From the pages of the Down Recorder, August 3, 1976

From the pages of the Down Recorder, August 3, 1976

3 August 2016

DOWNPATRICK — Dramatic new moves to keep Downpatrick racecourse in business will come into operation at this year’s August bank holiday meeting.

The racecourse executive are to apply for planning permission to create overnight caravan facilities for tourists and for the first time a meeting at the course will be sponsored by businessmen, saving the executive more £1,000 in prize money.

The moves, aimed at bringing more money into the racing club, come just a fortnight after legislation ploughing all Government aid to racing in the province into the Maze course at Lisburn was passed in the House of Commons.

The man behind the scheme is Downpatrick draper Mr Joseph Rea, a member of the racecourse executive, who says that racing in Downpatrick will not be allowed to die.

Mr Rea took it upon himself to find the sponsorship for the meeting and contacted several local businessmen and clothing manufacturers. In fact, his idea is that the bank holiday meeting should be a gala day for racegoers and he has arranged for two bands, Downshire Hospital Pipe and Killough Girls Accordian, to perform at the meeting.

Mr Rea has also mounted a personal campaign to persuade top Eire owners and trainers to come to the meeting.

SEAFORDE — A group of workmen from various countries flew into Northern Ireland at the weekend to help out a Seaforde housing project.

They are young people from the International Voluntary Scheme who have come to help out with the National Trust’s Alms Houses project. In all, there are 15 in the group and they come from Sweden, Germany and Liverpool.

They will be here until August 14 and during their stay they will be staying at Clough Primary School. Much of their work will involve clearing away scrub, poisoning weeds and helping a stonemason to build new walls around the gardens.

Sixteen houses dating from the 1820s are involved, including the former Alms Houses, the blacksmith’s shop and the courthouse. When the houses have been renovated it is intended that they will be let to Seaforde people on the housing list.

CARRYDUFF —Callous dog owners, too mean to have their unwanted pets destroyed, have been dumping them outside the USPCA kennels at Carryduff and driving away.

Unwanted dogs, left at the end of the lane leading to the kennels, have caused handlers great difficulty trying to round them up before they cause any damage on local farms. Meanness seems to be the reason for the dumping, with some people unwilling to pay the modest £1.60 the society charge to destroy dogs humanely.

Mr Brian Smyth, USPCA director, said: “I suppose we average about one unwanted dumped stray a day. The reason behind this is sheer meanness. We charge very little to destroy a dog, but some people would rather just leave us the dogs and all the trouble of catching them.”

Mr Smyth pointed out that some of the dogs have had to be shot. “A number of hens had been killed and we couldn’t catch the dogs, so we had to alternative. We do not like having to shoot dogs, but in cases like this we had to,” he said.

“The stray dog problem as a whole is one which we hope will be tackled shortly. In the meantime if people are unable to keep their dogs they should contact us.”

TEMPLE — A new track record was set at the Temple 100 on Saturday — and predictably it was Dromara’s Ray McCullough who achieved it. McCullough chalked up the new record in the sixth lap of the 350cc event and went on to win comfortably with rival Joey Dunlop taking second.

Equally predictably, McCullough stormed to a 250cc success with fellow Dromara riders Ian McGregor and Trevor Steele taking second and third places respectively.

BALLYNAHINCH — The popular summer activities programme in Ballynahinch reached its third and final week. More than 100 children from the area have taken advantage of the scheme and participated in a variety of activities.

Unfortunately, planned trips to Bellevue Zoo and Annalong harbour had to be cancelled, but this was offset by a visit to the Ulster Folk Museum at Cultra. There were also swimming lessons in Downpatrick and Lisburn, pony trekking at Castlewellan and canoeing on the River Lagan.

Among the range of activities at Ballynahinch Secondary School were cricket, mini-golf, darts, swingball, table tennis and the use of the gymnastic equipment. The scheme comes to an end tomorrow when warden Nigel Patterson and leader David Teggarty take the group for a day trip to Portrush.

NEWRY — The closure of the casualty unit at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry has meant an increase in the number of casualties coming to Downe Hospital.

A spokesman for the hospital said that although these increases have come at a time when they were slightly under-staffed, the situation was not serious. Most of the additional patients are coming from the Annalong and Kilkeel areas.

PORTAFERRY — A Portaferry girl has just completed the difficult swim across Strangford Lough from Strangford to Portaferry. Nuala McMullan, of High Street, took about 20 minutes to complete the swim.

She was accompanied by a young Portaferry man, Desmond McHenry, at present home on holiday from Canada where he is studying. The couple made the crossing at low tide, Not many people attempt the crossing because of the strong currents.

CASTLEWELLAN — Castlewellan Accordian band held their annual band parade in the town on Friday night. One of the biggest parades in the area began at the Orange Hall and made its way to the field at Mill Hill. A large crowd was in attendance. Unlike last year, no incidents were reported in the area.

BALLYCRAN — A five-strong group from Ballycran have been invited to appear at the International Folk Ballad Festival at Tralee.

The group — known simply as the Ballycran Folk Group — consists of James McBride on fiddle, his son Gerard on tin whistle, whistle, piano and accordian, Geraldine McBride on tenor banjo, John Martin and Eugene.

The group were formed fairly recently, just before the Down Scor competition. They won their way through to the Ulster finals, but were narrowly beaten. The invitation to the Tralee festival is a reward for their efforts.

KILLINCHY — A successful five-a-side soccer competition was organised by First Killinchy Boys’ Brigade in aid of the project to raise money for the building of a new church hall for Killinchy Presbyterian Church.

The competition was efficiently organised by the secretary, Mr Robert Jelly, who was assisted by Mr Derek Lowry. Local businessmen sponsored the competition and supplied the prize money of £5 to each of the beaten semi-finalists, £10 to the runners-up and £30 to the winners.

CAMOGIE — Down’s camogie team stormed through to the All-Ireland minor final with a deserved 4-2 to 3-3 win over Galway at Leitrim Park on Sunday. Galway were ahead by 3-2 to 0-1 at the interval, but within ten minutes of the restart Down we4re trailing by one goal.

Down won the first All-Ireland Minor Cup in 1974 and no doubt they are aiming to recapture this coveted trophy when they meet either Kilkenny or  Cork in the final on August 29 in Mayobridge. Down scorers: S Devlin (0-1), M McCartan (2-1), V McGreevy (2-0).

ATHLETICS — Downpatrick runner Tom Breen won his third national title of the year at the All-Ireland U-16 finals at Limerick at the weekend. Tom won the 3000 metres title and also finished second in the 1500 metres race. Last week Tom won the 3000 and 1500 metres titles at the Ulster championships in Castleblayney.