Another opportunity missed
Once again Boyle and more particularly the North West has lost out in the latest tourism announcement. The “Belmont Grand Hibernian” will be a train journey akin to the Orient Express and will commence operations in Ireland in August 2016. But the Dublin to Sligo line is not on the operations itinerary. The 5 star sleeper train will have two, four and six night itineraries from Dublin to Cork, Killarney, Galway and Westport but nothing for the North West. Wouldn’t it have been great to see this train pull into Boyle with guests visiting Lough Key, King House and Boyle Abbey? We can’t blame anyone in Boyle for this latest gaff but surely organisations like Irish Rail and Failte Ireland had some input into advising of locations?
Good news for Boyle Primary Care
It was heartening to read here on Boyletoday.com during the week that the European Investment Bank have approved loan funding for Primary Care facilities including the one that is proposed for the grounds of the Plunkett Home in Boyle. This facility is a long time in the pipeline but hopefully we will now see construction start which is welcome news. Another piece of infrastructure that is planned for Boyle but which seems to have been left on the back boiler is the cycle route from Lough Key Forest Park to Boyle. This announcement was made by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Park early last year but there has been no further developments to date.
Problems emerge with Garda Station hours
Week three of the new hours at Boyle Garda Station and the cracks are beginning to appear in what has been sold to the public as an improved service. There have been reports of telephone callers getting no reply from Boyle station during the hours the station is closed to the public. On other occasions, telephone callers to Boyle have spoken to members in Castlerea who are not familiar with town lands or names around Boyle. The fear is still prevalent among members of the public that should a robbery, kidnapping or armed raid take place locally and Boyle station is closed, will the call go to Castlerea and how long would it take for a unit to reach Boyle? Castlerea is an already busy station without having to now deal with Boyle’s affairs. The full effect of the downgrading of Boyle Garda station is slowly coming to light.
Boyle – the king of publicity
Boyle has been in the spotlight this week with Irish TV in town on Tuesday and another film crew in Taylor’s Carpet and Curtain Centre for a number of days shooting a promotional clip. In addition, the Gallipoli Landing display by members of the Mens Shed has featured in video content on the Irishtimes.com website, Oliver Fallon from Boyle appeared on RTE Monday night in relation to Gallipoli while the BBC have also conducted an interview on the project. TV crews are set to return in May for the Boyle Business Awards ceremony and interviews have been conducted with national press and radio for other events. Boyle is certainly up there in the publicity stakes. The trick now is to turn all this publicity into visitors and increased footfall.
And finally….!
A person with little football knowledge gets a job as a physical education teacher of 16 year olds.
The teacher notices a boy at the end of the field standing alone, while all the other kids are running around having fun kicking a ball.
He takes pity on him and decides to speak to him.
‘You ok?’ he says.
‘Yes.’ says the boy.
‘You can go and play with the other kids you know’ he
says.
‘It’s best I stay here.’ says the boy.
‘Why’s that my young man” asks the teacher.
The boy looks at him incredulously and says,
Because I’m the goalie!’
