Local Notes: Ballyhaunis Friary hosts fascinatnig workshop
Ballyhaunis Community Garden recently hosted a workshop with Craig Benton from Composting Ireland, supported by Mayo County Council.
Locals can cut their waste disposal bills while also nourishing their gardens, an internationally-renowned horticulturalist told a well-attended composting workshop at the Community Garden in the Friary on April 20th.
Dr Craig Benton from Composting Ireland explained the process of producing compost from organic household and garden waste. Aeration is important to allow the heat and bacteria which are central to the breakdown of vegetable peels, grass, coffee grainds and other waste to break down, the Seattle native explained to a large attendance.
One of those present, a local farmer, said he was there to learn how he can reduce the use of chemical fertilisers on his land.
Literature explaining the composting process have been published by Mayo County Council, which like other local authorities is seeking to reduce food waste in household bins. More details can be found at www.stopfoodwaste.ie.
The CEO of a pay-as-you-go bin service in Ballyhaunis told this column his company may be forced to cut its service in the town due to illegal dumping at the site. Bags of waste are being left adjacent to the Big Bin facility in SuperValu carpark by individuals who drop the bags adjacent to the facility without using the service.
The dumping is a particular issue with the Ballyhaunis site, said Big Bin founder and CEO David Fallon, whose firm is forced to engage contractors to come and clean the site. Fallon is also worried about the impact of the dumping on the local Nolan’s SuperValu in whose carpark the bin service is located.
“It’s not an issue isolated to Ballyhaunis but it does seem that Ballyhaunis is a particular problem zone [with regard to illegal dumping]."
Big Bin has built up 40 locations nationally in its six years of operations.
“We really see this issue of illegal dumping in Ballyhaunis,” said Fallon.
Volumes collected at the Ballyhaunis site continue to grow, he explained.
The bins are emptied by local waste companies hired by Big Bin. Busy periods are Christmas and the March-April period when people are spring cleaning, explained Fallon.
Big Bin users pay eight to nine euros to use the service – the price is competitive said Fallon, who explained that customers can save costs by paying online.
Bekan has featured heavily in a documentary on the evolution of Gaelic football produced by RTÉ by Westport-based film production company Crossing the Line.
Much of the footage of the skills of the game was shot inside the Dome at the Connacht Centre of Excellence in Bekan. Various players from the local club, Eastern Gaels, were invited to demonstrate the skills.
The documentary series is a follow up to a similar series, , which was shot over several years and broadcast on RTÉ as a three-part series. Crossing the Line has won various international awards for a number of critically acclaimed documentaries, several of which have been shown by broadcasters in continental Europe and the US.
Eastern Gaels, meanwhile, had 28 ladies show up recently for its inaugural Mothers & Others Gaelic football fun training session and game. There were 50 registrations for the new venture, explained club secretary Michael Murphy, suggesting major interest in the ladies game.
Local singer songwriter Keith Plunkett has been added to the bill for two of Ireland’s biggest summer music festivals: Night and Day as well as the Electric Picnic.
Dublin-based Keith has been playing regularly recently at the renowned Whelan’s venue, also playing on the same bill as rock act Bury Me With My Money, fronted by Ballyhaunis native Tomás Concannon.
Readings of several Mayo poems, including works by Paul Durcan, will feature in a programme of events to mark Mayo Day and the official reopening of the Community Hall, known locally as the parochial hall, on May 4th. The event gets under way at 12pm with an hour of music and poetry before Michael Ring TD will cut the ribbon on the hall at 1pm. Refreshments will follow.
If you’d like to mark Mayo Day with a reading or a song, please contact ballyhauniscommunitycouncil@gmail.com.
A cheese made with milk from the Waldron herd in Cloonbook won the ‘New Cheese All Milk Types’ at the recent Irish Cheese Awards in Tipperary. The cheese is made by Rockfield Dairy/Velvet Cloud, a sheep milk dairy farm owned by Aisling and Michael Flanagan in Rockfield, near Claremorris.
Launched in 2022, the Cloonbook cheese is described by Velvet Cloud as a “an enormous success”. It's made using fresh milk from the farm of Michael's late uncle Mícheál in Cloonbook, which is now run by his cousin Domhall.
More than 170 cheeses were judged by a panel of experts hosted by Teagasc in late March. The awards were presented at a ceremony in Kilshane House, Co Tipperary on Wednesday, April 24th, at a ceremony organised by CÁIS (the Association of Irish Farmhouse Cheesemakers) and supported by Bord Bia and several dairy-related companies.
Congratulations to local man Luke Murray who was presented with a commemorative plaque during the Oscar Traynor Cup Final in Umbro Park Castlebar.
Luke, a player with Ballyhaunis Town at the time, was part of the Mayo team who last contested this final back in 1981 where they took on Leinster Senior League. The Waterford & District Junior League won the 2024 Oscar Traynor Cup after a thrilling 4-2 win over the Mayo Football League in Castlebar.
Various figures from Ballyhaunis and surrounding areas featured on the big screen at the recent screening of the Joe Gilmore collection of films at the Community Hall.
A large attendance on the evening recognised various people from Bekan Feis in the 1950s and 1960s while star footballer PJ Moran from Lavallyroe was among the players filmed in a Ballyhaunis v Claremorris match played in 1956.
Brickens-based Joe Gilmore built up a large collection of footage from social and cultural events over the decades, shedding a fascinating and revealing light on evolution of Irish society. Some of the footage featured a procession at the former convent in Loughlynn during Marian Year in 1954.
Several members of the Gilmore family, based in Claremorris, also attended the screening.
Further screenings are planned on the Community Cinema installed at the hall with the support of the Community Centres Investment Fund.
Restrictions remain on Mayo County Council litter wardens using CCTV cameras to prosecute illegal dumping in the Ballyhaunis area until legal procedures are put in place.
In a statement to this column, Mayo County Council explained: “The Minister has signed commencement orders to allow for the lawful use of CCTV and mobile recording devices for littering and waste management in accordance with the Codes of Practice.
"However, before any local authority can deploy cameras or mobile recording devices, a host of documents must be developed. These documents are defined in the Codes of Practice and are a legal requirement. They include 15 standard operating procedures and nine further guidance documents.
"Local authorities will also have to put together an independent CCTV Oversight Board to assess CCTV or mobile recording devices proposals on a case-by-case basis. There is no guarantee that proposals will be approved by the board.
"For this reason, CCTV cannot be immediately deployed as they may have been in the past.”
Locals are invited to join a march demanding the recognition of a Palestinian state by Ireland. Marchers are invited to assemble opposite the Community School at 7pm on Wednesday, May 1st, at 7pm to march to the Square.
Organiser Anna Trevaskis invited marchers to bring flags and banners. The march follows on from a well-attended vigil for the people of Gaza held at the Square in early January.
A number of residents of the Devlis area vented their frustration over traffic at a recent meeting of Ballyhaunis Community Council. The residents want footpaths, lighting and measures to reduce speeding on the approach to the town from the Dublin and Galway roads.
A petition collected in 2021 appeared to pay off with the allocation of funds for the refurbishment of local footpaths under a government scheme to encourage walking and cycling.
A €340,000 allocation to Ballyhaunis from the fund (administered by Mayo Co Council for the National Transport Authority) was spent on the Knock Road but a further €210,000 allotted for the Devlis/Dublin Road area remains in limbo. Local councillor John Cribbin told this column that he hoped the funds would be restored and spent once preparatory works required by Transport Infrastructure Ireland were dealt with. That view was also shared by a senior council official.
Ballyhaunis Parish Council plans the traditional Corpus Christi procession from St Patrick’s Church to St Mary’s Abbey – known locally as the Friary – after evening mass on June 1.
The procession will leave St Patrick’s church at 8.15pm, proceeding through the town to the Friary for prayers.
As happened last year, the avenue into the Friary will be decorated for the procession and local children will chalk pictures and religious symbols on the tarmac outside the main door prior to the service. Refreshments will be served outside the church after the prayers.
