From the pages of the Down Recorder, February 15, 1995

From the pages of the Down Recorder, February 15, 1995

12 February 2025

DOWNPATRICK – Work on Downpatrick’s new £15m acute hospital could go ahead as planned within the next few years, the province’s Health Minister has confirmed.

Mr Malcolm Moss revealed the news during a fact-finding visit to local hospital and medical facilities last Thursday when he spoke at length with administrators, staff and patients.

He said that while he could not be specific, one could make a reasonable assumption that if the development of a new hospital is high on the priority list, work will start within the next few years.

The Minister also gave a guarantee that he will consider carefully the detailed business case which is to be presented to his Department and the Management Executive before the end of March.

But Mr Moss stopped short of committing himself to a start date for work on developing the present maternity unit site at the Ardglass Road into the town’s new acute hospital.

“The Department will look at the business case and evaluate it alongside other schemes. But I can say it is as near to getting going as it has been in its past history,” he said.

Mr Moss spent around four hours in Downpatrick, visiting the maternity unit and the nearby Ward 33, which it is proposed to merge with the body facility and its modern facilities and theatres, to create the new hospital.

STRANGFORD – The body of a fourth victim of the Christmas Strangford Lough boating tragedy has been recovered.

The remains of 33 year-old Christopher Bell were washed ashore on Sketrick Island on Sunday just a few hundred yards from where the speedboat in which he and five friends were travelling sank in December.

Five of the men drowned in the accident while a sixth, Stephen Martin, managed to swim to a nearby island and was rescued by RAF helicopter.

In a massive search operation the bodies of three of the men, Jackie McNamara, Hugo McCullough and Ron Grant, were recovered on or close to Sketrick Island within hours of the disaster.

However, despite a series of extensive searches by local people, the two remaining bodies could not be located, although the speedboat was recovered two weeks after the incident.

The body of the final victim, George Sweeney, from Middlesex, has still not been recovered.

KILLYLEAGH – Work is underway on a major feasibility study into development of the waterfront and provision of a marina in Killyleagh.

Consultants Kirk, McClure & Morton have been appointed to carry out the study at the request of Killyleagh Development Association Ltd.

Financial assistance for the study into a first yacht marina for Strangford Lough has been provided by the Department of Economic Development and Down Council.

The study team includes leading UK-based consultants Pieda, who carried out a major study for the Down Economic Development Agency last year, and Ostick and Williams.

Kirk, McClure & Morton have been involved in recent marine developments totalling £35m, including all the major seafront developments in Northern Ireland in the last few years.

They have indicated to the Killyleagh association that they expect the final report to be completed by April.

DUNDRUM – A week after parents in Dundrum asked senior Roads Service chiefs to look at traffic safety measures outside the village’s primary school, the Department of Environment has acted swiftly to meet their concerns.

Following last week’s plea in the Recorder to help children cross the busy Main Street in safety, the Department has announced a package of measures which have been welcomed by the principal of Downshire Primary School, Mr Michael Crawford.

He said he is delighted the Department has moved so quickly on the issue and recognised that there was a problem which had to be addressed.

This week, staff and parents have been informed the layby outside the school is to be extended to improve safety measures, with the work scheduled to be completed before the end of the financial year.

New yellow markings are to be painted on the road outside the school along with new non-stip flagstones.

ARDGLASS – Claims that a playground in Ardglass will be destroyed when work starts on the village’s proposed new marina, have this week been denied.

A graffiti artist daubed slogans over the wall of the council-owned playground last week, but the actions have angered the town’s SDLP councillor and members of Phennick Cove Developments Ltd.

The slogan, which is painted in huge lettering, claims the marina should not be built and its appearance comes at a time when a number of people in the village have claimed the playground is to be removed.

But Mrs Paula Mahon, the chairman of Phennick Cove Developments Ltd, said the playground belonged to Down Council and did not form any part of the marina plan.

“The playground does not belong to us and we have no plans to utilise it as part of the overall development programme which we have drawn up for the village.”

STRANGFORD – A local community has taken the first step towards ridding itself of its “forgotten village” label.

The Strangford Village Improvements Committee last week launched an informative leaflet in an attempt to encourage tourists to visit this area of outstanding natural beauty.

The pamphlet was designed after visitors to the area, mentioned to a member of the village committee that there was no information available on Strangford.

The project is being funded from the proceeds of a history book by local man Mr R V James called the “Forgotten Past of Strangford Village”. The committee had to raise the money themselves due to the lack of funding from various other bodies.

Mrs Gwen Buchanan, secretary of the Strangford Village Improvements Committee, said that she believes that tourism in Strangford has not been maximised to its full potential.

NEWCASTLE – Northern Ireland Electricity chiefs have rejected a “compromise solution” to its controversial plan to string a 33,000 volt electrical across parts of an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The news comes after it has been revealed that senior planning chiefs are to give their ruling on the plan to string the cable across parts of the Seaforde, Clough, Dundrum and Newcastle areas next month.

It is believed the “compromise solution” called on NIE to locate two kilometres of the cable underground, between Dundrum and Stevenson’s blockyard, outside Newcastle.

But NIE says the cost is “prohibitive” and it has a responsibility to balance additional costs for environmental reasons, against the increased cost to customers.

SAINTFIELD – Two blooming towns could be budding partners if the people of Saintfield give the go-ahead for their town to be twinned with a French resort.

The initiative, which stemmed from an idea by French-born woman, Mrs Anne Lamie, who has business connections with Saintfield, is gathering pace after she contacted officials from the town of Cassis on the French Riviera.

A steering committee was set up last week following a public meeting in the town’s Assumption Youth Club to discuss the project’s future.

But the twinning arrangement will only proceed if everyone in Saintfield is happy about the situation, according to one of the committee members.