Local Notes: Ukrainians feature prominently in Good Friday Clean-up in Ballyhaunis
Members of the Ukrainian community who took part in the Good Friday Clean-up in Ballyhaunis.
Ballyhaunis is looking cleaner after the annual Good Friday litter pick organised by Ballyhaunis Tidy Towns.
Among the volunteers out early to collect litter in the vicinity of the library carpark and riverbank adjacent to the river were a group of local Ukrainians led by Sasha Taraniuk.
The group, which frequently assists in Tidy Towns work, collected half a dozen bags of litter before crossing Bridge Street to pick litter around the bridge and Friary field.
According to Ballyhaunis Tidy Towns, the good weather of Good Friday morning drew a strong turnout of volunteers who were provided with bags, pickers and gloves when they met at an assembly point in the Community Hall. A metal skip was provided by Mayo County Council to take away the bags collected.
Mayo TD Michael Ring will cut the ribbon to mark the formal reopening of Ballyhaunis Community Hall and its community cinema at lunchtime on Saturday, May 4th.
A programme of events is planned for the event, which is five years since the day that Deputy Ring, then Minister for Rural Affairs, announced the granting of LEADER funds to support the refurbishment of the building. The operator of the hall, Ballyhaunis Community Council, is planning a programme of entertainment and refreshments for the event.
Meanwhile, the Community Council is also running a series of Community Education courses for 2024, on furniture upcycling/upholstery and needle work to enable locals to repair rather than discard their clothes. These courses will be run at the hall and are supported by Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board. In recent years, the Community Council has run well attended programmes in gardening, clothes repair and bicycle maintenance.
The former Scouts Den “needs removing and replacing with a new functional building”, while the train station car park needs to be extended. That’s according to Fianna Fail local election candidate Stephen Nolan who has also pointed to the need for lighting on the railway bridge towards the Devlis side of town. This bridge has no lighting and is extremely dark at nighttime. If lighting is installed, it would be of huge safety benefit to both traffic and pedestrians.
As for the train car park, it “needs to be extended urgently as its capacity is extremely limited for current needs,” said Nolan.
“It is unsafe and dangerous as cars sometimes need to reverse out on to the main road due to the car park being full," he remarked.
A canvass of some of Ballyhaunis’ largest housing estates has thrown up a series of issues for local Fine Gael election candidate Alma Gallagher.
Residents of the Maples, Hazelwood and Hazeldown areas want an increase in lighting along the secondary road into estates to ensure safety of pedestrians. They also want a relocation of Scoil Iosa school bus collection point from the main Knock Road to a safer location beside the full-day creche facility, according to Ms Gallagher. Likewise, they seek increased youth facilities and continuation of funds under Mayo County Council’s General Municipal Allocation fund to resident associations.
A popular Irish class for beginners and improvers returns on Tuesday, April 9th, for six weeks.
Organised by Ballyhaunis Language Café alongside Ballyhaunis Community Council, the 7pm classes, running now for over two years, have drawn a dedicated following of all ages, some of whom are new to the language and others who wish to revive their knowledge of the native tongue in a welcoming and friendly atmosphere, explained teacher Colm Bohan. Queries can be sent to ballyhauniscommunitycouncil@gmail.com.
Among the fascinating documents relating to Ballyhaunis on the new online national archives: an Ordnance Survey map drawn up in 1838 by British forces. The map, at six inch to the mile, was surveyed by “Captain Stotherd and Lieutenant Chaytor, Royal Engineers, under the direction of Thomas Larcom.” British authorities carried out extensive surveying of Ireland in the 1830s and 1840s.
The document is one of many uploaded to the new www.virtualtreasury.ie, a fascinating repository of documents gathered from across the globe which aims to recover and recreate some of the many priceless documents lost when the then National Records Office was burnt in a 1922 fire at the Four Courts in Dublin.
Also viewable on the website is a letter, written in Ballyhaunis in 1630, relating to the death of Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount of Costello and Gallen. Handwritten in a neat script, the “Inquisition Post Mortem” of June 6th, 1630, details the death of a leading landowner and military commander who was granted his title for services to the British crown. This document was drawn from the Royal Irish Academy.
Another fascinating document (sourced from the British National Archives) is a 1798 letter from “W Taylor” to Castlereagh, written in Ballyhaunis to update the then chief secretary to the British viceroy on the progress of French forces through Mayo during the 1798 rebellion.
Local farmers keen to save on fertiliser bills have been turning to expended mushroom compost, delivered in large trailer loads from the large mushroom growing facility in Claremorris.
“We just pay for the delivery which is about 50 euros each load,” explained one farmer who has spread 20 tons of the material on his grasslands. “We just mixed it in with our regular muck and we know from experience to expect good results,” added the farmer who operates a dry stock farm.
Another farmer suggested he was availing of the compost to cut down purchases of chemical fertiliser.
“But you still have to pay someone to spread it [compost] and the weather lately makes spreading hard work.”
The Monaghan Group, one of Europe’s largest mushroom producers and packers, operates a large facility of grow houses in Claremont near Claremorris. A compost or substrate produced from agricultural waste is required to grow the mushrooms, with new substrate constantly added. According to Monaghan: “We fill shelves in our growing houses with spawned substrate, which is then topped with a layer of peat. The mushroom spores begin to grow up through the substrate over the next three or four days.”
Several names synonymous with local amateur drama will be involved when the Claremorris Drama Society stage ‘Family Fever’, a comedy written by Sam Cree, at the Community Hall in Ballyhaunis on Friday, May 10 and 11.
The play is being produced and directed by Ballyhaunis native Pat Doyle. Also involved is Brickens man Noel Armstrong, who made his debut on the stage of the parochial hall, as the Community Hall is colloquially known, in the 1970s. Last April, the group staged 'Don't Tell the Wife', also by Sam Cree, at the hall.
Congratulations to Erin and Ellie Higgins of Esker Pines who won €430 in the Ballyhaunis GAA Club's 50/50 draw on an envelope sold via the club's direct debit.
The Community Garden, located adjacent to the Friary, is a hive of activity recently with planting already under way as temperatures rise. An appeal for seeds by the garden committee led to a large variety of vegetable and flower garden varieties being dropped off in labelled envelopes. These will be distributed to growers in the garden, which is administered by a subcommittee of the Abbey Partnership, the management body for the Friary buildings and grounds. Anyone wishing to take a plot at the garden can contact ballyhaunisabbey@gmail.com.
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Gurteen
The death took place on March 27 at Sligo University Hospital of Patrick (Paddy) Harte, Ballymote and formerly of Shraugh, Cloonloo.
Predeceased by his parents James and Bridget, he will be sadly missed by all who knew him. His remains reposed at Perry's Funeral Home, Ballymote on Monday evening, and after Mass of the Resurrection in The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Ballymote on Tuesday burial took place at Knockbrack Cemetery.
Sincere sympathy to his brother Eddie, nieces Edel and Jenny and nephew John, grandnieces, neighbours and friends.
May he rest in peace.
The deaths took place on March 26 following a house fire in Swinford of Thomas and Eileen Mahon, Eileen a native of Castlerea and Thomas was formerly of Ballaghaderreen. He was predeceased by his parents Thomas and Marion and is survived by his daughters and grandchildren, brothers and sisters extended family and many friends. He was a cousin of the Phillips family, Cuilmore, Gurteen.
The funeral ceremony took place on Wednesday morning in Swinford followed by a private cremation.
The death took place on March 27 at Fern Dean Nursing Home, Blackrock of Teresa McNern (nee Flannery), Bray Co. Wicklow and formerly of Gurteen Co Sligo. Her father was a Garda Sergeant in Gurteen many years ago and Teresa attended Carn NS.
Sincere sympathy to all her relations and many friends.
The Dartry Céilí Band will perform a live concert in the Coleman Music Centre, Gurteen, on Saturday, April 13, at 8pm. Early booking is advisable for this concert. Tickets on sale now. Call 071-9182599 or visit www.colemanirishmusic.com.
The Dartry Céilí Band won the All-Ireland Senior Céilí Band competition in 2009 at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Tullamore. The 11-piece band features band leader Philip Duffy fiddle), Mossie Martin, John Kilkenny, Declan Folan (on fiddles), June McCormack, Noelle Carroll and Cian Kearins (on flutes), Sean Carroll (Button Accordion), Michael Rooney(Concertina), Kevin Brehony (Piano), Damien McGuinness (Drums), with singers Noelle Carroll and Cian Kearins. It promises to be a great night's entertainment.
Congratulations to Caroline and Kieran O'Dowd, Clonsilla, Gurteen on the recent birth of a baby boy Eamon, brother to Mary.
Congratulations and good wishes to Megan McCormack, Cloonloo who was selected as the Sligo Rose for the Rose of Tralee competition from an entry of 13 contestants last Friday evening at the Clayton Hotel Sligo.
Eastern Harps 50/50 draw on April 1 had a jackpot of €818 -and the winner was Myles Craig, Ballinafad.
Winners of the Easter hampers were Aileen Henry, Keash, Michael Moran and Gracie McGill Monasteraden.
The club is very appreciative of all the support throughout the year.
Gurteen bingo is on each Friday night at 8pm. The jackpot of €4,400 was won on Friday night, March 29, and it restarted again at €1,500 on 45 calls. The Lotto raffle is €700.
There will be a Defibrillator Churchgate collection on Sunday, April 14, towards the upkeep and maintenance of defibrillators in the Gurteen area. All support would be greatly appreciated.
