Around Mayo's towns and villages. . .Westport, Newport, Mulranny

WESTPORT NEWS

FAREWELL CANON JEN

The Westport community and Aughaval Group of Parishes in the Church of Ireland has bade farewell to Canon Jennifer McWhirter who has celebrated her last liturgy in the parish.

As Canon Jen and her family move to pastures new they are wished all the best from a community where their friendship will be missed.

WESTPORT TOASTMASTERS’ JOINT CELEBRATIONS

Toastmasters is a non-profit educational organisation that teaches public speaking and leadership skills. It has over 300,000 members in 144 countries and 15,000 clubs.

Founded in 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators and leaders.

Toastmasters began as a series of speaking clubs organised by Ralph. C. Smedley. During his time as director of education at a YMCA club in Bloomington, Illinois, he recognised the need for men in the community to learn how to speak, conduct meetings, plan programmes, and work on committees.

He named the group the Toastmasters club which was a preferable term that offered the person who gave toasts at banquets and other occasions an opportunity to perfect this skill. This meeting became the world’s first Toastmasters International and was held at the YMCA building on October 22, 1924, in Santa Ana, California.

The Toastmasters concept quickly spread across the US, Europe and Canada.

While sailing in Clew Bay around 2000, a group of friends, including Dr. Oliver Whyte, Westport, with others, began speaking about setting up a club that would enhance the fabric of the Westport community and its environs. Numerous ideas were explored before Toastmasters was settled on.

Gradually, over the next two years, strong foundations were carefully planned and laid and recruitment of members began. Some joined out of curiosity and others more visionary could see the true potential such a club could offer.

The pivotal moment for the club came on February 19, 2003, when Westport Toastmasters formally chartered and became a member of Toastmasters International.

Members of Westport Toastmasters were instrumental in influencing the founding of Toastmaster clubs in the county and beyond. Over the decades the club has won numerous awards and its members have competed successfully at local, area and district speaking competitions.

Like most clubs in Ireland and overseas, the onset of Covid-19 had a debilitating effect on club membership. Having weathered the storm, it is once again in the regrowth mode and the future looks good.

If you are 18 years of age or older the club needs you and your vision.

Next Monday, February 20, a joint celebration is being held in Knockranny House Hotel with the Westport club celebrating its 20th anniversary and Castlebar five years. Toastmasters from Ballina and West Awake are also expected to attend.

Celebrations begin at 7.30 p.m. Admission €10. Family, friends and new members are welcome.

THE PARISH AS OASIS

Westport Eco-Congregation are hosting a talk on the recently published book, The Parish As Oasis - An introduction to Practical Environmental Care.

Authors Kevin Hargaden and Ciara Murphy will be speaking at Westport Town Hall on Tuesday, February 21, at 7.30 p.m.

Kevin and Ciara will introduce attendees to many practical and accessible ways in which parishes and small communities can contribute to healing the environmental crisis. Their book aspires to inspire communities to get their hands dirty, but also plants those initiatives within a coherent eco-theology.

Their presentation will be followed by a Q&A which promises to be lively and stimulating.

There is no charge for the event, but come early as places are limited.

Dr. Kevin Hargaden is the director and social theologian at the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. Training in computer science, sociology and theology, Kevin's work particularly focuses on how Christianity has an enduring and potent relevance for contemporary society.

Dr. Ciara Murphy is the environmental justice advocate at the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. An ecologist by training, Ciara is passionate about how care for our environment - especially replenishing our native biodiversity - is a path to individual and communal flourishing.

MOUNTAIN RESCUE

Mayo Mountain Rescue Team assisted a hiker injured on Ben Gorm on bank holiday Sunday.

The team was tasked by An Garda Síochána at 4.45 p.m. to help the hiker near Ashleagh Fall after they were injured while walking on Ben Gorm.

A first response party and stretcher party stretchered the casualty down off Ben Gorm to the waiting Louisburgh Order of Malta ambulance.

The team stood down at 8.18 p.m.

Earlier in the day the team held a training exercise which finished with a search scenario along the Western Way south of Croagh Patrick.

DIOCESAN PILGRIMAGE TO LOURDES

The Tuam diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes, led by Archbishop Francis Duffy, from Ireland West Knock Airport, takes place for five nights, from Friday to Wednesday, September 1 to 6.

For details and booking, please contact (01) 2410800.

ST. PATRICK'S DRAMA GROUP

After a very successful sellout run in November 2022 and prior to going out on the amateur drama competition circuit, St. Patrick's Drama Group, Westport, are returning to the stage with Dear Frankie, by Niamh Gleeson.

This is a funny, astonishing and moving play with a three-strong cast of Liz Browne, Ciarán Mac Suibhne and Martina Ryan. The play is directed by Séamas Mac Eachmharcaigh and produced by Orla Uí Dhomhnaill.

Dear Frankie is a celebration of the eclectic life and times of Frankie Byrne, Ireland's first radio agony aunt. The various and authentic problems written to her and heard throughout the play offer an insight into the hang-ups, concerns and sorrows of Ireland in the 1960s, '70s and early '80s.

Lovelorn teenagers, jealous husbands and concerned mammies feature in this hilarious and poignant play. Frankie considers the burning social issues of the time, all the while concealing deep sorrows in her own life.

Dear Frankie will be staged for one night only in Westport Town Hall Theatre on March 1. Tickets are €18/€16, with curtain up at 8 p.m.

CIVIC TRUST TALK

Sean Lysaght, poet and author, whose lyrical writing has captured the wildness and overwhelming beauty of Nephin’s mountainscapes, will give a talk on ‘Eagle Country and Wild Nephin’ at 8 p.m. in the Walnut Room, Plaza Hotel, Westport, on Tuesday, February 21.

His presentation will describe the background to his two books, Eagle Country (2018) and Wild Nephin (2020), celebrating the wildlife and landscapes of Mayo as he has discovered them for over 20 years since moving to the county.

As a nature writer, Seán will talk about the inspiration he has drawn from other writers in the field, and how this has shaped his own work in prose.

His talk, illustrated with photographs, will cover the beginnings of Eagle Country as a series of walks in the wild landscapes of Mayo, and describe how this led, in turn, to the second book, Wild Nephin, which has been warmly received since its publication in 2020.

Along the way, Seán will explore the area of the Wild Nephin/Ballycroy National Park as a rewilding project, and he will invite members of the audience to discuss wider aims of conservation in the area.

NEWPORT/MULRANNY NEWS

HOSPICE SUPPORT THANK YOU

Newport Hospice Support Group have extended thanks to everyone who contributed to Mayo Roscommon Hospice throughout 2022. A total of €10,660.50 was raised during the year for the hospice.

PASSING OF KEN STEVENS

The death has occurred of Ken Stevens, Meddlicott Street, Newport, and late of Curran, Achill, and England.

Aged in his 79th year, he was held in high esteem in the community, and will be remembered fondly as an absolute gentleman.

He is deeply regretted by his wife Toke, children Tim, Rob and Jennifer, son-in-law William, grandson Axl, sister Sue, extended family and friends.

May his gentle soul rest in peace.