Kettle's Boyled: Goodbye, RealBoyle, we will miss you

Small businesses keep the economies alive in local towns and villages, and every euro spent with them tends to be spent locally again and again. But apart from local benefit, these businesses have other things in common. They must be at least as good as the big companies to survive, they must be able to compete on service level and on price, and they must be innovative and capable of changing with the times. And they have another characteristic – we tend to take them entirely for granted. We forget that their public façades mask a lot of hard work and commitment that keeps them open and serving their communities.

Sean O’Dowd is well known in Boyle; he’s lived there for most of his life. For as long as I can remember, he has been an innovator. His graphics business was a leader in its field in its day, designing and producing everything from shop and vehicle signs to election posters and fabric printing. His ‘outside the box’ thinking gave us a few gems in the wider community too, including the Camera Club and Boyle Arts Festival. The latter stemmed from an initial idea by Sean that was built on by others and has now become a calendar highlight.

Sean was an early adaptor of digital technology, a logical spin-off from his graphic design business and his interest in photography. His RealBoyle news website fulfilled a local need and created a business. Readership quickly grew to become a significant multiple of the number of people who live in Boyle; it was clear from an early stage that it was the go-to place for the diaspora of the wider region around the world.

Many years ago, I met some young people at a Dublin event. When they found I was from Boyle, they immediately asked me if I knew of RealBoyle. They had worked in Australia, and the news site was well known among young people spending a few years in Sydney. RealBoyle was a winner, and it was recognised as such by an industry award for best community website. The site was first with the news; Sean’s camera recorded every event, every concert, parade and play, and he built up a valuable archive of photographs of local interest.

Some years ago, Sean invited me to script a cartoon series on the site. ‘The Bridge’ was great fun with a serious purpose, we didn’t hold back when it came to deflating pomposity, particularly in the political sphere. We produced our last ever cartoon just a week ago.

Like ‘The Bridge,’ RealBoyle has become part of local history, as Sean closes the business to concentrate on new projects. Often copied but never equalled, we took it for granted for almost a quarter of a century, and now it is gone. We will miss it.