The future is looking brighter
The strategic plan announced by Boyle Town Team on Wednesday and published unedited on this website, is an exciting one for the town. The sense of pride and positivity that is evident since Boyle won the overall Enterprising Town award last week can now be taken to another level. The plan comes at a great time also, with plenty of natives soon to arrive home for the Christmas. Make sure to tell them that Boyle is on the way up again and that the town has exciting plans for the future. A happy positive Christmas looks to be in store for the town!
Boyle does not feature in top speed zones
Many were amazed that the R361 Boyle to Castlerea road was not one of the areas mentioned recently in a report that named the top ten earning speed zones in the country. The highest earner for the speed cameras in the state over the past five years is a stretch of the N11 near Arklow which brought in €594,160! Many new speed camera zones came into force last May around Boyle including the old Carrick Rd, the N4 to Carrick, N4 Drumfin to Cloonamahon and the R361 Frenchpark Road with numerous new zones in place on this stretch. The most commonly used detection vehicles in this area are the GoSafe vans who provide a minimum of 6,000 enforcement hours per year across the country. It is important to always adhere to speed limits as excessive or inappropriate speed is a significant contributory factor in road traffic collisions.
Construction workers will be missed
Boyle and Elphin face a loss of business with the completion of work on the N61 Roscommon road. Gone are the majority of the 200 workers and contractors who were involved in the project for the last nine months. Some of these workers stayed in Boyle, some in Elphin. They bought provisions locally and spent money in the pubs and shops. With 80% of the materials coming from the general area, suppliers will also feel the effect of the completion.When the Primary Care Centre is up and running in 2017, Boyle will also feel a similar negative effect. There are a large number of people involved in the construction of the Primary Care facility and they can be witnessed in shops and filling stations on a daily basis. Hopefully the increase in patient visits and medical jobs will offset the decrease in construction. Before we leave the subject of the N61, it was a Boyle man who was one of the first to travel the new section of road last Tuesday morning. As the politicians were all getting ready to pose for the cameras who should come up the road from Boyle, horn beeping and hand waving but ex councillor Ernie Keenan! Maybe Ernie is missing his old job and wanted to be on site to witness first hand what was happening!
Phone scam in operation
The Boyle’d Pot has been asked to bring to viewers attention a scam that is presently in operation around the country. Individuals are receiving a phone call from a man or woman purporting to work in Revenue, demanding the immediate payment of a tax bill over the phone. This individual is not calling from Revenue. If you receive a telephone call purporting to be from Revenue about which you have any doubts, particularly if the call is out of the blue, you should contact your local revenue office or Garda station. Anyone who mistakenly provides personal information in response to these types of fraudulent phone calls should contact their bank or credit card company immediately and alert the Gardaí.
Mattimoes Bar to reopen
Best wishes to Barry Simon and Joe Ryan on the opening of Mattimoes Bar on Bridge Street, another welcome entertainment venue for the town. Mattimoes Bar is among the best known bars in Boyle having built an established clientele over the years through proprietors Gerry and Alice Mattimoe and in more recent times Brendan Reid and Helen Donovan. No doubt the great work of both couples has laid the foundation for Barry and Joe to have a bright future in their Bridge Street business.
And finally…..!
An elderly married man thought he would give his wife a birthday surprise by buying her a bra. He entered a ladies shop, rather intimidated, but the salesgirls took charge to help him.
“What colour?” they asked. He settled for white.
“How much does it cost?” he asked.
“€30.”
“Expensive, but ok,” he thought. All that remained was the size, but he hadn’t the faintest idea.
“Now sir, are they the size a pair of melons? Coconuts? Grape fruits? Oranges?”
“No,” he said, “nothing like that.”
“Come on, sir, think. There must be something your wife’s bust resembles.”
He thought long and hard and then looked up and said, “Have you ever seen a spaniel’s ears?”
