From the pages of the Down Recorder, October 20, 1993

From the pages of the Down Recorder, October 20, 1993

25 October 2023

DOWNPATRICK – A high-powered delegation comprising two Labour MPs and senior-ranking Trade Union officials was in Downpatrick on a fact-finding mission on Monday.

Mr Dale Campbell-Savours and Mr Steve Byers, were joined by the Unison chief, Mr Bob Abberley and the Union’s Parliamentary Liaison Officer, Charlotte Atkins.

And following the visit to the Downshire and Downe Hospitals and the town’s Maternity Unit, Mr Dale Campbell-Savours was in no doubt about the need for a new hospital in Downpatrick.

He said that it was “abundantly clear” that local services were much better than those on offer in Belfast and he warned Lord Arran not to ignore the views of the people of Down District.

“It is quite obvious that the quality of health care available in the Down area is extremely high and anything which threatens this must be resisted.

“People in this area do not wanat to go to Belfast for treatment, they want to go to their own local hospital where the standards of care is second to none.”

ARDGLASS – An Ardglass man is playing a vital role with an NIE team helping to keep electricity supplies running in war-torn Bosnia.

Father of four, Mr Mike Fitzpatrick, is one of four experts from Northern Ireland Electricity who are part of a ten-strong team from the UK in the former Yugoslav republic.

Their mission is to secure generating plants and power lines to supply heat, pump water and run sewage plants.

Mr Fitzpatrick, a finance officer with NIE, has an important part to play in operations and is spending long periods in central Bosnia. There, the living conditions are harsh, and on many occasions the group has had to take shelter while artillery shelling goes on.

Despite the difficult conditions, Mr Fitzpatrick has been able to ensure the smooth passage of supplies and funding from London to where they are most needed. 

DRUMANESS – A local folk duo have scooped a major music prize in the Far East….singing a song in Korean.

Drumaness singer, Andrea Rice, and her Castlewellan partner, Fee Dobbin, swept to victory in the 26th Annual Korean Folk Arts Contest for Foreigners in seoul last month.

Twenty eight year-old Andrea and 40 year-old Fee clinched the top prize in the contemporary song section with their version of the Korean hit song, The Labyrinth of Love.

Andrea and Fee are currently resident musicians in an Irish-style bar in Seoul’s Westin Chosun Hotel, and they were among 24 semi-finalists taking part in the competition for expatriates living in the oriental state.

Seoul’s Expo 93 complex was the venue for the contest, in which foreign performers had the opportunity to show their mastery of Korean art forms, such as singing, dancing, and playing instruments.

Andrea and Fee won their section in front of a 1,300-strong audience as TV cameras recorded the event for a national broadcast. Both were amazed when their names were read out as the winners.

DOWNPATRICK – Speculation is mounting that the Eastern Health Board and the Department of Health are on a collision course over the future of acute hospital services in Downpatrick.

The Recorder understands that some Stormont officials are in favour of the Downpatrick hospitals being treated as a “special case” within the framework of the Board’s controversial purchasing plan.

Board sources are refusing to comment however, on claims that senior Department officials are unhappy with at least two proposals which have been drawn up on the future delivery of care in the Down area.

The Board had been expected to hold a special meeting this month to discuss the future provision of services in the local area but it was postponed because of the huge weight of responses it has received.

However, although no meeting took place, some formal presentation is scheduled to be made in November when the Board is expected to arrange a special public meeting.

A spokesman for the Board confirmed on Monday that the 18-month review of hospital services had ended and that many responses and presentations were still being waded through.

BALLYHORNAN – Time-wasting youngsters playing with matches could cause a real tragedy by getting the Fire Brigade out needlessly, a local fire chief has warned.

Station officer Mr Billy Easton, of Downpatrick, was speaking after the fire service had a weekend of minor grass and hedgerow blazes, which might have kept them from a much more serious alert.

“If you notice, a lot of these calls are after school hours and at this time of the year, with grass and vegetation dying, many fields are as dry as a bone”, he said. “Kids go out, they’re playing with matches and they set things alight.”

“The fires get out of control and then people quite naturally start ringing us up and getting the Fire Brigade out, so we turn up to the call and extinguish it,” he continued. “They are tying us up with these calls.”

He said most of the fires are minor, many out before the brigade arrives, but, on Friday, a small outhouse containing hay was destroyed on a Ballyhornan farm.

With appliances out at these calls, MR Easton feared the time it takes an outlying crew to get to the scene of a local road accident or serious fire will mean the difference between life and death, something which he has seen happen in other areas.

DOWNPATRICK – Job losses in Down Council look unlikely after a council-based company submitted the only bid for refuse collection under compulsory competitive tendering legislation last week.

The Direct Service Organisation was the only body to have submitted a tender for refuse collection and associated vehicle maintenance when the deadline expired at noon on Friday.

A well known Co Down building firm decided against tendering for the contract at the last moment, leaving the council bid the only one on the table when the contract is allocated in December.

Direct Service Organisation officials had been hopeful of beating off other tenders, having put in a considerable amount of work on their tender bid, but the lack of any opposition will remove any lingering doubts.

KILLYLEAGH – Six months after Killyleagh was officially designated a conservation area, the town is still waiting for signs of environmental improvement.

And the apparent lack of action has prompted the town’s development committee to write to the DoE to seek some idea of when work is likely to begin.

A letter has been sent to the Chief Divisional Planning Officer, Mr John Cleland, calling for an early start to planned environmental improvements under the conservation scheme.

The call comes after a meeting of the Killyleagh Development Committee on Friday, at which members expressed concern over the lack of action.

The committee is also asking the department just how much money will be earmarked for the town in the current financial year for environmental improvements.

BALLYNAHINCH – One of the area’s statutory residential homes is to be developed as resource models for dedicated day centre care, it has been revealed.

Grove House in Ballynahinch will be upgraded following a major review of day care provision in the area by the Down and Lisburn Unit of Management.

Eastern Health Board members were told last week that while the local unit was not planning any major changes in day care provision levels, the home would be developed to cater for people with low and high dependency needs.