Ho Ho Ho Santa is on his way, we have had a marvellous week in Roundstone. Tonight’s news is very much orientated around Christmas of course
Youth Club Raffle:
The Youth club draw at €2.00 a line took place on the 21st during our youth club meeting, the Hamper went to John Mongan, the €20 voucher, and actually it was cash that went to Mary Oney, the Necklace went to Mary McDonagh and her son Christopher won the cuddly Teddy Bear, that’s one Christmas present less Chris for one of your nephews. Just under five hundred euros was collected so a huge thanks to the business for hosting the sheets, and to all those that supported the youth club for badly needed funds.
Santa visits Roundstone
Through the lotto and Ann Conneelly, a Cadillac was hired to take Santa around to the national school to entertain the kids as did the kids entertained Santa, and then on to the tour of the village wishing everybody a merry Christmas, he was certainly the part, no one had a clue who he was, when asked who is the Santa the mystery still holds, suffice to say he came all the way over from Montana
Youth Mass:
November 22nd 2007 was the Deb’s night for the last of the senior members of the Roundstone Youth club of their generation over the last ten years.
The reason why I am telling you this is that as we all know, the kids of today, even 10 years back tell you nothing.
I am guilty in asking Father McCarthy to associate this mid night mass for the Roundstone young people and their accomplishments, not only through the Youth club, but their every day life, followed by Clare King with her Sanos Dancing, music with Michael Connolly, and yet again when the mass is over, Santa will be outside the church to wish everybody happy Christmas

Christmas Tree:
Sunday at 6pm, on a slightly blowie evening in Roundstone we had a humble ceremony of putting red ribbons on to the Christmas tree in memory of all those that had passed away, the tree was then blessed by father McCarthy, a few carols were sung, and could you beat it another visit from Santa baring gifts for the children, what a busy man
Dogs Bay Seal:
Attaching some pics we took of the baby grey seal that Margaret and I found washed up on dogs bay beach. He was very alive but seemed to be completely disorientated and very weak and tired. The seal sanctuary advised us to take him home if we could and get him to a vet as quickly as possible. So we brought him to Maurice O’Scannell who examined him, he reckoned he was dehydrated, so we had to hold him down while Maurice got him to swallow some fluids through a tube. Not as easy as it sounds, they are strong little things and could give you a nasty bite. Anyway, the seal sanctuary at first said they could pick him up but now they have phoned us back to ask can we get him to Ballinasloe tomorrow and they will meet us there. It was touch and go whether he would survive the night in the vets any way next morning 9am Nicky and Margaret took him to Ballinasloe!!!
the good news is that he has survived therefore when he is well enough they will bring him back to dogs bay and release him there. I nice little bit of Christmas news, in fact the full story will be up on the website under the news section written by Nicky and Margaret, with photos of the event

Full story of the rescued Seal on Dogs Bay
On Thursday 20th Dec., Margaret and I took the dog ‘Bella’ for a walk on Dogs Bay. It was about 4.30pm, light was fading and the tide was about halfway out. We reached the end of the beach at Dog’s Bay and turned back. On our return we started to pick up the plastic debris entangled in weed and scattered along the beach, we were walking close to the bank when we came upon a little seal pup that had crawled from the water almost up to the marron grass. It was obvious that it was tired, helpless and clearly in need of assistance, the marks were still visible where it had come up on the sand some hours before and there were marks in the sand where it had floundered back and forth helpless and alone for some time. We could tell that it was very weak and exhausted. We quickly removed Bella from the scene and Margaret hurried back to the car to drive to Roundstone, she called the seal sanctuary for advice on what we should do. I waited on the beach with the Seal pup. While Margaret was gone,
Rosie Mac Gurren and Jemima Maxwell came along and offered to help, at this stage it was quite dark and they went to get a torch. Margaret returned with the dog cage, a torch and several thick bath towels and covers, she had been advised to approach with caution as it would bite. Jemima and Rosie returned with another torch and very quickly with the help of the girls, we managed to roll it in the towels and get it in the dog cage. It was quite a feat carrying it across the beach and we were very grateful for Jemima and Rosie’s assistance
The Seal Sanctuary advised us if possible to get it checked by a Vet so we phoned Western Veterinary and by 7:00pm the seal pup was being checked at their clinic by Maurice O’Scannell. It was dehydrated and was given special fluids through a tube and an antibiotic injection, otherwise it was in fairly good condition although somewhat exhausted, it kept yawning and just wanted to sleep after all the trauma. Margaret was worried that she may die of shock being taken from the wild, but the next morning she was quite alert and ready for the next stage of her journey. The Sanctuary phoned to say they could not get any Volunteers at this time to collect her, so Margaret and Niall picked her up from West Vet the following morning and by 10:00am she was on her way to Balliansloe where the Seal Sanctuary Volunteers arranged to pick her up. She was checked over again and found to be dehydrated and  very  underweight for her age and was given more special fluids through a tube before being placed in a more comfortable Seal transporter and was finally on her way  to the Seal Sanctuary at ‘An Clochan, Tobergregan, Garristown, Co Dublin’.  She was a fully weaned pup and we were reassured we had taken the right decision to help her as she was very weak and would not have survived the night.
She is now in the seal sanctuary in Dublin where she will remain until she regains her strength and proper weight and is ready to be returned to the wild. She will be released in the Dogs Bay area where she was found. The seal sanctuary will keep us up to date on her return to full health….
The Seal Sanctuary has an Education Officer who will be in the Galway area after Christmas. She is willing to give talks to schools or groups who are interested. For more information on this free service phone the Dublin number below or check the Irish Seal Sanctuary website.
If you find a stranded seal act without delay, do not ignore the situation and do not put it back in the water.  Keep dogs away and do not stress it by getting too close. Get professional help, contact the Irish Seal Sanctuary phone 01 8354370 or Animal Rescue for immediate advice 087 2499849   or contact 086 6092354
086 2619935
Cloths Collection:
There will be another cloths collection on the 8th January to be sent out to Africa, so between now and the 8th if you have any old cloths, just leave them down by the community Hall, and I will place them inside the door ready for collection.
Well that’s all from me for this week, I wish every body a very happy and safe Christmas, and if you can’t be good, just be careful, and best wishes to the Community Radio Gang, and the best of luck for the year 2008, and keep up the good work, by the way, there will be no collection of the recycle bags tomorrow, these will be picked up on the 8th January, however, the green bags will be collected on the 29th December. To all our listeners from all over the world, I love you guys keep listening.

Good evening everybody and welcome to the Connemara Community Radio, this is Richard de Stacpoole bringing you some news and updates from Roundstone.I have a title for my news’s tonight, its called “mixed bag”, trust me the news is very mixed this week, it’s actually been a strange week altogether.

Summerfest;
Congratulations to the Summerfest committee, on a recent visit to Inishmore the Summerfest committee made a presentation of a cheque for €4,000 euros to the Aran Islands life boat Committee, this came about by the sale of T-shirts, rattling of buckets and monies from their various events during the summer, and further donations will be made to the Clifden RNLI, and to the Water Safety Council. Well done guys.

Paddy the Yank:
Paddy the Yank’s Granddaughter, Maeve Ryan Joerss, was born to Tracy (nee McDonagh) and Erik Joerss on Monday, December 3, 2007 at 10:05am in Brooklyn, New York. She was born 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 21 inches long. Grandpa and Grandma (Philomena from Castleblakeney) are enjoying every minute with their first grandchild. The family is looking forward to taking her to her first Pony Show in Roundstone in July.

She was named Maeve because Maeve was the Queen of Connacht. Her middle name, Ryan, is her Grandmother Philomena’s maiden name, this little girl will have quite a history behind her, at the same time, I hear on the grape vine that Roy Griffin was able to send an Email to Paddy the yank to congratulate him for the very first time. Roy’s excitement with this incredible accomplishment was so intense, to the extent he rang Paddy to see if he had received the e.mail, I wonder who was the most excited, Paddy with his new granddaughter or Roy and his first sent email, hey you tell me.
Anyway the whole village wishes little Maeve for a long and happy life, well done Tracy and Erik, yer yer Paddy, congratulations to you as well, what’s the betting we will have a bonnie baby competition next year.

Evelyn Woods / O’Niell
Evelyn and Kevin O Neil congratulations to them on the birth of your new son, whom they have named “Evian James” and of course to the grand parents Mary and Paddy Woods, ehm forth Grand child, I think Mary and Paddy

Paul Delapp:
Birthday wishes to Paul Delapp who reached his 21st Birthday today, although most of us have already wished him well, with a great little party on Saturday, one party of which we will not go in to; trust me it was fun, so no harm in saying happy birthday again to you Paul.

Margaret Conneely:
Our condolences to Margaret Conneely on the loss of her brother John Cannavan who died on Tuesday, and was buried on Friday and of course our sympathy’s to all the immediate family’s goes out to you. May Johnny Cannavan rest in peace?
Also our condolences, to Michael Mahon on the tragic and untimely death of his sister Noreen, in fact to all the immediate family. May Noreen rest in peace

Table quiz:
On Saturday a table quiz was held in Eldon’s, as a fund raiser for the purchasing of Christmas lights for the village, I have to say we had a record amount of tables, with fun contestants, first prize went to Thomas Kings team “Tie one on” and second went to Anne Conneely’s team, “The no hopers” oh boy what a night, anyway thanks to all those who entered and am delighted to say just over €500 was raised.

Talking about lights work started yesterday to put the lights up, but typical Murphy’s law, the high Mac broke down, so work had to stop for the time being, but knowing Sean, that will be remedied still on the subject of lights, there are now a few windows that have entered into Michael Reynolds competition for the best dressed Christmas windows, this always brings a bit of colour into the village. Thanks to Sean Mullen and Kevin a tree will be delivered to Roundstone for the flag pole square, tomorrow. Come to think of it Sean will be in Roundstone with a few trees within the next few days, mean while I was able to catch Sean in Clifden to day selling his trees by the AllCock and Brown, he informed me he delivers for free, so there you are folks
The lights are in fact now up, and will be turned on formally in a day or two Roundstone will be well decorated by the end of the week, I hope

RDC:
Tonight at 8.30, we have the Community Council AGM, and at the same time we will have the results from the Ballot box results for a new community council committee, of which Ann will give you all the details of the results next Wednesday. How ever, the closing date was last Friday, but there a mess up at the postal sorting office, some received their ballot papers late, therefore it was extended until this evening five o’clock, Garda John Conneely will do the counting and seal the results in an envelope, and hand over the sealed envelope at the AGM. The new committee, is still not decided as yet, however there were 14 nominees, these will have to approached as to whether they want to join the council, we will have another public meeting as to their election.

A word of warning we have the most incredible pot holes coming in to the village, really starting from Denis Keane’s just beyond Bill Whelan’s House these are difficult to spot until one is in them, yours truly got caught today in one of them, so be vigilant driving, you know it makes one quite mad the way our roads are neglected, a few phone calls to the Galway County Council will have to be made, so people don’t leave it to other people to get on the phone, please lets do it ourselves.

I told you its been a strange few weeks so far, and personally I feel a little low, I would like to end off this evening, to leave every body with a little thought, you know what with all the hustle and bustle, the excitement and parties over the Christmas period, please don’t get me wrong, I love the buzz, I am sure we will give a thought to all those that have lost their loved ones, just lately, its going to be a sad Christmas time for some people, as well as for those that are on their own, this is not just Roundstone its all over. I do not have to insult anybody’s intelligence for you to know where I am coming from, especially in our own village and surrounding areas at this very moment.