COMBILIFT MONAGHAN EXPANSION

03/06/2015 by borderroamer

COMBILIFT SEEKS PLANNING PERMISSION FOR NEW FACTORY

Michael Fisher Northern Standard Thursday 4th June p.2

The forklift company Comiblift which is one of County Monaghan’s most successful businesses has applied for planning permission to build a new premises on a 100-acre site on the outskirts of Monaghan town. It’s part of a €40 million expansion announced by the company in February. The firm has promised to create 200 jobs over the next five years.

The proposed development which is close to Monaghan fire station on the by-pass at Tullyhirm and Annahagh mainly consists of a 41 thousand square metre industrial unit and production facility, and a three-storey office block with a car park. There would also be a pedestrian footbridge, access and steps from the site leading onto the N2 roadway, adjacent to the Coolshannagh roundabout.

A decision on the proposed development is due to be made by the planning department of Monaghan County Council by July 12th. Any observations on the plans must be submitted by June 21st.

The majority of the 200 new jobs to be created will be for skilled technicians and design engineers and a further 200 jobs will also be created during the two-year construction period of the new facility. The new complex will include a dedicated Research and Development building, adjoining the administration offices and will be more than double the size of the company’s present manufacturing facilities.

Combilift is best known for its wide range of multi-directional forklifts, Aisle-Master articulated forklifts and other innovative material handling solutions such as the Combilift Straddle Carrier designed to handle large containers and over-sized loads. The company was set up by CEO Martin McVicar and Technical Director Robert Moffett in 1998 and has produced more than 24,500 units since then. It currently employs over 300 people at its two facilities and products are exported to over 75 countries.

When the expansion was announced, Martin McVicar said that with this greenfield investment and sufficient land available on the new site for future expansion, Combilift was committed to continuing its organic growth in Monaghan for many years to come. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: “It is growing and dynamic Irish companies like Combilift which are driving a recovery across Ireland’s regions. Combilift’s new €40 million facility in Monaghan will make a profound difference to the local economy and the national export economy.”

PRESBYTERIANS ON MARRIAGE

01/06/2015 by borderroamer

Reverend Ian McNie is installed as Presbyterian Moderator Photo: © Michael Fisher

The incoming Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Reverend Ian McNie has reaffirmed his church’s support for the traditional view of marriage. He spoke at a service tonight at Assembly Buildings in Belfast to mark the start of the church’s General Assembly.

Dr McNie, 64, of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Ballymoney, took over as Moderator from Reverend Michael Barry. He was nominated by 12 out of the 19 presbyteries who met across Ireland in February. Dr McNie was formally elected and installed at the service. His son, Reverend Stephen McNie from Ballyalbany church in Monaghan, said one of the prayers during the service.

Dr McNie spoke of an increasing intolerance to the church’s world view on a range of issues from the beginning and ending of life, the family dynamic, freedom of conscience and the sanctity of marriage. In reaffirming the church’s commitment to “the biblical and historical position of marriage,” he also recognised society’s right to express its opinion. At the same time he said the church had “the right to expect the same level and proportion of tolerance afforded to us that other groups expect afforded to them. Tolerance is a two-way street”, he told the congregation.

Presbyterian Moderator Reverend Ian McNie Photo: © Michael Fisher

Earlier the outgoing Moderator Reverend Michael Barry also spoke in defence of the traditional view of marriage. He said:

“We are clear on what we believe about biblical marriage – that it is between one man and one woman. And there is much more. But our (Presbyterian) beliefs are grounded on Scripture as the Word of God, which is as relevant today as it was when it was written. Not everyone likes what we believe. But we do not conform to the world’s opinions. We do not change our beliefs to fit in with the ways of the world. There will be times we are out of step.”

Reverend McNie’s remarks can be accessed here and those of the Reverend Barry here.

Unlike some previous years, there was no official representative of the Roman Catholic church at the opening service. Tomorrow guests will be formally welcomed from the following churches:

Church of Scotland
 United Reformed Church
 Presbyterian Church of Wales
Church of Ireland (represented at the service by the Bishop of Clogher, Right Reverend John McDowell)
The Methodist Church in Ireland
Irish Council of Churches
 Religious Society of Friends
 Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian
Scripture Union Malawi
Presbyterian Church of East Africa
Presbyterian Church of Pakistan
The Christian Presbyterian Church of Portugal

MONAGHAN ACTRESS AT IFTA AWARDS

31/05/2015 by borderroamer

Caitriona Balfe: official photo from www.OutlanderTVNews.com

Caitriona Balfe: official photo from http://www.OutlanderTVNews.com

CAITRIONA BALFE AT IFTA AWARDS IN DUBLIN

Michael Fisher Northern Standard Thursday 28th May p.1 and p.2

Caitriona Balfe who is currently filming a second television series of ‘Outlander’ in Scotland was in Dublin last weekend for the Irish Film and Television Academy film and drama awards. The Monaghan actress, who is from Tydavnet, began a very successful career in modelling at the age of 19. She featured in advertising campaigns for many top fashion brands and graced the covers of magazines such as Vogue and Elle. In 2009 Caitriona returned to her initial career choice in drama. She moved from New York to Los Angeles. spending her first year in the city taking acting classes. She appeared in the films Super 8, as the protagonist’s mother, Now You See Me, as Michael Caine’s character’s wife, and Escape Plan as the CIA lawyer that hires Sylvester Stallone’s character. In 2012 she portrayed Alex #34 in The Beauty Inside, a social film divided into six episodes which narrates the story of a man named Alex (Topher Grace) who wakes up in a different body every day. The following year she starred in the music videos for First Fires by British musician Bonobo, and for Chloroform by French band Phoenix. The actress was part of the main cast of the Warner Brothers web series H+: The Digital Series, in which she played Breanna Sheehan, one of the executives of a biotechnology company that develops an implanted computer which allows people to be connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.

In September 2013 Caitriona was cast as the lead character, Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser, on the Starz television series Outlander, based on the novels written by Diana Gabaldon. The series which was filmed in Scotland premiered in August 2014. She plays a mid-20th-century nurse who is transported back in time to the war-torn mid-18th-century Scottish Highlands. Both the series and her performance have received critical acclaim.

In December 2014 Entertainment Weekly named Caitriona Balfe as one of its twelve Breakout Stars of 2014.

In January it was announced that she had been added to the cast of the film Money Monster, directed by Jodie Foster and starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts. She will play the director of Public Relations of a company whose stock bottoms out, causing a man to lose all of his savings and subsequently take hostages on a live TV show.

In March 2015 she received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress on Television for her work in Outlander, the second series of which is currently being filmed. The following month she was named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World”.

Caitriona was one of four to be nominated for Best Actress in a Lead Role Drama in the Irish Film and Television Academy Awards. The award went to Charlie Murphy for her performance in the RTÉ television drama Love/Hate. The Academy also announced that Caitriona would be among four talented new actors and actresses nominated for the Rising Star Award, sponsored by the Irish Film Board. The judges decided that the award should go to actress Sarah Greene for her performance in the film Noble. Last year’s winner was Jamie Dornan and Michael Fassbender won in 2009.

Caitriona was also invited to be a guest presenter at the IFTA awards ceremony last Sunday at the Mansion House in Dublin. Veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne complimented her on her appearance and her voice. The event was broadcast by TV3 and was hosted by Caroline Morahan.

Her parents, former Garda Sergeant Jim Balfe and his wife Anne, told the Northern Standard they were both delighted at the progress Caitriona had made in the world of film and television, and she had worked hard to achieve her objectives. At their home in Mullantimore they showed me a painting by Caitriona. She was then a 16 year-old student at secondary school in Monaghan, and her artwork won first prize in a Garda credit union competition in 1995, an early sign of her tremendous talent.

BOSE FACTORY CLOSURE

29/05/2015 by borderroamer

Six of the redundant workers at the Bose factory Carrickmacross Photo: © Michael Fisher

LAST DAY AT BOSE FACTORY

140 Jobs Go as Production Ends after 37 Years

Michael Fisher Northern Standard Thursday 28th May p.7

It’s the end of the line for production at the Bose factory. It brought great expectations to Carrickmacross when it opened in 1978. The plant provided final assembly for select home theatre systems and radios for the European market, as well as some remanufacturing for the region. It was chosen by the US company because of the local expertise in furniture making. Bose developed wooden cabinets for their high-fidelity speakers and these were sourced in County Monaghan.

Today at 4.30pm the machines will be silent and 140 workers will clock off for the last time. People like Pat McNally, who was there on Day 1 and spent his working life there.

THE WORKERS

Pat McNally

They were good employers to work for, Pat McNally told me. You worked hard and you certainly earned your money. The US-based company and helped local people and they would miss Bose. The closure decision was announced without warning in January and was originally to take effect at the beginning of April. But following intervention by union representatives along with government Ministers, the closure was postponed for several weeks to allow time for talks on redundancy terms. Pat McNally said it would take a few weeks for the effects to hit home. It meant that 140 wages were no longer going into the local economy. It would also have a knock-on effect on suppliers and the likes of couriers who had benefited from contracts with Bose.

Five of his six family worked here: four daughters and one son, and his wife spent fifteen years in a job there. He felt there was a great family atmosphere in the factory, where he worked in the receiving goods section. As it was a ‘closed shop’ in those days, he joined the union just before he started (then the ITGWU, now SIPTU) and has been a member ever since. He says it has been a pleasure working in the place, with everyone looking after everyone else. Pat has been one of the main fundraisers for charity helping to raise IR£75,000 for the Childrens Hospital in Crumlin and then taking part in activities to help the Friends of Carrick Cancer. The Bose factory with the help of very supportive management raised over €1.2 million so far for this charity, a great achievement.

Aidan McMahon from Inniskeen was among nine married couples working for Bose. His wife Sandra who is in quality control was there for 25 years and he was there for 16 years. The couple are in their 40s and have three children to support, two young boys aged three and five, and a fourteen year-old daughter.

Aidan told me Sandra had been successful in obtaining alternative employment in Dundalk, one of only 20 former Bose employees to have found a new job. He also told me that any hope of obtaining assistance for retraining from the EU globalisation fund, as had been suggested by at least one MEP, had now faded as it applied only to companied with over 500 workers. The SIPTU representative Jim McVeigh visited the plant on Monday to reveal the bad news. There was further disappointment for workers when they discovered that if they were successful in obtaining places on higher education courses, their social welfare stamps would be used up, although they had originally been informed that this would not be the case. This arose from a measure in the last budget.

Aidan McGarrell from Magheracloone is 31 and was a Bose employee for eleven years. A married man, he has four children between the ages of three and ten. A very young family to provide for and a mortgage to pay. He was a lead machinist at the plant and joined the US-based company after spending some time working on cars. He described Bose as very good employers and said everyone enjoyed working for them. He thought he had a job almost for life when he started work at the plant.

Jennifer Cassidy from Corcuillog in Carrickmacross joined the factory after leaving the St Louis Convent in the town. She was with Bose for 27 years, working initially on the factory floor and then in the training department. She has three children, a 14 year-old boy who attends a local school, a daughter aged 22 and another son aged 25. Over the years Bose has provided employment for her brothers and sisters, cousins and other relatives. She was annoyed at the way the announcement was handled in January and since then there had been a lot of broken promises about a possible replacement industry.

Mai McCarthy from Carrickmacross was a line operator at Bose for over 12 years. Previously she had worked at Lissadell towels outside the town (now Wrights). She finds it hard to believe that this is her last day. She always felt Bose was a great company to work for and she had enjoyed going in to her daily work. She has three children, a daughter and two sons, all in their 20s and living in Australia because there were no jobs for them in Ireland. She might have to consider emigration herself, if things do not work out.

Fánchea Keenan comes from Lisdoonan. She started on the production line in Bose 25 years ago in October 1989 and was a cell leader. She is married with two grown-up children. A daughter Emma who had cystic fibrosis died in 2011. She says there was always a massive pride in working for Bose. When her daughter was ill she says the company had been very accommodating and the workers had helped to raise money for a CF charity. Fánchea said the founder of the company Dr Amar Bose had been very loyal to the workers in Carrick and had great respect for them. The team had produced very high quality goods. When they signed on for the firm they never envisaged they would have to look for work elsewhere.

Fánchea told me the Irish plant was being closed even though it was always a profitable operation. The very committed workforce had reached all their targets and even to the end had carried out everything asked of them, she said. But greed had got the better of the US-based management as the company wanted to make more profits. She said the Carrickmacross team had pulled out all the stops whether working overtime when asked to do so or during holiday times. Their orders were always delivered on time. But the management had not taken into account the loyalty of the workforce when it decided to shift production to the Far East.

All the workers expressed their annoyance that although they had been promised several things by politicians from various parties after the closure announcement, including the Arts Minister Heather Humphreys T.D. But they said they had not heard anything since the meeting with public representatives in the Nuremore Hotel in January. At the time Minister Humphreys said she had immediately contacted the office of her Cabinet colleague Richard Bruton and the IDA. But she warned it would be wrong to raise any false hopes for the workers in halting the closure, as the company seemed to have embarked on a cost-saving exercise.

Tomorrow (Friday 29th May), one by one, the workers will enter the premises for the last time to receive their redundancy payments. The plant and machinery inside the factory will be sold off by McKay Auctioneers in a fortnight’s time, leaving the building an empty shell.

Six of the redundant workers at the Bose factory Carrickmacross Photo: © Michael Fisher

CHRISTINA RELAXES AT HOME

14/05/2015 by borderroamer

Michael Fisher interviewing Christina McMahon at her home in Carrickmacross Photo: Pat Byrne

CHAMPION CHRISTINA RELAXES AT HOME

Michael Fisher Northern Standard Thursday 14th May: with photos by Pat Byrne

“You are absolutely inspirational”, the Saturday Night Show host Brendan O’Connor told Christina McMahon from Carrickmacross as she finished her live interview on RTE1 in front of a studio audience at Donnybrook that included her coach and husband Frick and her parents. Christina is now resting after her tough ten rounds fight in Zambia to win the interim WBC bantamweight world title. The belt, the only one of its kind in Ireland at the moment, was with her as she explained to her interviewer how she had taken up boxing on a professional basis when she turned 35, having won a world title for kick-boxing. Now aged 40, she had been up against a much younger opponent in Lusaka, 22 year-old Catherine Phiri, who was strongly fancied to win by the home crowd.

Even before the fight, however, Christina and had come successfully through the psychological battle that saw the promoter favour Phiri and try to make things awkward for the Irish boxer. Christina spent an hour being interviewed on local radio and by the time she had finished, she had won the hearts and minds of many of the locals. It was yet another sign of her great determination. “I never gave up on my dream”, she told Brendan O’Connor and now, after a good rest, she will be prepared to go after the full title. The current WBC bantamweight title holder is Yazmin Rivas from Mexico, who won it last June.

Taking part in the RTE Saturday Night Show made her feel like a celebrity, she said. She had to get her hair done and also required special attention from make-up to ensure that the black eye she received in the fight did not show.

Now relaxing at home in Magheross, Christina says she does not need a national media focus after being under the radar for so long. She was delighted to receive a civic reception on her return to Carrickmacross last week. It was a lovely surprise, she told me. She also thanked the organisers, the Carrickmacross Festival Committee, for ensuring it went so smoothly. She expressed her thanks for the three gifts that were presented to her on the night.

Monaghan County Council. Cathaoirleach Padraig McNally gave Christina a gift of an Irish Crystal bowl. The Cathaoirleach of Carrickmacross-Castlebleyney Municipal District Cllr Jackie Crowe presented her with a framed gift of Carrickmacross lace. The Festival Committee presented the boxer with a clock to mark the occasion.

Christina is a former pupil at St Louis Secondary School, where a welcome home banner had been displayed. She studied sport and leisure management at Inchicore College of Further Education in Dublin. She told me she was delighted that after her victory, some of her former college friends were able to renew contact with her. She also received a message from a family for whom she used to babysit.

On Sunday evening a crowd gathered at the Shirley Arms Hotel to watch a replay of the fight and to celebrate with Christina and her husband. Hopefully there will be one more big celebration still to come in the next twelve months or so.

CHRISTINA MCMAHON HOMECOMING

09/05/2015 by borderroamer

Big Crowd in Carrickmacross welcomes home Christina McMahon Photo: © Michael Fisher

GREAT WELCOME IN CARRICKMACROSS FOR CHRISTINA MCMAHON

Northern Standard p.1 and p.2

Michael Fisher

Carrick: this one’s for you! Boxer Christina McMahon proudly displayed her WBC title belt to the crowd of several hundred who welcomed her home to the Main Street in Carrickmacross on Tuesday evening. It might be only the interim female world bantamweight title, but to everyone in Monaghan, she is the county’s new international boxing champion, rivalling the achievements of the Clones Cyclone. The full title remains one fight away, but that could be some time down the road. “I have to be world champion before I turn fifty”, Christina joked as she was interviewed live on stage by Sean McCaffrey of Northern Sound. She hopes her success against Catherine Phiri in faraway Zambia on Saturday night will help to inspire other women to achieve their goals. Young or old, go out and do what you can, was her message. “I’m just a boxer, but I want to inspire people never to give up. I didn’t, and I want to thank the Phoenix Centre (in Carrickmacross, where she used to be manager) for living the story with me”.

Christina told the gathering she had moved on from the Phoenix Centre to set up her own sports venture with her husband Frick because she wanted to work for herself. Now with the two centres in operation, there was every opportunity there for others to make it to the top.

The lack of interest from the national media including RTE in covering her return to Dublin airport on Monday did not worry her. “One of the most important things is the friends I have. All my friends including some from national school days were there (in the arrivals area), along with members of Carrickmacross Boxing Club, so I didn’t need any television cameras to be there”, she said. In a comment that shows her personality, Christina told the interviewer on stage: “No-one likes a cockish champion”.

The civic reception was organised by Carrickmacross-Castleblayney Municipal District Council and the Carrickmacross Festival Committee. Christina was joined on stage by her husband and coach, Frick (Martin), and later on, by her parents, a brother and sister.

Her win over ten rounds at the International Conference Centre in Lusaka took the home crowd by surprise. Christina is 40 and her opponent 22. Christina told Michael O’Neill of WBAN: ” I am delighted with the win. It was a very tough fight which we all thought she (Phiri) was ahead (in) going into the last two rounds. In fact it was only after the bout that we discovered that she was one round down with two judges and two rounds down with the third. I had to dig deep, very deep, in the 9th and 10th to secure the victory. The referee had stopped the fight to adjust Catherine’s glove tape which gave her a chance to recover. Having gone through weeks and weeks of tough training at home and in Zambia, I was determined not to let the people down. I felt I had done more than enough to win but you can never be sure until your hand is raised”.

A delighted Frick paid special tribute to his team both at home and in Lusaka especially Sean & Paul McCullagh and another former Irish boxer, Anthony Doran whose knowledge of official procedures and his extensive contacts in Zambia opened many doors that might otherwise have taken much longer to open. Irish Ambassador Fintan O’Brien was another person whose help was invaluable.

Frick told the crowd in Carrickmacross he was confident about Christina before the fight. But when the bout was away from home, then you were going in four rounds down from the start, he reckoned. It was a while before they were able to establish from the scorers how Christina was doing. It was still very close after the 8th round. Then before the 9th, Frick said he put his hand in his pocket to get some Vaseline to attend to Christina’s face. He reached in and found a memorial card for his wife’s grandfather, Patrick Cunningham, who had been a big boxing fan. He showed it to his wife, telling her that “Packie is here as well” and that had given her a boost as she won the 9th round well. In the end, a majority decision by the judges gave victory to Christina, but Frick said it did not matter what way they had achieved that outcome.

The home crowd thought it was going to be easy for their own ‘Katie Taylor’, but we knew differently, he said.

Although the fight was not shown live in Ireland, some 10 million viewers watched it in Zambia and around 30 million in the whole of Africa. He hoped they had done a great job in winning the hearts of the people of Zambia both before and after the fight.

Asked about the next challenge, Frick said Christina would keep training but reminded people that she had waited some thirteen or fourteen months before this contest happened.

A series of presentations took place, the first on behalf of Monaghan County Council. Cathaoirleach Padraig McNally gave Christina a gift of an Irish Crystal bowl. He said he had known her since she was a baby. He praised her enthusiasm for sport and her fierceness in achieving what she wanted to. It was a great day for her family, for Carrickmacross and for the whole of Ireland, he said. Cllr McNally said he had spent Saturday night with Christina’s father, Jim Marks, who had been very nervous and very anxious as he was unable to watch the very tough fight live. He noticed that Christina’s title belt was green in colour, so the outcome must have been written in the stars! She was definitely determined and he hoped this was the start of even greater things for her. He passed on apologies from his colleague Cllr PJ O’Hanlon for being unable to attend the homecoming.

The other four members of the Municipal District Council were present, including the Cathaoirleach, Cllr Jackie Crowe. He gave Christina a gift of Carrickmacross lace.

Her success, he said, was absolutely unbelievable and it was a privilege to welcome her home. It was not that often they got world champions in the area. He quoted from the late Muhammad Ali: “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” Well done Christina!

Carrickmacross Festival Committee presented the boxer with a clock to mark the occasion.

After the speeches and presentations, Christina’s parents Jim and Madge Marks were introduced to the crowd along with her brother Gerard and sister Caroline. Jim Marks explained how Christina had taken up kick-boxing when she was only eight years old. She went on to become world champion in 2007, before becoming a professional boxer three years later.

Madge said she had kept herself busy on Saturday by visiting her own mother. Gerard said his sister’s success had come as no surprise. He was very proud of her. Caroline Marks said she knew the dedication that had gone into Christina’s training and she was also immensely proud. It was later revealed that Christina would be a guest this weekend on the RTE1 television programme, The Saturday Night Show, presented by Brendan O’Connor.

*******

Tonight (Saturday) Christina appeared on the Saturday Night Show. “You’re absolutely inspirational”, Brendan O’Connor told her, after chatting to her for about five minutes about the fight and her career as a professional boxer.

BIG FIGHT FOR CHRISTINA MCMAHON

30/04/2015 by borderroamer

Christina McMahon in training at the Declan Brennan Centre of Excellence Photo: © Michael Fisher

BOXER CHRISTINA FACES HER BIGGEST CHALLENGE

Michael Fisher Northern Standard Sports p.40

It’s the biggest challenge so far in her professional career for Christina Marks McMahon from Carrickmacross. Ireland’s only female professional boxer will be in the ring in Lusaka on Saturday against the Zambian WBC silver champion Catherine Phiri. At stake is the WBC interim world female bantamweight title. She left Dublin last Saturday with her husband and coach Frick to give her some time to adjust to the local conditions. But she has already done some important preparations locally.

When I met Christina in training last week she was wearing what looked like a thin space suit, and was attached to a mask giving her an air supply. She was sparring with Frick, whilst she received air that simulated an environment of 13,000 feet above sea level, similar to what she would find in Lusaka. The humidity there will be around 65% and temperatures can reach up to 27C. So the body of the boxer has to work harder in such an environment, as there is less oxygen. The machine being used was called an Everest series hypoxic generator, of the type that could also be used by mountain climbers.

This simulated high altitude training is one of the facilities offered at the Declan Byrne Centre of Excellence in Castleshane. By undergoing this exercise, it showed her professional and dedicated approach to boxing. Christina was delighted to discover only recently that there was such a facility almost on her doorstep in County Monaghan. It came just at the right time, she said.

As she finished her training session with a series of squats and shoulder presses, Christina told me she hoped she could help women to believe that it was never too late to go out and achieve their goals in sport or whatever field. Along with Frick she helps to run Carrickmacross Boxing Club at a new centre near the running track where they also have martial arts and fitness classes. She is coached by Sean and Paul McCullough in Belfast.

Christina who is now 40, started as a kickboxer when she was 20. In 2007 she won the world kickboxing title and three years later on reaching 35, decided to turn professional. This is her seventh fight and she has an unbeaten record in her six previous bouts (three of them by knock-outs). Her opponent also has a strong record of ten wins. Christina’s last fight was in September 2013 when she defeated Lana Cooper. She was due to fight again in Berlin in March, but her opponent withdrew at the last moment.

“Catherine Phiri is what matters now; all the hard work has come to this and I know I have put in the effort to come away with a win”, she said.

Fight Poster

Christina and Frick are hoping that Ireland’s Ambassador, Finbar O’Brien and his deputy will be present at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre to support their efforts not to mention members of the thriving Irish community “The Wild Geese”. A sell-out crowd is guaranteed  in a country where only soccer attracts greater attendances.

Declan Brennan who was a mentor to the late Olympian Darren Sutherland said his sports centre had something for everyone, to enable sportsmen and women to maximize their goals both on and off the field. It can also be used for rehabilitation of sports injuries. It has some equipment that cannot be found elsewhere in Ireland. As well as the anti-gravity machine, he can also offer the services of a sports psychologist, a nutritionist, a podiatrist and a physiotherapist. It’s a facility that has been used from time to time by local athletes and members of the GAA county football team.

For eight years Declan was Director of Sport at DCU. Now the success of Christina has given him a fresh interest in boxing, which has had an important place in the county since the days of Barry McGuigan and before. He is keen to promote the sport. He said the training Christina did at his centre would be very beneficial for her and he would be following her progress closely. Declan hope everyone in County Monaghan would be getting behind her and supporting her on Saturday.

Northern Standard Thursday 30th April p.40

SHORT STORY SUCCESS

29/04/2015 by borderroamer

Alicia Ehrecke, Inver College, Carrickmacross Photo: HotPress

A 17 year-old secondary school student from Inver College in Carrickmacross Alicia Ehrecke has been shortlisted for the Hot Press ‘Write Here, Write Now’ short story award. The top prize is an internship with the Dublin-based magazine later this year. The overall winners will also receive a €250 cash prize, a Certificate of Achievement from WRITE HERE, WRITE NOW and a Toshiba Click Mini and Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse. They’ll also have their winning entry published in a special issue of Hot Press, a significant achievement that will greatly enhance the CV of any young writer.

Each of the 22 winners will receive a one-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365, an invaluable tool for students and creative types. The overall winner will be announced tomorrow. Alicia comes from Cottbus, a university city in Brandenburg, near Berlin in Germany. Until 1990 and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the area was part of the GDR (East Germany).

Alicia is among forty students who have made the final list from thousands of entries. She has been studying at Inver College since the end of August last year. She says she is looking forward to returning home on Friday after her eight months stay, hosted by a local family. During her time in County Monaghan, her parents came over to Ireland on holiday with her older brother and two younger sisters and they went on tour for a week, taking in Dublin, Galway, Donegal and the Giant’s Causeway.

Roddy Doyle heads the panel of judges who will decide the winners. The public can also have their say by looking at the shortlisted entries including Alicia’s and voting online at hotpress.com/writeherewritenow for the ‘Write Here Write Now’ Readers Award.

Over the years, Hot Press has nurtured some of Ireland’s finest creative talent in music, literature, writing and journalism. Now, as part of a celebration of one of the great modern Irish sagas – The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle – Hot Press, in association with the One City, One Book Festival, has uncovered the very best new, student writing talent in the country. The competition is supported by the Dublin City Libraries, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Eason and Microsoft Office 365.

The judging panel consists of Man Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle, IMPAC Award winner Kevin Barry, Rooney Prize winner Claire Kilroy, Hot Press editor Niall Stokes and composer / songwriter Julie Feeney.

“There was a huge level of interest in the competition, with thousands of entries pouring in,” Hot Press editor and chairman of the judging panel, Niall Stokes said. “It was really tough narrowing this tsunami down to a shortlist, but that’s what you have to do. In the final analysis, all of the judges were in agreement that the quality of the shortlisted entries was extraordinarily high, and that we have uncovered some remarkable young Irish writing talent. Everyone who is on the shortlist has good reason to feel very proud, as indeed do the schools and colleges in County Monaghan. In that sense, they are all winners”.

Roddy Doyle himself has commented that some of those shortlisted are “frighteningly good – surprising, sharp, sometimes chilling, confident.” On the evidence of the shortlisted entries, Ireland is teeming with young people with real writing talent.

For his three novels, Roddy Doyle invented a suburb on the north side of Dublin and called it Barrytown. The challenge for students, in this unique writing competition, was to create, in a similar way, an imaginary new place, as the location for a piece of creative writing; to set the scene; describe the surroundings; create a sense of the environment and its people; to capture the language they use; to tell enough of a story to draw readers in and to evoke the special qualities, or atmosphere, of the students’ imaginatively constructed local area. They did just that – and with aplomb!

PUBLIC MEETING: MONAGHAN ROADS

27/04/2015 by borderroamer

Cllr PJ O'Hanlon Photo: © Michael Fisher

PUBLIC MEETING TO BE HELD ON STATE OF LOCAL ROADS

Road Funding for local and regional Roads in Monaghan for the year 2015 is €7.1 million, a reduction of over €4 million in four years. The issue has been discussed at recent meetings of Carrickmacross-Castleblayney Municipal District by the six Councillors, including PJ O’Hanlon. Councillor O’Hanlon told the Northern Standard he had been raising this issue continuously, but nobody in power seemed to be listening or did not want to listen. He said he had Parliamentary Questions asked in the Dáil by Brendan Smith T.D. and the response was that ‘this is your allocation for the year’. Councillor O’Hanlon said this was not acceptable and he believed public representatives had to fight to get further funding.

“Our roads are in a deplorable state and if we are going to create local, indigenous jobs we need a proper road infrastructure. A survey is being carried out by the National Roads Authority in relation to the condition of the roads and this will be a waste of time unless we receive further funding”, he said.

Timmy Dooley T.D.

“People cannot understand why they are paying road tax and property tax, and then the road funding has been reduced. As a result of this I have arranged a public meeting for Thursday 30th April in the Glencarn Hotel Castleblayney at 8pm.The guest speaker will be Timmy Dooley T.D., spokesman for transport, tourism and sport for Fianna Fáil. However this is not a Fianna Fáil party meeting, it is a public meeting and is open to everyone in the county. It is important that politicians from all sides stand up and say enough is enough. We want a proper road network as we are paying road tax and property tax and the funding has been reduced, so please come to this meeting and help us in our cause to get additional funding for our local road network”, Councillor O’Hanlon concluded.

STING VISITS WORKHOUSE

26/04/2015 by borderroamer

ROCK STAR STING VISITS WORKHOUSE AND MEETS RELATIVES OF INNISKEEN ANCESTOR

MICHAEL FISHER Northern Standard Carrickmacross News Thursday April 16th

In a private journey to Carrickmacross recently, the rock star Sting made an emotional visit to the 19th Century Workhouse, where he was shown the mass grave in which one of his relatives is believed to have been buried. The visit on Thursday was kept low-key at the musician’s request.

63 year-old Sting (real name Gordon Sumner) was born in Wallsend, near Newcastle-on-Tyne in North-East England. He discovered his Irish connections when researchers for an American television programme, ‘Finding Your Roots’, discovered that the singer’s origins could partly be traced back to Inniskeen in County Monaghan. The programme broadcast last November also revealed that his great-great-great grandmother Mary Murphy (née Goodman), who was recorded as “a widow and pauper”, had died in a workhouse from illness aged 68 in 1881. All her children either emigrated or died.

After his Dublin gig at the 3Arena with Paul Simon, and as he headed to Belfast for another concert at the Odyssey, Sting visited Carrickmacross Workhouse and spent time in quiet reflection at the site of one of three mass graves associated with the workhouse.

Tour of Workhouse

Workhouse manager Yvonne Marron said The Workhouse staff took him on a tour of the front Workhouse building, which was restored in 2004 and now houses a community training, resource and heritage centre. It is one of only a handful of restored workhouses in Ireland. The building contains a fully restored famine-era children’s dormitory, as well as historical and famine- related exhibits.

Yvonne described how the singer was “quite overwhelmed by it all. He was due to stay for half an hour but spent nearly an hour here”, she said. The staff explained to him that, while the Workhouses were originally built in the 1840s to house the poor, by the time his great-great-great grandmother, Mary Murphy, was admitted in the 1880s, mass death, famine and emigration had reduced the ‘inmates’ primarily to the sick, elderly and orphaned children.

Sting was also shown the derelict back Workhouse building, which originally contained the ‘Wards for Old Women’, where his relative would have lived and died. The building was designed for 500 tenants but by the 1850s had 2,000 destitute men, women and children living in it. The musician then spent some time viewing the four white crosses at the back of the Workhouse six-acre site, where Mary Murphy is believed to have been buried in an unmarked mass grave.

It was explained to him that, in February 1847, the British government passed the ‘Temporary Relief of Destitute Persons in Ireland Act’, which empowered the Board of Guardians of Irish Workhouses to use land adjacent to the workhouses for burial grounds, since ordinary graveyards were unable to cope with the vast number of deaths.

The Workhouse staff clarified that there are few surviving records for Carrickmacross Workhouse; therefore, Mary Murphy represents the hundreds of nameless South Monaghan men, women and children that are buried in unmarked mass graves onsite.

The musician queried whether there were plans to erect a memorial at the graves and was informed that, in 2007, the then owners of the Workhouse, Lakeland Dairies Cooperative Society, sold the site and buildings to Heron Property Ltd.

The Workhouse Committee are currently fundraising to purchase the mass graves and heritage site to return it to community ownership. They wish to protect and restore the back derelict building, and to create a Memorial Garden to all those who died in the Workhouse during the Great Hunger and its aftermath.

Long Lost Relatives

Sting was then accompanied back into the restored front building to meet some long-lost relatives from Inniskeen. He was delighted to meet Joe Fee from Tattyboy, Blackstaff, who is a direct descendant of Sting’s Mary Murphy, whose maiden name was Goodman.

He also met Thomas and Mary McHugh from Carricklane, along with their children, Gerard, Paul and Annmarie, and grandson. The McHugh’s are descendants of Sting’s great-great-great grandfather, Michael Murphy, who married Mary in the 1830s.

Workhouse Genealogy Researchers then presented Sting with a printed Genealogy Report, which was complied with great assistance from his relatives, in particular, Thomas McHugh, aged 89. Sting learned that his great-great-great grandparents, Michael and Mary Murphy, who lived in Carricklane, had five children born between 1837 and 1850. Unfortunately, it appears that their four eldest children did not survive the Great Hunger, as only their youngest child, John, born in 1850, is mentioned in later records.

John was Sting’s great-great grandfather, who emigrated to Durham, England, where he married Elizabeth Cody, who gave birth to Sting’s great grandmother, Agnes, in 1879. Agnes subsequently married Robert Wright and gave birth to Sting’s grandmother, Agnes Wright, in 1906. In the ‘Finding Your Roots’ programme, Sting mentions that his grandmother always told him that if he had any talent, it was because of her! Sting’s grandmother subsequently married Thomas Sumner and gave birth to Sting’s father, Ernest Sumner, in 1926.

Local artist Orlagh Meegan Gallagher shows Sting her work ‘The Last Resort’ on permanent display at Carrickmacross Workhouse, before presenting him with a smaller work, ‘Mary Murphy’, based on the original. Photo © Steve O’Donoghue/Carrickmacross Workhouse 2015

Art Work by Orlagh Meegan Gallagher

Before Sting departed after his almost hour-long visit, the Workhouse presented him with an art work by their artist-in-residence, Orlagh Meegan Gallagher. Simply entitled ‘Mary Murphy’, the piece depicts the moment before she entered the Workhouse, and is based upon Orlagh’s much larger artwork entitled ‘The Last Resort’, which is on permanent display in the Workhouse.

A moment was taken during the presentation to note that Mary’s death certificate describes her as a ‘widow’ and ‘pauper’. Aged 68, with her husband dead, and her only surviving child emigrated to England, it is probable that Mary was unable to pay her rent and was therefore evicted. Her only recourse was to seek admission to the Workhouse/Poorhouse; knowing that she would end her days there, which she did on Thursday, 12th May 1881 after a month-long illness.

After saying farewell, Sting departed for Belfast with his head full of historical and genealogical information.

Thank You

The Committee of Carrickmacross Workhouse would like to thank everyone who contributed to Sting’s visit; in particular, all his Inniskeen relatives for generously giving their time and knowledge; Orlagh Meegan Gallagher for her art work; Liebe Kelly for her flower arrangements; and our friends at home and abroad for notifying us about the ‘Finding Your Roots’ programme.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys T.D., who worked behind the scenes to arrange the visit, said: “It was a great privilege for me to be able to organise the visit by Sting to Carrickmacross Workhouse. Our Irish heritage consistently manages to uncover some of the most amazing stories. It is incredible to think that one of the biggest rock stars in the world can trace his family tree back to a workhouse in South Monaghan. I am delighted I was able to help bring this story to Sting, and I have no doubt that he was given a fascinating insight into his ancestry”.

As a solo musician and a member of The Police, Sting received 16 Grammy awards, three Brit awards, a Golden Globe award, an Emmy award, and three Academy award nominations for Best Original Song. He was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Police in 2003. In 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording. He was awarded a CBE from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth for services to music, and was made a Kennedy Centre Honoree at the White House in 2014.

Michael Fisher's News

Tag Archives: Monaghan