Local Notes: Mary retires after 27 years with Erris group
Congratulations to Mary Irwin who has retired after 27 years working with Kilcommon Activity for the Elderly and the Glenamoy Women's Group. Mary is pictured accepting a presentation from Bridie Rafter and Betty Deane.
A four-week jiving course begins in Belmullet on Tuesday, May 6th, in Arás Inis Gluaire. Whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to refine your skills, you’ll learn the basics of the jive followed by advanced moves to have you ready for country fests, weddings and social events!
Keeping his home fires burning for over 60 years, Mixie Barrett continues to cut turf by hand in the traditional ways of North Mayo.
Mixie's story is told in a 45-minute documentary recorded over several seasons that follows him as he goes about his craft, narrating what he does and telling tales of old along the way.
On Saturday, May 3rd, which is Mayo Day, a movie entitled ‘Mixie’s Bog’ will be shown in Aras Inis Gluaire in Belmullet at 8pm with music by Sean Harrington. The movie was composed by Aidan Barrett and it features his brother Mixie in his bog cutting the sod and enjoying the banter.
There will be a Trad session also on the night. It is an event not to be missed.
Congratulations to Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager (LOM) Padraic Sheeran and launch authorities Robbie Barrett and Pat McHale who successfully completed their compulsory assessments with assessor trainer Sean Ginnelly.
In line with the safe crewing for maritime SAR operations effective from April 1st, 2025, all launch authorities must have completed training plans and have passed out in order to continue to operate in those roles.
Lots of time, hard work and commitment go into all the various roles at our station to make sure all is ship-shape at all times.
Congratulations also and well done to Kyle Geraghty on successfully completing his Inshore Lifeboat Tier 1 pass out. He put in a lot of hard work and commitment into the preparation for the assessment. Some of the modules covered were launch and recovery, policies and procedures, roles and responsibilities, anchoring, veering, VHF and local knowledge.
Congratulations to Gerry Martin, Pat Coyne and Seán Reilly who recently successfully completed their ALB Tier 1 pass outs at station. There was a lot of hard work, effort and time put in by all concerned over the past six months on numerous ALB exercises. The assessment was conducted by station lifeboat assessor trainer Allen Murray. The units covered were anchoring, towing, mooring and berthing, search and rescue (locate and assist).
A number of classroom and online units were also completed by lifeboat training co-ordinator James Mangan, comprising stability introduction, local knowledge, operate vhf and roles and responsibilities. The-next stage in their training plan is Tier 2. When completed, they will be fully fledged all-weather life crew and can then progress to substantial crew roles such as ALB navigator or ALB mechanic.
Congratulations to PJ Walker on successfully completing his final assessments to qualify as coxswain. This is a very important role at the station and means being in charge of bringing the all-weather lifeboat and her crew safely to sea and home again. The training is intense and entails hard work, commitment, and trips to the RNLI lifeboat college in Poole for further training.
PJ had assessments both on and offshore in areas such as search and rescue, navigation, emergency procedures, etc. He has been on the crew for 20 years. He qualified as a navigator two years ago and has served as helm on the Ballyglass inshore lifeboat since 2012.
Thanks to the RNLI coastal training team and Sean Ginnelly for the on-going training and support. Thanks also to trainer/assessor Stephen McNulty for conducting the pass-out. Pat Walker, PJ's father, was the first Coxswain in 1989 and served for many years with Ballyglass RNLI.
Big thanks to the team at Solas in Eachleim for taking a collection box on behalf of Ballyglass RNLI. Pictured above are manager Marie and Fergus.
Solas is a great advantage to the Erris area. When touring the Barony be sure to call and enjoy the food and the amazing history that is available in the fabulous location. Thanks to Ballyglass' own Kathleen Keane for putting all in place.
Belmullet Fire Service would like to thank all who attended and donated to the its fundraising car wash recently. A big thank you to Allen and the lads at Ballyglass RNLI for helping out.
It was a great day and the final amount raised for the Friends of Belmullet Hospital Palliative Care Room was €1,977.40. Congratulations to the raffle winners Ken Kelly, Brendan Lynch and Fiona Uí Chionnaith. Also a special thank you to sponsors and donors Lorraine Shevlin, Linda Conway (Linda’s Corner House), Donal Shevlin (Shevlin’s Complete House Finish), Michael Conroy (Michael Conroy Motors), Ricky Geraghty (Belmullet Motor Factors), Joe Cuffe (Cuffe's Centra), Pat Gaughan (PG Tints and Prints), Lorraine O’Connor (Carey’s Newsagents) and Michelle Healy.
Special mention to Allen and Elise who kept the show going and continued washing cars while the others responded to a fire call. Thanks again to everyone who helped make the day such a success.
There was another great night at Tullaghan Bay Rowing Club's Good Friday Table Quiz with 28 teams battling it out. Thanks to the brilliant quizmaster Ian McAndrew and to everyone for supporting.
First prize went to The Bruise Brothers (Brendan and Peter McDonagh, Loretta and Donal Murphy) and joint second went to An Foireann is fear a bhi an riamh (Kathleen Doocey, Mary Ginty, Mairtin Harrington and Steve Denton) and Rodaí Réidh (Lorraine and Steve Keane, PJ King and Sean Harrington).
Best team name: I’ve got 99 problems and this quiz isn’t one of them (Geoff Goonan Team).
Thank you to all the members for donating items for the raffle hampers and to everyone in the Erris Coast Hotel for hosting the club. A total of €2,000 was raised for the club training fund.
The John Healy Memorial 2025 in the Erris Pool League raised €6,500 for Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
JP Doherty became the first player to win the title twice as he got the better of Padraic O’Donnell in the final while Jack Gaughan won the U16 Cup with a win over his brother Darragh.
JP looked beaten on more than one occasion on his way to the final but as the tournament went on he just got better and better. However, Padraic O’Donnell will look back on two missed blacks in the final which could have made it much closer. Padraic played some excellent pool throughout the day coming through a tough side of the draw to make the final including a dominant semi-final win over Dara McAndrew.
Last year’s winner Adam McAndrew pushed JP all the way in the other semi-final but it was JP who came through in a final-frame decider before he played some clinical pool in the final to win 5-1 in the end.
In the U16 event, it was brothers Jack and Darragh Gaughan who reached the final as they came through after being pushed all the way in the semi-finals. Jack had a 3-2 win over Finn Gallagher and Darragh also needed to be at his best to win a final-frame decider against Sean Reilly.
The final was played on Saturday evening and Jack was on top form and was a worthy winner.
An amazing €6,500 was raised for Crumlin Children’s Hospital over the weekend and it was nice to see Aiden McGrath there to present the cup to the winner. Aiden’s son Rhian spent a number of months in the hospital and to be able to give something back is a credit to the Healy family for all their hard work in making sure the event was a success.
Big thanks to all the main sponsors of the competition and to all the local businesses that gave prizes for the raffle.
Thanks to Anthony Healy for sponsoring two pool tables for the weekend. It’s much appreciated and helped the event run smoothly. Thanks to Sinead and Alan Noone and David Gallagher for all their help in the lead-up to the weekend and over the last two days.
Thanks also to John Cafferkey for helping out on commentary on the live stream and to Lorcan Barrett for his excellent co-commentary on the U16 Final. Lorcan is a real star in the making on and off the table.
Finally, thanks to all the players who took part over both days as the success of the event wouldn’t be possible without you.
Erris Workability is hosting a Disability Awareness workshop on Thursday, May 1st, in Belmullet.
This workshop is open to employers, employees, and school staff – anyone who could be working with someone with a disability, or providing customer service to someone with a disability. Bear in mind that 80% of disabilities are actually invisible!
Last year’s workshop was a fantastic success, with feedback from employers and staff members such as "exceeded my expectations”, "effective, engaging” and “really enjoyable and worthwhile".
The workshop will commence at 10am and finish at 2pm, including a lunch break with refreshments. There is no cost for this opportunity – it is being funded by Erris Workability. Places are limited and are already filling up fast. If you or your staff members wish to take part, please get in touch by emailing siobhanscanlon@mayonortheastldc.com or telephone 087-4996605.
There was no winner of this week’s Kiltane GAA Club weekly lotto jackpot of €5,600.
The two €50 winners were Tony Calpin, Doohoma Head and Michael Devlin, Bangor, while Brian and Eimear Cosgrove, Naas and Edel and Phil Thompson, Mountjubilee both won €25.
The two online winners were Patrick Corrigan, United Kingdom (€50) and Gerard Sweeney, United Kingdom (€25).
Bingo will take place in the GAA Complex in Bangor this Tuesday, April 29th, at 8pm. The jackpot will be €850 in 52 calls or less.
The draw was held in the Kilcommon Community Development Lotto on April 21st and the numbers drawn were 7, 11, 17 and 20. There was no winner of the jackpot of €10,500.
The house prize winner of €100 winner was James Healy, Glencullen and the two €30 offline winners were Priyah and Sáran Moran, Glenamoy and Sarah McGuire, Barnatra. The two €30 online winners were Jo Croghan, Roscommon and Vincent McGrath, Glenamoy.
Next week’s jackpot is €10,600 with the draw in the Lighthouse Tavern.
Another brilliant day of darts was had on Easter Monday with a new-look team competition to spice things up in The Valley Inn Bar, Pullathomas.
A total of 39 players took to the oche with the trio of John Reilly, John James Conway and Jack O'Grady coming out on top in a very close final against Jimmy Lavelle, Micheál McBride and Padraig McCafferty. Well done to all. Thanks as always to Mixie, Hannah and Mia for their hospitality.
A special mention has to go to the four youngest players on the day - Callum Kerrigan, Ryan McBride, Mikey Conroy and Ryan Moran - who played some outstanding darts and checked out some great legs much to the surprise of some of the more seasoned players.
It is great to see the next generation getting stronger every week; keep up the good work, lads.
The jackpot in the Gaeltacht Iorras Lotto has now reached €19,400. The €50 winner in the draw on April 17th was Trisha Connors (online) and the €25 winner was Fran McNulty, Doolough. The numbers drawn were 1, 2, 28 with bonus number 6.
Since its formation, Gaeltacht Iorras has strived to develop camogie in the Erris region. The club is delighted that Saoirse Leneghan, Ballycroy has been selected on the Mayo U14 Camoige panel. Congrats to Saoirse on her dedication and the club wishes her the best of luck in 2025.
