Well, we are coming into the Christmas period with lots of things happening within the next few weeks in Roundstone, I am already getting in the spirit, this week it seems, as if we are already there.
Roundstone Debs 22nd November:
Last Thursday we had six from Roundstone who all met up in Cifden for their Debs Ball, Martin Paul O’Donnell, Patrick Conneely, David Mc Donagh, Michael Sullivan, Megan Welsh, Joseph Mannion, and Lisa Coyne, I must say they looked really the part, and so well dressed, I felt a little nostalgic seeing these guys, as they have been part of my life over the years as they are know the last of that generation through the Roundstone Youth Club, goodness what fun we had over the years, now they are all grown up, and going their own paths, oh well at least its nice to know that they will be friends for a long time, and at least I have had the privilege of being involved in their young lives in one form or another, and I really mean that, smashing kids. Some photographs are up on the Roundstone website under “photo events”
Youth club:
Talking about youth club members in Roundstone we have started a new group of young people who wish to continue with the Roundstone Youth Club, the new group consists of 12 members, with Divina Joyce as youth chair person, Louise king as Youth Secretary, and Lucy Mannion as youth Treasurer, and Lucy by the way is carrying on the Mannion tradition of her elder brother, who is a past PRO member of the youth club, and not to forget Theresa Mannion.

Talking about the Mannion family, Rosie who started a hair dressing salon in Roundstone, has now been asked to hair style for the Irish soap Ros Na Ruan cast, we can certainly turn them out in Roundstone, well done Rosie

Photo’s of a Mink & a Pine Martin:

A Mink

A Pine Martin

This year instead of a Christmas Fair it is their wish to have a cake sale and brick a brac on the 16th December, with a raffle and in the shops there are now lines at €2.00 a line for sale for a large Hamper and a twenty euro voucher.The results of the €2.00 a line winner, will be held on the 16th December at the end of the cake and brick a brac sale of which much monies are needed for the club to be raised for the year 2008.

Talking about the Youth Club, Ann last week put out an appeal for adults to come forward to offer to help out once a month on a rota basis, so far three have responded, we still need a few more, so having said that, with the help of the new regional Faroige youth officer, Jerry Prior, there will be a small training, actually its an introduction as to how help can be given to Geraldine and myself, on the 15th December 10am for a few hours, at Errisbeg House. Please, any parent who would help us let me know, the youth club plays a very important role in Community life, and would hate to see it die, so please your help is needed

Word of warning:
To all businesses, i.e. bed and breakfast, Hotels, Restaurants etc, there are very attractive Emails being circulated offering bookings very much out of season, which are quite financially rewarding, what I am getting at, there are people out there wishing to make bookings in the name of travel agents and I have to add private people of various sorts, I my self have had a few, one in particular made me a little wary , this was a dinner for 12 people in a private house and to arrange accommodation in January for 10days, and to have dinner with me for four nights, this looked good, so in their first Email, I responded by saying , this could be done, but would suggest that you check out the Roundstone website for accommodation and other possible restaurants, their response got better with a budget, not that enormous, but enough to wet my appetite but reading on, what got me thinking, was they had not my name, in their response to my email which gets my goat up straight away they did not address me by my name, that’s one point, and secondly on top of the emails where it is says from and to, they did not show my address, so I spoke to a friend of mine who apparently has had the same situation, they did some checking, what ever it is these people are playing at, they are completely bogus, and such a time and expense waster. I thought I would put this out, as it is frustrating when one is trying to earn a living, and have some thing good for the village.

Gurteen Grave yard:
Last Sunday as you know we had a mass for the dead in the grave yard, of which a great effort was made to clean the place up, as an added bonus we now have some lovely steps in the centre of the grave yard going up the hill made out of railway sleepers, this has been made possible with FAS, with John Conneely and Stephan Grealish working away they are both doing a mighty job at that. Some photos of the ceremony are up on the website.

Galway County Council:
Also as part of the clean up around the area, thanks to the Galway County Council, all down my lane to the cottages, and heading down to O’Dowd’s with Tom Conneelly, who now represents the GCC, Tom did the cutting of the over hanging branches and the mowing of the edges, has done a fantastic job, this work has now allowed us to clear all the streams, to arrest the some times flooding. Maybe I am talking out of turn here, but as you know we have John Connelly representing the GCC who over the years has looked after our streets, now we have another local man, Tom, for the time being representing us, I think this is good news.

R.D.C:
A note for your diary, RDC will be holding their annual AGM, on the 10th December in the lower community all at 8.30 pm, and every body should make an effort to attend.

Letters to all household owners will be sent out on Wednesday of this week alerting everybody of the AGM and at the same time a ballot paper to select two nominations for the new council, with the closing date, and collection point, which will be by the way at the post office at Ferron’s, then the new council will be elected at the AGM.

Christmas Lights:
Another date for the Diary on Saturday 8st of December, a table quiz is to be held at Eldon’s Hotel, in aid of the Christmas lights for the village at 9pm, with the usual raffle and light entertainment, to book tables, and we need lots of them, it makes it more fun, just contact myself or Michael Reynolds, and talking about Christmas lights work will be starting this Wednesday to strip the old lights down, and next week permanent power points will be erected in the village thanks to Tommy and John Sheridan

Wine Tasting at Ferrons:
Last Saturday Michael Reynolds and his family gave a wine tasting in Ferron’s shop, to introduce a selection of relatively unknown wine brands to educate our palate, it was a rather nice evening with locals and visitors alike, you never now what will happen in Roundstone next, certainly these social occasions shortens the winter a bit, well done the Reynolds family. Some photos can be seen on the website.

Roisin Ferron:
To end off on a nice note, our congratulations to Roisin Ferron who has just announced her engagement last week to Kevin Burke, Kevin hails from co Roscommon, but will be living in Galway, their wedding date is set for September 2008, so what can we say, congratulations to you both, we hope you both will have a very happy life together, “two more to go Catherine and Michael”

Keep smiling, good night and god bless
Slain Argus Banoc

We have had a little bit of luck in the village, well as far as I am concerned it’s a good one, a certain gentleman who purchased the step house, brought in some tree surgeons to clean up the path way from the village to the protestant church, it looks fantastically tidy, with great light, and as an added bonus there will also be the re building of the wall, all the way up which certainly enhances the church, actually this effort will certainly also help us for next years tidy towns competition, apart from the fact it will be much easier to keep it tidy at all times, OK, this tidy up certainly is an advantage for the new owners of the step house site, , but it works both ways.

Unfolding Ideas / folding Landscapes:
In Association with NUI Galway the season of various lectures in the Roundstone community Hall will begin again on the 23rd November, with a talk on digital Imaging of Medieval Irish Monuments, Recovering the past with the Technologies of the future, and these lectures on various subjects will continue once a month to the end of April 2008. Details of further events will be on the Roundstone.ie Website, under University Events
Mink: You may remember from two weeks ago I put out on air a plea from the Galway University, for anybody who found or killed some mink to let me know, so that they could be frozen, and sent to the university, for investigation, well my plea did not go unheard, I got a phone call, Tuesday evening a mink that had just been knocked by a car, it was, picked and bagged it, handed it over the next morning to James Conneely (School bus driver), for me to pick up, and have it sent to the university forthwith, unfortunately when I opened the sack it was in fact an otter, which makes me think that there are people out there that do not know what a mink looks like, therefore it might not be a bad idea, that if you do have a computer a goggle search on the internet and just write in the word MINK, there are a few photos of what they look like, so people keep your eyes peeled, for these little horrors and hopefully through the university, they might come up with a safe solution to the control of these Mink Problem.

Eldons Hotel:
Next Saturday, a date for the Diary, Eldon’s is hosting a table Quiz in aid of cancer followed with music from John Joe Ford and Mike Fahy. So if anybody wants to have a table of four, just contact the hotel. Come to think of it fair play to Eldon’s who are making a great effort to keep Roundstone alive through the winter, with events such as, Murder Mystery Weekend, with Murder Mystery Themes. New Years Eve Package”08″ Cards, Texas Hold’em, every Friday night through the winter. I am sure every body’s support would be appreciated; also one must not forget the effort that the shops, bars etc, also remaining open to keep Roundstone alive.

Roundstone Youth Club:
The Youth Club, will be in action this coming Friday, actually talking about the youth Club, every year around Easter time we take the young to France to our twinned village, Noyelles Sous Lens, but since I have a complete new group and they would be a little too young for this year, so having made contact with the Mayor of Noyelles, it was decided that it would be a nice idea to take the adults for a week to show them the village and to experience what their children gained by the trips over the last five years. If any parent would like come this year, the dates would be the 28th March and back on the 6th April 2008, just let me know, limited to 10 persons, including myself.

Talking about grave yards, also on the 18th November 2.30 pm, we will also have prayers and a mass on the Gurteen Bay Grave yard with our own Father McCarthy

Radio Programme:
Some years ago we had a history night about Roundstone with the late Kitty Barlow and Pat McDonagh with a host of other people which was incidentally archived by the Connemara Community Radio, Josephine de Courcey will do a re run of that evening, with the help of Anne to organize another such event, which will be open to anybody. Ann will give a date and more information on this potently interesting evening next Monday on news bulletin .
Christmas Lights; There will be a public meeting in Eldon’s Hotel this Wednesday 8pm to discuss the Christmas lights for the village, now, you may know or not know certain funds have been collected for new lights, and we do need community input as to the lighting up of the village for the Christmas season, so it would be appreciated for local input on their erection / instillation, so that’s this Wednesday 14th 8pm at Eldon’s.
Noreen Heanue: To end off on one or two nice notes, birthday wishes to Noreen Heanue, who is a cousin to Anne Conneely, Noreen lives in London and is proud of the fact that she was born the same day as Prince Charles, but more importantly Noreen is an avid listener to the Roundstone News, in fact is a great fan of the Community Radio all together, so hey what can I say, Noreen keep listening, and hope you have a great birthday. It’s always nice to know that there are people out there across the water that listens to us, one no longer gets the feeling that we are just talking to our selves.

O’Donnell Familly:
Our congratulations to Marie and Anna O’Donnell who have both graduated within the last few days, Marie is now with a firm of accountants KMPG, and Anna is with Price Waterhouse, well done girls, this is defiantly one for Roundstone, at the same time we must not forget Dad, Martin celebrated his birthday today, no I won’t or can’t divulge his age, he is bigger than me, however Martin, suffice to say, you can still call me dad, I am streets ahead of you, but hey, life is great, you have a great family, enjoy them and a very Happy birthday, see you for a pint or two.

Sonia Matz:
Just on more thing which dose not totally relate to Roundstone, well actually that’s not strictly true, the Matz, family have an association with Roundstone, what I am getting at is, that Julian rang me this evening and asked me to put out on air a fund raiser in Clifden 18th November at the Atlantic Hotel to raise funds for his mother Sonia, who by the way is a serious cancer patient, funds are needed for her to go out to Germany to a special Cancer Clinic, it is hoped enough money will be raised for her to go to Germany, and any surplus monies will be donated to another cancer charity, I feel sure we will support this fund raiser.
Slain Argus Banoc