It always nice to start the news on a nice note, but tonight is not the case, and I might get into trouble for putting this out over the air, but coming into Roundstone in the dark in my car this evening from the Galway side, the amount of pot holes I crashed into, not only potently destroying my tyres, but the whole tracking system, which by the way were re tracked just a few days ago, so people beware of these holes more so at night time, they are dangerous trying to avoid them, Galway County Council, please, I call upon you for a permanent structure of this part of the road, filling the holes is not enough, its only temporary.

Caste Iron Buoy:
To kick off this is an interesting story of an observant person, this slightly embarrassed person came to my place on Friday, to say that he thinks that there could be a potential war bomb that had drifted on to dogs Bay, and should be reported to the authorities, but was not sure how to go about it to cut a long story short, I took my camera to photograph it, my first reaction that it was a Caste Iron Buoy, but what made it a little suspect, was at the base there was pipe that looked as if it was screwed on, which potently there could have been a mechanism of some sort,  anyway I passed on the photos to Tommy Sullivan who in turn got in touch with some member from the Army Corps in Clifden to have a look at it, he was almost sure that it indeed it was a buoy, but was not 100% convinced, therefore the Guards were informed and eventually an expert was called in and so, it was confirmed, that it was in fact an old type of caste iron buoy and was of no danger.

The point of this tale is that never be afraid or embarrassed of telling some body about any form of an unidentifiable object, however ridiculous it may seem to you, it might just save some one’s life, or possibly an object of art, worth thousands, anyway all is well, its deemed quite harmless. It was quite the right thing to do to make a report of some thing that one is not sure of. Well done to that person.

Twinning:
It’s the 5th Anniversary since Roundstone Twinned with Noyelles Sous Lens, France, and I am glad to say that at last the fabrication of twinning pole mounted signs will be erected on both ends of the village.

Talking about Noyelles Sous Lens, (our twinned village) in the first week of June there will be about 30 from Noyelles coming to stay in Roundstone for a week, to celebrate the 5th anniversary, accompanied by the new Mayor Alain Roger,  then from the 2nd April to the 12th April ten young people from the Roundstone Youth Club are invited to interact with the French young for a week, then in the beginning of September a delegation from Roundstone will be going to Noyelles for a weekend of celebrations with the French youth and a tree planting ceremony to mark the five years with Roundstone as a twinned village

Early June should be a good start to the tourist season.

Tidy Towns:
I have just got word that the judicator’s will be starting in June for the Tidy Town Competition, so there is no time like the present to get our act together, regular meetings of the Tidy town committee in Roundstone are meeting on a regular basis, and in fact through the FAS scheme work is very much on going, with general tidy ups, creation of walled gardens in prominent parts of the village. This sort of tidy up and creation must not just be left to the few, its up to all of us as a community to be creative, so if any body in Roundstone has ideas of what they think should be done to give us a few more brownie points for the year 2009, either do it, or you could suggest ideas to me or Michael Ferron, Paddy the yank, Donal Nee, we are lucky to have Donal as the FAS supervisor, because we do have 6 lads with Donal who have particular talent’s in one way or another, I am sure we give our thanks to the representatives of the Galway County Council for Connemara that we are lucky in Roundstone to have such a Scheme as this.

So what can I say let’s go for it this year and really do our best for 2009 for the tidy Town’s.

www.roundstone.ie:
The New brochure for Roundstone will be finished by the end of this week, it contains a lot more information than the one that we did two years ago, also for this the completed brochure will have a page of its own on the website, which will give it a much wider circulation, so folks the 2009 subscription for all the Roundstone business’s is now due, you won’t win if your not in. I might also just mention if any body is interested I have posted on the website the new Roundstone Arts week poster for the year 2009, in the hope I can raise enough money for the Arts week, anyway the poster is very different, it’s from a painting by Philip Morrison who was part of the residency at Errisbeg House last year.

We are also looking at the creation of a possible calendar of Roundstone Community photographs, in fact its in progress; these will be photos that were taken over the last ten years. So now you know where the money is going, and the importance of getting in the 2009 subscriptions in, if we are going to survive visitor wise we have to make every effort that we are very much alive in this very unique village.

We are well and truly over the festive season, lights are down, Christmas trees gone and we are now well into January, with some relief I have to say, what with all the activities that we have had, however Roundstone is getting active again, its wonderful to still see visitors in our area, enhanced by Eldon’s remaining open for the bedrooms, Broughner was telling me she has had a lot of people staying, perhaps now we can really say that Roundstone does not shut down for the winter, time will tell, and we will have to promote Roundstone more through the website, so show a finger to this so called recession. We also have some more activities for the winter for example through the,

Shamrock Bar;
It’s been a few years now since we have had a 25 card drive in the village, in the shamrock Bar as from this Wednesday, and every Wednesday right through to the end of February the card drive is back commencing at 8pm.

Murder Mystries:
This Saturday coming we have the first murder mystery Dinner in Roundstone at my place for 10 invited guests, which is already booked out, if this works well we will try to have a few more to keep us entertained for the winter, and who knows we might be able to do murder Mystery weekends, its some thing different anyway.

Keep fit Classes:
Through popular demand, the exercise classes with Leanne are back again in Roundstone, starting this Wednesday i.e. the 14th January at 7pm, in the community Hall, not sure if these classes will go right through the winter, so your best bet is to make direct contact with Leanne on 0863278011

Beach Clean Up:
A beach clean up on dogs bay took place yesterday afternoon, even though it was announced in the church that the clean up was cancelled, I just went down in the afternoon to see the state of the beach and as luck would have it, James Sullivan from Clifden and one of our regular visitors Doctor Proud were out walking, so we decided to do a bit of work, we pulled in from the beach a mass of fishing nets, the reason why I mention this, the nets we pulled up are in perfect condition not a tear in it, and yards of it, I would imagine very expensive, is there anybody out there who could make use of it, there are two types of netting pulled up tidily on the bank, it would be a shame to have it dumped, if there is some one out just go and get it, I will give it a week before arrangements made to have it dumped. Thanks to Tommy Sullivan, our community Warden, and Galway County Council who has arranged to have the rubbish taken away from the Dogs Bay car park

Michael Mullen:
Sadly after a long illness, Michael Mullen, brother to Pat and Tom & John Mullen passed away at home yesterday mass will be in BallyConneely and eventually buried in Gurteen.

Our condolences to the immediate family, not only from the village but on a personal note to you John, Pat, Tom and Michael’s wife Dot.

May he rest in peace?

Shamrock:
Just to end off, and perhaps some one can help me here, its amazing the questions one receives through the website, for example, I received an email this morning from England, from a person who apparently loves Ireland and Roundstone with a request and I quote, “Do you have any ideas for a nice Irish flower for my button Hole and my Ushers on my wedding day, which is on the 7th February in London, I can not find any Shamrock”

I would really love to respond to this question, Is there in fact another flower for the button hole, apart from the carnation and the Rose that is very Irish,? Please let me know as soon as you can

I hope everybody had a good Christmas, and saw the year in appropriately, which was helped by this good crisp weather

News was a little scarce, during the Christmas week, we did have the usual visits to various parts of Roundstone with Santy wishing everybody a good one, but the best that sticks out in my mind was with the National School Children, it was the way that Santy was received by the kids, with songs and a play, but this year Santy gave a special present to two little Lads, Cathal O’Donnell and Allan Conneely who had off their own bat had arranged to have the play ground cleaned up of litter that was left around before Christmas. Photos of the children from the National School are now on the Roundstone website

Eldon’s Hotel:
Re opened on Wednesday of this week under new management with a flying start, and glad to say the Hotel will remain open over the winter

Decorated Windows:
The result of the best decorated Christmas window was won by Martina Conneelly, second prize went to Dillon King and the voter’s prize went to Meadhbh Ryan. Michael Reynolds who sponsored the whole event would like to thank all those that made a serious effort this year with their decorations

The youth club draw:
The hamper sponsored by Noreen Casey from Clifden held on Wednesday New Years Eve evening in the Shamrock, was won by Miss Mary Coyne, daughter of Oliver and Eileen Coyne from Whit’s End.

Lotto Hamper:
Was won by Rosie Mannion, there were in fact just under 100 prizes to be won that night

Shamrock Bar;
Provided music every night through the festive season, which was very badly needed considering the amount of visitors around this year, and my thanks to Mary and Patrick for providing sandwiches for the Roundstone Gun Club. So all in all the business’s had a very busy time in Roundstone.

Planning Permission;
Patrick Conneely of Letterdyffe is still trying for planning permission after 4 years.   Maybe 2009 will be good for you Patrick you too as a local should have top priority. A new premise has just popped up on the Gurteen side of the village and it certainly is not in keeping with rural Ireland, or Roundstone. It amazes me as to how these unusual types of houses get planning and not even local, when our own local lads who want to build a home for themselves get turned down.  Something is definitely wrong.  No wonder we are in the state we are in.

Coursing for Hares:
We had an incident yesterday Sunday on Dogs Bay and Gurteen, it’s the same old story that was related over the last few months, of the collecting of wild hares to bring to another part of Ireland, for sport for these dogs to kill a trapped Hare in the so called controlled conditions of the said sport.

The Dogs Bay / Gurteen took a new twist; there were people who decided to do some coursing for rabbits with dogs on the commonage of Gurteen, as it happened they where duly sent packing, under protest

The point of my tale is that, Gurteen and Dogs Bay are protected environments

We tried to explain, that they had no right to come to this area, to indulge in this sport.

Please don’t get me wrong, Coursing is an age old sport, and naturally I have no right to protest in this so called culture, but it has to be under the proper set rules and conditions, it can not be tolerated to have a sport of this kind on our beaches or commonage. To make matters worse there were many visitors who were appalled as to what they had witnessed.

Gurteen / Dogs Bay are conservation areas, for its Marron grass, wild life and Fauna, and as a tourist walking attraction.

To see dogs with their handlers, carrying a carcass of a rabbit killed by the dogs is one thing but blatantly having the dead Rabbit on display in full public view, this is not what the beach committee represents. I might also add the Hares of Gurteen are reasonably tame, I can not see why these guys don’t take the dogs to the hills, if they really must hunt Hares or Rabbits, these guys were potently trespassing, be assured we will be watching to make sure this dose not happen again, its our community as a whole to be vigilant, so that this type of carry on does not escalate. Be warned to those concerned you can and will be prosecuted under the new beach bye laws 2009

Paddy Folan:
A special get well to Paddy from Innishnee who is recovering in the Galway Hospital with a bad flu bug. Paddy is a wonderful man; he is in his late years, but loves life and certainly lives it to the full, so get well soon Paddy.

Births:
Congratulations to Kathleen Davis and her Husband Mark Joyce on the birth of their baby girl Alice and now sister too little Sadie.

Well there you are the news has been a little late for the website, owing to the flu bug that has hit Roundstone quite hard. So on behalf of Ann and my self we would like to wish all those that listen to us and read about us a very happy and prosperous new year and the “finger to the recession”