CARHAIX STUDENT SAYS ‘ADIEU’

24/05/2015 by borderroamer

Sandrine Le Cocguen from Carhaix prepares to leave Carrickmacross Photo: © Michael Fisher

CARHAIX STUDENT BIDS ADIEU

Michael Fisher

Sandrine Le Cocguen says ‘adieu’ to Carrickmacross this weekend after spending six weeks working in the town and trying to improve her knowledge of English. The 24 year-old is a student from Carhaix in Brittany, twinned with Carrickmacross. She came to Ireland at Easter and the twinning committee along with the Chamber of Commerce found her temporary employment and accommodation.

She is a second year engineering student at Nancy University in France and will begin her final year in September. She is interested in sustainable development and the environment and worked with other engineers on a project called “the garage of the future”.

During her short stay in County Monaghan, Sandrine worked with Emma Gollogly at Golo.ie and in Jim Hand’s shoe shop. She also gained some work experience in the office of an architect and at O’Gorman’s SuperValu supermarket, where she will finish tomorrow. She also helped the French teacher at Inver College on a number of occasions as students prepared for their oral examination. As we prepared to do this interview, one of the students came up to her and thanked her for her assistance.

Sandrine became friendly with Alicia Ehrecke, a German exchange student at Inver College. She accompanied Alicia to Dublin when she received a Hot Press award for a short story she had written. Both were given accommodation by Carmel Watts in Church Grove.

During her time in Carrickmacross, her boyfriend came over from France and they went on a tour to the North, staying in Belfast near Queen’s University, a building she admired. They visited the Titanic Centre and also made a trip to the Giant’s Causeway. They were impressed with the beautiful surroundings on the North Antrim coastline. Sandrine told me she had really enjoyed her time here and would recommend such a stay to others. The next phase of her trip to Ireland will be spent in Abbeyleix, County Laois, where she will work in a coffee shop until the end of July, in exchange for board and lodgings. She found the position through a free volunteer work exchange website, helpx.net.

Sandrine is the second member of her family to come to Carrickmacross with the help of the twinning committee led by Sean Egan. Her younger sister Céline who plays the harp visited with a group from Carhaix school of music last year. She stayed for four days with the Farrelly family in Magheracloone at the time of the Féile Patrick Byrne. So both are helping to strengthen the common Celtic bonds between South Monaghan and Brittany.

TIME OF OUR LIVES

17/05/2015 by borderroamer

Colm Arbuckle Photo: BBC Radio Ulster

A new programme on BBC Radio Ulster at 2pm ‘Time of our Lives’ is presented by Colm Arbuckle and produced by Owen McFadden. Tune in to hear the over 60s reclaim the airwaves! My contribution can be heard halfway in, around 30:30 on playback. If you think my voice sounds strange, it seems to have been slowed down to suit the potential mature audience! I think when they were doing a digital cut, the speed was altered and not restored to ‘normal’ setting! I hope they will invite me back so you can hear what my voice really sounds like! Apologies if you thought something strange had happened in the years since I left RTÉ News…

WPFG Volunteer Michael Fisher with Kim Harper, Las Vegas Guns & Hoses at the Odyssey Arena July 2013 Picture: © Kelvin Boyes, Press Eye

IN RETIREMENT

Well, how are you? What’s the weather going to be like today? It’s a question I continue to get asked, nearly five years after my retirement. Or, more correctly, since I gave up a staff job as a television news reporter and took a voluntary retirement package.

So where, you might ask, does the weather come in? My job was always about news. Since 1984 here in Northern Ireland, that inevitably meant covering sometimes daily killings, and several major incidents. Before that two of my biggest stories were in County Kildare: a train crash and also the disappearance of the racehorse Shergar.

It’s true that my first story on my first day as an RTE News reporter in January 1979 was weather-related, when the temperature dropped to a record low of -18C. The story concerned the transport disruption caused by the snow and ice.

Back then it took me a while to work out why people from the farming community I was introduced to by my then fiancée would usually start a conversation by asking me about the weather. 35 years on and now in semi-retirement, that same question was posed to me as I looked out over the stony grey soil of Monaghan.

NOW I realise that the sunshine or rain enquiry was not because my interlocutor had heard or seen my reports on radio or on the box; it was because he or she thought the famous BBC weatherman Michael Fish had landed in their midst! So if that is my solitary claim to fame when I finally retire, I will be happy in the knowledge that I did have some impact as a television celebrity!

What also pleases me at this stage of my life is to know that manners and respect for older generations can still be found amongst 21^st Century youth. When you reach your sixties, and become eligible for the brown travel card, you are glad of the courtesy shown when someone stands up on a bus or train to give you a seat. Or when a stranger unexpectedly offers to carry something for you. I’m already looking forward to the next stage: the blue pass, which entitles the holder to cross-border free travel, as well as within Northern Ireland.

Retirement has given me more opportunity to travel. Two years ago I persuaded my other half to go on a cruise departing conveniently from Belfast to Norway. We already knew a few of those on the trip. By the end of it we had made a number of new friends. Many couples on board were retired. Some, like us, were taking their first cruise. But the vast majority who came from different parts of Ireland had experienced cruises before and were enjoying a new stage of their lives.

If my plans work out, I will do some travelling while my health is reasonable. I do not need to look far for inspiration. My neighbour, who turned 70 recently, loves climbing mountains. He was in Australia before Christmas and travelled to Thailand in February. In October he will be heading to central Nepal and is currently raising funds for the area affected by the earthquake.

I have found that fundraising for charity has been a very productive way of spending some of my retirement. Today I will be helping out at a 10k run that will raise funds for the Special Olympics Ireland team. Previous volunteering shifts included the World Police and Fire Games, which led in turn to the Giro d’Italia cycle race.

All this unpaid voluntary work is my way of putting something back into the community and enjoying a role as an ambassador for Belfast and Northern Ireland. Next week you might come across me in Newcastle, helping to look after the many visitors to the Irish Open Golf. But if they ask me about the weather, I reckon I will just have to check my mobile phone.

SPAGHETTI JUNCTION

28/04/2015 by borderroamer

‘Spaghetti Junction’ on M6, Birmingham Photo: Heritage Explorer

‘Spaghetti Junction’ or to give it the proper title, the Gravelly Hill Interchange (Junction 6) on the M6 was still quite new when I arrived in Birmingham in 1975. I could not drive a car at that stage so the only time I came near it was when I travelled by train in the direction of Wolverhampton, as it is close to the railway and the canals.

Later, when I passed my driving test, I was able to access the interchange via the Aston Expressway from Birmingham city centre. From the Expressway you always got a good view of Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa F.C.

The term ‘Spaghetti Junction’ is believed to have been first used by a journalist at the Birmingham Evening Mail in the 1970s. It is the junction where the M6, A38 and A5127 meet. It was opened on May 24th 1972 by the then UK Environment Secretary, Peter Walker. It cost £10m to build and is held up by nearly 600 concrete columns. It was the last piece of this part of the 1960s motorway network to be completed.

The junction and the section of the M6 through Birmingham is carried on a three and a half mile long viaduct. It also carries the motorway over a number of canals and railway lines. The coming of the motorway transformed the local area.

What made me reflect on it was a BBC4 documentary, the second part of which is being shown tonight. It’s called ‘The Secret Life of the Motorway‘. It showed the growth of the motorways in Britain and featured the role played by Irish navvies in their construction. The M62 route across the Pennines was particularly difficult, according to the first programme in the three-part series.

INNISKEEN PARADE

15/03/2015 by borderroamer

1946 Ford Anglia: part of the Vintage Display in the Inniskeen Parade Photo: © Michael Fisher

The highlight of the St Patrick’s weekend celebrations in Inniskeen near Carrickmacross in County Monaghan was the annual parade this afternoon. Participants and floats gathered at the chapel and made their way into the village, passing the reviewing stand set up near the community centre.

Corduff Pipe Band at the Inniskeen St Patrick’s Parade Photo: © Michael Fisher

All-Ireland pipe band champions Corduff Pipe Band were among three bands in the parade, along with Aughnamullen Pipe Band and the Stedfast Brass Band, which will be in Carrickmacross on Tuesday morning.

Plenty of vintage displays at Inniskeen St Patrick’s Parade Photo: © Michael Fisher

The organising committee encouraged all small firms and businesses in the area to participate with a float depicting their crafty ideas and efforts (advertisements etc). There is a prize on the day for the best float.

Monaghan SF Cllr Noel Keelan flying the national flag on his vintage tractor in Inniskeen Photo: © Michael Fisher

In conjunction with the weekend celebrations, the committee organised an art competition for the children of Blackstaff National School and Inniskeen National School with prizes for the best three entrants. Any children who took part in the St Patrick’s parade were being encouraged to wear home-made or fancy dress costumes to illustrate the theme of leprechauns and fairies. There is a prize for the best costume.

Sean Conlan T.D. at the Inniskeen Parade Photo: © Michael Fisher

A Leprechauns Hunt was held on Sat 14th and there was an Art competition run through the local schools, St.Daigh’s National School and Scoil Cholmcille National School, Blackstaff, Inniskeen. In the Art Competition there were three categories – Jnr/Snr – 1st/2nd/3rd – 4th/5th/6th. There was a winner and runners up from each category. There were a great many entries for the Art competition, and Sarah Leddy (who herself, won the Overall Credit Union Art Competition) had a difficult task of choosing from all the entries. All winners from the Art competition, the Leprechaun hunt (Saturday) and winners of the fancy dress theme “Leprechauns and Faeries” who we hope will take part in the parade also will be announced on Sunday.

Slurry Spreader: part of Inniskeen’s St Patrick’s Parade Photo: © Michael Fisher

LÁ FHÉILE PÁDRAIG

14/03/2015 by borderroamer

HAPPY-~1Happy Ugadi Images on www.visiblecommunities.org

HAPPY-~1Happy Ugadi Images on http://www.visiblecommunities.org

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona dár gcairde agus teaghlach! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to friends and family! I will be in Birmingham on the feastday, Tuesday, which has now become a national festival in Ireland. The parade in Birmingham takes place tomorrow, Sunday, having survived a funding crisis this year following council spending cuts. Meanwhile in County Monaghan and neighbouring areas, various towns and villages will be celebrating over the next few days. Here is a list of some of them:

BALLYBAY: The parade organised by the local Chamber of Commerce sets off from Gerry Traynor’s shop at 5pm. There will be live music and dancing from 3pm. A prize of €500 is offered for best float, with the runner-up receiving €300 and third place a prize of €200.

CARRICKMACROSS: Parade at 3pm. See my report last Sunday.

HAPPY-~1Happy Ugadi Images on http://www.visiblecommunities.org

CLONES: A parade with a difference takes place in the town on Monday 16th March. Participants are being asked to come along at 6:30pm to Páirc Naomh Tiarnach with glow-sticks and lights, to light up the route. The parade will begin at 7:00pm along Church Hill and Fermanagh Street to The Diamond, where a fireworks display will be held at 8:30pm.

INNISKEEN: The celebrations in Patrick Kavanagh country will be tomorrow, Sunday 15th March. The parade in the village will be at 1:00pm. Today they were hunting leprechauns in the area!

MONAGHAN: The parade in the town will be the biggest in the county. The parade starts at 3:00pm and the route begins at the Lower Courthouse car park. It then goes along Broad Road, Park Street, Heaton’s Corner, left along North Road, Glaslough Street and then proceeds past the reviewing stand in The Diamond, continuing on to Dublin Street. British rally champion Daniel McKenna from County Monaghan is this year’s Grand Marshall. Participants have been asked to incorporate the theme ‘There’s no place like home’ into their parade contributions.

Following the parade the ‘Gig Rig’ will host peformances from several local acts from 4:00pm until 10:00pm.

HAPPY-~1Happy Ugadi Images on http://www.visiblecommunities.org

NEWBLISS: The parade in the village is at 2:00pm tomorrow, Sunday 15th March, led by Daniel McKenna, the British rally champion, who comes from the area. There will also be a car boot sale on the day from 12:30pm.

ORAM: Near Castleblayney and home of country music legend Big Tom has built up a reputation for the smallest parade in Ireland. There will be live country and Irish music outside Rooney’s with Paddy King on the stand at 11:30am and the parade on Tuesday will start at 12:30pm from the Oram Centre. There will be a vintage display and a number of floats. Lady Mayor Margaret Ward will deliver a welcome address along with Big Tom McBride at 1:00pm. There will be jigs and reels from All-Ireland and world champion dancers from the Karen McMahon School. The celebrations will continue late into the evening.

COOTEHILL in County Cavan has a parade at 3pm. There are also annual parades in Kingscourt and Shercock.

DUNDALK and Ardee in County Louth will also be celebrating. Have a good day, wherever you are around the world! You are welcome to post greetings below in the comments section, especially if you have a Monaghan connection.

St Patrick's Day greeting card from USA Photo: www.smithtowntodaynews.com

St Patrick’s Day greeting card from USA Photo: http://www.smithtowntodaynews.com

CARRICKMACROSS ST PATRICK’S DAY

08/03/2015 by borderroamer

Main Street Carrickmaross Painting Photo: © Kate Beagan

The annual St Patrick’s Day parade will be held through the town on Tuesday 17th March beginning on the Dundalk Road at 3pm, and passing along Farney Street to Main Street, where there will be a reviewing stand. Comhaltas members will be playing traditional music on the bandstand at 2.30pm in advance of the parade.

There will be a prize of €100 for the best dressed shop window in the town.

If you require more information or wish to take part, you should contact Carrickmacross civic offices, telephone (042) 9661236 or email: carrickmacross@monaghancoco.ie.

Courthouse, Carrickmacross Photo: © Michael Fisher

Earlier in the day, the tricolour will be raised outside the Courthouse at 11.15am, with music by the Stedfast Shoes Brass Band.

Looking for something to do afterwards?

Hudson’s funfair will be in operation in the car park at Drummond Etra from Sunday 15th March.

On St Patrick’s Day, Carrickmacross Baptist Church will be providing live traditional music, a professional artist and hot drinks, all free of charge.

Music starts at 4pm in the marque outside the SoSaD offices at Bridewell Lane. International artist Ross Wilson will give a contemporary presentation on St Patrick at 5:30pm. All funds raised will go to Save our Sons and Daughters.

St Finbarr’s Church, Carrickmacross Photo: © Michael Fisher

ON YER BIKE WITH CARRICK LIONS

07/03/2015 by borderroamer

Gerry Murphy

RTE weather presenter Gerry Murphy has been invited by Carrickmacross Lions Club to launch their 4th annual Charity Cycle.  He will be at The Shirley Arms Hotel, Carrickmacross, today Saturday 7th March at 1pm, along with representatives from all the local cycling clubs in the North-East region. This will be Gerry’s second year associated with The Lions Club Cycle. Last year he launched the event and then cycled the 90km Drumlin Route. The proceeds from this year’s cycle will go to the Monaghan Branch of Down Syndrome Ireland.

Carrickmacross Lions Club Cycle for Charity 2015

The Carrickmacross Lions Club Cycle on Sunday 3rd May will appeal to cyclists of all abilities. Lions Club President Claire Cunningham appealed to anybody with a bike to “get back on the saddle and help support the Lions Club and those in our communities with Down Syndrome”. The 30km Oriel Route for beginner and leisure cyclists will be on a flat route to the picturesque village of Tallanstown in County Louth, where the local Tidy Towns Committee will provide refreshments for the cyclists. The 90km Drumlin Route will provide a challenge for the more experienced cyclists and will take advantage of the rolling terrain of counties Monaghan and Cavan.

Carrickmacross Lions Club Cycle 2014

Everybody is welcome to attend the event launch. The Lions Club are especially interested in hearing from people who would like to help them in the running the event which has become one of the highlights in the cycling calendar. The Carrickmacross Lions Club Cycle is supported by Monaghan Sports Partnership and further information is available on www.carrickmacrosslionsclub.com or on http://www.facebook.com/lionsclubcycle.

Carrickmacross Lions Club Cycle 2014

ROAD REPAIRS

27/02/2015 by borderroamer

COUNCILLOR SAYS ROADS BUDGET IS AN ABSOLUTE SCANDAL

Councillors in South Monaghan are arranging an urgent meeting with the Chief Executive of Monaghan County Council to discuss what one of them said was the “absolute scandal” of the roads budget for the coming year. Municipal District members from Carrickmacross-Castleblayney expect to meet Eugene Cummins at their Roads Area Meeting in Monaghan on Monday afternoon, following a meeting of the County Council.

Cllr PJ O'Hanlon Photo: © Michael Fisher

Councillor PJ O’Hanlon said they seemed to be going back to a budget that was as bad as fifteen years ago. It was one of the most important issues that had arisen since the new Council was introduced last year. The Councillors called for a meeting next week with the five Dáil deputies in the constituency, including the Arts Minister, and for a follow-up meeting to be arranged with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe. Councillor Colm Carthy proposed and his party colleague Councillor Noel Keelan seconded a motion that the Municipal District should write to the Taoiseach and to the Transport Minister to request extra funding for roads in the constituency, in order to upgrade roads that are in serious disrepair. In addition the members called on local Oireachtas members to push this issue with the Departments involved. The motion was agreed.

Cllr Colm Carthy Photo: © Michael Fisher

Councillor Colm Carthy referred to what he said was the ridiculous situation whereby Bus Eireann was refusing to allow a school bus service to drive along certain local roads because of their bad condition. He said the state of the roads was the top issue being referred to him regularly by members of the public.

Councillor O’Hanlon also referred to the withdrawal by Bus Eireann of a school bus service because of the bad state of repair of a local road. He proposed and Cllr Padraig McNally seconded a call for the Council to write to Bus Eireann and the Transport Minister to say that under no circumstances should a school bus and service bus be taken off the road due to the bad condition of the road without first notifying the relevant authority, i.e. County Council, and that a period of four weeks be given for the works to be done. This was passed unanimously.

Fianna Fáil Councillor PJ O’Hanlon claimed the Fine Gael-led government seemed to have no interest in the maintenance of roads in the county. They needed to sit down with the Transport Minister and ask him how they were expected to promote tourism on the one hand and on the other improve the roads in their area with the budget that had been allocated.

TITANIC RESTORATION

17/02/2015 by borderroamer

Harland & Wolff Drawing Offices Photo: HLF website

Good to see some progress regarding the plans to restore the currently derelict Drawing Offices at the former Harland and Wolff headquarters, where the Titanic was designed. A £4.9 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will enable The Titanic Foundation Ltd. to restore the building, unlocking plans to transform the site into a luxury Four Star hotel.

The Harland and Wolff Headquarters Building and Drawing Offices on Queen’s Island in Belfast were the control centre for the largest shipyard in the world. It was here that Belfast workers created and designed over 1,000 ships including the White Star Olympic Class Liners – Olympic, Titanic and Britannic and naval warships such as HMS Belfast. The Harland and Wolff building has been vacant since 1989 and has been considered ‘at risk’ for almost a decade.

The restoration of the B+ listed building into an 84-bedroom boutique hotel has the potential to create over 100 local jobs. The Lottery grant will specifically focus on developing the two historical drawing offices as spaces for public use. The boutique hotel will also tell the story of Belfast’s industrial heritage, focusing on the authentic spaces – Board Room, Telephony Room and Entrance Lobby – as well as the fixtures and fittings that relate to the local shipbuilding industry.

The grant has been awarded through HLF’s Heritage Enterprise programme. It is designed to help when the cost of repairing an historic building is so high that restoration simply is not commercially viable.

Kerrie Sweeney, Chief Executive of Titanic Foundation, was delighted with the announcement: “Titanic Foundation in partnership with Titanic Quarter Ltd has been working on this project over the last two years. It has been a long process but worth it. With HLF’s support we will safeguard the drawing offices for future generations and unlock the commercial potential of the entire building as a boutique hotel with heritage at its core. This is a truly unique and authentic project for Belfast that could not have happened without the support from Heritage Enterprise Scheme.”

Head of HLF NI, Paul Mullan Photo: HLF

Head of the Heritage Lottery Fun in Northern Ireland, Paul Mullan, looks at the history of the building where the Titanic was designed:

By the first half of the 20th century, Belfast was one of the world’s most dynamic industrial centres. It was within the walls of Harland and Wolff’s HQ where the leading minds in ship design and engineering broke new ground to produce ships that were the envy of the world.

Sadly, the decline of city’s shipbuilding industry was mirrored in the steady decline of Harland and Wolff’s HQ. Once a symbol of Belfast’s international importance, just over a decade ago it was placed onto Northern Ireland’s buildings at risk register.

But that memory of a dynamic shipyard has awoken in recent years. Today, Titanic Belfast is an incredibly successful tourist attraction. The SS Nomadic, which was built to ferry passengers to and from the Titanic, has been brought back to its former glory and is the highest rated tourism attraction in Belfast. Close by, HMS Caroline is undergoing a transformation from being a forgotten piece of naval heritage into a museum which will tell a story of sea battles from both the First and Second World Wars.

The result is more than one million visitors to the Titanic Quarter each year. With this success comes a return to fortune for the derelict Harland and Wolff HQ. £4.9m from our Heritage Enterprise programme will convert the building into an 83 bedroom hotel, with the potential to create over 100 jobs.

The £27m development will bring much wider economic benefits by bringing more visitors and investment to Belfast. This unique hotel will gives new purpose to an important part of Northern Ireland’s built heritage, building on the Titanic theme of the Quarter whilst providing a stunning setting for visitors.

It also shows how we can use historic buildings creatively, in a way that helps people fully appreciate its past whilst enjoying its present uses and harnessing the collective resolve of both the private and public sector for the benefit of everyone.

We now need to bring this sense of purpose to our many other buildings at risk by challenging not-for-profit groups to partner with commercial operators to bring back into use those buildings which provide us with a direct link to our past.

This isn’t a nice to do but something that has a strong economic and revitalising value. Over two years ago a report on the economic value of Northern Ireland’s historic environment marked out this opportunity, making a strong case for this type of investment. Today, in the Titanic Quarter and across the UK, Lottery money is helping people to realise the untapped potential of our vacant and underused historic buildings.

CORONATION STREET SET

15/02/2015 by borderroamer

Rovers Return, Coronation Street Tour

If you follow the best-known TV soap in these islands, Coronation Street, then you might like to visit the set if you are ever in Manchester. The old Granada studios was opened up for tours last year, after filming of the thrice-weekly series was transferred to the new Media City at Salford. Visit the Rovers Return and see The Kabin and many more familiar locations. It’s not yet clear how long these tours will be available so take the chance now while you can. Get a first hand insight into how the show is made. An adult ticket costs £16.50 and the tour lasts around one hour.

Michael Fisher's News

Category Archives: TRAVEL

CARHAIX STUDENT SAYS ‘ADIEU’

TIME OF OUR LIVES

SPAGHETTI JUNCTION

INNISKEEN PARADE

LÁ FHÉILE PÁDRAIG

CARRICKMACROSS ST PATRICK’S DAY

ON YER BIKE WITH CARRICK LIONS

ROAD REPAIRS

TITANIC RESTORATION

CORONATION STREET SET

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