From the pages of the Down Recorder, September 10, 1974

From the pages of the Down Recorder, September 10, 1974

10 September 2014

POWELL — Mr. Enoch Powell spent several hours last Wednesday visiting towns in South Down, a constituency which he hopes to represent in the next Westminster Government. Only the previous night he was unanimously chosen as candidate by the management committee of the South Down Imperial Unionist Association at a meeting in Dromore Orange Hall.

Mr. Powell was given a warm welcome in Ballynahinch where he visited a number of shops and business premises and talked to some people. The town seemed unprepared and it was somewhat quiet, probably as most of the shops were closed for their half-day. He was reported as having refused to accept an Irish coin, stating that he only accepted coinage bearing the Queen’s head. Mr. Powell also visited the villages of Kilmore and Crossgar, but found even smaller crowds there. He is expected to canvas in other towns.

Loyalists in the area are delighted with his selection. He is regarded as an outstanding man, in the mould of Sir Edward Carson, who nearly half a century ago was uncrowned King of Ulster.

On the other hand, the SDLP point out that south Down is anything but a gift wrapped Unionist seat and certainly nothing that Mr. Powell can use as a stepping stone back high Conservative position.

Mr. Powell insisted that if he becomes MP for South Down he will represent all constituents.

DOWNPATRICK — Downpatrick firemen answered their 100th this year when they dealt with a fire at the lock-up garage of Mrs. L. Smyth, Church Street, Downpatrick. Slight damage was caused to a quantity of confectionery.

The brigade also extinguished a blaze at the Minor Hall in John Street where it is believed to have been started maliciously. In the afternoon they were recalled to the same premises which had been reignited.

BALLYNAHINCH — Ballynahinch is a seedy and depressing place. Redevelopment has gone sadly wrong. Approaches to the town are depressing and ribbon development of bungalows and new housing estates have drained the old town centre of most of its vitality.

Briefly, that is now the Ulster Architectural Society see Ballynahinch in their 21st report on areas of architectural importance in towns and villages in mid-Down.

Yet, it is not too late to get this right, they claim. A careful policy of in-fill building in the centre, combined with the judicious renovations of the sounder, older buildings, might well succeed, especially if a major visual facelift were to be undertaken. This would not only take in repainting, but also large-scale tree planting and the general upgrading of amenities.

KILMORE — Just after the discovery of what was thought to be the last flax crop in Ulster — grown by Mr. Hugh McCoubrey, of Ballymacarn, near Ballynahinch — 79 year-old Mrs. Dora McClements, of Kilmore, tells us that she also has a small plot flax.

When Dora was pulling flax in the fields she was working from 6 o’clock in the morning until darkness. “I have been involved in the flax industry all my life,” she said. I started when I left school.

“It was good sport in those days, but it was tiresome. However, one good thing it did was to make you forget about all your ailments.”

ARDGLASS — Kilkeel skipper Leslie McKee didn’t quite expect the ‘catch’ he landed at Ardglass harbour on Friday morning. His boat, ‘The Day Dawn’, had just sailed into harbour and tied up when Leslie, brewing a cup of tea in the wheelhouse, heard a splintering crash — and there on the deck of his boat was a yellow van!

The van belonged to an Ardglass man, who had arrived only minutes before Leslie. He apparently left the handbrake off and the car lurched forward and over the side of the harbour.

Immediately the harbour’s ‘rescue service’ swung into operation and within minutes Ben Smith was the scene with a mini-crane. Local harbour workers, who arrived to help, at first feared that the weight of the van would topple the crane, but after several anxious minutes they hauled it back ashore.

Fortunately, the car fell onto a pile or empty fish boxes which broke the fall and there was no damage to the boat’s deck. The car later had to be towed away.

SAINTFIELD — With the Newcastle League season ready for the big kick off, one club finds itself in a predicament — Saintfield AYC. Their pitch has come under so much criticism from so many quarters that they feel it is time they moved to new surroundings.

Last year numerous matches were called off as the ground was unplayable. But the big questions remains – where will they move to?

Explains secretary Kevin Mullan: “We’ve tried unsuccessfully to find a new ground over the last number of weeks. If we don’t get one soon the season will have started again. I appeal to any farmer who could help us out with some suitable land for a pitch.”

PORTAFERRY — Portaferry Camera Club will hold its opening meeting on Monday night in the Market House at 8pm when the guest speaker, Mr. Denis Pogson, will show transparencies. A perpetual trophy has been donated by a member, Mr. P. Magennis, for the best transparency taken by a member during the coming season of an identifiable subject of Co. Down.

CROSSGAR — A bullock, owned by Mr. Hamilton Coulter, Saintfield Road, Crossgar, was killed when struck by a Morris Mini, driven by Bogie, Lanaghan Crescent, Belfast. The vehicle was extensively damaged, but Mr. Bogie received only minor injuries.

CASTLEWELLAN — Mrs. Lavery, Ballybannon Road, Castlewellan, was taken to Downe Hospital with minor injuries when a gas picnic ring exploded as she was lighting it at her home.

TYRELLA — The Rev. R. L. Hutchinson, former rector of Rathmullan and Tyrella, was instituted as rector of Magheralin. The church was packed to capacity and a large number of parishioners from Rathmullan and Tyrella were in attendance , having travelled by bus or car to give their former rector a send-off.

During his 12-and-a-half years at Rathmullan and Tyrella, Mr. Hutchinson had helped restore the rectory, renovate both parochial halls and churches, and the sexton’s house at Tyrella. Despite the mammoth cost, all debts had been paid and both churches were now financially sound.

ARDGLASS — The summer seats, which were erected recently in Ardglass, have been vandalised. One at Strangford Road was actually unscrewed and thrown into the tide.

DOWNPATRICK — A former Downpatrick pastor and his wife are to fly from London tomorrow to begin a new life in Brazil with the Unevangelised Mission Fields. He is Pastor George Baxter and his wife, Dr. Hazel Baxter.

There was a valedictory service in Downpatrick Baptist Church on Saturday where the pastor spent two years. Mr. Baxter has already spent three months in Brazil and applied to the mission to work in West Amazon on his return. The couple will spend four years there and are planning to live in a house boat.

KILLINCHY — Killinchy Young Farmers had an enjoyable time when they set off early for their annual bus trip at the weekend. They travelled via Belfast and Larne to Glenariff in the Glens of Antrim, where they stopped for an hour. Continuing on the coast road, they reached Ballycastle where there was another hour’s stop.

HARVEST — All over rainswept Ulster this week farmers were hoping for a dramatic change in the recent spell of bad weather to save their grain harvest. Barley crops have been threatened by the lack of sunshine during the past few weeks and the downpours since the weekend.

Mr. James A. Quinn, of Hillcrest House, Portaferry, said the harvest period was the worst he could remember in the past ten years. “It’s been a sad season all round,” he said.