Maintenance of Pleasure Ground and Cycleway is a necessity
On Saturday morning last we published a series of photographs showing the redevelopment of the Pleasure Grounds in Boyle. As expected with such posts, there was a mixture of comment – the majority praising the development – the minority outlining what could have been or should have been done better. But an overriding comment that emerged was the need for the upkeep of the grounds and regular maintenance. The same could be said for our cycleway. Hundreds of thousands of euro has been spent on the cycleway but there does not seem to be any proper maintenance plan in place here either, and when you add in the alleged criminal damage that was caused to the cycleway between the two gates of Rockingham, you have an asset that is slowly becoming very neglected looking. Back in the Pleasure Grounds, the weeds are already beginning to come through the lovely flower beds and the algae is forming on the beautiful stone work. Perhaps the people of Boyle should act on the suggestion of one viewer who wondered why we do not have a group of locals who would go out once a week and pick litter and weed the flower beds in this town centre asset. Maybe that is the way to go forward and not be waiting for the local authority to do the work.
The Boyle Sausage Eating Championship
A video during the week of a 4th of July hot dog eating championship in New York brought back memories of a similar type competition held in Boyle many years ago. The ‘Boyle Sausage Eating Championship’ was held as part of the Round Table organised Gala Week (which in fact did not last a week but two weeks and three weekends!). Tray loads of sausages were brought to the competition and many tried but few succeeded in eating their way through the massive feast – with the exception of one person – the legendary Sonny Regan! Sonny put away more sausages in the space of ten minutes than many would eat in their lifetime! He was justifiably proud of his new found title and reminded many the person of it throughout the remainder of the summer months!
For those interested, the New York competition was won by Joey “Jaws” Chestnut who gobbled his way to a 15th win, powering down 63 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes.
Property owners civic responsibility
A piece here in the Boyle’d Pot a few weeks back highlighting the number of derelict buildings around town drew comment from many viewers. A number of those who got in contact with us mentioned the civic responsibility property owners have to at least take weeds from in front of their buildings, whither the buildings are in use or not. It was pointed out that in certain circumstances, family members who do not live in Boyle, own the properties, but that should not stop other family members or indeed members of the public (or local authority) from taking the weeds away.
Now is the time to make a submission on Boyle’s future
A review of the Local Area Plan for Boyle is underway at present. The Local Area Plan is a very important document whose function is to take a detailed look at a specific area, (in this case Boyle), and identify areas where requires renewal or where development is expected, identifying and analyzing the various issues of relevance, before establishing and setting out principles for the future development of the area. Local area plans set out objectives for the proper planning and sustainable development of a specific area and are consistent with the strategic aims and policy objectives of the recently adopted Roscommon County Development Plan 2022-2028.
In order to stimulate debate and encourage participation in this process an Issue Paper has been prepared for Boyle with some key questions put forward.
Some of those questions include: What do you think is needed for Boyle to deliver on the strategic objectives? Where should investment to steered to enable the growth of Boyle? How can the town improve further, to make it an attractive place to live, work and invest in? Where should new housing be developed in Boyle in order to cater for an increased population? How can this plan address vacancy rates and encourage property owners to
bring vacant units back into use? Are there particular areas of the town centre that should be identified for
regeneration? In addition to tourism, what other type of industry / employment opportunities should be encouraged in Boyle? How can we make the town centre a safer place for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicle users? Are there areas of the town that would benefit from new / improved walking routes, cycle ways or roadways in order to create better infrastructure links and connections? What type of green infrastructure would Boyle benefit from? Does the existing range of community facilities and amenities adequately cater for the needs of the existing and future populations in Boyle?
The above are a few suggestions, so if you have an interest in Boyle’s future development or have something to say on the above key issues, please make a submission on the plan before July 29th. You can read more here and view the Boyle pre draft issue paper here
Traffic lights in Frenchpark
Motorists travelling between Boyle and Castlerea will be delighted to know that the go ahead has been given for traffic lights to be erected at the junction of the N5 and R361 in Frenchpark village. The junction has been the scene of many accidents over the years and is viewed by some as one of the most dangerous junctions in the county. While funding has been approved for the lights by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, design and advancement to construction has yet to take place, so it could be while before the lights become a reality.
And finally….!
Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant, and noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed a little strange.
When the waiter brought our water and cutlery, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets.
When the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, “Why the spoon?” “Well, “he explained, “the restaurant’s owners hired a consulting company to revamp all our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped piece of cutlery. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our staff are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift.”
As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he was able to replace it with his spare. “I’ll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now.” I was impressed.
I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter’s zip on his trousers. Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their flies. So before he walked off, I asked the waiter, “Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?”
“Oh, certainly!” Then he lowered his voice. “Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time in the rest-room. By tying this string to the tip of you know what, we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the rest-room by 76.39%.”
I asked “After you get it out, how do you put it back?”
“Well,” he whispered, “I don’t know about the others, but I use the spoon.”
