Enjoyable Arts Festival Opening night
On a warm evening and despite a small sprinkling of rain, the crowds turned out for the official opening of the highly acclaimed Boyle Arts Festival on Thursday. King House was once again a fitting venue for the opening and it’s beauty and benefit to Boyle, right in the town centre, was remarked by many. Of note each year is the number of former residents and townspeople who return for opening night or take a few days to visit their home town when the festival is in full swing. The opening was performed by well known pundit Brent Pope who spoke glowing of the festival and the achievement of the eight person committee. This year’s line up has something for everyone – art lover or not, local or visitor. The best way of showing the hard working committee how much their efforts are appreciated is by turning out in large numbers at the many events that are taking place in our town over the next ten days.
Bright times ahead for Frybrook
The completion of the sale of Frybrook House and Stonehouse Cafe, as reported exclusively here on Boyeltoday.com yesterday morning, has met with widespread approval. And the news that the house will be turned into a form of boutique hotel or guest accomodation has added further delighted to the good news. We are all in agreement that we need a hotel in Boyle, and it will happen, but in the meantime, the more town centre accomodation we have the better. Frybrook House will hopefully be the start of the ongoing efforts of certain groups to address the need to have additional places to stay, in the middle of Boyle.
Reductions in services can be reversed
There was shock and annoyance this month last year when the Boyle branch of Bank of Ireland withdrew cash services in the afternoon, with the service only available from 10am until 12.30pm each day. A bit like the reduction in hours at our Garda Station, everyone moaned at the reduction but very few did anything about it. No so over in Mayo. This week Bank of Ireland has confirmed that they are resuming all day cash services at branches in Westport and Belmullet. It follows a public outcry against the reduction in both towns and a campaign led by Councillor Gerry Coyle and Minister Michael Ring. The news just goes to show that people power (and maybe some political influence) can get results. If the people of Boyle want a full service resumed in Bank of Ireland and the current hours increased in our Garda Station, then they need to speak out and not complain on bar stools and behind closed doors about the situation.
Should the Pleasure Grounds be renamed?
The current poll running here on Boyletoday.com asks the question: ” Is it time to rename the Pleasure Grounds?”. Currently the poll is pretty much level with the yes side marginally ahead. The idea of the poll came from a recent discussion whereby it was suggested that the word “pleasure” had many connotations with the question being asked had the Pleasure Grounds got its name from, let’s say – “extra curricular activity!”. The grounds were created by Lord Kingston in front of his castle (before the building of King House) as one of two parks where the gentry might ‘promenade and discourse’. In more recent times, the park got the name “Pleasure Grounds”. Suggested new names that have been mentioned for a plebiscite, which would need to take place before any name change could occur, have included “Central Park”, “The People’s Park” and “Riverside Park”. You can make you view known on a name change by taking part in the poll on the bottom right of the homepage of this website.
Boyle is blessed with great volunteers
The act of volunteerism that is always so prevalent in Boyle came to the fore once again on Tuesday night when over 20 people answered the call from the Tidy Town committee to clean up the Boyle River. The dry weather of late has left the river with one of the lowest water levels in recent years resulting in weeds and algae along with discarded material becoming visible. For the volunteers who took to the water, the job in hand was an enjoyable one. There was no mention of dereliction, decay or the way the river or town looked. Quite the contrary. All spoke of how lucky we are to have a river flowing through our town and of the opportunities that the river and the old Royal building will present in the Boyle 2040 plan. Visitors stood on the bridge and remarked the efforts of the volunteers who are to be commended on their work in getting our river and surrounding area looking that bit better.
And finally….!
A young doctor had moved out to a small community to replace a doctor who was retiring. The older doctor suggested that the young one accompany him on his rounds, so the community could become used to a new doctor. At the first house a woman complains, “I’ve been a little sick to my stomach.”
The older doctor says, “Well, you’ve probably been overdoing the fresh fruit. Why not cut back on the amount you’ve been eating and see if that does the trick?”
As they left, the younger man said, “You didn’t even examine that woman? How’d you come to the diagnosis so quickly?”
“I didn’t have to. You noticed I dropped my stethoscope on the floor in there? When I bent over to pick it up, I noticed a half dozen banana peels in the trash. That was what probably was making her sick.”
The younger doctor said “Pretty clever. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll try that at the next house.” Arriving at the next house, they spent several minutes talking with a younger woman. She said that she just didn’t have the energy she once did and said, “I’m feeling terribly run down lately.”
“You’ve probably been doing too much for the Church,” the younger doctor told her. “Perhaps you should cut back a bit and see if that helps.”
As they left, the elder doctor said, “I know that woman well. Your diagnosis is almost certainly correct, she’s very active in the church, but how did you arrive at it?”
“I did what you did at the last house. I dropped my stethoscope and, when I bent down to retrieve it, I noticed the priest under the bed.”
