Lough Boora Parklands Walk

On July 28th 2009, the Ballinasloe A.R.A's Walkers Group finally threw caution to the winds, donned raingear and telescopic brollies and ventured with some trepidation and fear into the wilds of the Irish bog lands. About 20 brave souls assembled at Creagh Church ----very symbolic --- at 10.00 hours. After a few moral boosting words from group captain Jimmy Lyons, and assurances from chief medical officer Noelle Rohan that medical supplies were above the suggested recommendations of the U.N. everyone felt somewhat relaxed. After some heart-rending farewells to loved ones and having received conformation of our soundness of mind, we struck out on the R357 for Shannonbridge, High Street, Colooney , Cloghan and finally Boora Parklands, our destination for the day. C.M .0. Rohan's group arrived late, having made a pit stop at Killeens of Shannon bridge ostensibly to ensure that refreshments would be ready on the return journey. Although nothing was said everybody realised that there was an ulterior motive for the stop, borne out by the wide grins and constant giggling of the group. The Boora Parklands consists of 4 distinct areas of interest. We confined ourselves to Area I .No doubt we will visit the others at a later date. These areas are a testament to the wealth of beauty that surrounds us on all sides. They do not provide the virtual reality beauty of modem technology they are reality. Coming from a generation to whom mere mention of bog meant weeks of hard labour in backbreaking positions, in a constant battle with the elements ,it was pleasant to have time to enjoy the wonders of the flora, and the absolute peace and tranquillity in surroundings so common we take them for granted. "What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stop and care. Here for a small while we could stop and stare. Every glimpse of nature we observe is a perfect picture, yet it is constantly changing. The sculptures in the bogland are beautifully placed and executed to remind us of power of nature and of mans feeble attempts to control it. The whole area of Boora is surrounded by history, history being merely a catalogue of changes. The road on which we parked was an old footway through the bog for generations of people to go to church and market, and area 4 represents a Mesolithic area all for another day! The trip home involved the now almost mandatory stop at Killeen's Pub, where as usual we received a warm welcome, beautiful soup and sandwiches, music performed by a Swiss country singer flown in for the day, Derry said. The meal was highlighted by another generous supply of fruit-cake to die for and tea or coffee. All in all, a wonderful day with wonderful people. I urge those who have not joined the walkers to do so. John Boland

Theatre

Our love of Theatre in the Ballinasloe Active Retirement Association has brought us on many wonderful outings. We particularly enjoy our trips to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, where the performances are always outstanding. Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” was one such trip. We attended this famous play last year and found it clever, witty and light-hearted. We recently travelled to the Abbey again to see “The Three Sisters” by Chekhov, as adapted by Brian Friel. This is quite a thought-provoking play that explores some of the social and political issues in nineteenth century Russia. As always, the quality of the acting, the costumes and the superb sets really enhanced our enjoyment of the play. We particularly enjoyed discussing our varied responses to the play afterwards. Our love of Theatre has also taken us to plays staged in Athlone, Birr and the Town Hall Theatre in Galway. Other well-known plays we have attended were, “Stones in His Pockets”, “A Month in the Country” and “Dancing at Lughnasa”, to name but a few. Our next outing will again be to Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in September to see another Oscar Wilde play entitled “An Ideal Husband”. This play features a strong cast of twenty-one, so it’s not to be missed. One of my favourites of course,was the comedy “The Shraughraun”. It was full of intrigue and good humour. We feel really privileged to be able to attend these excellent performances. It is so inspiring to witness the professionalism of the actors and actresses and we never fail to be amazed by their talent and discipline. Their wonderful performances compel us to return again and again.