Social Housing Needed

barracksrows.jpg

I am constantly shocked at the dilapidated state of our town’s streets, at the numbers of abandoned and derelict buildings and yes, at the run-down state of many of the business premises. All of this is in marked contrast with the showy opulence of suburbia, which by the way, stretches now deep into our once pristine rural heartlands. All of this begs the question, just where did all that investment money from the International Fund for Ireland and the European Union go?

A Life Saved

FishersBurns.jpg

‘You’re for it, ye oul b****x!! I’m getting my da for you’. 

A hasty retreat – a slammed door and he was gone. Nervous tittering from the class. The schoolmaster was aware of thirty pairs of eyes drilling into his skull. Internally he felt torn and twisted – anger, shame, embarrassment and indecision vied for dominance. It probably showed on his face too, and in his demeanor. He knew it was imperative to avoid any show of weakness. His continued authority depended on how he might react right now. Any hint of remorse or frailty would be seized upon and exploited. But he felt remorse.

17 th Century Happenings

hichurch.gif

When the most powerful chief in Gaelic Ireland, Hugh O’Neill, who had taken the English title of Earl of Tyrone, submitted to Lord Mountjoy, the Queen’s Lord Lieutenant at Mellifont Abbey in Louth in the early 17 th century, the English Conquest was all but complete.

General Geology of our Region

BallaghMillstone.jpg

Earth is about four thousand seven hundred million years old.  Rocks, the subject of geology, are regularly re-cycled and the oldest known surviving rocks (in Greenland) are some three billion years old. 

Tourist Guide: In from the South

199407_glen_panoramaglen.jpg

Tourist Guide to

South Armagh , Newry and South Down

Among the many outstanding features of our beautiful region of Ireland are the rugged mountains, the rivers and lakes, the fast-expanding city and the coastal strip and resorts where ‘the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea’. We have every reason for pride. We will here look in turn at all of these features and trust that our uniqueness is sufficient to entice the foreign visitor (and perhaps the lonely exile) to renew his acquaintance with our friendly shores. We trust that the slideshows that accompany this writing adequately illustrate our best features.

John O’Hagan, Young Irelander

Another famous republican agitator and writer also hailed from Newry. He was the Young Irelander John O’Hagan. His father, John Arthur O’Hagan was a prosperous local merchant who had attended the Newry School of Dr Henderson   of the time with John Kells Ingram (later vice-provest of Trinity College Dublin) where the master was Edward Lyons M.A.

 

 



John O’Hagan was born in Market Street Newry  on 19 March 1822. He was an able student and well schooled. At the age of twenty-three he was called to the bar and joined the Munster Circuit.

Tommy McGrath

ILPMcGrath.jpg

Our Council of the 1960s, under pressure from Government departments and various interest groups, capitulated to demands to raze an historic and much loved part of our town to make way for the principal trunk road between Ireland’s major cities of Belfast and Dublin. The decision was incomprehensible.  And very unpopular


Poor Clare Sisters

mercynun.jpg

It would be difficult to exaggerate the contribution made by the Sisters of Saint Clare to the education and social welfare of the children of Newry’s working classes for the past one hundred and seventy three years.


George W Bush’s ‘English’

children.jpg

Quotes from George ‘Dubya’ Bush


“The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.”
George W. Bush, Jr.
 
‘If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.”
George W. Bush, Jr.
 
“Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.”
Governor George W. Bush, Jr
 
“Welcome to Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.”
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.
 
“Mars is essentially in the same orbit…

A Farewell to Legs

britisharmy.jpg

In a long career of processing Business Start-Up applications, Sheila had never before handled one like this.  The client contended that he was proposing to serve a long-neglected and highly put-upon section of the community, the persistent drunkard.

Independence Revoked!

Cops3.jpg

Be advised that by decree of H M Government at Westminster, from this date the Declaration of Independence of Her Majesty’s colonies in the New World is revoked.

Butter Market: A Short History

ButterMktGirlSmall.jpg

The Butter and Egg Market was erected in 1874 in Market Street, at the foot of High Street.  I shall have to make a return visit to my friend, Ben Hughes who still resides in the locality, to revive my memories of those few details of it that he shared last time with me. 

Roll The Credits

SeanInHammock.jpg

‘Roll the Credits’ is a limited edition biopic of the life’s work and achievements of Newry’s Man of the Century, Sean Hollywood, and is our first book review.  Hurry!  There may yet be a few copies in Easons, Savages or the Sean Hollywood Arts Centre.  This will be a Collector’s Item.