I must say its been a busy week in Roundstone in the preparation for the Christmas period, and very social with all sorts of events, what with the Connemara Community Radio Christmas party in the Marconi, Clifden, on Friday then we had a fund raising dinner at my place Saturday night for the Niall Mellon Foundation. Thank you to those that attended and I gather the target has been reached through this final fund raiser, the target by the way was €5’000

Sunday at 12.45, Eamon O’Cuiv ( Minister for Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs) officially opened the new pier on Innishnee, what was a nice gesture Eamon asked to help him cut the ribbon, he called on John McDonaghs two small boys, Mary and shoulders grand sons, then the minister was greeted by santy and spider man, I have some great photos for the website, but will take a few days to put them up, owing for some reason to the loss of my internet connection, then eventually the minister went to the lower community Hall to officially open it cutting the Ribbon with another local child, with a blessing again from Father Breen, and surprise, Surprise, Senator Dodd made an appearance, he apparently came specially over from America for this occasion, considering he is very much involved with the US Senate Banking, Senator Dodd was one of the contenders for the presidency of America therefore very appreciated for his presence in our humble village accompanied with Cllr Jose Conneely representing the Galway County Council, there was also traditional music from Mickey Mac and friends, who gave great traditional music to set the seen and create a great atmosphere

Michael Reynolds RDC Chairman gave a speech on the importance of using the newly refurbished centre to its full potential, at the same time Michael asked the Minister to make a special presentation on the Councils behalf to Martin J. Conneely, for his work in bringing the hall to where it is now. There were some very good speeches, and interviews, which were recorded with Grannia O’Mally and Josephine de Courcey, which will I imagine go out on air on Josephine’s program

Our local ladies arranged for a super lunch for everybody in the audience cooked and helped in the new kitchen, Bridie Conneely, Martin J. Conneely, Geraldine Coyne, Ann Conneely, Catherine Burke, and Michael Conneely, and Bridie Davis, I am sure there were a few more, but that’s all I can remember, a superb opening, and a great effort on the new committee from RDC

Mean while, thanks to Pat Conneely, Santy and Spiderman (Shay Conneely) were boated across the bay to arrive at the hall and through the streets much to the delight of all the children making their way to the Santy Grotto in the top part of the hall, now this was a really superb bit of organisation from Maurice Ryan and his team, with a huge Christmas Tree all lit up, of which the said tree is now up by the flag poles outside the Roundstone House Hotel, there was a bouncing castle, and as I say a Santy grotto on the stage with Spiderman helping the kids up to be, greeted by John Leyne as a clown who escorted the kids to Santy to receive a present, not to go into too much detail, the hall was incredibly decked out, it must have been a child’s paradise in their eyes. Children from all the outskirts of Roundstone were there to see Santy, Maurice informs me this will now become an annual event

Maurice did ask me to thank all those that gave their free time to bring this event, to the success that it was. Santy of course, Shay Conneely in his superb Spiderman suit, John Leyne as the clown, goodness he was great, Siobhan Vaughan and Maura Ryan at the door, Theresa Welsh and family, Oliver Coyne, youth club member as the DJ young Liam Mitchell, Caroline King and Yvonne King, face painting, Geraldine Coyne, T shirt sales as well as working down in the lower hall in the kitchen, Sara Agalis for her paintings on the hall windows and of course Diamuid Vaughan, for his photos, he was also the other organizer, lets not forget to thank all the ticket sellers and the, the business’s who hosted the sheets, RDC, and last but not least the Local Lotto for their contribution.

Prizes:
The National School Sellers Prize’s, one went to Michael Conneely, Michael Reynolds, Tom Antony O’Donnell, Pat Welsh, and Chloe O’Neill the Hamper, all in all the community really came together to make sure the whole day was a huge success, this may sound a bit pompous, but I have not seen this kind of team work for these three events and support for a very long time and not just leaving the work to the few, congratulations to every body and a special thanks to the Minister who took time off on a Sunday for his support and participation.

Roundstone Water Update-Dec 12th 2008

Very quickly, I will not have the time to read out the Roundstone Water update, however the full letter will be on the website, when I can get my internet connection going again.

A meeting took place between Liam Gavin, Director of Water Services, Galway Co. Council and representatives of Roundstone Community Development Council Ltd (RCDC) on Tues 10th December. RDC raised a number of questions with the director of Services.

1) When will the new Supply be ready?

The director of Services confirmed that the new supply of water coming from the Carna/Kilkieran source will be fully operational by the end of January 2009. Progress has been good to date. He outlined that they are currently replacing the old reservoir on Errisbeg Hill. The existing reservoir has a capacity of 8 hours supply. The new tank will have the capacity of 500m3 (500,000 litres of water) or 32 hours supply. This will be four times greater than the existing reservoir. The council will undertake leak detection work in January in the Errisbeg area to further reduce loss of water through leakage.

2) Are we using water from the new source at the moment? And if so, has the boil water notice been lifted?

He stated that currently Roundstone is working off one small reservoir tank that is being filled intermittently from the new source and from the old Roundstone supply. The boil water notice has not been lifted and will remain in place until after the new supply is fully operational and only then after the Health Service Executive have re-tested the water and confirmed that it is free of any harmful bacteria. He confirmed that, all going well with the HSE testing, it would be mid February before the boil water notice would be lifted.

4) Will Gravity feed be enough to take the water to Erisbeg from the source in Kilkieran?

He stated that, at the moment during peak usage, gravity feed is not enough on its own to take the water to the reservoir. Consultants employed by the council have flow tested the water and are not satisfied with the results. They have identified that there is a problem restricting the water flow towards the top of the pipeline near the reservoir. In order to fix this problem they will have to re-lay the last 250metres of pipeline at a different angle to ease the restriction on the water flow. By doing so they feel they will fix the problem. Landowners affected by this are currently being contacted by the council. However, this work is not expected to delay the finish date as it will run concurrently with the ongoing work of replacing the reservoir.

Roundstone Development Council will continue to meet Galway County Council on a monthly basis to discuss the progress of the new Roundstone Water Supply. The next meeting will take place in mid January. If any member of the public wants to raise an issue or question on their behalf, please contact, Michael Reynolds, Nicholas Griffin or Bridget Davis and we will do so. Alternatively you can contact Liam Gavin, Director of Water Services, Galway Co. Council, directly by email at l.gavin@galwaycoco.ie.

Kings Gallery;

Last weekend Yvonne King, in her gallery had a very successful little Christmas celebration for the public last weekend relating to her jewellery and some new paintings, Yvonne has just rung me to say that there will be a repeat performance, this weekend coming, but with a difference, wine and mince pies, will be served with 50% off her hand made jewellery, and 10 % of her new works Saturday 20th 11am to 4pm and the Sunday 21st from 12.30 to 4pm “oh dear another party”, great.

Finally,

The Shamrock Bar will re-open on Friday, under the banner of Patrick McDonagh with his mother Mary, so its just to wish them all the luck in the world with their new venture, and to have a successful opening and future

Well that’s all from me for this week, Ann will be with you next week, god willing I will speak to you again after Christmas, so troops a very Happy Christmas, have fun,  watch the drink and drive, be safe,. To all in other parts of the world that are dedicated to following the Roundstone News, your support and comments for the year 2008 has been wonderful, please keep an eye on us for the year 2009. God bless you and thank you, have a great Christmas and see the New Year in, in style.

Hello to everybody out there, owing to the flu bug etc, news has been a little late, any way back on track.

Well we are coming into the Christmas festive season, golly it only feels like yesterday that we celebrated Christmas, however Roundstone is beginning to prepare for the Christmas period, kicking off last night with

Wine Tasting:
Michael Reynolds and family kept Ferron’s shop open a little longer for a wine tasting session and mince pies, great crac all together, I took a few photos of the occasion which will be on the website in a day or two.

Talking about Michael, this week will be the start of the Christmas windows competition, as was last year the winner will receive €100 worth of groceries, and a draw for one voter, so all you have to do is to go to Ferrons and get a window number and start to decorate, you now these decorated windows makes a great difference to the visual look of the village.

Also this week, will be the start of the erection of the street Christmas lights, I gather there are a good few new ideas, re these lights, which promises to be quite spectacular.

Christmas Party for the Kids;
A note for the Diary, on the 14th December, in the upper community Hall, in conjunction with Eamon O’Cuivs visit to officially open Innishnee Slip way, which by the way is at 12.45 then one hour later, give or take Eamon will open the new lower community Hall, Afterwards there will be a Children’s Christmas party, we are hoping that children from Ballyconneely, Cashel and Recess will come and join us here in Roundstone, €5 per child adults free, each child will meet Santy and be given a little Christmas gift, the exact time this will happen, I am not sure, update next week with Ann or you could ring Maurice Ryan who is one of the organizer’s

Eldon,s Hotel:
It has now become official that Eldon,s Hotel will be taken over for the year 2009 and will open on the 1st January 2009 under the banner of Bronagh Towler, just a little bit about Bronagh, this is a very qualified person in the Hotel Industry, she was with the Ballinahinch Castle for a time, and has been abroad quite extensively and London, her post was also with the Zetland hotel, now here’s a lady who knows about the west of Ireland and its tourism quirks, therefore it just remains to be said that we do wish her all the luck in the world, and I am sure Bronagh will bring in again yet new blood into the area as Lorrain and Michell did when they ran the Hotel. The big R so to speak, looks very positive for Roundstone, with the added bonus of the Mc Donagh family taking over the Shamrock, the saying what comes around, turns around, one door closes another opens.

Shoe Box’s
As part of the build up for the Christmas period, looking at the needy, Theresa had arranged the collection of shoe box presents, not knowing a lot about this system, we are going over to Ann at the Radio Station, to tell us a little more about this effort, so stay tuned and I will come back to you to finish off the news. Ann this great news about the hotel and a great relief to you, I am sure, apart from what the hotel represents for the village.

Scol Eainia:
Another note for your Diary, as from the 5th to the 12 December Scoil Eainia will be holding a book sale from 3pm to 4pm every day, now these books are for all ages, and the proceeds will go back into the school

Brid & Francie Sullivan:
Congratulations to Brid and Francie Sullivan of Innishnee on the birth of a baby boy just a few days ago, I don’t now what they are going to call the lad, but what is important he has arrived and is well

Francis & Eithna McDonald;
Also the same goes to Francis and Eithne McDonald they both were presented with a baby girl, they have named her Nieve. So congratulations to the two families’.

Rachel O’Donnell;
While we are congratulating the new borns, is to send good wishes on behalf of Ellen and Martin O’Donnell, to their daughter Rachel, who will be 13 years old tomorrow, yer yer Rachel “teenager at last”, Rachel is also part of the youth club as her brother and sister were before her. So have a great day Rachel and see you on Friday.

Tidy Towns;
Ann mentioned this next item some weeks ago re the tidy towns and a FAS scheme for Roundstone and Clifden, Donal Nee (Supervisor for FAS ), is still looking for those that are eligible i.e those that are in receipt of social welfare or farm assistance Allowance to come on board, I would of thought that in this present climate people would jump at the chance to have one week off one week on to work around the village, as this sort of Scheme will play a huge part in the Tidy Towns competition 2009, apart from the fact, FAS plays a huge part for the future in the upgrading and maintenance of the village, anyway if you feel you are eligible ring Donal at 087 8885775, it is quite possible the scheme could be lost if there is no one available. A serious effort is going to be made in the Competition for 2009, a few of us will be meeting PK. Joyce with his Clifden Tidy Towns committee to join forces and exchange ideas

Roundstone Gun Club:
As we come into the shooting season, the Gun Club has for the last few years have allocated certain grounds around the parish of Roundstone which have been preserved for the breeding of pheasants, and vermin shooting, our project seems to be working, what I am getting at, there seems to be outside guns coming into the area, and we are slightly afraid that the birds will be shot, perhaps not realizing anything about our project, there fore we would request that if anybody wants to shoot just to make contact with a Roundstone member. We now have a very fine site for clay pigeon shooting, which will be starting again soon, just a thought perhaps it could be an idea for the clubs to come together and work together in one way or another.

Barbara Joyce:
Died in St Anne’s a week ago, she was a resident of Roundstone for a number of years, memories are always good to have of a departed one, for me being no relation at all, but my memory of her is very alive in the way she treated my children when they were very small, Anne Gorham at that time was helping us in taking them out for walks, Barbara would always stop Anne, to chat with them and put two shillings into their grubby little hands and say nice thing to them, a small memory, but a nice one to a person who had her own personal burdens to carry. May she rest in peace?

Cunningham Sound;
The Cunningham sound show which was held last Saturday in the Station House Theatre, Clifden, what a show that was with Brian Cunningham and his family, with incredible talented musicians from the area under on roof, just shows you what Connemara can produce, by the way they are doing another show on the 3rd Janauary, boo hoo, its already sold out or so I am told.

That’s all from me for this week, thank you for listening, don’t economise during this so called recession and cold weather with the price of electricity to keep warm, as some people are doing, (I’m guilty) maybe give up the fags or what ever and put the money to warmth