Local Notes: Legendary film to be screened in Ballyhaunis
A stunning aerial view of Ballyhaunis under snowfall by Adam Kaczmarek, who runs AK Photography from his studio on Main Street. See www.akmedialive.com for more of Adam's wonderful images.
A film club set up by Ballyhaunis Community Council invites the public to a screening of on the new cinema screen at the Community Hall at 8pm on Friday, February 9th.
A cinema projector, screen and upgraded sound system were installed at the hall under a grant from the Community Centres Investment Fund. The new equipment is already popular among users to the hall for seminars, presentations and slide shows. Contact ballyhauniscommunityhall@gmail.com.
The national construction boom has been good news for a Ballyhaunis business making bathrooms for property developments.
“Our work schedule for 2024 is all booked out and we’re now taking orders for 2025,” said Derek O’Connor, who runs the operations at the Clare Road facilities of B Pod Ireland. He believes a nationwide building spree aimed at solving the housing shortage is lifting sales.
B-Pod Ireland manufactures pre-assembled bathrooms, known as ‘pods,’ which are designed to slot into apartment blocks, hotels and other large developments. Between 70% and 80% of the orders are for Irish clients, predominantly apartment and student accommodation complexes, explained Mr O’Connor.
Ballyhaunis remains a “good location” for business, he added, thanks to a large base of foreign and local workers.
However changes to labour entitlements since January 1st – a rise in the minimum wage and five days' sick leave - have added to the cost base, said Mr O’Connor. Passing on the costs to customers isn’t an option, he explained, due to competition from international competitors in lower-cost locations.
“Also, we have contracts signed so it’s difficult to change prices,” he added.
Derek is one of three English born brothers - the sons of Irish emigrants from Charlestown - behind B-Pod. His brother Sean runs the company’s UK operations. The company acquired what was formerly the yard and sheds of Gallagher’s hardware merchants at an auction in Dublin during the recession.
Local artist Josephine Cribbin is hoping to have an exhibition in Ballyhaunis soon, following a successful exhibition in Galway recently.
Josephine, who divides her time between Galway and her family’s home in Drimbane, just outside Ballyhaunis, turned to painting after a successful business career having run her own hairdressing training academy which was contracted to teach programmes across the country for the state training agency FAS.
“I ran a college of hairdressing for 26 years. I had a contract with FAS and travelled to deliver programmes in Ballina, Limerick and Shannon among other places,” she explained.
Busy running a business and bringing up her daughter Jessica, Josephine finally had time to indulge a long-time interest in art when she sold her business in 2018. During the pandemic, she studied painting techniques from online courses.
Having recently presented her second solo exhibition, ‘It’s All About Colour’ in Brazco, a café and gallery in Oranmore, Josephine explains how she draws her inspiration from the joy of colour and her passion for creating ‘outside the box’ designs using mixed mediums. She describes her paintings as compositions of colour, light, and texture. Mixed media attaching pink flowers to the canvas.
When she’s in Ballyhaunis, Josephine paints in a workshop behind the family home in Drimbane.
Despite spending a good part of her childhood in England - her father Seamus and mother Angela moved the family back from in the early 1970s - Josephine draws her inspiration from the east Mayo countryside.
She takes a fresh approach to her landscape works.
“I hate paintings with grass and a house and a boat. My landscapes are more in your face, it’s landscape with a twist. I am more interested in perspective.
"I started with acrylic and then moved on to oil… you put pressure on yourself to be better and better.”
Josephine has also found a new purpose and passion in bringing art to school children as a guest tutor at primary schools across Co Galway.
“The art classes help with hand and eye co-ordination as well as creativity. Kids love it. I give them a scissors for cutting out, I give them crayons, acrylic, paper and carboard… There’s a lot of preparation. You have to try out first everything you plan to do.”
Outside her art, Josephine is also involved in organising a worldwide Cribbin Family Reunion on June 2nd in Castlebar. This will be a follow-up to the gathering of seven years ago in Breaffy House Hotel, which drew visitors from across the world.
Josephine can be contacted at josephinework18@gmail.com.
A rock band led by Ballyhaunis musician and sound technician Tomás Concannon released an impressive single recently.
Produced at Umbrella Records, Galway, is the latest release from Bury Me With My Money, a group of musicians from across the West of Ireland who self-describe as an “alt-synth-rock outfit”. Tomás, 36, is the lead vocalist and keyboard player in the four-piece group, which blends guitar, jazzy drums and synth sounds.
Tomás, who also works at AudioWorks in Ballina as head engineer, laments the lack of appetite in local venues for acts playing original music.
“I've seen a lot of events this year, a mix of everything really, but, unfortunately, not as much original music as I'd like to see in Mayo.
“The events' space has been pretty well supported from what I have seen at one-off events, but I don't see bars and clubs putting on regular events in Mayo unfortunately. In college towns, you see certain venues doing really well. There's definitely been a resurgence of love for grassroots artists, but there are a lot of venues going through a change of policy in favour of a more generic, dare I say it, corporate system - cover bands and private parties. There's less and less platforms for original bands in the mainstream, so I'm seeing more events in private locations and homes.”
Among the local artists he admires is Keith Plunkett from Ballyhaunis who, said Tomás, “…continues to improve as a soulful acoustic talent”. He also likes Cathal Connolly, a solo act from Ballina “who's doing really quirky alt-folk", and a band call Vacuity from Balla/Limerick are "stirring the pot with a shoe-gaze and punk sound”.
The new treasurer of Ballyhaunis Football Club, Pakistani-born businessman Usman Ahmed, is keen to bring his education in management to help grow the community club, which was hit recently with storm damage to its fences.
“I want to give something back. So, I saw the opportunity and grabbed it. With my background as a management degree holder, I would love to put my skills to use for the community. I want the football club to thrive and want them in the national league first. As a treasurer, I will try my best to keep finances up to date.”
Pakistan, whose craftsmen make most of the world’s hand-stitched footballs, recently qualified for the Asia regional qualifiers for the next World Cup, explained Usman.
Soccer is gradually becoming popular in his homeland but plays second fiddle to cricket.
“I used to play at school level. I was below average I would say… I like sports and I want the generations to come to play any kind of sports because I want them to spend time in the field rather than on the screen on social media or gaming. Not that I am against social media and gaming, but it should be limited so we can enjoy our lives fully.”
Ballyhaunis Town FC has made an appeal to the public for financial assistance with repairing its wooden perimeter fences, destroyed by Storm Isha. Perimeter fencing is required by the Football Association of Ireland rules for the protection of players.
A multi-lingual campaign to get locals registered for June’s elections is being spearheaded by Merrilyn Finn, a board member of the local Family Resource Centre and volunteer at Ballyhaunis Language Café.
“We are working on a project to encourage all residents to get on the Register of Electors by the deadline of February 20th to protect their Right to Vote in June’s local elections,” explained Merrilyn. “All people living in Ballyhaunis aged 18 and over are able to register to vote. A poster is being designed with the most common languages in our area: Portuguese, Ukrainian, Russian, French, Polish, Urdu and Arabic.”
The English conversational grouping, hosted every Thursday night by Ballyhaunis Language Café, will facilitate discussions on the value of being active in local politics, said Merrilyn.
“We want to show what’s at stake, allow people to perhaps meet a few candidates and to ask questions.
“Many new arrivals to Ireland may have had negative experiences in their home countries. They might see themselves as powerless in affecting the health and vitality of their local environment. Next, we will encourage and promote your values by exercising this right to vote and maybe help get out the vote.”
Having moved to Ballyhaunis several years ago from New York, Merrilyn said she is “awed” that all residents have the right to vote in local elections.
“I have witnessed the disenfranchisement of voters in the United States and its reluctance to open up the electorate. I think Ireland is a great country and want to share my gratitude.”
See checktheregister.ie. Merrilyn can be contacted at 089-982-8529.
Services of the Local Link rural public transport service have picked up in recent weeks having been slow to recover to pre-Covid levels as some of the service’s long-term users stay home. Two routes serving Ballyhaunis every Thursday and Friday are “up a good bit”, said bus driver Michael O’Haire, the Newport-based bus operator who has secured the routes for another five years.
Nationally, Local Link passenger numbers were up 78% year-on-year in 2023, with 60 new routes launched last year under the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan. Local Link passenger numbers in 2023 were up seven-fold on 2018 figures.
Local Link is free to social welfare recipients and €2.50 per journey to others. Enquiries about Ballyhaunis services can be directed to ballyhauniscommunitycouncil@gmail.com or 087-2202123.
