From the pages of the Down Recorder, August 11, 1993

From the pages of the Down Recorder, August 11, 1993

9 August 2023

ARDGLASS – Eastern Health Board members are to be asked tomorrow to ratify a recommendation to close the Ardview House residential care home in Ardglass, it has been revealed.

If they agree to the proposal, a period of public consultation is to be set aside to allow wider discussion on the local unit of management’s preferred option, which is set to cause a furore among local councillors and health campaigners.

However, both St John’s House in Downpatrick, and Ballynahinch’s Grove House, are to be saved from the axe as the unit bids to reduce the number of residential beds in its area by 131.

A spokesman for the residents at Ardview House said he was shocked by the unit’s recommendation.

“Each home fought its own campaign, hoping that one of the others would perhaps close. The news that Ardview has been earmarked for closure is a real body blow and will cause distress to the residents,” he said.

A spokesman for the residents at St John’s House said she sympathised with the people connected with Ardview House and described the recommendation to close the home as “pathetic”.

DOWNPATRICK – A new £400,000 international equestrian centre on the outskirts of Downpatrick is expected to be open for business by Christmas, it has been revealed.

However, the developers hope the indoor arena will be in operation by late October and will be widely used, catering for the growing number of people who have taken up horse riding as a major leisure activity.

The major development which is the first of its kind in Down District, is being backed financially by the International Fund for Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund.

Available facilities will include an indoor school and viewing gallery with tiered seating, a reception block, stable block, car park with associated site works and a new access road and retaining structure.

The scheme concept is to provide an equestrian/holiday centre with indoor and outdoor riding facilities, catering for beginners and advanced riders alike, with additional facilities of scenic trekking.

The Tullymurry Centre is the end result of planning from a private riding school to a full internationally acceptable equestrian centre with full facilities to suit local and tourism needs.

BRIGHT – Vandals are being blamed for causing damage estimated at £10,000 to a number of greens at Bright Castle Golf Club and smashing several windows at the nearby church hall.

Last week’s early morning attack on the picturesque golf course, which is one of the most popular in the province, has prompted the owners to issue a warning that in future, all trespassers will be prosecuted.

It is a move which the owners of the 85-acre course regret having to take, but as Mr Gordon Ennis explained, the unwarranted attack has left his family with no option.

“The damage caused to the greens wiped out years of care and attention and it will take a lot of money to put things right again,” he said, surveying the mass destruction.

“A number of the greens have been dug up, flags removed and broken, and plastic cups pulled out of the ground. The vandals also dug up quite a substantial part of the turf and it is clear they knew what they were doing,” said Gordon.

The course owners believe that whoever was responsible for the attack wanted to cause as much disruption as they possibly could.

LOUGHINISLAND – A young Loughinisland joiner won a bronze medal at the 1993 Skill Olympics which were held in Taiwan recently, helping the United Kingdom team to finish in fifth place in the medals table.

Patrick Madine, who works for the Downpatrick firm of H J O’Boyle, was selected as the Province’s sole representative for the United Kingdom team which flew to Seoul last week.

Patrick’s success was also a landmark as his bronze medal is the first to be won by a United Kingdom-based woodworking machinist.

Fifteen countries competed in the competition and Patrick was delighted to pick up a bronze medal to add to his already impressive haul of major awards.

DOWNPATRICK – A young Downpatrick man is hoping to do his bit for Cancer Research next week when he leaves for a 900-mile round-Ireland cycle ride.

Kevin Brannigan (22), who works for Down District Council, says he has always wanted to cycle around Ireland and hopes he can raise lots of cash for research.

“Some of my friends and relatives have suffered from cancer and several have died. That is why I want to try and do my bit to raise money for research into fighting the disease.

“Cancer is one of the biggest killers in the world and I just hope that I can raise lots of money for the Downpatrick and District Cancer Research Group.

Kevin, who lives at Kennedy Square, says he hopes to leave on August 21 and return nine days later. “My aim is to cycle 100 miles each day and I have my route already mapped out.”

CASTLEWELLAN – Work on the £1m regeneration of Castlewellan is set to take another major step forward over the coming weeks when a number of environmental improvement schemes commence at several key locations in the town.

The International Fund for Ireland is grant aiding the regeneration scheme for the town, parts of which have also been designated conservation areas by the DoE.

Areas set to benefit from the environmental improvement schemes include Upper and Lower Square, Castle Avenue, Mary Street and Clarmount Avenue.

Much of the town’s historic core will benefit from the scheme, which includes a project to refurbish derelict buildings in the Upper Square and Castle Street areas.

Local councillor Eamonn O’Neill, who is a member of the town’s regeneration committee, says that under the conservation designation, the future growth of the town will be closely monitored and controlled to safeguard local heritage.

BALLYNAHINCH – A major new tourism project and the creation of a purpose-built high-technology business park are just two of the ideas which are being suggested as key ingredients in the regeneration of Ballynahinch.

A new initiative, which is aimed at relaunching the town’s economic fortunes, needs to be drawn up if Ballynahinch is to meet the competitive business challenges of the 1990s.

That is the view of local councillor, Mr Billy Alexander, who says that businessmen in the town are crying out for an inward investment package.

He believes that the creation of a new group to oversee future developments would help rejuvenate Ballynahinch’s economic fortunes and launch it to the forefront of Down District’s drive to promote the area as one of the Province’s thriving commercial centres.

NEWCASTLE – The arrival of a new Mersey class lifeboat in Newcastle today marks the end of the RNLI’s ambitious £1.5m development programme in the town.

When the £670,000 ‘Bryant and Eleanor Girling’ arrives at the town’s harbour this afternoon, it will be housed in a new purpose-built station which has just been completed and which is the biggest in Northern Ireland.

And, also being housed in the new station is the recently purchased lifeboat tractor, which cost several hundred thousand pounds and which is used to launch and recover the rescue craft at low water.

Named after the English couple who donated the money for the new lifeboat, the ‘Bryant and Eleanor Girling’ has been brought from RNLI headquarters at Poole, in Dorset, by members of the Newcastle crew who have undergone extensive training in the state-of-the-art craft.