The Ballybunion thread

snow scorpion · 01-05-2012 6:15pm

xxyyzz wrote: »

The Ballybunion beach webcam is up and running.

Interesting, the picture holds steady at that website, but the image blinks on and off at Ballybunion Rescue site. (Or is it just me? Ballybunion Rescue webcam flickers on Firefox, but holds steady on Chrome.)

snow scorpion · 12-05-2012 9:03pm

Hmm, now I'm confused. (Fortunately, for me confusion is pretty much my default state of mind. :P)

In the current edition of the Ballybunion News it says:

At certain times in the past number of days the tide on the ladies beach was so far out that it was possible to walk around the headland and on to the Nun’s strand, a treat for many locals who have never experienced this before.

In fact, the tides were so low that it was almost possible to get to within touching distance of the Virgin Rock which is of course located just off the Nun’s strand.

Ballybunion does experience low tides on a number of occasions each year where it appears to be possible from afar to do this until you actually attempt it but this past week it could actually be done.

It gave several local camera enthusiasts the chance to shoot rare pictures of the beaches, the caves and the various landscapes around our beautiful bay.

Ballybunion News Issue 10, Vol 2

It's not possible to walk out and touch the Virgin Rock? I had planned on doing just that this summer.

0utcast · 13-05-2012 9:29am

snow scorpion wrote: »

Hmm, now I'm confused. (Fortunately, for me confusion is pretty much my default state of mind. :P)

In the current edition of the Ballybunion News it says:

Ballybunion News Issue 10, Vol 2

It's not possible to walk out and touch the Virgin Rock? I had planned on doing just that this summer.

Im afraid its not normally possible, the Virgins rock is located in the middle of the Nuns Strand Bay

And I'm not sure if the rescue website works properly with Firefox, which is why you might be having problems

damoahern · 23-05-2012 1:18am

boroman wrote: »

Was just looking at the Ballyb. site and came across the querys on the old town. As far as I know the Church Of Ireland
which stood where the car park now is was erected during 1860s/1870s period to serve a fairly large Prodestant congregation in the area, a rectory was also built next door. The Church was closed and deconscrated late 50s early 60s due to falling numbers. The Church was taken over as far as I know by Kerry CO.Co., was knocked down and the stones used as rubble, meanwhile the Rectory was bought by Tralee garage owner Tommy Horan who extended the building at the side and rere. It was opened in the late 1960s as Horans Hotel( afterwards called The Atlantic) and was a real summer hotspot,this period and into the 1970s was Ballybunions hayday, Mattie O Sullivan had done major work on the Central and Dan Kiely had built a new complex out on the Listowel road at the West End. I can recall the fierce rivalry between the 3 venue's, on one weekend alone the 3 major Irish Showband's were in competion,The Royal with Brendan Boyer, The Capitol wih Butch Moore AND The Dixies with Brendan O Brien. However the demise of the dancehalls brought this period to an end
and sadly I think the demise of the real nightlife that was Ballybunion.
The present Library which was a former church of Ireland building was brought from Rathoo, Ballyduff and rebuilt at its current site on Sandhill Road.

We have always believed the protestant church in Ballybunion (now the library) came from Athea, co Limerick??

RiderOnTheStorm · 23-05-2012 9:11am

the current library did come from Athea. There is a plaque inside the door saying this.

the old protestant church (the one in old photos showing the castle green) was demolished and rubble used in buildings around the town.

not sure of the timeline ..... maybe the church was demolished and then a new one carted in from Athea .... I will check

snow scorpion · 31-05-2012 5:56am

The Nine Daughters' Hole from an angle you've never seen it before.

(Well, maybe Rider has seen it from this angle, but not the rest of us.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4e7lQ2Qy_Q

Chea · 06-06-2012 8:32am

Does anyone here know if there are any part-time jobs going this summer? I'll be down for all of July and August so needless to say I need a way to kill time :cool:

Blackrocks · 06-06-2012 6:10pm

HEY GUYS, BEEN AGES SINCE I POSTED, Just heard Ballybunion has a great €2 SHOP! no more overcharging! yeh... 3 drinks for €2 and lots more incl batteries, chocolate cosmetics and cards for €1!!
our visitors will be charmed. Got to look after tourists and stop this overcharging! Hope they do well

Chea · 06-06-2012 8:54pm

Blackrocks wrote: »

HEY GUYS, BEEN AGES SINCE I POSTED, Just heard Ballybunion has a great €2 SHOP! no more overcharging! yeh... 3 drinks for €2 and lots more incl batteries, chocolate cosmetics and cards for €1!!
our visitors will be charmed. Got to look after tourists and stop this overcharging! Hope they do well

Do me a favour and ask them if they have any jobs available haha

Whereabouts are they?

RiderOnTheStorm · 07-06-2012 9:05am

I cant get over the number of shops & business (and houses!) that have been painted over the last month or so. One day I counted 6 people on ladders painting at the same time! The main street really looks good. Its amazing how good a new coat of paint makes a place look. Hearty Costellos got a very good paint job, complete with re-painting the name sign too ....

boomkatalog · 07-06-2012 7:40pm

Chea wrote: »

Do me a favour and ask them if they have any jobs available haha Whereabouts are they?

Beside Carrol's gift shop, across from Mario's.

ncmc · 15-06-2012 11:32pm

Does anyone have any information on the leisure centre closure? Doesn't seem to be much explanation on the website. just wondering when, or if it will be reopening.

RiderOnTheStorm · 17-06-2012 3:52pm

The Leisure Centre closed recently due to financial problems. It is still closed. The management are in talks with the Council to see if they can help, as the Council originally guaranteed the loan. The local vintners have offered a very generous lump sum and the employess have raised some money doing a bag-pack in the local Super Valu. They were hoping to open for the long weekend, but it didnt work out. As it stands, 15 employess are out of work and the town has lost a valuable amenity. If it opens again, things will have to change, as there is no point in wiping out the debts and then doing the same thing again and getting into the same problems again in a few months. There is talks of changing the heating system to a more efficient one, and they may do something about the solar water heaters that never worked from day one.

If there are any updates, I will keep you posted.

RiderOnTheStorm · 25-06-2012 12:14pm

After the public meeting, the Leisure Centre is planning to open within the week. The council have agreed for it to open for 3 months of summer, and a tax cert has been arranged to allow trading. There are plans to change the heating system (may not happen in the 3 months) to save money in medium to lopng term.

JFlah · 26-06-2012 7:33pm

Just an observation but in times when tourism and visitors of any sort should be encouraged and welcomed with open arms in ANY town, I was shocked to see the amount of cars issued with parking tickets on the SUNDAY of the recent FLEADH . It has left a very sour taste with a lot of what won,t be returning visitors.

Tragedy · 27-06-2012 12:31am

As a town that relies on visitors to get by, any kind of paid parking should be considered an attack on livelihoods and the town's future imho.

RiderOnTheStorm · 27-06-2012 11:52am

there are 2 sides to every story, and I dont know the other side to the parking issue mentioned above, but if I may comment on what I do know ....

In Ballyb:

All on street parking is free.
There are several car-parks in town, and the Leisure Centre car park was almost empty for the whole of the Fleadh.
The only paid parking in town is the old hotel grounds (known as Boyles carpark) and that is supervised and almost on the beach and well work a few quid for a day.
Sometimes people park inconsideratly and prevent the use of the road (for ambulances, fire brigade, etc) or use of the path (for prams, wheelchairs, etc). In these cases, they should get a ticket, imho.

boomkatalog · 27-06-2012 12:52pm

Actually supervalu car park is paid parking during summer.

On street parking is terrible, not many spaces and you'll always get a few dopes taking up two spaces

RiderOnTheStorm · 27-06-2012 2:37pm

supervalu car park does have pay macines, but they havnt worked in years. Noone pays.

I agree that on street parking is bad. There isnt much. And if 1 person parks badly, it uses 2 spaces.

RiderOnTheStorm · 28-06-2012 9:31am

.....ooooppps ...... just been informed by my good wife that there is summer parking charges for the super valu car park! However many people (myself included!) seem to ignore it. I know the machines were broken / covered for a long time, so I just stopped looking. Mea Culpa!

RiderOnTheStorm · 28-06-2012 9:46am

The Fleadh seemed to go very well (parking & tickets aside). 4 days (and nights!) of competitions , and the open air Gig Rig . Great craic. On the thurs night, the gig rig had to be brough indoors due to bad weather, but it was outdoors after that. The weather was crap for most of the week, but it came good on Sunday and it was a joy to see so many folk up & dancing on the boards in front of the gig rig on Sun afternoon. It was like the dancing at the cross roads years ago (so I am told!)

There was a good buzz about town for the week also, and great to see live music in the street in the evenings. Lots of pubs had folk inside or outside playing a lively tune.

RiderOnTheStorm · 29-06-2012 4:40pm

...from the weekly Ballybunion Newsletter (29/6/2012)

Following a statement released on Wednesday evening by the Directors of Bevely Ltd, it now appears as if the Ballybunion Leisure Centre will not open today (Friday June 29th) as promised at a meeting of members and shareholders last week.

The opening paragraph of the statement reads : “ The Board of Ballybunion Health & Leisure Bevely Ltd. wish to state that the Ballybunion Leisure Centre will not re-open on Friday 29th June, 2012. The Board is aware that negotiations are continuing between The Kerry County Council and Electricity Ireland, for the re-connection of power to the Centre”.

Apparently the sum of almost €40K which was collected around the town by local businessmen not connected to Bevely, has been used to pay a number outstanding bills including the balance owed to Energia, whose disconnection of the electricity caused the closure of the centre in April. Ballybunion News understands that the management wish to switch to Energy Ireland (formerly the ESB), but a guarantor is required and this is where the problem arises with re-connecting the power supply and re-opening the centre.
The statement from Bevely goes on to say how regretful and conscious they are of the delay in re-opening and how much aware they are of the economic consequences to the town.
Closed now for almost ten weeks and with the terrible weather that we have endured since then, the loss in revenue for the centre must be in the tens of thousands, not to mention the effect that its closure is having on tourism in Ballybunion. The County Council are remaining tight-lipped as to whether they are prepared to help out and its really hard to know what to believe as there are so many stories doing the rounds at present.

Lets hope that a solution can be found in the coming days and that the centre will open for what is left of the summer. Another meeting of members and shareholders has been called for Monday night next July 3rd at 7.30pm in the centre.

RiderOnTheStorm · 04-07-2012 5:21pm

The Leisure centre is to open soon! In the next few days, if stories are to believed!!

watch this space ...........

RiderOnTheStorm · 06-07-2012 12:08pm

The Leisure Centre is now open!! yeahhh!!!

It had a bit of a face lift, a full tank of fuel and the pool is heating up nicely.

The pool will not be open until tomorrow (it takes a while to heat & for water / filters to get going) , but the centre / gym / sauna etc is open now !!

accountant101 · 30-07-2012 5:03pm

Does anyone know anything about the Ultimate Star Quest Competition being held in the Tintean Theatre this weekend in association with Spin South West.....5th August....anyone know times, formats etc???

RiderOnTheStorm · 31-07-2012 11:28am

The Star Quest is not on in the Tintean this weekend. It has been defered until some time in the autumn.

This weekend in the Tintean is the Atlantic Sessions , a live music event incl Bressie, Elliot Canavan Doyle, Liam Geddes, The Kanyu Tree. There will be a carnival in the car park, incl stalls & stands and a mobile Eddie Rockets too!

The Wolfe Tones are in the Golf Hotel, and Calum Best is in Eden nightclub.

RiderOnTheStorm · 31-07-2012 12:08pm

Ballybunion Sea & Cliff Resuce are having an Open Day on Sunday 5th August from 1pm.

Come along to the Rescue Centre on the Ladies Beach so see the fantastic facilities, and their newest boat. There will be tours of the centre, and all the equipment will be on display for you to examine. Try on a dry suit & lifejacket! Take a quick CPR lesson! Sit in the €160,000 Atlantic 75 rescue boat! There will be members on hand to answer any questions, and maybe even teach you a few new knots. If the weather is good to us, there will be a few kids games on the beach too.

ejmaztec · 31-07-2012 12:18pm

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

The Star Quest is not on in the Tintean this weekend. It has been defered until some time in the autumn.

This weekend in the Tintean is the Atlantic Sessions , a live music event incl Bressie, Elliot Canavan Doyle, Liam Geddes, The Kanyu Tree. There will be a carnival in the car park, incl stalls & stands and a mobile Eddie Rockets too!

The Wolfe Tones are in the Golf Hotel, and Calum Best is in Eden nightclub.

What does he actually do?

accountant101 · 31-07-2012 12:48pm

The Star Quest is not on in the Tintean this weekend. It has been defered until some time in the autumn

Rideronthestorm....can i ask who told you this?? Its still being advertised for Ballybunion this weekend??

RiderOnTheStorm · 31-07-2012 1:27pm

accountant101 wrote: »

The Star Quest is not on in the Tintean this weekend. It has been defered until some time in the autumn

Rideronthestorm....can i ask who told you this?? Its still being advertised for Ballybunion this weekend??

The Tintean staff told me. Where is it still being advertised?

The Ballybunion thread

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