Lanesboro Ballyleague Notes
Happy Christmas and Glorious New Year
I would like to wish each and every one of my readers of these notes and their family and friends a very Happy Christmas and an absolutely glorious 2015. May your aims, dreams and wishes all come through.
Over the past year we have lost some of our neighbours, family and friends; we have also encountered illness amongst the same circle of people. Christmas will be a hard time for some in our community whilst it will be great for those that overcame a hard and stressful year. I also remember everyone that will be in hospital or Nursing Homes over the Christmas and New Year. My thoughts and prayers are with you all and I hope that the New Year will take with it a new vitality that will bring contentedness and satisfaction for a glorious time ahead.
We should all look in on our aged, family, neighbours and friends not only over the Christmas but always. It is nice to call in and say hello if only for a minute or two. They are the people that made our community so great and we can all take from their precious memories of their time in our area. A few minutes of your time each would be a great reassurance for them.
50/50 makes Christmas comes early for three young men
Last Monday night an early Christmas came to Jack, Billy and Paudí Murray, sons of Derek and Denise Murray, Curragh Rua when they were drawn from the hat in the Rathcline 50/50 draw. They got €276.
Chairman Gerald Farrell and his executive committee would like to wish everybody a very Happy Christmas and wonderful New Year. They would like to thank everybody for their support during the year at matches and especially in the latter part of the year in supporting Strictly Come Dancing, the new 50/50 draw and the 50/50 draw for the Christmas Lighting. The club looks forward to your continued support.
MS Christmas Run 2014
The local organising once again calls on your generosity and looks forward to see you running, walking or just out supporting the entrants as they wind their way from Cashel through Lisnagan, Clonmee, Newpark, Lisnacusha, Thureen, Killinure, Tullyvrane, Knock and down Main Street to the finishing line at St. Mary’s Hall at the bridge.
The walkers will start at 11.45pm with the runners staring at 12.15pm. Refreshments will be served for all in St. Mary’s Parish hall. Join in and be part of the movement.
Ladies says Thank You
The Rathcline ladies would like to thank everyone that supported them throughout the year and they look forward to your support again in 2015. The committee is eternally grateful to you for your continued support for their clothes collecting. The collection has again reopened and you can contact Mike Greene about collection or drop off.
The club wishes everyone a very Happy and peaceful Christmas and a prosperous 2015.
Months Mind
As you may already know Fergie Feeney, Knock, suffered the loss of his son Paul in England last month. Fergie has arranged that Paul’s months mind will take place in St. Mary’s Church, Lanesboro on Sunday 4th January at 11.30am.
Sign up for Defibrillator Training
A new session of defibrillator training will commence in the area in the New Year. The group is urgently seeking a number from the area to sign up and do the training. The number of occasions that the training has proved priceless and saved lives throughout the country was phenomenal and your training could in the year ahead could be equally as invaluable in saving a life. Do not put it off to a later date, book your place now.
Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in Ireland. Most of those cardiac arrests take place away from a medical centre or hospital. Many of the victims of the cardiac arrest might have been saved if an external defibrillator (AED) was available and enough people in the vicinity were trained in the use of the defibrillator. We have ample AED’s in our area – some more would help – but we have a greater need for more and more people to be trained in their use.
You are asked to leave your name into Martina O’Brien and she will take details and notify you of the upcoming course.
While most that are already trained up have done their refresher courses there are a number that are out of date. Please give your name to Martina and she will let you know of arrangements to complete your refresher course.
Book Club
We await further details from Lanesboro Library it is great to see that in January a ‘book club’ will be commencing. Book clubs are a growing phenomenon throughout the country and it is wonderful to see that Lanesboro Library will be hosting the Book Club from January.
Christmas Day Swim
Lough Ree Sub Aqua club is delighted to invite everyone to join them for the Annual Christmas Day Swim which will take place on the east bank of the river Shannon at 12.30pm on Christmas Day. Participants and spectators are welcome to the light refreshments that will be served afterwards.
Christmas Service Arrangements
The following are the arrangements over the Christmas. St. Mary’s Church Lanesboro will have Masses at 7pm and 8.30pm on Christmas Eve and at 9.30 and 11.30am on Christmas Day. At the Church of the Holy Rosary Ballyleague there will Mass at 9pm on Christmas Eve and at 11am on Christmas Day. St. Mary’s Ballagh will have Mass on Christmas Eve at 8pm and at St Cecelia’s Church on Christmas day at 10am.
St. John’s Christmas Services
The following is the schedule of for St. John’s congregation over the Christmas period: Christmas Communion will take place in St. John’s, Lanesboro on Christmas Eve at 8pm. On Sunday 28th December there will be service at Donamon church at 4pm. You are asked to note that there will be no other services in the other churches that Sunday.
Sympathy
We would like to extend our since sympathy to Pat and Kay Smyth and family, Mount Davis, on the death of Kay’s mother Mrs Margaret Lynch, Aughabrack, Granard last week.
Locals win Awards
At the recent prize giving ceremony for the midlands east rally championship it was great to see so many of our local rally enthusiasts doing so well. While they keep a low profile the local crews are highly regarded on the rallying circuit. The list of award winners are David Donoghoe who won first in class2 in his Honda Civic; Stephen Healy and Enda Fallon who won first place in class 11 in their Toyota Corolla; Shane Healy and Emmet Donlon who won 3rd prize in class 10 with their Peugeot 205. This was a great achievement by all the lads and we look forward to even greater things from our local crews in 2015.
Books for Christmas
There are many local books on the market for Christmas and if you want to while away the hours with a local read then you can do no better than have a read of one of the following: Fireside Tales from around Longford Town and county including an article by Joe Chapman about his times working for CIE; Foolish Pride by Anne Skelly; The Rocky Road to the Dáil by Kenagh man Padraic Mc Cormack and books by Jack Harte and Kieran Furey.
Shannon Gaels
At the EGM held on Thursday night no executive was formed for the coming year. There is a greater onus than ever that those interested in the development of our youth in the Rathcline parish should turn up at the crisis meeting on Saturday 3rd January. The meeting will commence at 6pm and your attendance is absolutely vital.
The outgoing executive would like to thank everybody that helped them over the years they have been in place. Your support helped greatly.