It’s been quite a week with a great deal of visitors circulating and the good weather apart from today of course.

Mink:

Conall Hawkins from the Galway University has just sent me down some fresh gland juices that have been expressed from the dead Mink onto a cigarette filter to absorb the odour to attract the mink to enter the traps, this time they are so concentrated, he informs me that only one of these filters is needed, but one filter will only last a week, and the rest must be kept in the freezer, to protect the potency, the dreaded mink are still around, so the vials have come at the right time. Conall has also sent me some maps of our area bringing in Ballyconneely, Clifden and letterfrack, he needs me to mark grids where mink have been spotted and trapped, he is trying to put the finishing touches to a mink distribution map, if any body out there could help me to accomplish this, I would be grateful, same goes if any body wants some of the filters just contact me on my mobile 0868215153.

Summerfest:

This years Summerfest has now come to a close and I personally know the hard work that goes in to running events like this, there was a great buzz around the village with music on the street during the day and in the pubs at night and with a lot of children’s events, actually, more so this year, as well as Sanos Dancing work shops, Teddy bear picnic’s and the Children’s treasure hunt around the village, as an added bonus with the help the Roundstone regatta they had traditional Currach racing with a twist. On Saturday the lads were recognised for their efforts over the last eight/ nine years for raising over €40,000 for the Life boat, by being chosen by the RNLI to receive the Supporters award which was presented to them by Ann- Marie Bennet from the Clifden RNLI.

But the down side was, and I say this with hand in mouth a disruptive element did come in, which we normally don’t see in the village and it has upset some people. This is some thing that will be looked into internally for the future. We do now the committee had approached the superintendent in Clifden and the guards were working with them closely through out and we certainly thank the superintendent and the garda for their cooperation.

I would like to take this opportunity also to thank GCC and Tommy Sullivan our community Warden for their help over this weekend and through out the summer, like all events what ever they maybe; there will always be problems. I have noticed not for the first time, that we have come across a lot of young ones on unofficial sites, camping, particularly on the beaches, we do ask them to clear up before leaving dishing out black bags and to ask them to take some responsibility for the area that they are camping on, some, where brilliant and apologised for the mess, and clearly made an effort to clean up, sadly there were those that had a complete disregard for this request. The point I am trying to get across where are their parents in this, parents have in some ways lot to answer for, so our message is from Roundstone “Wake up Parents” I don’t think some of the parents have any idea what their children get up to with this bad behaviour and do I dare say it their language which is a lot to be desired. The mess is one thing, but the drinking is another, a lot of these kids are not really that bad, just very miss guided. We are always left with a lot of rubbish, and empty bottles and cans, through out the summer, golly they must have some money to throw away. Anyway, thank fully our beaches are in good order again for those that really appreciate what we have, and thank god we don’t have too much of these un couth youth.

Roundstone Dive and Beach Party:

In conjunction with the Irish Whale and Dolphin group and Scuba Dive West, Monty Hall of the BBC 2 is inviting everybody to this great conservation event with all the proceeds going towards a stranded whale and Dolphin rescue pontoon, during this event in a marquee by the way on Gurteen he will have guest speakers, games walks shore and boat dives, and its party time, and lots more, this will be held on the 4^th and the 5^th September, it is by ticket only it will cost €30 a head, but the tickets are limited, actually just two hundred, so should this wet your whistle just contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Ann next week will give you a further update as it unfolds. If this works, it could be another feather in our caps for Connemara.

Mass on the Pier:

We had a lovely mass down on the quay with Father Jarleth, with the blessing of the boats, the sea and village, and blessed all the people attending the mass, what made it quite special was of course the sunshine but the majority of the attendees were all local, our choir were in full voice, the young readers and the minsters of the Eucharist all played their part, lets hope we can make it an annual event. At the end of the mass, father Jarleth announced that the basket collection would go toward the refurbishment of the Community Hall, which came to 4oo Euros. My thanks to the fishermen who made a wonderful effort the clearing of the pier for the mass, in fact our thanks to all those that helped in one way or another

Champion of Champions:

As the season comes to a close, we have a few more events, of course I am talking about the Champion of Champions on the 12^th September, and for this day Paddy is bringing in a sheep herding demonstration, which is always wonderful to watch man and dog working together, then on the 18^th September again on the show grounds the pony sale, and the judging for the best foal, also there will be a sports day, with all sorts of traditional games, actually looking at it this, Paddy’s games will make up for the loss of the community games which is normally held at the end of August on the Tennis courts, so we have not completely missed out