Roundstone News 6th March 2006

Well, we are already in March, bright cold weather, the growth in the garden is extraordinary with the daffodils for this time of the year; I have even seen a few baby lambs in my neighbour’s fields.

It feels good to witness all these changes around us.

Talking about changes good things have happened and things are going to happen

Eldon’s Hotel:
Some really good news, Ann Conneely has leased her Hotel and as from the 7th April the Hotel will re open to the public under the management of Michelle McCarthy and Loraine Cunningham, both from Clare and they are Hotel management Graduates, In fact it was George Finnegan who recommended them to Ann, they will also bring David O’Neil as their chef, David is from Northern Ireland and has been working in Kinsale for the past few years.

Looking at it Ann has given the group a very good start for their first season, good will can not be bought Eldon’s had created this good will over the years, I am also told it is quite possible the Hotel could remain open all the year around, well, maybe a break in January, this would be a real bonus for the village, we all ready have Woods shop, Michael Reynolds with Ferrons Shop, The Shamrock, O’Dowd’s, Mary Kings Bar and Ryan’s as well as a few B/B’s Seagrove, St Joseph’s and Lupins villa just to name a few that remain open all the year around and now a hopefully an Hotel, trust me this will make a great difference to the area, it may take time for the word to get out there that Roundstone has a Hotel open out of season.

We wish of course Michelle, Lorraine and David all the luck in the world with their new venture, and we will certainly try to help them as much as we can to arrive at the goal of being able to stay open all the year around.

Welcome Back:
After some months now Joanne Conneely who has been in Florida having been working for Paddy the Yank, has just got back “welcome back Joanne” she gave us news of Amanda Keane and Paul Broderick who is also with Paddy the Yank and is still out there and Joanne tells us that Amanda and Paul are due back at the end of March.

And also to welcome back Michael John and Catherine Ferron, from their travels in New Zealand and Australia and talking about Michael, he related to me that he was quite astounded by the circulation of the listening audience of the Connemara Community Radio and the Roundstone website, because while they were out in New Zealand staying with Stephan and Elaine Wallace who are originally from Renvyle, Stephan by the way is Catherine’s

brother, these guys had more news about Roundstone and Connemara generally, so they were able to bring Michael and Catherine up to date of what’s happening in Connemara and Stephan apparently rushes home from work to be ready to hear the news and other programmes on the radio, so as I speak the Wallace’s are listening to me in New Zealand, so good wishes to you both from Roundstone, also comes from Catherine and Michael and of course from me, just to say, keep tuning in.

It’s very encouraging when you hear things like this it makes it all worth while. So keep up the good work Connemara Community Radio.

Happy Birthday:
Marion McDonagh and Soracha O’Keefe have reached their 18th birthday, 4th February to be exact, they were youth club members, actually Marion is still with us as a group leader, so there you are a very happy birthday you guys have fun.

Roundstone Parents Association:
They had their Coffee and Pancake fund raiser in the Shamrock Bar last Monday and were able to raise €531.11 for the National Children’s Hospital Tallaght, this was all due to the hard work of Ellen O’Donnell, Geraldine Coyne and Teresa Walsh and they have asked me to thank Phil Atkinson from the Shamrock who gave the premises over for free, and amazingly enough the National School Children collected €135.61considering there are only thirty six kids in the school a great effort from everybody.

Well done.

Congratulations and Good Luck:
To our Roundstone Man, Shane McDonald, son of Margaret and Frank McDonald Shane is about to wed Marion O’Toole from Cashel on Friday in the Cashel Church Friday 10th March. Have a great day and long life together.

Plaques;
A few days ago a pair of lovely hand made and hand painted pottery plaques have been placed on the graveyard gates and walls of Innishnee and Gurteen.

The Gurteen one is to highlight the memerory of the deceased infant burial site and the other is on the Innishnee graveyard. These plaques were sponsored by the local lotto.

The making and erection of them was done by Seamus Laffan, Roundstone Ceramics

Joke:
One day a bear, a Lion, and a Chicken met in a forest.

The bear said that if I roar the forest shivers with fear,

The Lion said that if I roar the dessert quivers with fear,

The chicken said “Big EFing deal, I only have to cough and the entire planet shits itself.

Sláin