From the pages of the Down Recorder, March 7, 1978

From the pages of the Down Recorder, March 7, 1978

7 March 2018

DOWNPATRICK — Plans to provide Downpatrick with a one-day street market looked to be going down the drain this week.

The town’s shopkeepers have won round one in their fight against a market which has been put on the long finger by Down Council.

A scheme to allow small scale trading in a car park as a preliminary to a larger, controlled market was ped by councillors under pressure from Downpatrick Chamber of Trade.

The news came out of the blue and brought angry reaction from some councillors who clearly resented having to bow under the traders.

The decision was taken by the council’s street trading and markets committee. Although it does not officially kill off the idea of a full-size market it does mean that the chances of providing one are now very remote.

Cllr John Ritchie, a member of the committee, was bitter at having to make the decision. “I felt that the concept of an open-air market in or near Downpatrick would have brought clearly identifiable benefits to our community,” he said.

Seaforde councillor Mr Patrick Forde thought the traders were making a “grave mistake” and he pointed out that shopkeepers in Ballynahinch certainly benefited from the town’s one-day market on Thursday.

Mrs Ethel Smyth sad the trend was towards markets and the time had come when Downpatrick must have one.

“Any traders worried about having a market must be worried about the prices they are charging. Competition is good and I don’t accept this situation,” she said.

TECONNAUGHT — Children at Holy Family Primary School in Teconnaught have won a top prize in an Irish Life folklore competition. The prize, a facsimile of the Book of Kells for the school library, was presented to Mr Denis Cahill on Thursday in Dublin by Mr Robert Molloy, Eire’s Minister of Defence.

The winning project involved research into cures and place names in the Crossgar area, the origins of which have been handed down the generations. The information then had to be recorded, giving details of the sources and the name of the person who discovered it. Detailed maps of the townlands were drawn to show the exact location of the place names.

Some of the information provided by the children proved extremely interesting, such as the Murder Moss in Annacloy, where a fight broke out after a cockfight. A man was killed in the fight and buried in a field, which has been called the Murder Moss since that day.

NEWCASTLE — The breathtaking flight of hang gliders from the top of Slieve Donard down to the Newcastle sands promises to be the highlight of this year’s festival in the seaside town.

The Ulster Hang Gliding Club and Newcastle Town Committee are confident that the spectacle will draw big crowds, as has been the case for similar events over the past two years, and already Down Council has given permission for the sands to be roped off.

The hang gliding display is just one aspect of this year’s festival, which the Town Committee has been planning for months in a bid to ensure that the 1978 festival will be as good as that of 1977.

The festival will last for two weeks, with a wide range of events for all the family. As always, the Town Committee is appealing to local businesses for financial backing.

“Last year we finished the season in the red, mainly because of the additional shows we put on in the bandstand,” said the committee chairman, Mr Bill Martin. “We are doing out best to obtain sponsorship, but that will meet only a small fraction of the cost of the programme.”

KILLOUGH — Killough could support a small inshore fishing fleet if its harbour was developed, local Alliance Party member Mr Michael Healy has told Mr James Dunn, Minister responsible for Fisheries.

In recent talks with the Minister, Mr Healy said the fishing industry could be helped by building up local fleets and developing small harbours.

“My home village of Killough, for instance, could support a small inshore fishing fleet if the harbour was developed,” he told Mr  Dunn.

“But the first step in improving the industry locally, I believe, is for the province to have more fish processing plants and the Government should at least  give increased grants towards setting them up.”

BALLYNAHINCH — The controversial £1.25m Millbridge to Castlenavan road scheme, outside Ballynahinch, which is not due to begin until 1984, is to get a “vigorous reappraisal” by Stormont officials.

That assurance was given to members of a Down Council delegation which met Mr Ray Carter, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, at Stormont.

The council’s case was put forward by Mr P J Smyth, who told Mr Carter of the hazardous condition of the Millbridge-Castlewellan Road and said a realignment was the only practical solution.

The deputation also made the point that Down Council had put tremendous effort into the promotion of the tourist industry in the Newcastle area in the last five years and that the Castlenavan roadway played a major part in the future.

CARRYDUFF — When Carryduff housewife Gertrude Kelly was recently told that she had own the Belfast Telegraph’s Find the Ball competition, she remained calmly sceptical and presumed that yet another friend was pulling her leg.

However, a dream came true lat week when Mrs Kelly, of Lough Beg Park, discovered that she had genuinely won the £7,500 Snowball prize in the competition that she had been entering for years.

Now Mrs Kelly and her husband have the pleasant task of deciding what to do with their booty. “The first thing we are going to do is buy a swing for our daughter, Sinead,” Mrs Kelly said.

MAGHERAHAMLET — A commemorative service to mark the first anniversary of the death of Lord Faulkner, of Downpatrick, was held in Magherahamlet Presbyterian Church, near Ballynahinch.

The service was attended by Lady Faulkner and other members of the family, as well as political representatives.

During the service, the Rev C D Adams, church minister, dedicated a pair of hand-carved teak doors which had been presented to the church by Mr Denis Faulkner, brother of Lord Faulkner. A wreath was also laid on Lord Faulkner’s grave.

Lord Faulkner was killed in a riding accident near Saintfield on March 3, 1977.

DUNDRUM — This year’s Dundrum Regatta will be held on Saturday, August, 5, and if everything goes according to plan, it will be a massive event with attractions for the family.

Regatta chairman Mr Hugh Graham told a well-attended annual meeting in the Bay Inn that the 1977 regatta has been a huge success and he was convinced that this year’s could be even bigger and better.

Mr Dan McNeill, an ex-chairman of the regatta, informed the meeting of the great extent to which the event had developed since it was started by the Downshire family.

SPA — Spa Young Farmers’ Club produced the three-act comedy, My Brother Tom, in Ballynahinch High School last week. It was the first time in five years they undertaken such a production.

It was very well produced by the club president, Cecil Orr, and the leading roles were superbly played by Margaret Patterson, Lorraine Lowry, David Lowry, George Patterson, Margaret Campbell and Robert Patterson, who received great support from the remainder of the cast.

DROMARA — A ten year-old Dromara girl, who received severe head injuries in a haymaking accident, was awarded £20,000 in the High Court.

Jennifer Fee was with a friend in a field when she was struck on the head by the rotating arm of a hay turner.