Local Notes: Erris Agricultural Show present cheque to Cara Iorrais following Tractor Run.
Chairman of Erris Agricultural Show Kieran Brett andme of the show committee members presenting a cheque for €1,301 to Mary O’Connor and Maureen Howard of Cara Iorrais. The funds were raised at their recent tractor run.
St Brendan’s College in Belmullet was fortunate to host the Road Safety Authority Ireland Shuttle Bus recently. All transition year and 5th year students received a briefing on road safety, including statistics on road fatalities. Students then had the opportunity to experience interactive VR headsets on board the shuttle bus. Equipped with road safety simulators, the bus effectively conveyed the importance of road safety in an engaging and enjoyable way. This experience proved to be incredibly valuable, empowering students to adopt a responsible and safe approach to using the roads.
Congratulations to our 5th year student John James Conway who recently took part in a darts exhibition against the current World Champion and World Number 1 Luke Humphries. The exhibition took place in the TF Royal Theatre Castlebar and all funds raised were put towards a very worthy cause - Cystic Fibrosis Lourdes Fund.
Our Lady’s Secondary School U15 boys’ soccer team have advanced to the Connacht semi-final following an enthralling contest. An excellent game of soccer took place today between two fully committed teams. It was a scoreless 1st half where Our Lady's chose to play against a significant wind after winning the toss. Consistent 2nd half pressure paid off from our boys when they were awarded a penalty. Thomas McWilliams stepped up and dispatched with aplomb. The teams were level pegging soon afterwards though, after a superbly struck equaliser, after a sustained spell of pressure from the visitors. Extra time beckoned and only for an outstanding display by the Ballinode keeper, Our Lady's would have won by at least 2. The drama of a penalty shootout followed with the home team coming away with the spoils after a superb Cormac Reilly save.
Well done to Ryan Geraghty who's progressing very well on the helms training plan. He recently successfully completed the inshore lifeboat boat-handling at the Lifeboat College in Poole. He will be undergoing navigation and other assessments before being passed out as helms. All training and assessments both onshore and afloat have been going very well. All at the station recognise the hard work and commitment the crew put in to being well-trained and ready for saving lives at sea.
Well done also to PJ Walker who attended and successfully completed the all-weather boat-handling course in the Lifeboat College in Poole, Dorset recently. PJ is well on his way as a trainee coxswain, following in his father Pat's footsteps to being an invaluable, experienced and highly trained coxswain with Ballyglass RNLI. Safety first safety always.
A fundraising tractor run was held on Saturday, April 13, in aid of the Kevin Bell Repatriation fund in memory of Tommy Murphy from Cartron and London. JP Murphy thanks everyone who participated and all those who contributed and to all at the IWA centre in Logmore who provided refreshments. A total of €5,020 was raised.
The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust (KBRT) provides financial assistance and guidance to families seeking to repatriate the remains of loved ones back to Ireland.
The draw was held on April 14, and the numbers drawn were 5, 12, 18 and 31 for a jackpot €5,200. The house prize of €100 was won by Jason Ruddy, Bangor Erris and the €30 offline winners were Lexi Deane, Glengad and Michaela and Donnacha Noone, Knocknalower. The €30 online winners were Mary Flannery, Limerick and Teresa Carolan, Glengad.
Join Erris Family and Community Support Centre and Flourish Social Prescribing Project for a coffee morning to mark ‘Hello, How Are You? Day’ on Wednesday, May 15, from 11am-1pm in Aras Inis Gluaire. Drop in anytime throughout the morning for a cuppa, some cake and a chat. The campaign is about connecting with those around us and encouraging us to be open about mental health.
Young Carers / Family Carers Ireland are delivering a Sib Shop on Saturday, May 18, at The Irish Wheelchair Centre from 11am-1.30pm. Sib Shops are interactive workshops for children aged 8-12 years who help to care for a siblings at home who has additional needs. If you wish to register your child for this workshop you can do so directly via youngcarers@familycarers.ie.
This decade is the one we all know about, the potato blight came in 1845 and lasted for the remainder of that decade but the first part of that decade showed signs of hardship and poverty. Tenant farmers divided their holdings among their sons by diluting the ability of the next generation to harvest enough crops to pay their rent and feed their family, starvation was already common place prior to 1845, the months between the last of the previous year’s potato crop and the new potato crop were known as the ‘hunger months’. Mass immigration came about because of the Famine and in the 1840s there would be very few families in Erris who had relatives in America or elsewhere.
The Tyrawley Herald published in Ballina on August 27, 1846 gave a list of the people in Erris at that time who were suffering from the fever, many of those who died during the Famine did not die from starvation but from diseases caused by having no food, 274 names are given with their ages and addresses. These names are only the ones known to the resident doctor, Dr Bourne, there may have been many more. This list did not cover the townlands from the arishes of Kilcommon or Kiltane as they are today.
There is only one person named in the town of Belmullet, a seventeen year old, Mary Curran. This is not a surname that I can find in any other records for Belmullet.
‘Drink Tea for MND’ the yearly fundraising initiative to support the Irish Motor Neurone Association will be held in the Community Hall Ballycastle on this Sunday, April 28, at 12.30pm. There are more than 450 people affected by this cruel and debilitating disease all across Ireland. Please come along on the day and support this worthy cause, which will help to ensure that every person living with MND receives the dedicated care and support they need and if you can't make it on the day you can donate.
