DOWNPATRICK – The future of Downpatrick’s two acute hospitals will be revealed at a special meeting tomorrow.
Eastern Health Board plans for the Downe and Downpatrick Maternity Hospitals have been finalised and will be made public at the Board’s monthly meeting in Dundonald.
The plans are contained in the document, “Framework for Acute Hospital Services” which has been drawn up by Board officers in consultation with the Department of Health and Social Services.
Health unions have already warned that the future of the town’s two acute hospitals is in severe jeopardy from the contents of this latest Eastern Board report.
CASTLEWELLAN – Angry Castlewellan residents have stepped their demands for a children’s play area, a decade after the launch of a protest campaign.
Residents of Station Avenue have drawn up a petition urging Down Council to build a playground in their estate.
The petition, which has been presented to the council’s chief executive, Mr Owen O’Connor, is the latest move in a campaign which began almost ten years ago.
In that time, there has been a significant rise in the number of children living in the estate and parents are becoming increasingly worried about their children’s safety.
KILLYLEAGH – A young Killyleagh chef has cooked himself a winning recipe by securing a training place at one of London’s top hotels.
Twenty one year-old Don Rice flies off at the end of the month for two weeks’ intensive training at the exclusive Capthorne Tara Hotel.
Don will be working at the four-star hotel under the internationally-acclaimed Austrian chef, Klaus Hohensaur.
He secured the chance-of-a-lifetime opportunity after he was named Best Level 3 catering student at the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education.
The trip is being organised by the catering services agency.
BALLYNAHINCH – When Ballynahinch milkman Tom Jennings retires at the end of the month he can look forward to his first lie-in in nearly 50 years.
Apart from a three-year gap, Tom has been delivering pintas in the Ballynahinch area since 1943.
One of the best known figures in the area, Tom has decided to call it a day and on June 27 he will be making his last doorstep delivery.
Tom, who celebrates his 65th birthday on Christmas Eve, was just 15 years old when he began working for William Smyth, the main milkman in Ballynahinch, in 1943.
For two years, he trudged the streets on a bicycle – a far cry on the transport of today. However, there were some compensations. Ballynahinch was then a small country town, comprising just four streets, and the working day began at 7.30pm, unlike today whenhe is on the road by 4.30am.
STRANGFORD – The Strangford Lough ferry service is not to be run by a private operator, it has been revealed this week.
Fears that the service might be privatised have been dispelled with confirmation that the Department of the Environment Roads Service is to continue to operate the ferry connection between Strangford and Portaferry.
The Divisional Roads Manager, Mr David Stewart, says that although the ferry service was included in a range of activities to be “market tested”, the Roads Service has been successful in retaining the running of the service.
“Preparations are underway for the five-year in-house contract to begin this month,” said Mr Stewart.
NEWCASTLE – The future of Mourne House hangs in the balance following a late intervention by supporters of the residential home.
The Friends of Mourne House have asked the Down and Lisburn Unit of Management to consider two options which could mean the retention of the 30 year-old home.
Although the Unit is tomorrow to ask the Eastern Health Board to approve in principle the closure plan, it has agreed to fully investigate the two options put before it.
The first option involves the phasing of structural work, estimated at £400,000, which would then allow the Unit and Age Concern to reactivate a previous plan to use the home as a domiciliary care centre for the area.
The second option involves discussions with the Presbyterian Residential Trust which has expressed an interest in developing alternative proposals for maintaining the service.