From the pages of the Down Recorder, September 30, 1975

30 September 2015

CASTLEWELLAN — A masked youth calmly shouted “there’s a bomb for you” as he slid a duffle bag bomb across the floor of the Old Tom bar in Castlewellan’s Lower Square on Monday night.

Then he strolled out of the building and drove off with two other men as Mr and Mrs Tom Doherty and their five customers made for the front and back doors. Everyone escaped uninjured and the device, estimated at around 5lbs, exploded at 9.40pm, wrecking the bar and the living quarters above it.

Police say that four armed men hijacked a brown Ford Escort car at Drumee Road a short time before the bombing. The car was later recovered behind a parochial hall in the town.

An eyewitness told the Recorder he saw some of the customers coming out of the bar shouting that a bomb had been thrown in. Within minutes the seven families in Lower Square had been evacuated by one of the neighbours and the car had been found abandoned with its lights on behind the hall.

This is the second time within 20 months that the bar has been blown up by terrorists. A new front was put on the bar after the last explosion.

As police were going to the bar before the explosion they were fired on five times from the direction of Newcastle Road.

ARDGLASS — Three armed men made off in an employee’s car after they had stolen a sum of money from an Ardglass bookmaker on Saturday afternoon. The incident happened at 5.20pm shortly after Breen’s premises, off Bath Street, had been closed for the night.

The men knocked on the door and, having gained admittance, demanded the day’s takings. They then took the keys of an employee’s car and made off. The vehicle was later founded abandoned at Church Road, Chapeltown.

BALLYNAHINCH — A meeting today will decide if Ballynahinch will ever get a swimming pool — boldly axed from sports complex plans in a gamble by the town’s recreation committee several months ago.

It’s a gamble that looks like paying off for today the South Eastern Education and Library Board will consider providing a pool on a share cost basis with Down District Council.

It will be stressed at today’s meeting that any agreement should be subject to the satisfactory outcome of detailed exploratory talks between Board and Council officials regarding the operation and staffing of the pool and the availability of finance.

Because there is little doubt that South Eastern Board members want swimming facilities in Ballynahinch, they will more than likely reach agreement. The biggest users of a pool in Ballynahinch would be the school kids — just over 2,500 of them from 14 schools in an area which also covers Spa, Drumaness, Dromara and Magheraknock. Added to that are 500 pupils from a Saintfield school area which overs Lisowen, Ballymacarmery and Ballycloughan.

In May this year Ballynahinch Recreation Committee shelved hopes of a long-awaited sports complex, which included a pool, and decided to concentrate on stating the case for a community hall. Although the provision of a hall was and still remains the committee’s priority, they have always hoped that a swimming pool could eventually be located in the town.

LOUGHMANN — Speculation that a new prison complex in Northern Ireland would be built at Loughmann, between Downpatrick and Ballynahinch, were finally squashed at the weekend when it was announced that steps were now being taken to vest lands at Maghaberry.

This will enable work to start on the most important programme of permanent prison building undertaken in the province since the middle of the last century.

When talk of a prison was mooted two years ago there was a considerable amount of local fear that it might be built at the 100-acre site at Loughmann. Before being taken over by Short Bros & Harland, it was a heavily protected Royal Navy armament depot.

DOWNPATRICK — Downpatrick is to get a new £500,000 sewerage scheme which has been “in the pipeline” for almost four years. The green light was given at the weekend to South Down Convention member, Mr Eddie McGrady, who has led SDLP pressure for the project.

Financial stringency all but ended the project, but the series of acute floodings in the lower end of Market Street, which cost thousands of pounds this year, obviously led to a re-think on priorities.

The new scheme envisages four or five distribution outlets which, as well as ensuring that Market Street will never again flood, should also bring Downpatrick in pace with the seventies and eighties. The total scheme may take as long as three or four years to complete and basically involves diverting most of the storm water and sewage to a new pumping station at Dunleath Park on the outskirts of the town.

NEWCASTLE — Newcastle’s Shimna Road has become a noisy motorway with the speed and vibration of the traffic nerve-wracking, according to people living in the area. The once quiet residential thoroughfare has changed its coat and the density and the weight of the traffic is impairing the quality of life.

Traffic problems have aroused such feelings that a special meeting with officials of the town’s road safety committee was held recently when complaints such as motorists accelerating and changing lanes at the traffic lights were given an airing.

A long term solution to the problem, say the residents, is a ring road for Newcastle. This would alleviate heavy traffic which the present road cannot take. Shimna Road, they say, was not constructed for the weight of traffic that rolls over it every day.

DROMARA — The 127 year-old milling firm of Wm Ervine & Sons, Waringsford, Dromara, announces further expansion in its sales staff. The latest phase of expansion sees Mr Sander Shields taking over management of the Downpatrick branch. He has been a sales representative for eight years.

The Ervine family have controlled Tullyniskey Mills since 1920 when the late William Ervine purchased the premises. He was the grandfather of the present directors, William, Samuel and George.

STRANGFORD — For the second weekend in succession Strangford Lough was the scene of a boating drama. The lives of a four-man crew were saved by the action of an army helicopter, which lifted one man from the water, and Auxiliary Coastguard Don Clarke, who battled through the water for 30 minutes in the Whiterock rescue boat.

CROSSGAR — Crossgar girl Margie Lowry gave herself a boost for next week’s Horse of the Year Show with a top class performance at the weekend. In the Champion of the Year indoor show, held at Kill, Co Kildare, Margie finished as the top lady performer.

Tomorror she leaves for London and the world’s premier show jumping event, which starts on Monday and continues until the following Saturday.

BOXING — The first professional boxing show to be staged in Derry for many years will take place in two nights’ time when Ardglass’s Ray Ross takes on one of Ireland’s most controversial fighters, Charlie Nash.

The contest has been arranged by Ulster promoter Gerry Hassett, who has arranged three other supporting fights. Hassett, of course, was delighted that Nash was persuaded to turn pro and that Ross was a ready-made opponent.

Twenty three year-old Ross won the Irish crown in 1974, but had always been overshadowed by Nash in amateur boxing. He has the advantage of four fights behind him and reckons this could be the deciding factor in the contest.

On the other hand, Nash is an Olympic and European championship boxer and feels that he can continue his winning trend over the Ardglass man.

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