Mayor of Moylough title reinstated to support village information hub

By JACQUELINE HOGGE MOYLOUGH is to revive its mayoral office over the coming weeks in a bid to raise funds to establish a community information centre in the village. The mayoral chain was last bestowed 24 years ago when Joe Dempsey became the village's first citizen in 1987. [private] The initiative, whose primary function was to raise money for local worthy causes, had been wound down in recent years, although Joe has retained the chain of office. But a decision to renovate the former parochial house in the village to house an information centre has reignited the initiative in order to raise the necessary funds to support the plans. Linda Cummins of Moylough Resource Enterprise and Heritage Centre said the election of the village mayor next month would be the culmination of a series of fundraising events planned over the coming weeks. Four in contention Four local men are in contention for the title of mayor, with each candidate tasked with raising money towards the refurbishment of the house, which was built in the 1800s and requires extensive work to bring it up to health and safety standards. One of the more novel fundraising initiatives will take place at The Forge bar this Saturday when candidate PJ Glynn will lead one of three teams aiming to dismantle and reassemble a tractor within the pub in less than ten minutes. 'We'll drive the tractor into the pub, dismantle it down to the engine and then reassemble it so that it's mechanically sound and drivable within ten minutes,' explained PJ. 'We're up against a team from south Roscommon and another team of local ladies so it should be a great evening and one that we hope to raise as much money as we can at.' The other candidates taking part in the mayoral election, which will be held on Saturday, December 3, are Aidan Hughes, MJ Dolan and Martin Hennelly, with all four participating in a series of mayoral debates at various venues in the Moylough area over the next three weeks. Great support 'We have got great support for the parochial house initiative both from the local community and the clergy so it's something we're keen to get up and running as soon as possible,' said Linda. 'We have been told it could cost in the region of €6,000 to carry out the necessary work as we think the parochial house is a listed building and the work required to bring it up to fire safety levels is extensive. 'But there'll be a lot of fun involved in raising the money we need and we're looking forward to all the events planned over the next few weeks.' For further information on the Mayor of Moylough initiative, log on to www. ­moylough.com. [/private]