From the pages of the Down Recorder, March 20, 1979

From the pages of the Down Recorder, March 20, 1979

20 March 2019

BALLYNAHINCH — An employee at the Plessey Telecommunications plant in Ballynahinch will be in for a royal time at Buckingham Palace today.

Mrs Sadie McKelvey flew out earlier this week to attend a special reception to honour Plessey winning the 1978 Queen’s Award for Export Achievement.

Sadie, who lives at Ballykine Road, Ballynahinch, is manager of the production inspection department and was chosen recently to represent the factory at the royal occasion.

She will complete a party of three as representatives of the executive staff, management and shop floor staff.

Sadie, who has been working at the Ballynahinch factory for 17 years, will be at the Palace at about 6pm this evening. Then she will have some time to look around London before returning to Northern Ireland tomorrow afternoon.

Before leaving for the big occasion Sadie told the Recorder that it was an honour to have been chosen to represent the local plant.

“I am really looking forward to the reception at the Palace, but I must admit that I am beginning to feel very nervous,” she said.

DOWNPATRICK — Ian Mitchell, the 20 year-old Downpatrick guitarist, has left local pop group Rosetta Stone and may soon start a punk rock band in Dublin.

Ian became famous overnight when he joined the Bay City Rollers and then sensationally left them after only six weeks in 1976.

He returned the following year to his former band, the Young City Stars, who changed their name to Rosetta Stone, and has been in and out of the band’s line-up since.

The split was confirmed by Tam Paton, manager of the band and ex-manager of the Bay City Rollers, who said: “It is a pity but Ian seems to have hang-up about something and just couldn’t stay with Rosetta Stone.

NEWCASTLE — Council workmen have been ordered to begin work immediately to shore up a section of Newcastle’s sea wall, which is in imminent danger of total collapse.

An £11,500 temporary ‘holding operation’ began yesterday, but the final repair bill will be £66,500 — all of which will have to come from local rates.

It will be the biggest single item of council expenditure on repair work since 1973 and officials will have to rearrange their budgets to find money for the work.

A structural engineering firm spent several weeks surveying the damage and have told councillors that large sections of the base of the wall have been washed away, leaving the wall exposed.

A spokesman for the engineering firm said: “This has been a bad year for sea walls in general. We have had more strong easterly gales than usual, but this can happen every so often.”

Newcastle councillor Paddy O’Donoghue said the Department of the Environment should become involved with the council in taking measures to safeguard the entire sea wall.

He said he didn’t want to see the council patching up one bit and the Department patching up another without an overall plan.

KILLYLEAGH — The long wrangle over a planned caravan park on the shores of Strangford Lough, near Killyleagh, ended in anger this week.

East Down Yacht Club has finally been told to proceed with their plans for a caravan site at Maymore — despite fierce protest from Down councillors, who have held it up for almost three months.

Local planners, who have always favoured the development, refused to bend to council pressure and indeed the matter was taken to the highest level at Stormont where the minister in charge, Mr Ray Carter, backed the planners’ stand.

Killyleagh councillor, Col Denys Rowan-Hamilton, said he was amazed that the “ugliest thing I can imagine” should be allowed on the shores of Strangford Lough.

STRANGFORD — Dympna Marron, from Strangford, is top of the trade when it comes to nursing. Last week she was named Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year.

Twenty two year-old Dympna, daughter of Mr and Mrs Patrick Marron, of Myra Road, picks up a British Airways week-long holiday for two in Hong Kong and now goes forward to the national final of the Daily Express Nurse of the Year competition in May.

Dympna, a staff nurse at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Children, was nominated for the competition by a husband and wife who were amazed by her diligence and dedication.

She developed an interest in children through baby-sitting when she was a teenager and took up the nursing profession full-time about four years ago.

Her ambition is “to go some time in the future and help out in one of the world’s underprivileged countries”.

ARDGLASS — A prize presented by an Ardglass Golf Club captain back in 1899 found its way back to the club this week.

The prize — a beautiful rack of three decanters — was won by a Mr Swail and presented by the then captain, Col R M Wallace.

At a special ceremony the decanters were brought back to the club’s trophy cabinet by the their new owner, Mrs Elsie Rea, of Downpatrick.

Mrs Rea had bought the decanters in a Newcastle antique shop many years ago, but decided that the club deserved to have them returned. She presented them to the club captain, Mr Jack Martin. The decanters are now the oddest prize in the club’s possession.

KILLOUGH — Plans are now underway for a major three-day festival in Killough in June. This week the festival chairman, Mr Patrick Healy, called on villagers to give the event their full support.

A planned programme of events has already been drawn up and makes impressive reading. The organisers are hoping to hold a major function soon to elect a Festival Queen and attempts are to be made to attract radio and television personalities to the village during the three days.

A festival committee spokesman pointed out that committee meetings are being held at regularly fortnightly intervals and are open to everyone. “Please do come along and show your support,” he said.

The committee members are as follows: Mr Patrick Healy, chairman; Mr K Keville, vice-chairman; Mr King and Mr M Healy, joint secretaries; Mr J Toner and Mr J Largy, joint treasurers; other members, Mrs M Conlon, Mrs M Briggs, Mrs M Button and Mr P Convery.

DUNDRUM — A Dundrum schoolboy has won a bronze medal in the British Schoolboys’ Weightlifting Championships in Yorkshire.

Steven Martin, of Dromara Road, a pupil at Down High School, was one of three Northern Ireland competitors who returned successful from the championships recently.

He trains part of the week on his own at home and has to travel to Belfast three times a week to train on equipment and receive coaching.

KILLINCHY — A valuable violin belonging to Mrs Gail Crowe, of Craigrusky Road, Killinchy, was stolen from the vicinity of St Mary’s Hall on St Patrick’s Day.

Mrs Crowe left the violin down to make a phone call and when she returned the violin, in a black case, had disappeared. Comber police are investigating.

SOCCER — The Amateur League’s premier knockout trophy, the Border Cup, remained in the district for the third successive year when Drumaness Mills retained the title with a 2-0 over Barn United in Saturday’s final at Mallusk.

The Mills first won the trophy last year when they beat local rivals Downpatrick Rec in the final. The previous year Downpatrick were the winners, making it a great run of success for clubs in the competition.

This year’s victory by Drumaness could have created a record, for they went through the entire competition without conceding a goal. 

In the final they took an early lead when Cyril Lennon thumped a great right-footed shot past the keeper and the winner from Stevie McCormick came  near the end.