Roundstone News
21st February 2005

Well, as the tourist season begins to wake up there are many promotions going on with Ireland West using our own people from Roundstone to represent us.

Joe Creane and Nicky Griffin
Went up to Dublin as representatives of Connemara Tourism to the National Event Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin. Which was sponsored by "Ireland West" for the Angling promotion of the lakes of Connemara and of course deep-sea fishing, Over 14,000 people attended the show over the two days. The Connemara stand had a very busy time with over 1,000 brochures and guides of the area being handed out, not to mention all the verbal enquires with regard to access, distances, prices, fish species available etc etc. Particular interest was expressed for sea angling in the Cleggan, Clifden, Renvyle, Leenaun and Roundstone areas and of course for all the facilities that go with it, namely: Accommodation providers, restaurants, bars, etc. There was also a lot of interest in lake and river fishing throughout the Connemara region. Joe's Knowledge and valuable expertise meant that no one left the stand with a question unanswered, indeed, he was seen to give demonstrations on fishing techniques and many funny stories were told and exchanged. So much so that by the end of the two days, the Connemara stand was the place to be for the craic, and I am sure that many of the hundreds of anglers that experienced it will be visiting Connemara in the near future. On behalf of Connemara Tourism I would like to thank Joe Creane for taking the time out at very short notice to attend the two-day event. His expertise and knowledge of fishing were invaluable and also his unique and likeable manner in getting his message across, all meant that Connemara was more than ably represented at the 2005 angling show.

It is well worth mentioning that Ireland west with Connemara Tourism have already been to Northern Ireland, Dublin, Brussels and now on to Rotterdam and Amsterdam this time with Ann Conneely and Josephine de Courcey, they both take off on Thursday for Rotterdam and then on the Friday to Amsterdam promoting Connemara over the week end, so we wish them luck and hopefully they both will be able to show the Dutch what we have in the west.

Broadband
And still on the theme of promotion, Nick Griffin, myself and Thomas King will be going up to the Clare Galway Hotel, in Clare Galway tomorrow night to an Information Evening, for the Country and Group Broadband Schemes, it is in fact the launch of "Galway.ie" database of household and business interest in the broadband internet access. As you now there could be the possibility of bringing broadband into Roundstone, but we need a lot more information what it would entail, also we will hopefully have the chance to meet and talk with internet Service providers, and possibly invite one of the down to Roundstone to explain the ins and outs of such a project at a public meeting as soon as possible.

The Annual Connemara Golf Pub Competion
The final day of the competition was yesterday, the winners were the Central Bar Hotel in Clifden, and second came the team from O'Dowds. The O'Dowd's team were the defending champions and have won the competition on three occasions and have rarely been out of the top three since its inception in 1998. This year the team was led by the inspirational Donal Nee and supported admirably by team members: James DeCourcey Eilish Crayon Tara DeCourcey Michael King Joe Achim McHugh Feicheen Welsh Mick Gaughan Padraig Malone and Billy Reilly

A special mention to Tom and Joe McDonagh from Foe Na Croi, who were great stalwarts of O'Dowds teams in the past, and indeed contributed greatly to their success. This year was the first year that at least one of the two did not feature in the line up because of retirement. The current players and sponsors would like to thank Tom and Joe for their dedication and loyalty to the O'Dowds teams down through the years.

Innishnee
And now for something completely different, there was great speculation when a prime site down in Ervlough was sold for €150,000, what I am getting at, a few weeks ago in the remotest part of Innishnee a site with a tumbled down house on it was sold for just under €400,000, this said house was once the home of the Gorham's who have long since emigrated, and are frequent visitors to Roundstone, the same said site and the adjoining land was sold for £12,000 some twelve years ago. I have to admit the area is very picturesque that over looks the Berthraboy Bay and towards the Hill of Cashel. With all this in mind it now looks as if sites on Innishnee are becoming very sort after rightly or wrongly, helped of course with the huge input of work from Bridie Davis who spent years of fighting for a new bridge and other works, that has made Innishnee more accessible, so there is some food for thought.

Congratulations
To Carmel Keane on becoming a Granny again, as her daughter Anne and 0husband Dermot have just produced a baby boy, and they have decided to call him Colm, a good strong name, so congratulations to you both.

Nicola Spokes
I am sure you all now whom Nicola spokes is, well just in case you don't Nicola is the new National School Teacher, and incidentally is an all Ireland Champion Step Dancer, well as from today as an after school project, Nicola is teaching the kids to step dance, good one because now is the time to get this age group to teach them, and hopefully through them another tradition can be kept alive.

Lotto
No match three's, the winning numbers are 7,9,14,22, and the purse stands at €1,250. No word on Roy Griffin yet after his recent win in the Connemara Rugby lotto a couple of weeks ago, he is still on holidays in the U.S. Apparently, Unconfirmed reports have told me that he was last seen looking for big foot in the rocky mountains.

Well, that's all from me, and oh by the way if you see your neighbour having a bonfire in the garden, it could be worth a fortune, just let me know and I will help to put it out. Richard de Stacpoole