From the pages of the Down Recorder, October 18, 1995

From the pages of the Down Recorder, October 18, 1995

15 October 2025

CROSSGAR – A Crossgar man, who is heading for the World Ploughing Championships in Kenya next month, is hoping his lone furrow will win him the title!

The 29 year-old is busy planning his trip to the other side of the world at the moment, but working out the logistics of transporting a tractor and a plough to a Third World country has given him more than a few headaches.

David Gill, who qualified for the championships last October, has already packed his plough off and he is hoping it will have arrived safe and sound when he hands in Nairobi at the end of next month.

The other big problem which David faces at the moment is footing the cost of the trip which has been estimated at over £5,000. Down Council has offered him financial assistance and he has also received a cash injection from the Northern Ireland Ploughing Association.

He is one of the youngest ever ploughers to represent the Province at a world championship event and although still only 29, David has been involved in competitive competition for the past 18 years.

DOWNPATRICK – School days, according to some sadists, are the happiest days of your life. Well, if that’s the case I dread to think what is in store for the remainder of my existence.

OK, maybe they weren’t that bad, but there’s a great sense of freedom when we finally escape the strict regime of monotonous timetables and endless round of irrelevant subjects.

But for one Downpatrick woman, who made the journey back to the classroom after a break of 15 years, things couldn’t look brighter.

Brenda Degan left Ballynahinch’s Assumption Grammar School at the age of 17 with eight ‘O’ levels under her belt. After completing a secretarial course in Belfast she worked for several years in the city firm of John Arnott and Company before getting married in 1972.

Combining family life with work is very much the norm for most women today, but 20 years ago it was the “done thing” to leave work and use all your energies to raise a family, Brenda explained.

Her two sons, who are 23 and 19, and her 15 year-old daughter kept her busy for many years, but when the youngest started attending nursery school 11 years ago she decided she wanted to go back to school.

Brenda now teaches GCSE and ‘A’ level maths during the day, as well as evening classes, which includes students from 16 to 60 years old.

KILLYLEAGH – A new £2m international youth centre will definitely be built in Killyleagh, a local councillor has claimed this week.

Mr William Biggerstaff, a member of the South Eastern Education and Library Board, said he had no doubt the new centre would be built on a site of the former Killyleagh High School.

Mr Biggerstaff told Monday’s monthly council meeting that the scheme could also act as the trigger for the proposed £8m waterfront development unveiled last week by the Killyleagh Development Association.

“This centre will be of international standing, it will be the finest in the United Kingdom and will eventually have world-wide significance,” said Mr Biggerstaff.

DOWNPATRICK – The regeneration of Downpatrick is being blighted by the Housing Executive’s failure to redevelop “slum-like” flats at Downpatrick’s English Street.

The warning has been issued by local politicians who have described the building as a major eyesore and a blot on the town’s landscape.

They say the flats represent an “outstanding blemish” on the area and have urged senior housing chiefs to address the matter and redevelop the site.

The offending block has this week been described as a “terrible slum” and Executive officials have been criticised for allowing people to live in such poor accommodation.

In August, the Executive announced plans to sell off the flats but local councillors say it is obvious a buyer will not be found and they have urged the Executive to take on the responsibility of redeveloping the site itself.

STRANGFORD – A Co Down family made a sentimental journey to Strangford last week to relive old memories and to remember the good times.

The Marshall family, which used to run the village’s Lobster Pot restaurant, returned to see the premises go under the hammer.

Bought by Mr Leslie Marshall in 1964, he expanded it and built up its reputation throughout the area. On Thursday his widow, Joan, returned to the restaurant with her two daughters, Janet and Heather, to see it auctioned off.

However, they were to be disappointed. Only a handful of people turned up for the event and after a mere 10 minutes the auctioneer, John Martin, from Whelan Best estate agents, withdrew the restaurant from the market after the bidding failed to reach the undisclosed reserve price.

Although the auctioneer asked for the bidding to start at £300,000, there wasn’t a bid until he had ped to £240,000. It gradually crept up by another £20,000 when he announced he was going to withdraw it if he didn’t secure another offer.

A few moments later he got a bid of £265,000, but further enquiries led to nothing and he withdrew it to the echo of an auctioneer’s gavel.

BALLYNAHINCH – Ulsterbus chiefs have this week been severely criticised for abandoning plans to develop a new bus station in Ballynahinch and mothballing proposals to develop facilities in Downpatrick.

News of the move to ditch plans to develop local facilities was revealed during Monday night’s meeting of Down Council by Mr Billy Alexander, who described the move as “utterly disgraceful”.

Mr Alexander, who tabled a notice of motion calling on Environment Minister, Mr Malcolm Moss, to force Ulsterbus chiefs to do a U-turn and carry out the planned improvements, said the bus company is not playing ball with its customers.

The proposal won across-the-board political support and was seconded by the SDLP’s Anne McAleenan and a number of other councillors also voiced their support.

Mr Alexander said Ulsterbus described the Ballynahinch depot over a year ago as an “eyesore” and revealed as early as February of this year that its redevelopment was a major priority.

KILLYLEAGH – The people of Killyleagh once again turned out to give the latest royal visitor a welcome fit for a King.

Although the crowds which arrived at the town’s sailing club to see Prince Edward were smaller than of late, their greetings were just as warm.

There were waves and cheers for the Prince, who was smartly dressed in a navy blazer and grey trousers as he stepped off the now-familiar red helicopter of the Queen’s flight. The royal visitor was introduced to guests by Baroness Jean Denton, who was accompanied by the 

Lord Lieutenant for Co Down, Colonel William Brownlow and the Sheriff of Co Down, Hon David Faulkner.

During his tour of the centre the Prince met young people involved in a number of Duke of Edinburgh awards projects, and pupils from the town’s two primary schools, who visit the centre every week to sail.

QUOLE – Local politicians have this week called on the Province’s Environment Minister to set up an independent body to police Northern Ireland’s rivers, including the Quoile in Downpatrick.

The call follows the tabling of a notice of motion on Monday evening by Mr Jack McIlheron, who has been campaigning for the past number of years to have the Downpatrick river cleaned up and tighter controls imposed on those who pollute it.