Mount Temple/Baylin Community Notes Issue 1

MOUNT TEMPLE BAYLIN COMMUNITY NOTES

We welcome you to our first ever newsletter, which will be published every month in hard copy print and distributed free throughout this corner of Westmeath!

There is also a new Facebook page and we will be linking up with the local newspapers so that the information we gather here will be available to as many as possible through both digital media and print.

The idea is quite simple. We hope to gather as much information about upcoming events, news and contact details so that anyone who may be interested might be well informed of what happened recently and also what is coming up in the month ahead.

There will also be articles and interviews with those who are very familiar with the story of Mount Temple and Baylin so that we all come to know a little more about the geographical, cultural and historical life of the area.

This is an open door production so we welcome all of you children and adults who might be interested in helping out in any way or contributing a piece so that if you have a story to tell or indeed you would like to promote some upcoming event, we encourage you to get in touch and we would be delighted to work with you to get the information out there….

So..…all aboard as we set sail…..the more the merrier…..!

Caulry GAA

• The Red Tiger Nursery and Under 7s training recommenced in the Community Hall in Mount Temple on Wednesday 1st February. This will continue every Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:30pm. All boys and girls aged 4 to 7 are welcome to attend!

Temple Villa

• Temple Villa are currently running their Injury Fund Draw. Tickets are €5, with a first prize of 70 bags of logs, and a 2nd prize of a fourball green fee at Moate Golf Club.

• Congratulations to the U17 squad who were recently crowned CCFL Division 1 champions.

• The Senior Men’s team remain in top spot of the CCFL Division 2 table, with 21 points after 9 games. Keep it up lads!

Mount Temple Golf Club

• Mount Temple Men’s and Women’s golf clubs held their AGMs recently. Best wishes to incoming Men’s Captain Ruairi Matthews and incoming Ladies’ Captain Caroline Ganley.

• Membership for Mount Temple Golf Course this year is as follows:

Family - €1100

Adult – €600

New Adult - €500

Under 30s and Distance members - €400

Pilates

• Pilates classes every Thursday at 9:30am, 10:30am and 7:30pm

Yoga

• Yoga classes take place every Tuesday at 9:30am and 7:30pm. These are mixed ability classes and are 90 minutes long.

Active Age

• The Active age is back up and running in the Community Hall in Mount Temple every second Tuesday morning, starting around 11am. New members are always warmly welcome!

Mount Temple Drama Group

• The Drama Group will hold its AGM on Tuesday the 7th March in the Community Hall in Mount Temple. Anyone interested in getting involved in local drama is welcome to attend!

An Grianan National School

• Well done to all those who contributed to the cash for clobber initiative which took place last Tuesday 31st January!

• There will be an open day on Saturday the 11th February from 11am-1. All parents and children are welcome!

Baylin National School Parents’ Association

• There will be a table quiz in The Bounty, Athlone on Thursday 23rd February at 8pm. €10 per person with all funds going to child resources.

A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE with OLIVER & VERA HYNES

If ever a discussion is being had about old times in the area, whether it be a person, a place or an event, it won’t be long before you hear the phrase “ask Oliver”. This is because Oliver, along with his wife Vera, are among the most well respected and knowledgeable people on Mount Temple and its hinterland. Oliver’s earliest memories go all the way back to a time when the area in which he lives, known as Carn Park today, was owned by one family, by the name of Gray. They lived in a country house within Carn Woods, which has since fallen into total ruin. According to Oliver, they were generous folk and never let those who worked for them ever go home without pay.

Oliver remembers a time when there was a great mound in the middle of the village, as he referred to it as the “corner at Hanevy’s’’. He remembers looking up at sheep on top of the mound! The Council would eventually blast the site, on which a new house has just been built. Oliver also recalls the first cars in the village. One belonged to Frank Fitzgerald and the other to Mike Mahon.

One of the most recognisable places in the community is Kieran’s Shop. Oliver remembers a time when Mrs McCormack used to run the shop, and before her time the Griffin family ran that shop. Mrs McCormack was also the local dressmaker. Oliver and Vera also remember the old Creamery in the village. This was located at the crossroads passed the church, and the building is still there and being lived in to this day! Oliver remembered his brother Paddy bringing up the milk on a Monday morning, and how he would always come home with more milk than he brought up! Both Vera and Oliver said the Creamery was a great asset to the village, however over time, larger milk lorries from Longford and Mullingar replaced the horse and cart used by many locals. There is an old pump situated across from the community hall in Mount Temple, however this steel pump is not the original pump, as Oliver remembers a time

when there was an old wooden pump there, referred to as the “School Pump”. This is because the community hall as we know today was once the local national school, and was only closed as a school in 1964 when An Grianán National School was opened.

One interesting tale Oliver told was of the old stone in the Holy Trinity Graveyard. Nestled within one of the walls surrounding the church itself is a stone with old Irish inscriptions on it, which spell out Maol Muire. Oliver can remember when a priest at the time, Fr Carney, along with Jimmy “Jim Jim” Oughten and Willie Haughton brought this stone from a Mass Rock in Shurock, a townland outside the village. The stone is still visible today, and when the sun shines directly on it you can clearly see the ancient inscription. Oliver and Vera can also recount the time in the late 1960s when a campaign was launched to change the name of the village of Mount Temple back to its original name, Ballyloughloe. Oliver recounted one Paddy Malone remarking at the time; “Sure you’d want an envelope the size of a cement pipe to write Ballyloughloe, Moate, County Westmeath on it!” The petition to change the name came from Canon McGivney, the PP in Moate at the time, but when he left the petition was never heard of again.

Oliver and Vera remember one of the biggest changes that came to the area in the rural electrification scheme. One yarn Oliver remembers about the introduction of electricity was that some people would still buy boxes of matches even though they now had electricity. When asked why they were still buying the boxes of matches, the retort would simply be “to find the switch!”

A LAUGH WITH DOUGIE !

A saintly old nun was confined to bed in the last days of her life with all the other sisters hovering around her all the time to tend to her every little need. Late into the night the elderly old dear whispered softly that she was so thirsty and she would love something to drink. One of the younger sisters scurried off to the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with a large glass of milk. The old nun took one small sip and closed her mouth again. The sister in charge wondered about this for a moment and then she took the glass of warm milk, emptied most of it out and topped it up again from a bottle of whiskey that they kept in the parlour for visitors. The old sister took another sip but this time she sat up in the bed and knocked back the whole glass. Dreamy now with the whiskey, she lay back down on the bed and drifted off to sleep. A few days later when she was a little weaker again, the mother superior asked her if she had any final message for the community. The old nun opened her eyes for a fleeting moment, smiled and whispered softly, whatever else ye do…DON’T SELL THAT COW!

So the inspector arrives in the school one day to question the children about all the different things that they were learning. He eventually turns his attention to Geography and asks the boys and girls to put up their hands if they could explain which was nearer…New York or the Moon? The teacher grimaces with despair when she sees little Paddy shoot up his hand…the Moon says he full of confidence….and how do you know that young man? the inspector asks….Paddy just couldn’t believe the inspector could be so thick… Well says the bould Paddy…ya can see the moon from here…..YA CAN’T SEE NEW YORK…..CAN YA ? ? ?

WHO’S WHO around M T B….

Caulry

Caulry

Caulry

Caulry

If you would like to advertise your group/business, or any event over the next few weeks, please email mtbaylinnotes@gmail.com, or contact Cathal Slevin 085 7272998 or Ann Marie Lennon 087 1327937.