The school year in St. Augustine’s NS in Clontuskert finished with several accolades being showered on the teachers and the 38 pupils. 

The Head of Microsoft Ireland and Microsoft Corporation, Dr. Kevin Marshall, praised the school for becoming the first in Ireland to create Chekhov eBooks in Irish and congratulated the principal Kate Murray on being awarded the inaugural Microsoft Innovative Expert Educator Fellow Award for the Republic of Ireland. 

In an open schools’ competition, St. Augustine's came out on top from 24 local schools who were invited to submit a history and presentation on World War 1 by the organising Heritage Group. 

They won the plaudits of the three judges and staged their presentation at an open night in Gullane’s Hotel. To round off a hectic year’s activities, the Clontuskert school hosted thirty students and teachers from France, Spain and England, culminating in a Community celebration night in the school hall, where the local students performed a concert to celebrate the two year partnership of the Comenius project. At a “Red Letter Day” in the school, Microsoft’s Dr. Kevin Marshall said St. Augustine’s had “led the way in primary school one to one technology integration in Ireland” while TD and former school principal, Mary Mitchell O’Connor said she was “blown away by the wonderful, innovative work of the pupils and I congratulate St. Augustine’s on being a school of excellence.” 

Microsoft had presented each student with a Surface Device, which is a hybrid tablet with keyboard and pen that gives the pupils an outlet to write, code and create. As part of the celebrations the children presented their work on Chekhov Story author and the Literacy for Life Initiative. They are now the first school in Ireland to create Chekhov eBooks in Irish while Principal Kate Murray is one of twelve Expert Educators from around the world who have worked and designed new models of learning that better prepare learners for life in the 21st century. 

In a separate function, there was “standing room only” in the school hall where teachers and students from schools in the UK, France and Spain were entertained to mark the end of a two year Comenius project. In recent years students and teachers from the Clontuskert school traveled to each of the above countries to learn more about their cultures and education. The visitors were also treated to a walking tour of Ballinasloe town as well as visiting places of historical interest in the locality. Under the guidance of principal Kate Murray, fellow teachers Emil Scott, Nicola Egan and Colette Baynes are basking in the glory of the school’s unique successes during the last year. And rightly so!

Don't forget to follow St Augustine's School by visiting their very active blog! 

The Eircode website launched today.  To find out what your new Eircode will be in Ballinasloe click on this link 

If you grew up in Ballinasloe in the 80's, chances are you will remember the all too familiar wooden diving boards, Speedo clock and yellow walls of Ballinasloe Swimming Pool. 

If you went to Scoil Mhuire, you get to relive a visit to the Career Guidance Office. And for those of you lucky enough to have been regular disco-goers? Well, there's no denying the glitter and big hair!

This mini-drama, "The Changeling" (a Relays production from 1985) will take you right back in time. Enjoy!

This week’s show is all about Ballinasloe, where we pay a visit to KPW, a family-owned printing works. We also go along to Ballinasloe GAA, a thriving club in the town; BACD, a company with a mandate to help develop the town and surrounding areas; Ballinasloe Town Hall Theatre, which has undergone extensive renovations; and An Tain Pub, where top musicians gathered to entertain us!

Click on the image below to see the full episode

For anyone who knows and loves Garbally, here is a very unique view of it from the skies:

Located in Croffy's Yard, Eilis Ryan offers unique and effective fitness classes for females only!   That means, no excuses ;-) 

Classes are 45 - 50 mins long 
Cost: €8 pay as you go 
€15 for 2 a week 
€22 for 3 a week 

Nutritional monitoring and plan included.

YOU MUST book in advance. Please book early. Try not to text on the day as I hate telling people I have no room.

Classes are built for all levels of fitness - you do what you can when you can. 

Pleae bring water and a towel.

Eilis 

On Sunday the 19th of July 2015, we would like to invite you to another very special event: The Pat Cahill 6km in Aughrim, Co. Galway at 11am

Registration is on the morning in the Battle of Aughrim Interpretative Centre from 9:30am

Entry €10 Donations also welcome on the day.

All money raised is in aid of the Sunflowers Chernobyl Appeal children’s' charity. 

The Charity is a totally voluntary Irish organisation based in Co Galway and is dedicated to helping the Chernobyl Children who live in a radiation contaminated land which was destroyed by the world’s worst nuclear disaster. 

The 3rd annual Pat Cahill 6km run is being organised in an attempt to raise much needed funds for all their on-going projects.

There will also be a FREE Kids Fun Run with certs and goodie bags for all the children taking part and we will also be joined by some children from the Bogushevsk Orphanage so please come along and say hello and enjoy a fun-filled day with playground facilities also available. 

For more details please contact either Pat Dillon 0874172307 or Ken Campbell 0877654200

An unlikely couple you might say, but they are both the 2015 Community Games Connaught Champions!  Well done to the 2 teams that are through to the National Festival in Athlone this August.

Ballinasloe Chess Team came away victorious in Sligo on the 5th July, beating reigning champions Kilteevan (Roscommon) 4-1.   Well done to the team and of course their very dedicated managers Darren and Tommy and all at the Chess Club. 

To find out more about both of these clubs, please see the following links to their Facebook pages:

To support the teams, click here for a timetable of all Community Games Events happening in August 

By John Donnelly

We have our new kit!  This morning was my 1st day out in it and it felt great to be part of Ballinasloe's newest club with our own classy club gear. 

The club wouldn't be possible without the financial support of our sponsors. We would especially like to thank Colm McLoughlin for his generous personal donation to the club, for this we offered him a charity spot on our kit, and he picked Dubai Duty Free Foundation. 

We also would like to thank our sponsors: Barry Taylor from Barry's Cycles, Pearse Keller from Kelair Campotel, Padraic Dillon from Dillon Tyres 1st stop, Tom Mckeons from Mckeons Sand & Gravel, and Rory Daly from Mighty Cabs. 

We are doing our 1st charity cycle for East Galway and Midlands Cancer Care Centre in Brackernagh on Sun 23rd of August we have a 50 and 100 km routes and we are doing a couch to 50km training plan for anyone interested!

You will see us on the roads around Ballinasloe and everywhere from here on out and we will have the rest of the kit, gillets, wind and winter jackets very soon. For more information on how you can get involved with the Club, please contact us on Facebook 

"PADRAIG PEARSES GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT."

SATURDAY 22ND OF AUGUST

You can be part of it.

Padraig Pearses are attempting to break the World Record for the largest GAA training session ever. This will take place in the club on SATURDAY 22ND OF AUGUST. More details will follow but can you please hold this date in your diary. We need 1,300 people on the pitch so we not only need you, we need your extended family and all your friends both inside and outside the Club area. Anyone can take part from aged 2 to 92 (all you need is to stand on the pitch for 30 mins). This is a HUGE event for the club and we REALLY NEED your support. Hold the date and further details will follow.

PLEASE SHARE.