Ballinasloe celebrates

RITA Headd hasn't actually seen Slumdog Millionaireyet, because there is no cinema in Ballinasloe. However, as a first cousin of Danny Boyle, Oscar award-winning director of the film, she has a viewing "on the list".

"I'm delighted for Danny," Rita, who runs Keane's newsagents in Society Street, told The Irish Timesyesterday. "He was in his 20s when he was last home, but his dad, Frank Boyle, and younger sister Bernadette were back here two years ago and the family keeps in touch." Rita's mother, the late Catherine "Dolly" Meheran, was an older sister of Danny's mother, Annie "Babs", and both women were reared on a small farm at Liscapple, three miles from Ballinasloe and two from the village of Aughrim.

“They didn’t have it easy,” Rita recalls. “Annie went to primary school in Aughrim and worked as a hairdresser with another cousin in Ballinasloe. Then she emigrated to England, where she met Frank Boyle and married.”

Frank Boyle’s parents were from Co Mayo, but all of the family – including Danny and his twin sister Maria and younger sister Bernadette – would spend summers on his maternal grandparents’ farm. The Headd, Boyle and Cogavin families grew up together during those sunshine years at Liscapple.

Rita hopes to meet Danny when Ballinasloe holds a civic reception for him. Mayor of Ballinasloe Cllr Pat O’Sullivan proposed a motion to this effect several weeks ago, when the Oscar nominations were first made public. The move has been welcomed by former mayor Cllr Michael Mullins (FG), who is also a good friend of the director’s extended family.

“We’re thrilled and very proud of his achievement,” Cllr Mullins said. “Great to think that his ancestors are from here!”

Meanwhile, Boyle’s father and immediate family were celebrating his win in Radcliffe, Bury, Greater Manchester.