From Castlebar - County Mayo -
Western People - 3 Dec 2003
By NB
7, Dec 2003 - 01:03
Three from the Western People:
Belderrig currach on a crest of a wave
Mrs. Mary McAleese, President of Ireland,
presented the Museum of Country Life (National Museum of Ireland) with an award
for its lively and dynamic Education and Outreach programme. The Museum of the
Year awards were presented during a reception at the House of Lords, Bank of
Ireland, College Green, Dublin. Deirdre Power, Education and Outreach Officer at
the Museum of Country Life, accepted the award for Best Access & Outreach
Initiative for an exciting and innovative boat building project undertaken last
summer. The building of this Belderrig currach, a large 5 man currach, was not
only novel in an Irish museum context but emphasised the vitality of existing
skills and crafts in the country and the benefits of partnerships between museum
and local and community organisations.
High hopes for upgrading McHale Park 'eyesore'
By Majella Loftus
Officials of
Castlebar Mitchels GAA Club and Mayo County Council are confident an agreement
can be reached in relation to the renovation of an unsightly derelict wall at
McHale Park. Four officials of the club attended a meeting of the Castlebar
Electoral Area Committee last week and heard plans for the upgrading of McHale
Road to the value of €350,000. These figures however, did not include the
renovation of the wall. The meeting was attended by Michael Diskin, chairman of
the GAA club, Mr Martin McManamon, Mr Leo Doherty and Mr James Rock.
Ballycroy’s €4m visitor centre will boost tourism
Tourism in Mayo has been given a massive
boost with the announcement that almost £4m. has been allocated for the building
of a Visitor Centre at the 11,800 hectare national park in Ballycroy. The
establishment of the new centre at the National Park will contribute to a
network of heritage sites in Mayo that includes the exceptionally popular Museum
of Country Life in Turlough Park House and the Ceide Fields. The Centre will be
build into a hill overlooking Blacksod Bay, with the Park to its rear, and it
will include exhibition space, a cafeteria, classrooms for educational
activities and a platform from the roof area to view the National
Park.
The currach project was well covered by PJ
here on the Castlebar website last year – the photographs are still there.
This year’s house-building project should also be in the running next year as it
was another innovative idea – what will they do for Summer 2004?
Football pitches are never items of beauty especially when viewed from the
outside. Hopefully now with the day approaching that Croke Park will be rented out to the
Government and sub-let to all sorts of foreign games and music events they will
be able to prettify the ugly wall on McHale Road. The Mitchels did offer McHale
Park for a U2 concert a while back so you just never know - they could be rolling in it before long with plenty to fix the wall. In the meantime perhaps a few starving artists could paint a 'muriel' on it like so many other GAA pitches around the West.
Another visitor centre but this time in our latest National Park in the
Nephin Beg range. Hopefully it won’t get mired down in controversy like the
Burren centre did due to a poor choice of location. The lessons learned in Clare
will hopefully give Mayo a centre as cleverly located and integrated into the landscape as the one perched on top of the
cliff at the Ceide Fields.
© Copyright 2003 by Castlebar - County Mayo -