From the pages of the Down Recorder, February 8, 1995

From the pages of the Down Recorder, February 8, 1995

5 February 2025

DOWNPATRICK – One of Downpatrick’s most historic buildings is this week counting the cost of last August’s bomb explosion in St Patrick’s Avenue.

The 260 year-old Southwell Building on The Mall was originally thought to have suffered only a few broken panes of glass in the failed IRA mortar attack on the town’s RUC station.

But further investigations have revealed that a ceiling was severely damaged in the blast, which occurred just 600 yards away, and an engineer has since declared it unsafe.

Now the Southwell Trust charity, which provides accommodation for seven elderly people in the building, must find several thousand pounds to replace the historic window and the ceiling which were damaged in the blast.

Downpatrick architect Rachel Bevan said this week that the window alone will cost around £1,000 to replace.

The need for the extra work comes at a time when the Southwell Trust is already committed to spending thousands on replacing sunrooms which have fallen into disrepair at the rear of the building.

NEWCASTLE – Newcastle may reap its own peace dividend through a possible share of a $2m investment package, currently being considered by the American Government.

The US Senate is examining a major grant-aid application, which if successful, would see the money shared between Newcastle, its Republic of Ireland twin, New Ross, and a town in Connecticut.

Officials with the Newcastle Twinning Association are working closely with thier counterparts in New Ross and are hoping the investment package will be rubber-stamped by US administrators.

The unique funding possibility has come about through the close ties which have existed for many years between New Ross and the Connecticut town of Hartford.

However, following the terrorist ceasefire there is a strong desire to extend the investment scheme across the border and New Ross’s links with Newcastle make the seaside town the obvious choice.

The funding application has been made by people living in Hartford who are now set to become involved in a unique triangular twinning arrangement with Newcastle and New Ross.

CROSSGAR – The group behind the new Mid-Down integrated primary school have responded to claims that the school will cause enrolment problems for other schools in the area.

In a statement this week, the Cedar Integrated Primary School’s enrolment secretary, Dr Ultan McGill, stressed that “the school is coming into existence because parents want that choice for their children.

“We intended to deliver child-centred education in an environment that is balanced in respect of the two main traditions,” he said.

“This balance will be evident in the pupil population, the teachers, the board of governors, the parents’ council and also ancillary staff.

“In so doing, we will allow children to celebrate their own beliefs in a setting that respects differing traditions. The desire for this to happen comes from the local community who are following the example of other parents throughout the province.”

Mr McGill pointed out that support for the new school from the community is evident in the number of enrolments and expressions of support for the scheme.

STRANGFORD – Castleward’s annual sell-out opera festival could be under threat this year, because of the size of the grant allocated to it by the Arts Council.

The opera company, which has been staging mid-summer performances at the Strangford National Trust property for almost 10 years, had been hoping that the Arts Council would contribute £50,000 to the event this year.

Instead, the council’s budget, which was announced yesterday, has allocated less than one third of that amount.

The Arts Council is to give Castleward Opera just £15,000 in the next financial year, and even that amount is a £2,000 reduction on the sum awarded to the company in the 1993/94 financial year.

Even though the event has only been receiving funding from the Arts Council for the past two years, one of the founders of the Castleward Opera Company, Ian Urwin, said that the inadequate grant would have a far-reaching effect on this year’s production.

JOBS – As Northern Ireland celebrates its lowest unemployment level in 13 years, a cloud of jobless gloom still hangs heavily over Down District.

For while 24 out of the province’s 26 district council areas celebrated a Christmas reduction in the dole queues, Down was one of only two regions in the entire country to record an increase in the number out of work.

The shock increase for Down came at the end of a year which saw encouraging signs for improving employment prospects in the district. Since the summer, the local jobless totals had been steadily declining from a peak of almost 3,200.

By November, the numbers had ped by nearly 300 to 2,949, but with the release of the December figures, showing an upward swing to 2,974, the unemployment gloom returned to Down District to bring black prospects for the new year.

DUNDRUM – Concerned parents in Dundrum have this week been assured that the Department of Environment will look again at traffic safety measures outside Downshire Primary School.

Matters were brought to a head last week when four children were almost knocked down outside the school, and another almost dragged under the wheels of a lorry as it drove past.

New traffic measures were introduced in the village late last year in a bid to curb the actions of speeding motorists including the provision of traffic islands which were built to allow people to cross the busy road.

But one of the islands, which is located outside the school, has caused a major furore among parents and the situation is so bad that a sit down protest was contemplated on Monday morning.

However, it was called off after a senior official with the South Eastern Education and Library Board agreed to raise the safety issue with Roads Service chiefs.

CLOUGH – Royal Mail officials have this week denied claims an announcement is due to be made on centralising mail sorting office services across Down District.

It has been rumoured that mail services in Downpatrick, Newcastle and Ballynahinch were to be centralised at a new depot, with Clough suggested as the most likely location.

But a spokesman for the Royal Mail confirmed on Monday that there are no plans to rationalise postal services in the area for the foreseeable future.

He said the Royal Mail is not planning to develop services for at least five years as its capital development programme to take services into the next millennium has already been mapped out and does not include Down District.

Two years ago, the town’s regeneration project was given a boost when the Royal Mail indicated that it was prepared to vacate its main Post Office in Market Street by 1997.

In a statement issued at the time, Royal Mail said that while it did not own the building, a move could be on the cards.

DOWNPATRICK – As Downpatrick traders get the grips with the traffic disruption in Market Street, more bad news is on the way, it has been confirmed this week.

The Downpatrick Project Office has confirmed that the Irish Street car park is to be closed for over 10 weeks as work gets underway on a major project to close over the entrance with a new building.

Work on a £100,000 environmental improvement scheme is well underway in conjunction with a new watermain laying scheme and is due to be completed before the end of March.