What was the alternative – leave the town centre as it was?
The old saying “You can not make an omelette without breaking eggs” comes to mind when discussions take place about the current public realm works in Boyle. While there is some disquiet in relation to the ‘build out’ at the Rockingham Arms, the new footpaths and lighting, when completed, along with the underground ducting of electricity cables, will totally brighten up Bridge Street, Shop Street and the new look An Rioga car park and to get to that point – there has to be disruption.
What was the alternative? Leave the centre of Boyle as it was with dated footpaths and a town centre dominated by cars and trucks with no consideration for pedestrians. Leaving the town centre as it was would also have the same vocal few whining that “nothing is being done in Boyle”? Making an effort to give the streets of a town back to the people is a trend that is taking place all over the world and Boyle should be delighted we are not being left behind. According to Liam Mannix, a town centre regeneration consultant “Resistance to moving away from car dominated streets can be incredibly strong, but effectively, with little comprehensive change to the Main Street, a town will continue to decline“. And that is what would happen in Boyle if we did not upgrade our public realm.
Boyle musician plays The Island Theatre this weekend
Boyle native musician Donal O’Connor along with Matteo Cullen will play The Island Theatre in Ballinamore tomorrow night Saturday, February 10th. Donal has recorded three albums of original songs, toured the Folk Clubs of the UK extensively, toured Germany on a number of occasions and performed occasionally in Spain, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Matteo Cullen is a musician, recording artist and teacher currently based in Durrow, Co. Offaly. He performs a range of original songs, reflecting the diverse elements of his musicality, including reggae, jazz and blues, Irish traditional and country music. He has recorded and released three albums, and is currently working on a new collection of songs. He also holds a doctoral degree in Irish popular music history. The audience will also be treated to a unique contribution from the Ballinamore Ukulele Group. Tickets €15/€13 (excluding booking fees) are available online at www.islandtheatre.ie.
Fundraising events for Boyle based Safe Link
Boyle based Roscommon Safe Link, the front-line service for victims of domestic abuse in the Co. Roscommon region, is issuing a special request to individuals, social groups, sports clubs and organisations to hold a fundraising event in support of the charity. Safe Link has experienced an ever-increasing demand for its service over the last four years. If you would like to organise a fundraiser for the organisation, please contact Roscommon Safe Link in advance on 087 4194698. Donations can also be made online: https://www.idonate.ie/advanced-donation-form/RSL.
Local couple plan to climb Kilimanjaro
Well known Croghan couple and Lough Key Triathlon Club members Paul and Hazel Little are undertaking the very exciting challenge of climbing Kilimanjaro in March. They are currently training hard and preparing for this mammoth task that will raise funds for the Renal Unit in Temple Street. Hazel’s nephew received a life changing kidney transplant in 2023, which according to Hazel would not have been possible without the amazing care and support of the staff in Temple Street and beyond. “For this reason, Temple Street Children’s Hospital holds a special place in our hearts. By undertaking this challenge we hope to raise funds for the renal unit as a small token of our appreciation”. You can donate here
Programme to assist those living with long term health condition
Living Well is a free HSE programme which helps people living with a long-term health condition to manage their condition and improve their overall wellbeing and Boyle is the location for an upcoming six week workshop on the subject. Anyone with any chronic illness such as diabetes, arthritis, COPD, cardiac illness, anxiety, etc. can
benefit from the workshops. The next programme in Boyle commences on Tuesday the 12th of March. The programme is delivered over six weekly workshops (2.5 hrs x 6) by trained leaders. Advance registration
is required. To find out more, please contact Liam Gildea on 086- 0142675 or by email at [email protected]
The Fake Facebook Freaks were out again
The Fake Facebook Freaks were in action again last weekend with racist comments and divisive questions posted on this website – all which were ignored and quickly put in the rubbish bin seeing as they came from a fake account and were derogatory in nature. It is interesting to note that these comments are posted on Boyletoday usually on a Friday or Saturday night between 11pm and 2am. Could it be that alcohol or some form of substance gives these hate filled people the ‘courage’ to hit the keyboard? As we said previously, Boyletoday.com or it’s associated social media pages will not be used as a platform for racist or far right people to vent their ridiculous ideologies – their comments will be deleted as quickly as they are posted.
News snippets from around Boyle
The playground committee in Ballinafad are having their annual recycled/used clothes collection on Sunday 11th February at The old post office in Ballinafad. Drop between 2 and 4pm………..The delays not just on the Dublin Sligo train line, but on all rail services is gone beyond a joke. Every single day there is some form of train delay due to “a technical issue” or “an operational issue”. The last train out of Dublin that serves Boyle is constantly late and unless you have an “X” or Twitter account, you won’t know what is happening…………Cross country dog running event takes place on Saturday evening and night in Boyle’s Lough Key Forest Park when Canicross Ireland present the third race of the 2023/24 season commencing at 5pm and concluding at 10pm………..Aontu has announced that Fayiz Alsani will stand for election in the Boyle Municipal District in this year’s local elections…………Boyle is sure to see some spin off from the ‘Grand Fondo’ cycling event that will take place in Sligo on 29th/30th June . This is the first time the prestigious event has been held in Ireland and could attract upwards of 5,000 cyclists from all over the world………Hopefully it will be “3rd time lucky” when the resurfacing work on the Shilling Hill finally commences, having had two postponements to date, the most recent being on Tuesday last due to forecasted inclement weather……….Lough Key Triathlon Club is hosting the first of 5 inter-club Duathlon Training Events in the Park on Sunday. This is a training event and is a great opportunity for anyone considering triathlon to get a taste of a multi-discipline event. Training Event Registration form here……….Congratulations to Kilronan Castle who won ‘Best Hotel Accommodation’ at Thursday night’s CIE Tours Awards of Exellence……….Well done also to acclaimed food truck ‘Paul’s Retro Eats’ who were highly commended in the Street Food section of the 2024 Irish Takeaway Awards. Paul’s Retro Eats is located adjacent to ‘Shoot the Breeze’ coffee cabin in the grounds of Results Gym on the Carrick Road and is gaining in popularity every week………Boyle Arts Festival recently won the ‘Arts and Culture Organisation of the Year’ at the recent Roscommon Volunteer Awards To celebrate the win, the festival committee invite all their volunteers to celebrate this win with them in Dalys on Saturday February 10th at 8pm
And finally….!
A man met a beautiful blonde lady and decided he wanted to marry her right away.
She said, ‘But we don’t know anything about each other.’
He said, ‘That’s all right, we’ll learn about each other as we go along.’
So she consented, they were married, and off they went on a honeymoon at a very nice resort.
One morning they were lying by the pool, when he got up off of his towel, climbed up to the 10 metre board and did a two and a half tuck dive, followed by three rotations in the pike position, at which point he straightened out and cut the water like a knife.
After a few more demonstrations, he came back and lay down on the towel.
She said, ‘That was incredible!’
He said, ‘I used to be an Olympic diving champion. You see, I told you we’d learn more about each other as we went along.’
So she got up, jumped in the pool and started doing lengths.
After seventy-five lengths she climbed out of the pool, lay down on her towel and was hardly out of breath.
He said, ‘That was incredible! Were you an Olympic endurance swimmer?’
‘No,’ she said, ‘I was ‘on the game’ in Limerick and I worked both sides of the Shannon.
