Ballyboughal.net » public house

niall mellon township building blitz 2009

Peter — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:04:05 +0000

950 Volunteers – 1 Week – 200 New Houses

I had disappeared for the last week or so…. and it seems in Ballyboughal terms I missed quite a bit… congratulations footballers!!
This is what I was doing….

Wallacedene, Cape Town, South Africa.

My third year to travel with The Garden of Hope Team, this year was always going to be yet another amazing project. As most of you know by now, I travel not to build houses but as part of a team of gardeners to, this year, build a community playground, football pitch and vegetable and fruit gardens.

What we didn’t bank on was the rain…. and by God did it fall.

But the options were….? We did have one half day of rain stops play… we then worked through as it got worse to make up the lost hours. And in the end it did work out. The sun started shining. It was always gonna happen

I’ve had to pause here writing this post…. It’s upsetting to be honest. My voice is gone. My bones are sore. There’s a pride inside me for what I as part of a team did… and then I think that maybe I could have done more. I’ve tears in my eyes. I’ve turned on the heating and type on my laptop and I’m trying, really trying not to write a sad post. Maybe to speak of the families and children with HIV and on housing lists for over 20 years…. when the rain came down one of the guys was telling me of a man they met with a frying pan trying to keep the water from his shack. I doubt he slept that night. But the people are so happy, friendly and polite. The children still smile. To see them dancing in middle of the water feature… that was the moment I took. Maybe I’ve numbed slightly to it after 3 years…

I heard of one lady. Originally from South Africa. She works in a pub in Ireland and for the last five years has saved her tips. This year she done the trip. She paid €5,000 to come to South Africa to work. The same as all of the Irish did. I worked with ladies in their 60′s and 70′s who laboured as myself and Colin lay cobbles. I met people who had lost loved ones so recently. Those who had no jobs to return home to in Ireland…. I’ve just thought of them too.

I’m gonna sit and have a cuppa now. The vid is done. I have some writing done here and a blog post to thank you all so much for your support. In garden terms… I think you’ll agree the volunteers made the best of it and kept the smile sunny side up… More than that – I know you will agree that our new friends in Wallacedene love it.

Thank you all for everything…. see you in a little.

I’ve uploaded all of my 2009 blitz images/ photographs here

A great overview of the entire week can be read on the official Niall Mellon Township Trust blog – click here

To visit my charity website click here

To view the original post – click here

o’connors pub – it’s official – it’s opening

Peter — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:06:52 +0000

Moaning all in Ballyboughal, it official from the horses mouth, written on Moses’ tablet, cast in stone, she opens on next Monday 20th Oct.

...this time its really happening

some thought it would never happen. some thought it was never possible. In a town where the drop, the craic, the entire knowledge of what encapsulated community spirit and held it so tightly within its grasp had been left to wander idle for over 2 years…. It is, now, on the verge of what some may consider akin to poetry being given rock and roll status… a Hendrix like status, The Jim Morrison of Ballyboughal maybe… ? It is to be reborn, re-released, relaunched… it is to open!

The reality is people walk through the village and some don’t know their neighbours. O Connors pub was a mythical establishment that elimanted any mysteriousness over who, what or how that man was related. In one evening a family tree was discussed and on the back of the same beer mat the relativity theory was unravelled and reconstructed using that of a DNA molecule [deoxy-ribo-nucleic-acid].

What will there be? What’s it like? Who? What? Where and when? The rumours have started – but there’s only one way to put Marys, cousins, uncles, brothers, sister-in-law now known as Jim to the wrong…. I guess you’ll have to pop in and check it out for yourself!

One thing is for sure. Ballyboughal has something now that was lost for a while. A place where people new to the village can meet. A centre. A sense of community. A place to meet. A heart and above all a soul.

Things I hate… blow ins

Man on the Bridge — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:00:26 +0000

I hate them? I don’t even know them. My Father was a blow in. He moved here. My Mother was a blow in. She moved here too. They didn’t tell anyone. Not many people lived here then. Nobody knew they’d moved here. I can drive my vehicle how I like. You can just wait behind me. I own this place. You’ve got a big jeep. I don’t care. Soon you’ll take over the town. Connors pub may return. I hope it doesn’t. I was barred. I got back in though. Blows in are all the same. Ballyboughal. No! Baile bachaille. My baile. My home town. The servants town not home of the staff you eejit Adrian. You’re a blow in too Donegan. I don’t mind you. You don’t talk as much as McMahon. You played guitar once. I heard you. You were Shite. Thats my opinion. People applauded. You never played guitar Mc Mahon. You Father does. He good. Your Shite anyway. Your Both Blow ins. I hope you move back out. Why do I hate blow ins? Because I’ve lived in Ballyboughal all my life.

Pink boats my arse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C25zmvcBH2A

Things I hate… pub?

Man on the Bridge — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:40:16 +0000

The pub is gone. Move on. Blows in. Blow out. Move on. The lads ran a pub. It was theirs. They can do do what they like. They did. Well done. Move on. It closed. Now I hope it stays that way. I didn’t at first. I hate that shit about will it open. People broke their windows recently. I hate that shit too. I say break theirs. Other pubs closed. Pubs close all the time. People move on. Regeneration. A generation has moved on. The town is bigger now. A town of almost all blow ins. We need a new pub. Not an old one. An old style one. A new tv would do. I hate blow ins. Next.