To Deputies Brian Cowan, Tom Parlon, Olwyn Enright.

About four years ago a group of people in Shannonbridge set up a website

For the village – www.shannonbrige.net was aimed to provide news of local

happenings for locals, locals living away and for regular visitors to the village.

Under local news the local GAA club, church bulletins, charitable events, library, fishing reports,

Birdlife news, historical information and news items have been added on an ongoing basis under ‘local news’ banner.

For some time we have seen the need for an easy to access photo gallery on site.

This would allow those people visiting the site to have a look at Shannonbridge and what it has to offer. Various photographs might be shared such as scenic shots, people both dead and alive historical photographs, sporting events such as football teams, fish catches, golfing, walkways, places of interest nearby, places to stay etc.

Some months ago our local voluntary webmaster estimated that some 1500 to 2000 Euro would be required to buy sufficient space for photographs. A scanner and an amount of time in setting up this addition would also be required.

And so we contacted a number of bodies in Offaly such as

1. Leader –Theresa Wynne
2. Mid Ireland Tourism – Marian Smith
3. Shannon Development – Thomas O Donald
4. Offaly Enterprise Board –Sean Ryan

It was a waste of time and phone calls but an education on the difficulty of reaching some of these people – being told that they were at a meeting, would call back etc.

Anyhow the story was either it was not their field, try so and so and so on.

Are these bodies supposed to be a help to voluntary groups.

Seems to me that we will have to raise our own funding.

With Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Signed Dermot Killeen