Roundstone Dog show:
I suppose I will start with the dog show and one of the contributory factors to no Roundstone news last week. Richard and I were both involved helping Paddy Yank to help make the day a success, judging from the turnout I think it was a great success. There was every conceivable shape and breed of dog to be seen. What a turnout they all looked beautiful I certainly did not envy the judges with the task they had. Our best dressed lady Nora King who was dressed in a beautiful two piece suit which she bought in a vintage shop as well as her shoes. She made her own hat. Her gloves and matching bag were the only new items she had on and Nora was proud that her whole outfit came to €75. Well done to you Nora. Fehin Mitchell and Paddy Newman and Emma King supplied lovely music and we had a great turn out of Seanos dancers to entertain us.
Monday August 1st RDC
Held an informal gathering in the lower hall of regular visitors to Roundstone, to introduce them to the plan for the village which includes the upgrading of the car park at the community hall, the areas adjacent will include new stone walls, clearing of the wilderness at the right of the hall to make it in to a wild life and picnic area. The project costs €220.00.
5% of the funding must be raised locally therefore an appeal was made to our friends of Roundstone for any assistance they can give.
It was decided from the floor that RDC bank account details would be set up and any donations to this account would be most gratefully appreciated.
The plans for this project are currently on view in the Lower Community Hall. And can be seen at the same time as the Library’s opening hours.
Roundstone Play Group:
The Committee of the Roundstone Playgroup held a Monster Sale of Work and Bazaar in the Community hall yesterday and boy did they have a great turn out and such bargains to be had. I myself got a beautiful teapot jug and sugar set got €5 and Royal Tara vase for €2 and five once read thriller books for a fiver. I would have loved to stay and rummage but due to pressure to get to the Cashel Pony Show to see my family ride I had to leave. Eileen one of the organisers tells me they raised €1,770.00. What a great success and wonderful effort by the committee and friends
As for the Cashel Show, son in law Pat of Neill got Champion rider of the Show grandchildren nine year Meadhbh came second in the under 16
And Jack came third in the lead rein so I was glad I made the effort to be there.
21st Anniversary of the Roundstone Tour de Bog 2011
Sponsored by www.2wheels.ie & www.gadaco.ie
What started twenty years ago, by Ruari Quinn TD, Barry Smith and Robin Simpson as a family cycle ride( just for fun ) from Roundstone to Ballyconneelly and then along the Bog Road back to Roundstone,( hence the name Tour de Bog!) grew, as more and more joined in . As the number of participants increased over the years, it became too much of a responsibility and concern increased for the welfare of the other riders who joined them. As a result we were then approached through the Roundstone Development Community Council to take it over because of the Insurance. This we duly did and twenty one years later we are still going strong as a family cycle ride outing. In the year 2009 we had an accurate account of riders of 392.
In 2008, the hardest part had been to find sponsors for the T- Shirts, however as luck would have it 2wheels.ie approached me to ask if they could sponsor the T-Shirts for the 2009 Tour de Bog to promote their new bike shop in Sandy mount, Dublin. This was agreed, as Baileys our long time sponsors decided to call it a day. The 2009 event of the Tour de Bog under the new sponsor was very successful. We ran out of shirts with 330 riders and raised approx €2’300.
www.2wheels.ie again sponsored the ride for the year 2010.
As this was the 20th Anniversary of the Tour de Bog they increased the amount of T- shirts with our own logo and theirs, that year the colour was green. Over 390 riders took part, raising just under €4’000. Again we ran out of shirts
For the 21st Anniversary 2011, (the coming of age so to speak), owing to the recession, 2wheels.ie had asked me if we could find a second sponsor for this year to join them.
As luck would have it, a great supporter and regular visitor to Roundstone, David Jameson called to Errisbeg for a coffee, I just happened to mention that I was looking for another sponsor for the Tour de Bog to join forces with 2wheels.ie, and he put me in touch with Peter Ross, the owner of a roofing membrane company called Gadaco1.SPA and without any hesitation Peter Ross agreed.
For this year’s event, well over 400 riders took part, raising the sum of €4’100. Again we ran out of shirts.
For Roundstone the Tour de Bog has become a major event and fund raiser for p community projects enabling us to enhance our village. We are truly thankful to both our sponsors. We must also thank our own people who took care of the water stops, Jane Needham, Ann Conneelly and Mary T. King.
Pat Conneelly, Joe Mongan, Donal Nee and Michael King representing RDC.
Mary Mongan and her daughter Clara who did a stalwart job in selling the shirts.
Ted Sherwood as MC.
Diarmuid Vaughan, Joseph King and Maurice Ryan, as sponsors for the medals.
Jim Vaughan on his motor bike doing the circuit a few times, to keep a watchful eye out in case of any difficulties with the cyclists. We also had help from a good few of our regular visitors.
As each year goes by, with the increasing numbers of riders, we have to be much more aware of the potential dangers.
Without putting a damper on things, this is no longer a one man show.
Safety is TOP priority, and more help is needed with the organization on the day. We have insisted that the T-shirts must be worn for insurance purposes, helmets is an absolute must, and it is incredible that a good few families and friends seem to ignore the safety rules, even after repeated warnings. Some adults ( with or without their kids)were not wearing shirts or helmets, and ignoring these two rules, means that they are not covered by our Insurance .This is such a bad example to the younger generation, regarding personal safety and sportsmanship. In view of this, medals will not be given out to those that have no T-shirt or helmet.
Those who cycle without helmets and official Tour de Bog T-shirts are not participants in the event and do so at their own risk, as they are not covered by the events Insurance.
We will have to have stricter policing within the organisation for this event for year 2012, without of course spoiling the fun of this wonderful family bike ride. All photos courtesy of Des Cullen and Pat McCann can be seen on the www.2wheels.ie site as well as www.roundstone.ie .
Our Irish nights have 4 weeks to go taking us up to the last day of August. Each week attendance has been great and it is lovely to see so many different nationalities attending.
