Rory Kilduff passed away on 24th February at the age of 94 years.  Damian Mac Con Uladh gave a wonderful message in honour of Rory.

'' Rory Kilduff, one of the last traditional saddlers in the west of Ireland if not in the country, died yesterday, in his 94th year. He was such a lovely man and a true Ballinasloe character. You could never pass by his shop on Main Street - and him working at his bench and looking out from his window to the world - without dropping in for an auld chat. Or get your leather schoolbag patched up. It was like stepping back into another century, which is no wonder considering the shop was about 200 years old (or so he said) and his own father started working there in 1889. Rory kept it going until his retirement in 1994. In that shop you'd be entertained by his repertoire of town lore, jokes and commentary or be quizzed about some of the more recent local events and controversies. He loved travelling too, and went on a fair few bus tours of the continent and further afield. He'd come back then and tell all and sundry about events like the WW2 battle of Remagen and how the Americans took the bridge from the Nazis: all relayed with dollops of humour and in the best Ballinasloe accent and way. He played bridge and sipped whiskey with my grandmother for many years so hopefully they can now resume where they left off, almost 30 years ago. My deepest sympathies to his lovely wife Maura.
Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.''
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We offer his family and friends our deepest sympathies. May he rest in peace.

Fit Town has been the talk of the town for the last few weeks! 13th March 2016 marks the Finalé of Fit Towns in Ballinasloe with a fun-packed day to celebrate.

With Walking, Running, Cycling, Obstacle Races, Penalty shootouts, Face-painting, Dance, Crossbar Challenges - the challenge will be to not find something to do on the day!

So get down to GAA Clubhouse in Ballinasloe from 12:30pm to 4pm on Sunday 13th March. 

For more information on Fit Town you can visit our section on this website or visit Fit Town's facebook page: 

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"STAY & PLAY" Easter Camp

From 23 - 25th March

10.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.


For all ages up to 17 years.

Limited places available

Lots of fun &  games for all

Massive Easter Egg hunt on Friday 25th!!

Call 087 1353751/ 0851124197 to reserve a place

Credit Union Primary Schools Art Competition
Ballinasloe has entered the race to compete for the title of Galways Fittest Town in 2016.  The competition which takes place from 1st February – 13th March is an initiative of Galway Sports Partnership with the objective of encouraging and supporting people from all aspects of our community to get out and get active!  The Fit Town Team have worked in partnership with a number of groups, clubs, organisations and schools throughout the community to schedule a variety of programmes and events over the 6 week period – details are available online @ www.ballinasloe.ie and also in the current edition of Ballinasloe Life.  To complement this project Ballinasloe Credit Union are collaborating with the Fit Town Team and Primary Schools in the area to launch a ‘Healthy Little Me’ Art Competition.  The challenge is for each child to depict through their creative mind what it means to be healthy and how they think they might influence their own wellbeing – taking into consideration diet, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and other influences such as family, friends schools, clubs, environment. 
 
Post Primary School 6 Word Story Competition
With the same theme are also partnering with the new Ballinasloe Library and the two Post Primary Schools; Garbally and Ardscoil Mhuire 6 Word Story Competition.  The challenge is to express in a 6 word ‘story’ what being healthy means to them and how they think they might influence their own healthy and wellbeing – taking into consideration exercise, diet, nutrition, lifestyle and other influences such as family, friends, schools, clubs, food production methods, labelling/marketing, environmental factors etc.. 
 
Competition Details;
Both competitions will run concurrently and will be launched through the schools network on 2nd February.  
Closing date 26th February.
Presentation of Prizes will be Tuesday evening 8th March in the new Ballinasloe Library (Time to be decided)

Thanks to Ballinasloe Cycling Club and Beechlawn Organic Farm for this great recipe for Fit Town Ballinasloe!:  

"Made these up for FIT TOWN BALLINASLOE and Ballinasloe Cycling Club on Sunday morning and they went down a treat and everyone was asking for recipe so you can make these up any way just try have a good balance of dried fruits and nuts and seeds the porridge makes them dryer and the more honey makes them stickier all these organic products can be got in Beechlawn Organic Farm's webshop.  All these are dried fruits so you can keep them in the press!" John Donnelly, Beechlawn Organic Farm

ENERGY BOMBS 

• Slow release organic energy 
• 200g kilbeggan porridge
• 50g cranberries 
• 100g sultanas 
• 50g figs
• 50g dates
• 75g grated coconut
• 50g linseed 
• 100g almonds 
• 50g sesame seeds
• 50g sunflower seed 
• Good honey
• Almond flour or coconut for topping

In a food processor blitz up all your dry ingredients and make sure it's well mixed, slowly add the honey while still mixing until you get a nice mixture that you can form little balls they should be a little sticky and then once formed into balls roll them in almond flour or grated coconut to keep them nice and dry , keep them in a sealed container and they will last 2 weeks in fridge (unless you eat them all before hand!) 

The Ahascragh First Responders are holding their annual 5k Fun Run/Jog/Walk on the 3rd of April at 11 a.m.! Registration for this event will take place in Kathleens Lounge at 10 a.m. and  all entry costs go directly to their cause.

The first responders aim to train people in the community in the use of the Defibrillators and purchase more life saving defibrillators for the village!


For more information visit their Facebook page Ahascragh First Responders 5km Fun Run/Jog! ​

We may not be as fast on our feet as the younger generation but a large number of  Active Retirement members can be seen  stepping it out every Tuesday. morning on the Athletic track.

Our walk is followed by exercises in the G.A.A Club house. Our physical instructor, Eilis Ryan has very kindly taken us under her wing. As part of the “Fit Town” Project, she effortlessly  puts us through our paces. Under her instructions, we bend and stretch despite the aching limbs and creaking bones. We enjoy the morning, and the effort it takes to keep fit and healthy makes it all worth while.
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Now if we could only abstain from the lovely tea and biscuits which follow! ;-) 
 
Chris O’Flynn, P.R.O..

The Irish National Minor School Championship was held in the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin on Sunday February 7th.  12 swimmers from Ballinasloe swim club represented their National Schools in individual events & an additional 6 represented Creagh NS in Relay events.  The competition in the Minor Schools is exceptionally high with the best young swimmers in the country making it into the Nationals.  Coached by Brendan Breathnach & Rochelle Stockil Trappe the Ballinasloe swimmers performed amazingly! Both Ballinasloe Swimming Club & their schools expressed how they felt very proud to have them representing us!  An even greater congrats is to be sent to those who made it into the finals on the day as this places each of them amongst the top 10 strongest swimmers in the country in that event.  For those who won medals amongst such stiff competition it is a testament to all the hard work they and the coaches put in throughout the year. 

The Results of this amazing representation by the kids are below.
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U9 Girls

• Kayla McKeon (Creagh NS) performed splendidly on the day she had the 5th fastest time in the heats of the 50M Backstroke & got into the final where she finished 9th.  Kayla made it into the final where she finished in 4th position in the 50M Butterfly.

U9 Boys

• Evan McKeon (Creagh NS) had two good swims in both the 50M Breaststroke & the 50M Backstroke, he will be under 9 again next year.
• Liam Martin (Creagh NS) Liam swam well in the 50M Backstroke 

U10 Boys

• Leon McKeon (Creagh NS) had two strong swims in both the 50M Breaststroke & the 50M Backstroke

U10 Boys

• Charlie Mooney (Creagh NS) put in a good performance in the 50M Freestyle finishing in 14th position.

U11 Girls

• Ava McKeon (Creagh NS) had 2 excellent swims in both the 50m Butterfly & the 100M Individual Medley.  Ava made in into the final where she finished in 7th place in the Butterfly.  She had the 6th fastest time in the 100M IM.

U12 Girls

• Tara McKeon (Creagh NS) put in a great performance in the 50m Butterfly, she made it into the final where she finished in 8th place.  She also swam well in the 100M Individual Medley finishing 13th out of the 48 girls in this event.
• Ruth Dolan (Creagh NS) swam brilliantly in the 50M Backstroke, she made it into the final where she had the 4th fastest time in this event.  She also swam well in the 100M IM.
• Caoimhe Kennedy (Gaelscoil Ballinasloe) performed very well in both in both the 50m Backstroke & the 50M Butterfly getting PB’s in both.

U12 Boys

• James Mooney (Creagh NS) performed brilliantly in the 50M Breaststroke, he made it into the final where he had a super swim finishing in 3rdposition which earned him a National Bronze medal. (James won silver in this event last year).  He also had a good swim in the 50M Free.
• Conor Harley (Attyrory NS) swam well in the 100M Individual Medley

RELAYS TEAMS CREAGH NS 
Girls U10 Freestyle Relay

• Kayla Mc Keon, Sheenagh Hanrahan, Emma McGreal, Sarah Dolan – the four girls swam very well, they made it into the final where they finished in 6th place.       

Boys U 10 Medley & Freestyle Relays

• Leon McKeon, Charlie Mooney, Liam Martin, Evan McKeon – the four boys performed well, they came 5th in the medley relay which was a great achievement.

Girls U12 Medley Relay

• Tara Mc Keon, Ruth Dolan, Ava Mc Keon, Ailbhe Hanrahan – all 4 girls performed brilliantly finished 1st place which earned each of them won a National Gold medal.         

Girls U12 Freestyle Relay  

• Tara Mc Keon, Ruth Dolan, Ava Mc Keon, Ailbhe Hanrahan  - the four girls once again performed superbly finishing in 2nd position & earning themselves a National Silver medal.

Boys U 12 Medley & Freestyle Relay

• James Mooney, Conor Hogan, Adam Mc Greal, Hugh Killeen – they all performed well in both relays.