A bright year for Ballinagh

A grand spectacle came over Ballinagh at the weekend as the winter wonderland came to the town and the Christmas lights were switched on.

In addition, the “busiest” Christmas market the town has ever seen took place from 10-5pm on Sunday, where several came and picked up homemade crafts, homemade goods including puddings, Christmas cakes, traybakes and more, toys, gifts and much more.

“There was more looking to get in than ever before,” Tom Moore, who is chairperson of the Ballinagh Community Enterprise Association, told the Celt.

“It’s all the time improving,” he added, describing how 35 different vendors attended this year; five more than the previous year.

Secretary Margaret McGrath, who works in the community office, had the spacing of each stall “to the square inch” meaning there was plenty of space for everybody involved.

Tom looks forward to the event every year, and praised the “amazing skillset of some people and what they can do” and said that there is “always something different” at the Ballinagh markets.

“It’s lovely to see the Transition Year students coming in with different projects each year, they bring a different life to it with their younger friends coming in to see what they are doing too,” he praised.

While the market went on below, the balcony of Ballinagh Community Centre was transformed into a magical Christmas wonderland by another dedicated committee of volunteers. The event took place from 12-5pm, where children had the chance to meet and greet with Santa Claus.

He comments on the “eye-catching” display and the undeniable delight on children’s faces when they saw Santa in this remarkable setting over the weekend.

“All you see is astonishment,” he beamed.

The event is entirely indoors in the heated Ballinagh Community Centre, which has “ample parking” making it most enjoyable for all every year.

“All of this added to a good day. It was a great day for everyone,” Tom confirmed.

As the festivities in the hall came to a close, the townspeople and visitors made their way up to the market square for the big switch on of the lights just after 5pm, an exceptional display of colour and light for everybody to enjoy.

Picnic area

In other news in the town this year, the picnic area located directly across from the health centre was refurbished with re-surfacing, new fencing, and a splendid new seating area, with wheelchair accessible space too.

“It’s basic enough at the minute but we can always add to it as time goes by,” Tom points out.

Meanwhile, they hope to install lighting in the future.

Tom also praised the community garden, which is seeing great use by all the community and local schools too, showing and encouraging people to grow flowers and vegetables for themselves.

Another project, which Tom and other members of the community would “dearly love” to tackle, is renovating Old Corn Mill, which is currently for sale.

“We’re not in a position to buy it at the minute,” Tom said, adding that the project idea is “at a standstill”.

“I’d love to be able to say that we had a plan in place for the old mill because it’s part of the heritage of the town. I was born in this town and I’m looking down at the mill all my life. We played around it as children and we fished around it when we were able to fish. It’ll not be forgotten about, it’ll be on our minds and, if we get the opportunity, we will certainly have a go at it,” he assured.

Meanwhile, a “fact finding” mission is ongoing for the market house project to determine what is best to put in place there.

Tom praised the volunteers and community groups who come at different times of the year to bring different projects and events to fruition, and keep the cogs turning in the town.

“You get the thumbs up, people will start saying about a month beforehand ‘I’ll be there, I’ll be around’... It rolls year into year,” Tom said.