Ballinasloe Drummers have returned from a hiatus after their Galway 2020 launch was interrupted
by the pandemic. The club are offering an eight week drumming course for anyone over 18 years,
commencing in the Ballinasloe Band Hall on Monday February 6 at 21:00. The cost to join is €40 and
drums are supplied by the group. Additionally the group hopes to march in the St. Patricks parade,
displaying their abilities to the town. New members are welcome to join, and for more details you
can contact Seamus Duffy at (087) 250 6431.

River Traffic To Marina Up 55% Last Season
 
The local River Suck has enjoyed an increase of 55% or 439 lock passages visiting the Marina in 2022, with 1229 boats being recorded in 2022 compared to 790 in 2021. The increase in visitors has positive effects on local tourism post COVID.
 
Within the last three years, tourism along the Shannon river has been developing. Since 2019, domestic bookings have raised by 40% and there has been a large increase in registered boats along the river, with 9,000 being reported two years ago, to just over 9,500 this year. Waterways Ireland recorded over 14,000 boat journeys through the river Shannon in the six months to June of 2022, which is higher than in the same time period in 2021.
 
Half of the 439 passages through the lock in Poollboy would come from private cruisers, with the other half being hired cruises. A portion of these passages can be attributed to local boat owners, but the significant portion of hired cruises highlights the many tourists travelling into Ballinasloe.
 
“This goes to show that promoting the wonderful waterway & facilities on offer can make a huge difference in attracting more visitors & tourists. Roll on the 2023 season and looking forward to seeing you all out on the river in the year ahead”, stated Graham Bartlett Chairperson of the local Branch.
 
Failte Ireland hopes to continue to revitalize tourism on the river during the decade to encourage people to visit the towns and ports along the waterway. The agency will focus on upgrading Ireland’s old, relatively inefficient fleet and growing cruise business. Modern, larger boats have the ability to cater for groups and families. In 2018 boat rental companies sold about 4,000 “rental weeks” to more than 17,000 tourists, indicating the strength of this strategy in providing for large groups of individuals. Additionally, this strategy lent itself well to people looking for ‘staycations’ during the pandemic.
 
The River Suck Branch is the 25th and newest Branch within the IWAI network. The River Suck is ideal for anyone travelling the river for a daytrip, and the marina featured conveniently in the centre of Ballinasloe allows visitors to explore our town . This tourism will also benefit our local economy, allowing greater marketing opportunities for our town.

“Well done to IWAI River Suck branch - increase of 55% more boats with more people coming to visit and enjoy Ballinasloe and surrounding areas! Onwards & upwards in 2023!” exclaimed Senator Aisling Dolan.
 
Regarding the recent increase in boat traffic this year, half of the 439 passages through the lock in Poollboy would come from private cruisers, with the other half being hired cruises. A portion of these passages can be attributed to local boat owners, but the significant portion of hired cruises highlights the many new waterway tourists travelling into town.
 

Rita’s New Role
 
Acclaimed writer and poet Dr Rita Kelly has been appointed as the Irish Language Development Officer for Cumann Gaelach nEaglaise (Irish Guild of the Church of Ireland). Widely known for her works in both Irish and English, she has also been involved in promoting and developing the Irish language across the country for the last 50 years, making many friends and connections through the celebration of the Irish language.
 
Locally reared Rita, first married in 1972 to Eugene Watters/Eoghan Ó Tuairisc (1919-1982), is an accomplished bilingual poet and writer. Since 2015, she has been married to Edel Connolly, a former secondary school principal. A native to Galway and primarily associated with East Galway, she has also lived around Ireland along the River Barrow near Carlow and in Waterford, and abroad in Manhattan and Germany.
 
She now resides in Birr, County Offaly. This location is an ideal base to work with the Church of Ireland community across the country, North and South, as Development Officer responsible for promoting the Irish language.
 
Rita is active within the Birr Group of Parishes. In 2022 she was commissioned as a Lay/Parish reader and is also a member of the Birr Parish Select Vestry. This position allows Rita to bring together and connect people in speaking Irish, as members of the Church of Ireland do not often have this opportunity to worship in Irish. Rita and Cumann Gaelach both acknowledge the great work done by her predecessor, Caroline Nolan, first appointed in 2011.
 
Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise was originally founded in 1914 to promote the rituals of the Celtic Church, to motivate the use of Irish within the congregation, to collect written devotional literature and sources, and to encourage the use of Irish art and music.
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The Society organizes and supports regular Church Services throughout the country at various occasions, for example St Brigid’s Day, St Patrick’s Day and other feasts and festivals. Services are supported in Irish in Christchurch Cathedral, St Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin, St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Cork, Christchurch Cathedral Waterford. Cumann Gaelach hopes to continue the same support to parishes throughout the country in providing services in Irish.
 
This position of Development Officer is funded by Foras na Gaeilge. Rita hopes that people will contact her or Cumann Gaelach to support the promotion of the Irish language within the Church of Ireland community.

Clontuskert N.S. were surprised with a visit from past pupil Sarah Lyons along with her teammates Tegan Canning and Katie Manning.

The sport stars previously won the All Ireland Intermediate Cup for Galway camogie, with Sarah being active in camogie throughout the year. Sarah and her teammates provided some inspiring words of advice for the students. Many of whom were also wearing Galway GAA jerseys for this occasion to support the former pupils.

Clontuskert NS students received a bursary from Music Education Group as part of the “Journey into the Heart of the Blues” project in association with Global Lighthouse Studios based in the USA. The school used this grant to purchase many ukuleles for the students to learn and play. The students were having a great time learning how to play this instrument, with Irish tune smith Chris Poland teaching them some numbers.  ​

​Lawrencetown Scooped its first Pride of Place award in the category ‘Village with a Population of 300-1000’. After stiff competition, Lawrencetown beat out its rivals which included Narraghmore in Kildare and Kilmovee in Mayo. The group received a small cash prize and a trophy the event, presented infront of 400 community volunteers in attendance.  The Pride of Place awards are held every year and seek to honour the many volunteers who improve their local communities and make them a safe place to live.