The suspect really does wear contact lenses. How on earth did you figure that out?”
“Simple,” the third recruit replies. “He can’t wear regular glasses because he only has one eye and one ear.”
