Focus on Ballyconnell: Friendly neighbours in Border town

Ballyconnell lies in the shadow of the industrial empire formed by Seán Quinn, and was busy when The Impartial Reporter visited.

Community is key, and Ballyconnell prides itself as a friendly and open place.

Hanna Toivonen.

One person who feels the warmth of the community is Hanna Toivonen, who moved to Ireland as a child ten years ago with her family from Estonia, and said that Ballyconnell “feels like home”.

Serving customers with a smile in Ronnie’s Fruit & Veg, she said: “I have watched my siblings grow up here.

“I like Ballyconnell – it is a really nice community; you feel safe walking home at night because you don’t have to feel like you’re looking over your shoulder when you’re walking.

“You feel safe walking home with people you know in the community.”

Miss Toivonen said she enjoys serving locals, and feels cared for in the community.

“It can be very hard to get used to being in a small community, and a place where at first you didn’t speak the language, to go from that to being, like, ‘Oh, that’s the girl from Ronnie’s’.”

She added that there are a lot of newcomers in Ballyconnell: “There are South Africans here, Latvians, Lithuanians, Polish, Czech ¬– there is a wee bit of everything, and we have town festivals where you see all these different cultures. This place is very open.”

Enjoying his 10am coffee break courtesy of a neighbouring coffee shop was butcher Gerard Crowe.

Gerard Crowe.

Having raised his family in the town, he said the community is going from strength to strength.

“We have our community centre being done up at the moment, and we should have it finished in the next 18 months.

“There is another development passed at Market House, and that is going to be a hub with internet access through the hub for meetings and whatever – they spent 1.3 million on that.”

Mr. Crowe serves as the Treasurer of the Ballyconnell and District Development Association, and is proud of the work that the association undertakes.

“We have come a long way in the last ten years with the wee group we have set up.

“We had a very successful festival this year; we had Eamonn Jackson, The Tumbling Paddies, Robert Mizzell and One For The Road; we had four great nights in town.”

He added: “Keep supporting us – we are doing our best. We had enough bad press over the years, but we look forward to the future.”

Anna Conroy.

Coming out of the butchers was Anna Conroy, who smiled and laughed as she spoke to people along the street, who were admiring her brightly-coloured knitted cardigan.

She is not from Ballyconnell, but Killdallan, “out in the sticks”, she said.

“It is a beautiful, sleepy little country parish with just a pub in it, no shops in it, so you have to come in to Ballyconnell.”

She warmly praised the area: “Ballyconnell is the best place to be – it’s very good, with lots of life. This has always been my local town, and the businesses are all lovely here.”

Paying tribute to the people of the area, Mrs. Conroy added: “There are great people, there is a great community spirit and they always get behind you if there are problems.”

She highlighted the recent festival in the town, and the initiatives that are happening across the area.

“The GAA are great, I have to say. They have the girls playing, and they have this thing for mums – ‘Gaelic for Mothers And Others’ – and they had a great team going!

“They have all the young kids out; they are doing everything they can for the young people.”

The next stop was the Kennedy Retail Park, with its impressive offering that any small town would be jealous of, including a supermarket, a coffee house, a hardware store and a garden centre.

Brian and Lorraine Kennedy.

Busy hub

The SPAR operated by Brian Kennedy is a busy hub for the town, and will only get busier next week when the post office moves to new premises within the retail park.

He said: “We are delighted to be in business in Ballyconnell, and delighted to get the support.

“This is the hub for West Cavan. Down through the years, a lot of neighbouring towns have had their post office close, or their bank close, or their credit union close, and lucky enough, we have kept all that.”

Mr. Kennedy highlighted a recent survey’s finding that there were 63 businesses active “from one end of the town to the other”.

His wife, Lorraine, was at the helm of a new coffee house, Daily Brew, and was enjoying a steady morning’s trade.

Emphasising the investment by businesspeople into the area, Mrs. Kennedy said: “A lot of people have put money into the town and into their businesses to revamp them and make them bigger, and put a lot of employment into the town.

“For ourselves, we have 40 staff between here and the shop – that’s not including the hardware.”

When asked what the town needs, she said: “A local taxi rank – to get a taxi from here to Cavan is €50.

“There was someone who came in here, and they were after getting a wheelchair taxi over from Belturbet, and it was €70 ¬– that is a good bit out of your pension to come out of your nursing home; that is a big lump out of your pension.”

Elizabeth Fletcher.

At the main street, Elizabeth Fletcher was doing some messages. She has lived in the area for 25 years, after relocating from Scotland to return to her mother’s home place of Killdallan.

Echoing what others had said, she described a community where people help each other out.

“They would help you. You find if something happens to somebody, there would be a gathering of people to support you.

“They are friendly and very good, even with people they don’t know about, they would come and knock on your door, ask if you need something, and help with anything.”

Mrs. Fletcher praised locals who had helped with her time in the town, including the Lee family, and Damian Brady, who was a TD for the area.

Summing up the mood of everyone in the town, she said: “Ballyconnell is a great place to be.”

In the heart of busy Ballyconnell. Photos by Tim Flaherty.