Missing the sound of the Boyle bell
It’s like most things in life – you don’t miss it until it is gone. This was the case at St. Joseph’s Church during the week when the church bell was out of service for a period of time. The bell was origionally put in place in the old St. Joseph’s Church back in 1959. It survived not one, but two fires. The first was the devastating fire that destroyed the church on April 26th 1977. The second fire, which many are not aware of, took place on a cold Friday afternoon in October 1979 when workmen were dismantling the bell tower as part of the demolition of the ruined church. Sparks from an acetylene torch being used by the men caught hold of material in the tower starting a fire that damaged what ever part of the tower that remained from the flames of eighteen months previous. When the new church was built in 1980 a seperate tower was erected for the bell to be rung electronically, making the daily job of the then Sacristan – the late Paddy Leonard, a whole lot easier!
No Boyle stop off for Jobs Minister
The newly appointed Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor would probably have had her first glimpse of Boyle yesterday as she made her way from engagements in Athlone on to Sligo. The Enterprise Ireland/IDA organised “trade mission” in the said towns was aimed at increasing business between small firms and multinational companies. We have very few of either in Boyle so the Minister probably felt she had no need to stop off in our town. Passing through Boyle, one wonders what was going through the former school principals mind as she journied her way to the north west? Did she get her advisors to make note of the obvious lack of investment by any state agency in jobs in rural towns like Boyle? Did she see that the Athlone’s and Sligo’s of this world are getting bigger while the Boyle’s and Ballaghaderreen’s and other rural towns are getting smaller? Or did she keep her eyes down and not bother to see the need for this new government to help towns like Boyle?
Another missed opportunity
Last Sunday morning over 200 people descended on the town of Boyle for the annual Lough Key Classic cycling sportive. Many cyclists brought family with them, who headed to Lough Key Forest Park or wandered around town on a glorious sunny summer morning as their nearest and dearest took to the roads. Despite internet, radio and print publicity in advance of Sunday, there seemed to be little interest in the cycle by the majority of local people. Apart from this website, no other local media outlet thought it worth their while to at least take a picture, let alone report on the spectacle. In addition, having an audience that was captured by the beauty of the area, all sitting in the Sports Complex post event was an opportunity tourism interests should have jumped on. Marketing opportunities like this for our town, and to a captive audience, can not afford to be missed. Hopefully many of the cyclists and their families will return to Boyle this year, thanks to the efforts of the members and friends of the Curlieu Wheelers club who all did their best to single handidly showcase their town of Boyle.
Sean Purcell back for Sunday’s game
A sizeable crowd traditionally travel from Boyle to Carrick on Shannon for a Roscommon v Leitrim game and this Sunday should be no different. Good news from a local perspective is that Boyle man Sean Purcell is set to return to the team. Enda Smith is still out injured but his brother Donie is in contention for a place. No doubt the N4 will be backlogged with traffic into Carrick on Sunday, so give yourself plenty of time to get to Pairc Sean for the 3.30pm throw in. Let’s hope Fergal and all the large Boyle connection with our county team are smiling on Sunday evening.
Poping up in Boyle
It was interesting to see a one day pop up shop in Joe Simon’s yard yesterday Thursday when Ulster Bank came to town. It would seem the Ballymote branch are testing the water in Boyle and used Thursday’s event as an exercise to guage the level of interest locally in their products. This column is a great advocate and believer of the pop up shop. It is an inexpensive and efficient way of testing the market before committing fully to opening a business. Hopefully more entrepreneurs will look to opening pop up’s (in vacant premises) in Boyle this summer.
And finally….!
A 70 year old man walks into the club with a stunning 24 year old blonde. Silence falls as they walk to the bar, every eye in the place is on him. He takes his seat and introduces her ……. as his new wife.
A little later one of his friends comes over to him and discreetly says : “So …. what’s the secret? Did you tell her you’re 50?”
“No,” he said. “I told her I’m 90.”
Men can be so devious and smart too.
