1. family and parenting
2. children

Issue 104 - December 2014 | www.edamedia.co.uk | Tel: 028 9751 1002
Light At The End
Of The Tunnel
For North
Down Windows
North Down DUP MLA Gordon Dunne
has asked the DSD Minister to provide
some light for those still awaiting new
double glazed windows for their Homes.
Pictured with the Social Development Minister, Mervyn Storey MLA is deputy Mayor of North Down Borough
Council, Alderman Anne Wilson, Chief Executive of North Down Borough Council, Trevor Polley and James
Hennessey, the Paul Hogwarth Company.
Storey Launches Completed
Masterplan For Holywood
Social Development Minister, Mervyn Storey MLA, has launched a Masterplan for
Holywood town centre.
The Masterplan sets out
a new vision for Holywood
town centre, focusing on a
number of core regeneration objectives including:
• Improving physical
linkages.
• Creating shared space.
• Working together.
• Reconnecting with
history.
•
Enhancing
first
impressions.
• Connecting land and
sea.
Minister Storey said:
“The Holywood Masterplan
is an important milestone
in planning the strategic
development of Holywood.
It is the culmination of a
lot of hard work which will
guide and assist developers
from the public and private sectors to ensure that
Holywood meets its full
potential as a vibrant town
centre.”
The Masterplan provides
a road map for how a prosperous and vibrant town
can be achieved through
coordinated implementation of regeneration activity
designed to address current
social, economic and environmental challenges.
Minister continued: “The
goal was to produce a Masterplan which is distinctive, inspirational, realistic
and deliverable and this
has been achieved. This
investment by the Department will help to deliver
economic regeneration in
partnership with communities and demonstrates a
continued commitment of
the Northern Ireland Executive in the regeneration
of our towns and cities.”
The Masterplan proposals
are based on an extensive
process of research, consultation and engagement
with local people and
organisations. It will be
used by central and local
government, community organisations and the private
sector to plan investment in
Holywood over the next 20
years.
Continued on
Page. 2
The MLA added: ‘I am
pleased that properties
within the North Down
area are all set to be included in Double Glazing
Schemes and are set to get
underway. I took the opportunity to ask the DSD
Minister for an update on
how many properties have
still to benefit from this
programme. Measures like
this are very important in
making a practical difference to the lives of local
people and I would like to
commend the Minister for
Social Development, for
making this issue a key
priority for his Department and for progressing
schemes to meet the PFG
target of having all Housing Executive properties
double glazed by 2015.
I believe this will be
of great benefit for all
involved and will help
insulate properties, reduce
noise pollution and kerb
heating fuel consumption
for residents which is a
good news story. I know
that many within the North
Down area have benefited
from new windows in their
homes particularly those
most in need and I look forward to seeing every home
within North Down under
NIHE ownership benefiting
from new double glazed
windows. I will be continuing to lobby DSD and the
Housing Executive to ensure there is light at the end
of the tunnel on this issue.’
Page 2
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Unwrap your
Health Minister Praises
Christmas
with
The
Community Pharmacists
Health Minister, Jim Wells, has visited
local pharmacies, where he praised the
work of pharmacists and their role in the
transformation of the Health Service.
The Minister visited
Sweeney’s Pharmacy
in
Holywood
and
Maguire’s Pharmacy
in Bangor, where he
met with staff and was
given an overview of
the range of services
provided to the local
community.
The Minister said:
“Under Transforming
Your Care (TYC) and
at the core of my vision for our health and
social care system, is
the need to raise the
quality of care provided to patients, to
improve outcomes for
patients and to enhance
the patient experience.
“The provision of
safe,
high
quality
pharmacy services that
meet the needs of the
community has a key
role to play in delivering this vision.”
An updated strategy
for the provision of
pharmaceutical services in the community
was launched earlier
this year. ‘Making it
Better through Community
Pharmacy’
aims to integrate pharmacy services across
the HSC, allowing
pharmacy professionals in both primary and
community care settings to help improve
the health and wellbe-
ing of people throughout Northern Ireland.
The key themes are
pharmacy helping people to:
• Gain better outcomes from medicines;
• Live longer, healthier lives;
• Safely avail of care
closer to home;
• Benefit from advances in treatment
and technology.
The
Minister
continued:
“The Strategy provides a clear direction
for the delivery of
pharmacy services in
the community over
the next five years.
As well as dispensing
prescriptions,
community
pharmacists
can provide a range of
services, including minor ailments scheme,
health promotion advice such as a smoking
cessation services and
targeted medicines use
reviews.
“I am keen to see
an increased use of
pharmacists’ clinical
skills in the delivery of
services in the community, and greater collaboration with other
health and social care
professionals, to help
improve the health and
wellbeing of everyone
in Northern Ireland.”
Ulster Orchestra at
The Aurora!
Join the Ulster Orchestra for Christmas Unwrapped
supported by JTI - an evening of Christmas magic at a very
special concert in Bangor’s Aurora Aquatic Leisure Centre on
Thursday December 4 at 7pm.
This very special performance will feature
enchanting carols and
festive music all to your
favourite orchestral music. This hugely popular
and lively sing-a-long
Christmas show will include all of your festive
classics and promises to
be fun for all the family.
This year’s concert will
be conducted by Christopher Bell and feature soprano Catriona
Hewitson.
Speaking about the
show; Christine Mahon, Director of Development Services at
North Down Borough
Council said: “ We are
delighted to welcome
The Ulster Orchestra
back again this year for
the Unwrapped concert
at Aurora. This show is
always hugely popular
and we would urge everyone to get their tickets
early to avoid disappointment and bring
along all of their family and friends for an
evening of festive fun.”
Veronica Morris, Head
of External Relations
at the Ulster Orchestra
said, “Thanks to the
support of JTI we are
Former Miss Northern Ireland Meagan Green
getting into the Christmas spirit outside Bangor
Aurora ahead of the Ulster Orchestra’s Christmas
Unwrapped Concert which will be taking place
at The Aurora on Thursday, 4 December at 7pm.
Tickets are on sale now and cost £10.
able to bring our hugely
popular sing along
Christmas shows to
towns and cities across
Northern Ireland. It is a
great chance to get up
close to the orchestra
and the perfect way to
celebrate the festive
season!”
Tickets are on sale
now from www.northdown.gov.uk/bookings,
North Down Museum
and Bangor Visitor
Centre and cost only
£10, concessions £8 and
children £5.
So have your tinsel,
bobbles and sleigh bells
at the ready for a Christmas cracker of a show!
Continued from
Page. 1
wood town centre.
“An extensive and innovative
consultation
process has enabled the
Masterplan to develop
a vision for Holywood
town
centre,
which
will build on existing
strengths and contribute
to its long term viability.
It provides a framework
for the future; a framework to attract new businesses, new homes, new
leisure, cultural and recreational provision.”
The Masterplan is
available to view on the
DSD website at http://
w w w. d s d n i . g o v. u k /
rdo-holywood
Deputy Mayor of North
Down, Alderman Anne
Wilson said: “North
Down Borough Council
is pleased to announce
the new Holywood Town
Centre
Masterplan.
Commissioned by The
Department for Social
Development in partnership with North Down
Borough Council and
developed by The Paul
Hogarth Company, the
Masterplan identifies 23
potential projects for the
future growth of Holy-
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Children’s Commissioner
Visits Children & Young
People In Bangor
Commissioner for Children and Young People, Patricia Lewsley-Mooney, visited
Bangor recently as part of a series of visits she is making as she comes to the end of
her eight year term in office.
She visited Kilcooley
Community Action Group
and Lakewood Centre for
Young People recently as
well as Kilcooley Women’s
Centre and Primary School
recently, to hear from
young people about what
has changed for them over
the past few years, and to
hear any concerns they
have now.
The feedback will help
the Commissioner develop
the final messages she
wants to leave for government, and all those who
can influence change for
children and young people.
Mrs Lewsley Mooney
said: “Listening to and acting upon what children in
Northern Ireland told me
has been central to my role
as Commissioner for Children and Young people.
“My staff and I have met
with over 40,000 children
and young people.
“The issues they raised
guided the projects we
undertook. They informed
our research, our advice,
and our challenge to government on areas such as
health, education, justice
and participation.
“My team supported over
3,000 children and young
people through my casework service. This not only
Patricia
Lewsley-Mooney,
Commissioner
for Children and
Young People
influenced positive change
for them but for thousands
of other children and young
people.
Mrs Lewsley – Mooney
continued: “A society that
prioritises children’s rights
is one that wants to protect,
support, respect and value
them. It’s a society where
all children and young people are allowed to flourish
and are supported to reach
their full potential.
“I continue to be concerned that too many children are living in poverty
and are being negatively
stereotyped, too many are
being exploited and too
many are being denied the
rights that they are entitled
to.
On her hopes for the
future, the Children’s Commissioner said, “Much has
been achieved, much is
being carried forward as
I speak, but much more
needs to be done in the
future to make children’s
and young people’s rights
a reality.
“My hope is that the
Northern Ireland Executive, Ministers, MLAs and
Councilors can build on
what has been achieved and
work towards implementing the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child into
Northern Ireland law.
“Most importantly, I hope
they will listen to and act
on what local children and
young people in the Bangor
area say.”
Page 3
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Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Gordon Dunne MLA Pledges Support For The Introduction
Of Standardised Packaging
In Northern Ireland
North Down DUP MLA Gordon Dunne is standing up for standardised packaging.
Pictured is Gordon Dunne MLA with Prof John Britton, chair of the RCP
Tobacco Advisory Group
The Assembly voted for
the Legislative Consent
Motion (LCM) earlier this
year and we expect the
Northern Ireland Executive
to fully support the LCM
when it is finally approved
by the Secretary of State
for Health in London in
2015.
This follows an extraordinary meeting where two
All Party Groups - Heart
Disease and Stroke, and
Cancer came together for
the first time ever to highlight the growing concern
around the impact of tobacco packaging and marketing on younger members
of society as well as the
importance of smoking
prevention. Both All Party
Groups have the support of
five major charities– Stroke
Association, British Heart
Foundation, NI Chest Heart
& Stroke, Cancer Focus NI
and Cancer Research UK.
Renowned expert, Professor John Britton, from
the Royal College of Physicians, Tobacco Advisory
Group also provided strong
evidence on the merits of
introducing standardised
packaging for cigarettes.
Mr Dunne who is also
a member of the Health
Committee added: ‘There
is no doubt that smoking
can seriously increase the
risk of health problems and
can have a major impact
upon life expectancy. We
need to continue to clamp
down on smoking within
society. Standardised packaging can help save lives
and hopefully reduce the
The North Down Advertiser is published by EDA Media, Unit 2 Windmill Business Park, Saintfield. BT24 7DX - This Paper and its contents are copyright and no part maybe reproduced without the prior permission of the
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numbers of smokers. We
need to also protect the
many children who are still
exposed to second hand
smoke in many places. It is
estimated that 4 in 10 children in the UK will grow
up in smoking homes, and
many others are still being
exposed to second hand
smoke whilst in their cars.
Smoking is the single
greatest cause of preventable illness and premature
death in Northern Ireland,
killing around 2,300 people
every year. All five charities highlighted research
findings which show two
thirds of smokers started
before they were 18 years
old and marks the beginning of an addiction that
kills half of all long-term
smokers.’
©
Issue 104 - December 2014
Farry Holds Skills Meeting
With Denroy Group
Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry recently visited the Denroy Group in Bangor.
right skills to compete
in a competitive global
economy.”
Denroy Group Chairman, John Rainey MBE,
said: “Denroy management and staff were
delighted to welcome
the Employment and
Learning Minister Dr
Stephen Farry to our
factory and to hear how
committed he is on the
issue of providing the
local workforce with the
Pictured left to right are: Denroy Group Chairman, John Rainey MBE, Minister
Farry and Tom Marley, Denroy Group employee.
The visit follows the
announcement at the
Farnborough
Airshow
that the Bangor-based
plastics moulding manufacturer has secured a
multi-million
pound
five-year contract with
Texas based Triumph
Aerostructures-Vought
Aircraft Division for
use on the Bombardier
Global 7000 and Global
8000 business jets.
The Minister said: “The
global aerospace industry
as a whole is continuing
to experience significant
growth and as a supplier to many of the most
important aircraft programmes, the Northern
Ireland aerospace sector
is contributing to this.
“Denroy Plastics has
established itself as an
enterprising and progressive company that is regarded as a world leader
in its field. Over its 40
year history, the company has built up extensive knowledge in plastic
moulding and has demonstrated its commitment
to market-led innova-
tion. This contract gives
Denroy a platform in the
world market and will
position the company to
benefit from future supply chain opportunities.
“I welcome the opportunity to discuss with
John Rainey MBE the
specific skills needs of
his company, Denroy,
and the wider skills
needs of the aerospace
and manufacturing sectors. It is important that
Government and employers work together
to ensure that NI has the
skills and drive needed to
help support companies
like ours. With the world
economy slowly beginning to emerge from the
tough years since 2008,
it’s essential that we are
able to access skilled and
committed staff, and we
were impressed with the
Minister’s grasp of the
issues and his willingness to listen to our experiences. All in all, a very
useful visit.”
North Down Advertiser
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Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Bangor Line
Passenger Satisfaction
Reaches 90%
Translink enjoys highest EVER customer satisfaction ratings
as latest Monitoring results released
Translink
welcomed
independent research findings recently which shows
the highest ever passenger
satisfaction for NI Railways
and Ulsterbus, while Metro
received its second highest
ever satisfaction score.
There has been overall
passenger growth of 8.1%
year to date on NI Railways
services, while on the Bangor line, one of our busiest,
passenger numbers have
increased by almost 6%.
This increase in passenger
numbers is coupled with
overall Bangor passenger
satisfaction levels of 90%,
which is the highest in the
entire network.
The research also showed
that all of the companies
beat their reliability targets,
while Metro and NI Railways respectively beat their
on-time targets; Ulsterbus
just narrowly missed its
punctuality target.
David Graham, Route
Manager for NI Railways
said, “We are delighted with
these results. Our customers
are telling us we are getting
things right - they are very
pleased with the service
they are getting, our buses
and trains are clean, running on time and we offer
great value for money. In
particular it is great to know
customers think our staff are
really helpful – credit is due
to all my colleagues who
work hard to provide such a
great service.”
“More detailed results
show NI Railways continues
to excel - punctuality, value
for money and train cleanliness ratings are all very
high. This is why so many
more people are choosing
to use the train year on year.
Notably, NI Railways again
performed extremely well
when compared with GB
‘regional’ rail companies;
Merseyrail, First Scotrail,
Arriva Trains and Northern
Rail. NI Railways had the
highest ratings in categories
such as train staff helpfulness and value for money.
In fact, the only exception
where another company
came ahead was MerseyRail
which just pipped us for
‘punctuality’.”
“Ulsterbus
passengers
also like our fares frozen
message – the value for
money rating has soared.
This is one reason why
numbers on Goldline services continue to grow; along
with new modern coaches,
increased numbers of departures and free wifi. In
particular numbers on the
212 Derry~L’Derry route
have been boosted by more
non-stop services.”
“Lastly, Metro passengers
tell us they like our better
on-time performance and the
value for money. Bus lanes
in the city are now working
well, the number of cars
in Belfast city centre has
reduced by around 11,000
and we are seeing the benefit
and we have increased the
frequency of some services
earlier this year. Park & ride
facilities are also very popular so we look forward to the
new opening in Dundonald
before Christmas.”
“Overall – these are great
results – many thanks to
our customers and to all my
colleagues for a real story of
success.”
ARDMORE WINS
ACROSS THE BOARD
Ardmore Advertising Celebrate Success in Every PANI Category
One of Ireland’s most
successful and established
creative, integrated marketing communications agencies, Ardmore Advertising,
picked up seven awards
across all five categories at
the annual Publicity Association of Northern Ireland
awards recently at Belfast
City Hall.
The Holywood, County
Down-based agency, which
employs more than 40 staff
and was recently selected
by Worldwide Partners, Inc.
(WPI) “for its progressive
and innovative approach”,
scooped awards in Press,
Digital and Social Media,
TV, Outdoor and Radio,
picking up seven trophies in
total, including two golds.
The industry honours
were awarded for Ardmore’s work with Visit
Belfast, Translink, Charles
Hurst Nissan and Titanic
Belfast.
Ardmore
Advertising
Chief Executive, John
Keane, said:
“We’re delighted to have
been recognised right across
the board, marking another
successful year for Ardmore
Advertising. These industry
awards are recognition for
the consistently great work
delivered by our team at
Ardmore.
“As one of the leading
agencies we’re constantly
evolving and building the
team to ensure our clients
receive the very best service. In the past 6 months
Pictured (L to R) are Paul Bowen, Mark Irwin, Larry McGarry, Richard Finlay and Miriam Pearce.
we’ve grown our dedicated
digital media team which
allows us to offer a fully
integrated approach to our
client’s campaigns.”
Established in 1988,
Ardmore Advertising has
grown to become one of
Ireland’s leading integrated
communications and brandbuilding agencies with a
highly-experienced, specialist team.
Providing award-winning
strategic advertising, marketing, media, digital and
design services to big name
UK and Irish brands including Charles Hurst Group,
Lomond Audi
Group,
Taggarts, Stena Line, Visit
Belfast and Subway, the
company also includes
Rushmere Shopping Centre,
Maxi Zoo and Translink on
its client roster.
Established in 1958,
PANI (Publicity Associa-
tion of Northern Ireland) is
one of the longest running
marketing and communications associations in the
UK. The PANI Awards are
a cornerstone of the PANI
association which offer industry members, suppliers
and colleagues, the opportunity to celebrate the best
creativity across Northern
Ireland and to showcase
outstanding achievement on
a national stage.
Ardmore
Advertising,
joined Worldwide Partners,
Inc. (WPI), one of top 10
largest marketing communications networks in
the world, in January this
year. Based in the US city
of Denver, Colorado, WPI
has more than 80 member
agencies employing 4,200
people in over 50 countries
across Asia, Africa, Europe,
Latin America, the Middle
East and North America.
Valerie 2nd Lady At
”Decathlon” Half
Marathon
The ‘’Decathlon’’ 10K and Half Marathon took place on Sunday 2 November,
starting and finishing at the Decathlon store, in blustery conditions.
Valerie McDonough had
an excellent run in the
Half Marathon and was
2nd lady in 97:50 min.
She established herself in
2nd in the 1st of the 2 laps
and held it from then on.
In the 10K, Ben Caughers
also had a good race, running 36:58 min for 7th.
Springwell
Cross
Country
Well done to all who
went to Coleraine on
Saturday 1 November for
the Springwell XC which
was Round 3 of the ANI
XC League. Jessica Craig
and Rachel Gibson kept
up their current blistering
fom and were 2nd and
4th respectively over the
3 mile University course.
Too bad no other girls
went and the league score
was zero. Nine men ran in
the Open 5 miler and they
were 4th team, narrowly
edged out in a strong team
field but scoring 7 useful league points. James
Budde, Dennis Scott,
Francis Marsh and Jordan
Stokes were the scoring
quartette with good travelling support. Jessica Scott
and Anna Scott were 2nd
and 4th in the 2 mile U15
girls race and Craig McMeechan and Reece Simpson were 2nd and 4th in
the 3 mile U17 boys race.
Bobby Rae XC Races
The Bobby Rae Senior
Cross Country races for
ladies and men took place
on Saturday 25 October
2014 following the Even
Age Championships and
despite the preceding 10
Junior Races, all with big
fields, the course was still
in prime condition. The
fixture comprised Round
2 of the ANI League and
the main contenders were
there. The ladies ran over
5000m and in the opening lap, North Down duo
Rachel Gibson and Jessica
Craig were prominent as
well as several other eminent athletes. As the race
progressed City of Derry’s
professional
triathlete
Aileen Reid and Scottish
Universities Joanne Mills
moved into 1st and 2nd,
holding off Jessica and
Rachel in 3rd and 4th.
With Kerry Speers 10th
and Valerie McDonough
24th, North Down were
easy enough winners of
the team race and with 10
finishers in total scored
well in the league for the
2nd time in 2 races.
The mens’ race was
to have been 8000m but
was brought down to
7500m to suit the course
layout. In another strong
entry, the race was won
by Joe McAllister of St
Malachy’s with the best
North Down position going to Dennis Scott in 9th
. Towards the end, Francis
Marsh in 19th edged out
James Budde in 21st and
with Chris Speers in 42nd,
North Down were 4th
team behind Derry, North
Belfast and Newcastle.
North Down had 11 finishers, one runner short of
maximum bonus points.
David Seaton was 9th in
the over 60 race which
was held alongside the
ladies race.
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Padvu Boost For Teachers
With Help From Invest NI
Bangor-based Modern Efficient Design (MED Ltd) has been assisted by Invest Northern Ireland
to design and manufacture Padvu, a unique device for teachers using iPad tablet computers in the
classroom.
Mr Sinclair, a Business
Studies teacher, said: “As
teachers, we used an iPad
extensively in the classroom but struggled to hold
it steady over student work
and experiments. So we set
about finding a practical
and cost-effective solution
for us and other teachers.
“What Padvu does is to
transform an iPad, now
widely used in classrooms
across Northern Ireland,
into an overhead projector
and convert it into a more
effective teaching tool for
Olive Hill, Invest NI, with Sam Sinclair, Modern Efficient Design (MED Ltd).
MED, formed by teachers Sam Sinclair and John
Titterington, developed a
holder that enables teachers
to use an iPad as a document camera or camcorder
in the classroom.
The company received
a range of assistance from
Invest NI including design
advice and an Innovation
Voucher to enable a link
up with the Northern Ireland Technology Centre at
Queen’s University and to
convert an initial concept
into a commercial product
that’s now being manufactured by Crossen Engineering in Ballygowan.
Olive Hill, Invest NI’s
Director of Innovation and
Technology
Solutions,
commenting on the development of Padvu, said:
“This is an excellent example of how our technical
teams can help businesses
turn original and creative
ideas into viable commer-
cial products quickly and
effectively.
“As part of our longstanding commitment to
accelerate investment in
innovation,
companies,
both large and small, new
and established, are able
to access a broad range
of technical and practical
support and also to tap into
our expert network in areas
such as protection of intellectual property, design and
new product development.”
sharing and celebrating exemplary student work.
“Padvu enables the teacher to photograph or video a
student’s work or a demonstration with iPad and share
with the class by means of
a projector or interactive
whiteboard. The image can
also be uploaded wirelessly
to the school network,
Google Drive or Dropbox.”
MED was set up in
2012 by the two teachers
who were keen to start up
a small technology-led
business.
Page 7
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Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Eagleson’s Flooring I’m Dreaming Of A Spicy
Christmas With Green Chilli
& Furnishings
Eagleson’s Flooring & Furnishings is a family-run shop in the heart of North Down.
We pride ourselves on
offering the best value
possible and the highest quality service. Our
ranges of furniture, and
our extensive selection
of flooring options, are
sure to meet all your
needs.
We are proud of the
fact that we can supply
a range of highly desirable furniture which you
will want to have in your
home. With a wide range
of suppliers and furniture styles, we are sure
to have anything you
may need. We can also
help you complete any
room of the house with
a huge variety of carpet,
carpet tiles, vinyl and
wooden flooring.
At Eagleson’s we believe that beds are one
of the most important
pieces of furniture in
your home. This is why
we stock a large range
of beds, headboards and
mattresses, sourced from
a wide variety of companies, giving you the
option to find the ideal
piece for your home, to-
gether with complementary bedroom furniture.
All of our beds are the
highest quality, sturdy,
and available in a range
of colours and styles to
suit your décor, and we
are continually sourcing
new, top quality suppliers to ensure our customers have the widest
choice available.
We highly recommend
you drop into the shop
to have a look at our full
selection of product catalogues, flooring samples and display models
so you can see the
exceptional quality of
these brands in person.
So why not call in to see
us at our shop 31 High
Street,
Donaghadee;
open 9.30am to 5.30pm
Monday to Saturday.
Alternatively, you can
call us to find out more
about all the furniture
and flooring options we
offer on 028 9188 4423
and 079 6044 3806, or
you can follow us on
Facebook to get details
and updates on our latest
stock and offers.
Farry hosts Software Testers’
Academy ‘Meet the Employer’
Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry recently hosted the
Software Testers’ Academy ‘Meet the Employers’ event.
This is the fourth
Software Testers’ Academy and the first of
these events providing
the opportunity for the
participants to meet their
placement company prior
to their six week work
placement.
Twenty-one
Information and Communications Technology
companies and 37 participants were in attendance.
One of the participants
from a previous cohort
and a company representative shared their experiences, prior to the Minister
conducting the allocation
of trainees to employers.
Minister Farry said:
“The ICT sector is an
ever growing driver of
a globally competitive
economy for Northern
Ireland. It is crucial that
we support this sector to
enhance the quality of
our workforce, maximise
employment opportunities
and give our businesses
a competitive edge in the
global marketplace.
“The Software Testers’
Academy is an excellent
example of how my Department works with employers to support graduates into employment,
building on the success
of the past three Software
Testers’ Academies where
96% of the participants
achieved employment.
“Many of the employers
have been involved in all
four Academies, which is
testimony to their support
of this initiative. My Department works with employers through this and
other initiatives including
ICT Apprenticeships and
Software
Professional
Courses providing training
opportunities for employment opportunities in the
ICT Sector.”
The Software Testers’
Academy was designed by
Northern Ireland’s top ICT
companies with support
from the Department for
Employment and Learning and Invest Northern
Ireland under the Assured
Skills initiative. It was
developed
collectively
between government and
the ICT sector and is delivered by South Eastern
Regional College and Belfast Met.
The Academy provides
graduates with the skills
and experience required
to take up exciting new
opportunities in the ICT
industry. Software testing
and quality assurance is
increasingly a key growth
area in this internationally
focused sector.
More information can
be found at: http://www.
nidirect.gov.uk/skills.
Delicious, authentic and affordable – when it comes to Indian restaurants, Green
Chilli has it all – and then some.
Why not inject some
heat into your Christmas
Do this year by booking
into North Down’s top
Indian restaurant which
is situated at 32 Dufferin Avenue, Bangor?
At Green Chilli, there
is something to suit
every palate from the
mildest butter chicken
to the super hot chicken
tikka nagashor dish,
which is made by authentic Indian chefs using five different types
of chillies. Or why not
ask the chef to cook you
something original to
suit your own personal
tastes? Every dish is
expertly prepared by authentic and experienced
Indian chefs using only
the freshest ingredients
to ensure optimum taste.
Try Green Chilli’s
exclusive secret Balti
recipe which originated
in North Pakistan or
sample some of the
delicious starters on
offer such as an onion
bhaji, chicken pakora
or Tandoori king prawn.
Less adventurous diners
will not be disappointed
with Green Chilli’s
excellent version of the
good old chicken tikka
masala.
A trip to Green Chilli
ensures a delicious,
memorable meal which
won’t break the bank.
There are plenty of
special offers to choose
from such as the Early
Bird Special which consists of two courses for
£9.50 which runs from
Sunday to Thursday
from 5pm to 8pm or
the £5.99 express lunch
which includes a starter
and main course which
runs from Monday to
Saturday from 12pm
to 2pm. The restaurant
also allows diners to
bring their own alcohol
and there is no corkage
charge from Sunday to
Thursday.
So don’t delay, book
your table today by calling 02891 477915.
For more information
or to see the menu log
on to www.gchilli.com.
Transforming Cancer
Follow Up: Changing Patient
Care After Treatment
More of us are being diagnosed with cancer, and more of us are surviving and
living with cancer. Patient care, including follow-up care, is changing to meet
peoples’ needs. The Health and Social
Care Board has led a
major area of work to
improve the way patients
are followed up after their
cancer treatment. This
work has been taken forward in conjunction with
the Public Health Agency
(PHA), Northern Ireland
Cancer Network (NICaN)
and Macmillan Cancer
Support.
At a workshop at
Mossley Mill in Newtownabbey
recently
health professionals and
patients shared their experiences and highlighted
the successes of the new
arrangements,
known
as Transforming Cancer
Follow Up, which challenges the traditional ‘one
size fits all’ approach
based around routine hospital follow-up. Instead,
cancer patients receive
individually tailored follow up care. For many
people this means they no
longer need to attend any
hospital clinics.
Pictured at the Transforming Cancer Follow Up workshop: Health Minister
Jim Wells, Dr Miriam McCarthy Public Health Agency, Dean Sullivan Health
and Social Care Board, Lisa McWilliams NICaN, Liz Henderson Macmillan NI,
Healther Monteverde Macmillan NI, and Mary Jo Thompson NICaN.
Most people are relieved to complete their
treatment but may worry
about their cancer coming
back. They’re not sure
what signs to look out for
and don’t know who they
can contact about their
concerns. TheTransforming Cancer Follow Up
approach informs people
on what to look out for.
As part of the new ‘recovery package’, every
patient is given their
own individual care plan.
Also, everyone is invited
to a health and wellbeing
event, and told what to
do should any problem
occur.
To date the programme’s achievements
of Transforming Cancer
Follow Up include:
· Almost half of newly
diagnosed patients with
breast cancer have taken
up the self-directed aftercare pathway which
means they no longer
need hospital follow up;
· Follow-up pathways
for prostate cancer are
being introduced across
Trusts that will mean
some men will no longer
need to attend for hospital follow-up;
· Similar arrangements
are being put in place for
people with colorectal
cancer;
· A NICaN survivorship
website allows people
to search for survivorship services in their
neighbourhood. As a
result, patients can find
out about a wide range
of services, including
exercise programmes and
complementary therapies.
Issue 104 - December 2014
First Taste Of The
Food Industry!
Stairlift
Solutions
As we get older, many of us start to suffer with mobility
problems.
BSc (Hons) Food Technology students Siobhan Parks
from Armagh and Bronagh Dilion from Magherafelt
First year BSc Honours Degree and Foundation Degree students at Loughry Campus, Cookstown, had a
practical introduction to their course by being given the
opportunity to take part in a week long programme of
practical skills training.
The activities were designed to give the new intake
of students studying Food Technology, Food Design
and Nutrition and Food Business Management an insight to “real life” manufacture of food products.
Students were able to perfect their laboratory skills,
produce high quality food in the state of the art food
processing facilities and get to know their fellow students by working in groups to challenge their teamwork and communication skills.
In a competitive job market, employers are seeking
graduates with practical experience and real life skills.
Loughry Campus programmes ensure that students receive this training from day one!
Everyday things we
used to take for granted,
like walking up the stairs,
can become an issue. If
you are finding it more
and more difficult to walk
from your living room to
your upstairs bedroom or
bathroom, help is at hand
in the form of a stairlift.
Stairlift Solutions have
been selling, installing
and servicing stairlifts for
over a decade now right
across Northern Ireland.
As a locally owned family run business, Stairlift
Solutions prides itself
on a helpful and friendly
service, always going that
extra mile for all their
customers — both new
and old alike.
Whether it’s straight
or curved, indoor or outdoor, Stairlift Solutions
can offer new, reconditioned or rental of stair-
lifts and can even have it
installed within 24 hours
if needed.
They also fully maintain the stairlifts with
full warranty and 24 hour
after sales care, plus extended warranty is also
available for total peace
of mind.
Stairlift Solutions is
also a proud supporter of
both Action Cancer and
Marie Curie and continue
to promote their causes
across Northern Ireland.
Here is what just some
of their many satisfied
customers had to say:
• “I am delighted with
the stairlift you supplied. It is marvellous, it
enables me to get to the
bathroom and bedroom
and it saved me a lot of
expense by not having to
get a toilet downstairs. It
is a great invention!” Mrs
McClean - Belfast
• “The stairlift is a
great job and is really
helping my Mum & Dad.
Thank you very much
for your help in getting
it installed at short notice. The whole process
was a pleasure and we
would highly recommend
you.” Mr McCallister
- Bushmills
To arrange a FREE,
no obligation survey of
your staircase, or if you
have any other questions,
please call 028 9188 2249
or go to www.stairliftso
lutionsni.com
North Down Advertiser
Page 9
Page 10
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
MMCG: Involving Residents
In Decision Making
At the Maria Mallaband Care Group we believe that coming into care should be a change of life, not life changing.
Part of our philosophy
of care is to ensure that
all residents have freedom
of choice, that their rights
and dignity are respected
at all times, and that we
have a responsibility to
build confidence and
promote independence to
enable residents to lead a
fulfilling life.
We are continually
looking to develop positive strategies which ensure that our residents
continue to have personal
choices and play an integral part in the decision
making process, both in
terms of their own care
and the home environment in general.
We believe in offering choices to enrich the
lives of our residents and
ensure that they maintain
their independence and
dignity.
Accommodating
Preferences
Making the decision to
come into care can be a
difficult and distressing
one for a resident and for
their family.
To help ease the transition we offer choices even
prior to their admission.
We will show families
and residents the available bedrooms and where
possible will allow them
to pick their favourite
one. Once a resident
has chosen a room then
that space is very much
their own. Residents are
welcome to bring in their
own furnishings and personal items. Our care and
maintenance team will be
on hand to help discuss
and accommodate these
preferences.
All of our homes continually look at ways of
implementing or expanding on ideas to improve
the choices available to
residents. For example,
our homes often invite in
local shops and pharmacies to host clothes and
toiletries parties in which
residents can browse a
selection of clothes, accessories, cosmetics and
other sundries so that they
can choose which ones
they like. Residents are
also encouraged to work
with our Activities Coordinators to help choose
the activities, day trips,
classes and entertainment
at the home, as well as in
preparations and planning
of any up and coming
events such as making
decorations for events,
baking cakes for coffee
mornings and deciding on
themes for parties at the
home.
Where
appropriate
when care plans are reviewed our care teams
will include the resident
in discussions on a confidential, one-to-one basis
to talk about how we can
improve the service for
them as individuals. Our
homes regularly conduct
resident surveys to ensure
that residents are happy
with the service they
receive and that they feel
their opinions are valued.
Choices for all
It is our aim that all residents, regardless of their
ability, are involved in decision making in a proactive and positive way. For
residents without the capacity to make decisions
to do with their personal
care, we will always try
to find ways in which to
accommodate their preferences. For example, if
a resident has dementia
and the home is unsure
of their likes and dislikes
then we will involve the
family in finding out what
these preferences are and
involve them in decisions
relating to their care plan.
We also do this on an
individual basis, getting to know the resident
and regularly updating
their care plans to ensure
that they are as closely
tailored to the residents
needs and wants as
possible.
Running the Home
The residents play an
important role in the general running of the Home
environment; after all it is
their home too!
Our homes regularly
hold residents meetings
where residents and family members can discuss
their ideas and help us to
improve our services. For
example, during recent
renovation work at our
homes residents helped
to chose which colours
and furnishings would be
used for the rooms and
halls.
We design meal plans
with the help of our
residents and menus are
planned with several different choices of meals
so that residents can pick
what they fancy on the
day. Some residents also
enjoy lending a hand with
the housekeeping and will
work with our Domestic
Teams to help assist in
some light housework.
Some residents at our
homes have also been
involved with interviews
for any new members
of staff so they can help
with the decision making
process.
C o m m u n i t y
Involvement
We believe it is important that residents remain
an active part of the local
community. Our homes
employ Activities Coordinators who as well as
planning in house entertainment and activities,
will also make arrangements for day trips out
and for inviting in local
organisations such as
churches and schools.
They also regularly plan
community events such
as garden parties, family
days and charity fundraisers and invite local people
to attend to promote community integration and a
sense of inclusion in community life.
Natural Skin
Rejuvenation
And Scar
Repair
SAYING goodbye to lines and
wrinkles,
sun
damaged
skin,
pigmentation, acne scars and stretch
marks is easier than ever, thanks to an
exciting skin procedure at Cosmetech,
Micro - needling therapy.
The treatment uses
tiny micro - needles on
the skin to encourage
natural skin regeneration and repair, leaving
you with smoother,
brighter,
healthier,
younger-looking skin.
Roll away the years
Many
Hollywood
stars are having Microneedling treatment to
achieve younger looking, glowing skin. Jennifer Aniston reportedly
uses
Micro-needling
therapy to give her skin
a fresh faced, natural
look. Angelina Jolie is
reported to have tried
Dermaroller
Therapy
after being introduced to
it by husband Brad Pitt,
who is himself thought
to have undergone a
series of treatments to
combat acne scars.
Micro-needling
therapy offers amazing results without the
inconvenient downtime
that comes with more
aggressive laser treatments and medium and
deep chemical peels.
And because it stimulates the skin to regenerate and repair itself
without adding foreign
substances to the body
or taking anything away.
To book a complimentary consultation or
treatment with our Consultant Surgeon Amanda
Beresford or Plastic
Surgeon
Michelle
Gibson
please
call
02890423200, or visit
www.cosmetech.co.uk
City Hall Plays Host To
‘Youth Oscars’
Young people from across Belfast were given the red carpet
treatment at their very own awards night at City Hall recently.
The annual Youth
‘Oscars’ which are now
in their seventh year,
recognise the important role young people
play in city life, and
celebrate the positive
work going on in communities across Belfast.
The Lord Mayor also
presented a special
‘Best of Belfast’ award
to James Deeds from
west Belfast who had
already picked up an
award earlier in the
evening for his inspirational work with young
people as a sports mentor and going above
and beyond in his role.
Also, among the winners on the night was
South Belfast PCSP
award winner Paul
Russell, who prevented
a person in distress
from setting himself
on fire outside City
Hall. Paul Russell was
hailed as a hero in the
media at the time, and
his valiant intervention
was singled out for
praise as he picked up
the award.
The
New
Lodge
Youth Centre in north
Belfast
were
also
awarded the PSNI
award for their engagement on a 16 week
Pictured at the event is former X factor contestant, singer Janet Devlin with Niall
Kelly from the PCSP, Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Nichola Mallon, Justice
Minister David Forde and Judith Hill who hosted the awards ceremony.
programme where they
focused on tackling
anti social behaviour
with involvement from
the PSNI. The project
included frank discussion about values,
beliefs and acceptable
behaviour within the
community and has
led to further work on
policing and justice,
sexual crime and knife
crime.
Also
picking
up
an award were more
young people from
north Belfast - from
Hammer and Ardoyne
Youth Clubs – who
were
awarded
the
Youth Justice Agency’s
award for their R-City
Project where they
came together to look
at issues such as homelessness, mental health,
drugs and alcohol and
physical health. The
group were awarded
for
encouraging
positive change in the
mindset of local people showing that the
same issues effect both
communities.
Many
of the young people
have progressed to becoming young leaders
where they continue to
tackle social issues and
improve
community
relations.
The event also boasted some top musical
entertainment
from
Janet Devlin, DJ Shay
and Connor Scott, as
well as a dance performance by Innova.
For more info on the
awards and winners,
visit www.belfastcity.
gov.uk/youthawards
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
GTINI Benefit Local Premature Babies
GTINI, a team of Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG) enthusiasts have raised £10,000 for TinyLife, Northern
Ireland’s premature and sick baby charity.
The
company
was
initially set up by Comber
based Andrew Maxwell,
Nigel Lamont and John
Middleton, alongside other
friends as an internet forum
for ‘VAG’ car enthusiasts.
The company currently
run 3 shows including
Dubshed at the Kings Hall,
Belfast, GTINI Castlewellan and Titanic Dubs at
the Titanic Dry Dock and
NI Science Park where
entrance fees and a general raffle raises substantial
funds for a local charity.
This year, the group chose
TinyLife who offer a range
of practical and emotional
support services to families
who experience the birth of
a premature or sick baby.
John Middleton, director
of GTINI Ltd said, ‘All of
us at GTINI are proud to
be supporting TinyLife.
They do such worthwhile
Pictured is Gethin Evans (Islandmagee), Nigel Lamont (Comber), Gavin White
(Ballymoney), Andrew Maxwell (Comber) and John Middleton (Comber)
presenting a cheque for £10,000 to Kimberly Hill and Reggie Clarke from Friends
of TinyLife, Belfast.
work with local families
and we are delighted to be
able to make a donation to
their services’.
‘The team at GTINI
work extremely hard on
making the shows a great
success and we would like
to thank all of the attendees, spectators and spon-
sors for their generosity
and continued support’.
TinyLife’s
Regional
Fundraising
Manager,
Valerie Cromie said, ‘We
are delighted to have the
support of GTINI this year.
We receive limited government funding so we rely
heavily on the generosity
of local people and local
businesses. The £10,000
raised will benefit so
many local families and
will ensure that we can
maintain our wide range
of family support services
which includes home based
volunteer programme, our
multi-sensory service for
sensory impaired babies
and baby massage classes,
offered to families free of
charge’.
The date for the next
GTINI Dubshed event will
be 28th and 29th March in
Kingshall and everyone is
welcome.
For further information
on TinyLife and GTINI
please visit www.tinylife.
org.uk and www.gitni.com
Horse Racing Ireland Launch
Student Bursary Award At CAFRE
Enniskillen Campus
Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) have launched a £1,000 bursary CAFRE Enniskillen Campus.
The bursary is open to
second year students studying equine management
on the Honours Degree
programme. The inaugural
award will be presented to
the successful student by
HRI representatives at the
Equine Careers Event to be
held at CAFRE Enniskillen
Campus on Wednesday 11
February 2015.
HRI was represented at
the launch by Group Human
Resource Manager David
Wright and General Manager of Irish Thoroughbred
Marketing, Elaine Hatton.
David Wright, HRI Group
Human Resource Manager,
commented: “Horse Racing
Ireland is pleased to be associated with CAFRE, who
have embraced in a special
way the thoroughbred industry in all its facets and in doing so generated enthusiastic
graduates for the industry.
We are pleased that we can
contribute to the College
in a practical way, focusing on young people in the
industry.”
Dr Sam Kennedy, Head of
Education Service, CAFRE
stated: “We at CAFRE are
delighted to welcome HRI
here today and are extremely
grateful for this fantastic
opportunity which HRI is
providing for our students.
We hope to continue to collaborate with HRI and keep
providing the racing industry
with capable enthusiastic
Pictured are Elaine Hatton (ITM), Sam Kennedy (CAFRE), with Equine Management Degree students, Laura
McCormick (Limavady), Aoibheann Magee (Belfast), Ruairi Craven (Wexford), Jessica Finnegan (Jonesborough)
and David Wright (HRI)
employees for the future.”
The HRI bursary will be
paid in two instalments: 50%
in February and 50% following the successful completion of second year and is
linked to a short video assignment, The video should
embrace the theme “What
the racing industry means to
me” with the aim of encouraging more students to get
involved in the racing indus-
try and will involve the use
of social media to find and
engage potential customers, locally, nationally and
globally.
Horse Racing Ireland will
make the final decision on
the award of the bursary.
Further details about
the programmes on offer
at CAFRE, Enniskillen
Campus can be obtained by
contacting the Campus on
0800 028 4291 or by emailing enquiries@cafre.ac.uk.
Details of programmes are
also available at http://www.
cafre.ac.uk.
Page 11
Page 12
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Councils Need To Be Prepared
For Emergencies This Winter
Environment Minister Mark H Durkan has recently asked District Councils to ensure that their plans for
winter emergencies are in place and ready for operational response.
The Minister wants
all Councils to plan
in advance for any
emergencies
which
arise to ensure there is
minimum disruption to
service for citizens.
In seeking to be on
the front foot for winter
Mark H Durkan said:
“With the clocks going
back at the weekend
it is appropriate that
Councils take stock of
how well they are prepared for winter. While
last year’s winter was
fairly mild, we need
to prepare for severe
weather.
Remember
also that even in the
mildest of winters we
can still have severe
flooding.
“There is also the
possibility of long icy
spells such as were experienced in the winter
of 2010/11. Councils
showed a lead in helping the thousands of
citizens with no heat
and no water and
I would like to see
that spirit of service
matched with a maximum state of being
prepared, whether it is
for snow, ice, flooding,
power failures, or utilities not working.
“Given that District
Councils have a leading
role in responding to
civil emergencies, I am
writing to them all so
that I can be re-assured
that they have suitable
plans in place for such
situations.
“I am also conscious
that this winter will
take us through to
1 April 2015, when
council boundaries and
responsibilities change
significantly. I will,
therefore, be asking
Chief Executives of
the “new” councils to
ensure that the change
does not impact on
their councils’ ability to
respond fully.
“Additionally,
citizens also have a key
role here. Ask yourself,
who are your vulnerable neighbours? Will
you be keeping an eye
out for them if things
get tough?
“It is crucial to plan
now and be ready
for the unexpected to
ensure essential local
services are sustained
and meet the needs of
our citizens, especially
the most vulnerable.
Keeping our services
open, even during severe weather, is vital to
that.”
Regent House Grammar
and Preparatory
Department
Regent House School, opened in 1924, is one of N Ireland’s
largest schools and is situated in Newtownards, Co Down.
We are a co-educational
grammar school with
1450 pupils in the Senior
School and 125 pupils in
the Preparatory Department. Working in close
partnership with our parents we strive to ensure
our students leave us as
well rounded, confident
young adults who have attained their full academic
and personal potential. As
a community we aim to
provide an environment
that is not only caring and
supportive but one that
challenges everyone to
aim higher and do better.
We offer a varied extracurricular programme that
is designed to provide
all our students with an
opportunity to further enhance their interests and
skills. Rugby, Hockey,
Netball, Athletics, Football, Cricket, two Drama
productions per year,
regular musical performances, Duke of Edinburgh
at all levels, debating,
Young Enterprise, Charity Committee and our
Air Training Corp are just
some examples of the opportunities available.
We are also delighted to
advise that our Preparatory Department now offers wrap around care for
children from 8.00am to
6.00pm.
Further
information
about all aspects of
school life can be accessed via our website
http://www.regenthouse.
org.uk/
We invite you to take
the opportunity to meet us
and see around the school
on our Open Evening on
Friday 12th December at
6.00pm, or on our Open
Day on Saturday 13th December at 9.30am.
Industry’s Needs Met
With The Right DATA
Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry has hosted an awards ceremony for graduates from the Deloitte
Analytics Training Academy (DATA) at Belfast Met’s e3 campus.
The Academy trained 20
graduates with the skills
and accredited qualifications identified by Deloitte
for new job opportunities
in their Technology Studio
in Belfast.
Congratulating the graduates Minister Farry said:
“The Deloitte Analytics
Training Academy is an
excellent example of how
my
Department’s Assured Skills programme
is supporting graduates
to find employment. We
have worked closely with
Deloitte and Belfast Met
to ensure this course met
the needs of the company
and successfully upskilled
graduates in data analytics.
“The Assured Skills
initiative is designed to
guarantee
expanding
companies that their skills
needs can be provided for.
This can be through a va-
riety of activities including
facilitating links with the
further education and university sectors, designing
bespoke training solutions
or supporting recruitment
and other pre-employment
activities.
“The Academy model has
been in existence for several years and has proved
extremely
successful.
Matching the skill sets of
our graduates with industry
Pictured (l-r) are: Dr Jonathan Heggarty, Head of School for Computing and
Electronic Technologies at Belfast Metropolitan College, Amy Smyth, DATA
graduate, Niall Lavery, Director Deloitte and Minister Farry.
needs is vital to ensuring
that Northern Ireland remains an attractive location
for inward investment and
we continue to grow our local economy.”
The 20 graduates accepted on to the Academy were
from a range of disciplines
such as Social Studies,
Biological Sciences, Engineering, Architecture and
Philosophical Studies. Students undertook nine weeks
of classroom based training
at Belfast Met’s e3 campus
and all 20 completed the
programme.
The ceremony was attended by the Academy
trainees and their guests,
along with representatives
from Deloitte and Belfast
Met.
Head of School for
Computing and Electronic
Technologies at Belfast
Metropolitan College, Dr
Jonathan Heggarty said:
“Belfast Met is delighted
with its ongoing collaboration with Deloitte in
developing a programme
for graduates which has
been designed to meet the
specific needs of this world
class company. This is the
second group of students
to have completed the
Academy and its success
demonstrates the agility
and responsiveness of the
Further Education sector in
matching what employers
need with what education
delivers.
“Today’s graduates have
gained a wealth of specialist knowledge and are now
able to enter the workplace
with the necessary technical
and business skills. We are
sure that all of our graduates will have a successful
career ahead of them and
we look forward greatly to
continuing our work with
Deloitte.”
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
YOUNG CAST TAKE STARRING ROLE
IN CINEMAGIC CHRISTMAS FILM
A host of budding young actors are celebrating landing a starring role in a Northern Ireland feature film, the first of its kind,
to be made by Cinemagic International Film and Television Festival for Young People.
A Christmas Star is a
heart-warming story of a
spirited young girl who
charms an entire village.
Thousands of hopefuls
auditioned earlier this year
for what promises to be a
truly life-changing opportunity for its young cast:
Erin
Galway-Kendrick
(Newtownards),
John
Moan
(Warrenpoint),
James Stockdale (Dungannon), Alecoe Haughey (Co.
Donegal), Zena Donnelly
and Amy Dunne (Dublin),
Mainie Mulholland (Lurgan), Sean Ronan (Co.
Kildare), Joshua Smyth
(Crossgar) and Patrick
Roe and Aoife Hughes
(Newry).
A host of film and television
professionals
will lend their support
to the ground-breaking
film production that will
engage with hundreds of
young people, marking the
beginning of a year of Cinemagic’s 25th Anniversary
celebrations.
Among those involved
in the production are
Cinemagic patrons Liam
Neeson, who will provide
the film’s voice-over,
Bronagh Waugh (The Fall)
and Suranne Jones (Scott
& Bailey, The Crimson
Field), Oscar winning film
producer, Gareth Ellis Unwin (The King’s Speech),
and cultural film will be
screened by BBC NI and
UTV simultaneously at
Christmas time in 2015,
and will further reach a
global audience through
Cinemagic in the USA,
Great Britain and Ireland.
The project is supported
by OFMDFM, Creative
Skillset, Tourism Ireland,
Aer Lingus, BBC NI, UTV,
Department for Social Development, George Best
Belfast City Airport and
Arts & Business Northern
Ireland. The remaining finance for A Christmas Star
will be sourced through a
crowd-funding campaign
that will offer perks from
signed scripts and crew Tshirts to a walk-on role in
the film. Find out more at
www.indiegogo.com.
For further details on A
Christmas Star visit www.
cinemagic.org.uk or search
for the film on facebook
and twitter.
Budding young actors celebrate landing a part in ‘A Christmas Star’ with
Cinemagic CEO Joan Burney-Keatings MBE, actress Bronagh Waugh and
Michelle Hatfield from George Best Belfast City Airport.
director Richard Elson
(M.I. High, Shadow Trade,
Steffi), award winning
film composer, Patrick
Doyle, (Brave, Rise of the
Planet of the Apes), Music
Supervisor, Maggie Rodford, (The King’s Speech,
Anna Karenina), camera
operator, Ian Fox, (Captain America: The Winter
Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man), producer, Iain
Smith, (Children of Men,
Mad Max, Fury Road), and
production manager, Terry
Bamber (The Man from
U.N.C.L.E, Skyfall).
Making the final cut has
been a dream come true
for the young people who
will be part of an exciting
three-week film shoot in
November and December
in locations around Belfast
and Glenarm.
This unique, educational
Page 13
Page 14
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Progress On Interfaces National Museums NI Joins Northern
Crucial Part Of Lasting Ireland’s Tourism Drive For 2015 At
Peace Jigsaw
World’s Largest Travel Fair
Justice Minister David Ford has addressed delegates at
the Forum for Cities in Transition international conference in
Belfast.
The fifth annual Forum
for Cities in Transition
conference is being held
in Belfast for the first time
and this year’s theme is
‘promoting reconciliation
through resilience’ bring-
ing together delegates from
15 cities across Europe,
the Middle East and Africa over the course of this
week to learn, explore and
share their challenges and
successes.
Addressing delegates on
the third day of the conference, David Ford said: “We
continue to make positive
strides in our efforts to
tackle community tension
at interfaces and move towards the creation of a safe,
secure and shared future
by addressing the issues of
prejudice and division.
“Regrettably the recent
trouble at the interface in
East Belfast highlights the
importance of dealing with
the underlying problems
in interface communities
if continued progress is to
be made in the removal of
interface barriers.
“I utterly condemn the
recent violence, which
highlights the need for not
only community leadership
but consistent and sustained
political leadership if we are
to deliver economic, social,
community and physical
renewal within interface
areas.”
The Minister was a key
speaker at the plenary workshop on ‘Strategic focus on
community work at interfaces’ at Farset International
Hotel Belfast, he shared a
panel with Adrian Johnston
- Chair of International
Fund of Ireland and Peter
Osborne - Chair Community Relations Council NI.
24 Northern Ireland tourism enterprises set to engage in hundreds of meetings, as they negotiate
business for 2015
A major tourism push for
2015 kicked off recently,
as 24 tourism enterprises
from Northern Ireland
– including National Museums Northern Ireland
- travelled to London, to
join Tourism Ireland at this
year’s World Travel Market (WTM).
Now in its 35th year,
World Travel Market is
the largest B2B event in
the global travel and tourism calendar, with about
50,000 travel industry professionals from around the
world and 3,000 influential
international media in attendance. According to the
organisers of WTM, more
than £2.2 billion’s worth
of business was transacted
at the event in 2013. This
year, some 24 Northern
Ireland tourism enterprises
– including hotels, visitor attractions, coach tour
companies and regional
tourism organisations – are
exhibiting at the Tourism Ireland stand. Over
the next four days, they
will engage in hundreds
of meetings with GB and
international tour operators – as they negotiate and
exchange vital contracts
for 2015.
With more than 180
countries
and
regions
Pictured is Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland CEO; Vanessa Markey, Tourism Ireland’s head of GB; and Patrick
McLain, National Museums Northern Ireland, at World Travel Market 2014.
all vying for business at
WTM, Tourism Ireland
aims to stand out from
the crowd and capture
the attention of the global
media and travel trade in
attendance.
Tourism Minister Arlene
Foster said:“It is vital
we continue to showcase
Northern Ireland to both
tourist
and
business
visitors alike. The GB
market represents one of
our largest markets and
we are also now seeing
more visitors from further
afield from all over the
world. The World Travel
Market represents an opportunity to meet with key
industry stakeholders and
international media and to
get the message out there
that Northern Ireland is a
must see destination. I am
delighted to see so many
partners from the Northern
Ireland Industry attending
this year’s event. As well
as up and coming events
such as the Tall Ships next
year and the Irish Open in
2015 & 2017 we also have
visitor attractions from the
Titanic Belfast to the natural beauty of the Fermanagh Lakelands. As tourist
statistics show more and
more people are discovering what Northern Ireland
has to offer and we must
continue to build on this.”
The latest NISRA figures
confirm growth of +5% in
overseas visitors to Northern Ireland for the first
half of 2014, with growth
of +19% in overseas holidaymakers, compared with
the same six-month period
in 2013. Tourism Ireland
aims to keep this momentum going and build on
this growth in 2015 and
beyond.
20 New Jobs & £600,000 Investment
by TS Foods in Castlewellan
TS Foods in Castlewellan is being assisted by Invest Northern Ireland to invest
£600,000 and create 20 new jobs to expand sales in Britain of an innovative
product.
The company has won
business from Tesco and
Asda in Great Britain for
a new range of chilled
stuffings.
The family-owned and
managed business currently employs 49 people
on a full time basis. The
20 new posts include two
in senior management.
Invest NI has been offered £99,100 towards the
expansion.
Joanne Molloy, Commercial Director of TS
Foods, said: “Securing
the new business with
Tesco and Asda in Britain
to supply fresh stuffing as
both branded and for the
retailers’ private labels is
a very exciting development for the company
in a market that we have
targeted for growth.
“As well as the sig-
Pictured (left) is John Hood, Invest NI, with Joanne Molloy,TS Foods.
nificant support for our
investment in new plant,
machinery and equip-
ment, Invest NI’s food
marketing advisory service in Britain helped us
to pinpoint and exploit
the developing business
opportunity there for our
new product.
“Our investment will
also provide opportunities in Northern Ireland
for suppliers. More than
40 per cent of goods, including ingredients, and
services associated with
this expansion will be locally sourced. We expect
that 80 per cent of the
expenditure on developing, modernising facilities
and revamping the existing production areas to
increase productivity and
efficiency will involve
other local companies,”
added Mrs Molloy.
TS Foods was formed in
1978 by husband and wife
team Tony and Ann Steele
to produce a range of convenience foods including
the well- known ‘Tony’s
Chippy Pastie’. The company, which has Grade A
quality accreditation from
the British Retail Consortium, has expanded its
frozen and chilled product range for both retail
and foodservice clients
in Northern Ireland, the
Republic of Ireland and
Great Britain.
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Page 15
It’s Christmas At County Ministers Address Sales
& Marketing Forum
Down’s Award Winning
Garden Centre & Cafe
Well-known local family run company Creative Gardens is famous for their beautiful plants and
delicious homemade food but did you know about their fabulous Christmas Shops?
Established in the
early 1980’s in they now
have three garden centres; Donaghadee, Bushmills and of course the
beautiful, new centre at
Galgorm Castle in Ballymena. The new centre
was opened in February of this year and has
already become a very
popular venue with visitors from Ballymena and
beyond.
The well-established
Donaghadee Centre has
picked up a whopping
17 regional area awards
at the recent UK Garden Centre Association
awards dinner held in
Scotland at the start of
October. The awards
include best restaurant,
best plant area and
best customer service
amongst many others,
they also scooped the
overall Best Garden
Centre – ranking the
centre amongst the best
in the whole of the UK.
At all Creative Gardens they build lovely
inspirational
displays
to showcase traditional
decorations as well as
those with a contemporary feel. As well as
decorations they stock
a huge range of well
priced Christmas lights
both for indoors and
outdoors. Their range
of “life like” artificial
trees is unbeatable,
ranging from exceptional value to superb luxury, all well displayed
making it easy for you
to select your favourite
style. It’s well worth
paying a visit, the kids
will love it too – with
a great range of kids
toys and a play area to
keep them amused. As
you would expect they
have a massive range of
beautiful plants and you
will be impressed with
the ideas for autumn
and winter colour in the
garden. They have fantastic range of containers for planting, and all
the seasonal plants that
can be used at this time
of year to fill your tired
pots and baskets. The
deep mauves and purple
cyclamen used in planters at the entrance to
the centre are very eye
catching.
Creative Gardens certainly pride themselves
on their gift department,
all the beautiful accessories and decorative
items for the home are
sure to inspire you –
look no further for a
one stop shop for all
your Christmas shopping. A great range of
clothing, toys and books
have also been carefully
selected so there are lots
of terrific gift ideas for
everyone in the family.
From the 21st November there will be
hundreds and hundreds
of freshly cut quality Irish grown nordman
and noble fir Christmas
trees on display starting
from only £29.95. All
their trees are guaranteed no needle drop and
are displayed upright
in a well-lit covered
area making it easy to
find your perfect tree
no matter what the
weather – they will even
deliver your tree locally
absolutely free, and can
arrange to collect your
tree after Christmas and
recycle it, what more
could you ask for?!
Pop in to the garden
centre at and have a
freshly brewed coffee or
a delicious homemade
lunch in their lovely
cafe while you are there. You will be made feel
more than welcome
at Creative Gardens
Donaghadee!
Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry and
Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Arlene Foster
addressed a Sales and Marketing Forum in the Long Gallery,
Parliament Buildings.
The event organised
by the Northern Ireland
Assembly Business Trust
(NIABT) explored the
importance of sales and
marketing to the growth of
the local economy.
Referring to the recently
launched Graduate Export Sales and Marketing Academy, Dr Farry
said: “Selling products
and services into export
markets is essential for
the development of the
Northern Ireland economy,
and is likely to be one of
NI companies’ key drivers
for growth. We need suitably skilled and qualified
people to do this.
“The Graduate Export
Sales
and
Marketing
Academy is a joint venture
between my Department
and Invest NI and is another excellent example
of government interventions to improve the skills
of unemployed graduates,
whilst providing our employers with highly skilled
staff to meet the needs of
their business. On completion of the Academy the
successful
participants
will receive accredited
qualifications recognised
by industry and work experience in preparation for
new exciting job opportunities in the workplace.
“If Government, business and academia continue to work together
we can increase the skills
levels of our workforce
and ultimately improve the
selling ability of Northern
Ireland.”
The forum included a series of speakers including
Patrick Hurst MBE, Managing Director of Whale
Pumps, Noel Brady, Chair,
Sales Institute of Ireland,
Christine Watson, Chair,
Chartered Institute of Marketing and a question and
answer session chaired by
Dr Joanne Stuart OBE,
Vice Chair, NIABT.
Page 16
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Health Minister Inspires
Leaders For Tomorrow In
Social Work
Health Minister Jim Wells has applauded the often unseen commitment, hard
work and dedication of social workers.
He addressed over 150
social workers from the
profession at the annual
Social Work Conference
in Lisburn Civic Centre
which aims to promote
the important role that
social workers play in
an integrated Health &
Social Services and in
particular the role of first
line managers and the
‘Leaders for Tomorrow’.
Addressing
social
workers from across
both the statutory and
voluntary sectors the
Minister said: “When
I became Minister of
Health and Social Care
one of the first things I
inherited was the serious financial situation
we find ourselves in and
the gap there is between
what people want from
the service and what was
going to be possible.
“And I look to everyone
in the health care system
to advise me on what my
choices are and what are
the right things to do?
My challenge is your
challenge.
“Even in these straitened times the health and
social care service must
remain a priority and is
one of the most important things a government
can do for the people it
serves.
“That is why I, and my
officials, have devoted so
much energy to make the
case for the health and
social care budget to be
protected from the dire
cuts being faced by other
Departments.”
The Conference is part
of a range of events and
activities underway to
support the implementation of the first ever NI
Social Work Strategy produced by the Department
in 2012 and being implemented by the HSCB.
Ford Launches Consultation
On The Use Of Expert Witnesses
Justice Minister David Ford has launched a public consultation examining the use
of expert witnesses appearing in the Courts in Northern Ireland.
The Access to Justice
Review made a number of
recommendations in relation to the use of expert
witnesses and this consultation forms part of an
ongoing programme of reform of publically funded
legal services.
David Ford said:
“Expert witnesses are
crucial to the delivery of
justice and perform a vital
function in both criminal
and civil cases. I believe,
however, there is room
for improvement in the
current use of experts to
ensure that they are used
proportionately to the legal issues involved in the
cases. The consultation
document considers the
multiple use of experts and
alternative remuneration
methods.
“It is important that
those involved in the
delivery of justice provide appropriate levels
and quality of service as
cost effectively and ef-
ficiently as possible. My
Department is facing
unprecedented budgetary
pressure and it is necessary
to examine all aspects of
the justice system. This
consultation will help to
ensure that robust arrangements are in place for
procuring expert services.
This will assure the public
that we are securing value
for money.
“There has been significant improvement to the
process for engaging ex-
perts in recent years. However, there remains a lack
of empirical evidence regarding the use of experts.
This consultation invites
comments on how the current arrangements might
be improved and strengthened, to ensure that expert
testimony continues to
make the most useful
and appropriate contribution to justice delivery.”
The
consultation
period closes on 20 February
2015.
WALK THIS WAY!
Tourism Ireland launches online film to highlight Northern Ireland’s International
Appalachian Trail
Tourism Ireland has
launched a new online
film, specially created to
highlight a new section of
the International Appalachian Trail (IAT).
The IAT is a 2,200-mile
long route, which begins
in the United States and
spans the terrain of the
once-shared
mountain
ranges of North America
and Europe. The hiking
trail – which is fast becoming a favourite among
keen walkers – covers
almost 300 miles here
and begins at Donegal’s
Slieve League cliffs, continues through the Blue
Stack Mountains and
across into Co Londonderry, where it connects
with the Ulster Way along
the Causeway Coast, before finishing at the port
of Larne in Co Antrim.
The short film was produced by Tourism Ireland
to highlight the spectacular scenery and some of
the many things to do
and see along this newlysignposted walking trail
– to walkers and potential
holidaymakers around the
world.
The film features wonderful images of the magnificent scenery of Donegal and Northern Ireland
– including the Blue Stack
Mountains, Lough Eske,
the Sperrin Mountains
and the Ulster American
Folk Park in Co Tyrone. It
Conor Marshall, Tourism Ireland (left) with online film maker, Mark Flagler, and
Jason Powell, Causeway Coast and Glens ‘on location’ in Glenariff Forest Park,
near Cushendall, which features in Tourism Ireland’s new online film about the
Ulster-Ireland section of the International Appalachian Trail.
also highlights the Causeway Coastal Route, noting places of interest such
as Mussenden Temple,
the Giant’s Causeway and
the beautiful Glens of Antrim. Geographically, the
trail then continues across
to Scotland, through the
Nordic countries and into
Spain.
Niall Gibbons, CEO
of Tourism Ireland, said:
“We are delighted to unveil our latest online film,
which showcases some
of the spectacular loca-
tions along this wonderful
walking trail. Research
shows that many of our
overseas visitors want to
be active in nature while
on holiday – and this
film is sure to appeal to
both serious walkers and
leisure ramblers alike. It
also allows us to reach
out to a group of people
who are already very
much aware of this trail
in North America and to
encourage them to come
and try the next leg of it –
in Donegal and Northern
Ireland.”
As well as promoting
the film on its website,
Ireland.com,
Tourism
Ireland is sharing the film
on social media – with
its Facebook fans (2.642
million fans worldwide)
and Twitter followers
(162,564+), and on its
YouTube channel (the
most watched YouTube
channel amongst national
tourism organisations in
Europe, according to the
Digital Tourism Brand
Index).
Issue 104 - December 2014
Robinson Frizzell Architects,
Holywood, Co. Down
Experience over the years has been widespread ranging from one off private houses
and house conversions through to sizeable commercial developments.
The principal, Philip
Frizzell, is committed
to providing services,
which offer imaginative, cost effective,
and energy efficient
solutions.
In recent years the
practice has designed
an extensive portfolio of stylish private
houses and house extensions, which have
been justifiably lauded
by their owners. The
practice bases a lot of
their ideas on creating
modern, bright open
spaces and airy interiors. On the Robinson
Frizzell website, you
can find examples of
many
successfully
completed projects.
Philip Frizzell cannot
emphasise enough the
importance of using
an architect. Getting
the initial design right
at Outline Proposal
Stage is such a vital
investment in the success of the completed
project. The practice
will be able to translate
your ideas into reality,
possessing the ability
to design around problems and draw together
all the different trades
and professions to ensure you get value for
money from all your
sub-contactors
and
suppliers.
The practice aims to
guide clients through
the whole design and
construction process,
making the experi-
ence as stress–free as
possible. With recent
indications of home
buyer confidence, and
a marked increase in
house sales especially
in the North Down
market, now may be
the time to start planning if you are considering improving your
house or building a
new one.
For a free initial
consultation, you can
give them a call on
028 9042 6684 or you
can visit their website
www.robinsonfrizzell.
co.uk.
RED BULL CRASHED ICE 2015
COMES TO BELFAST
Ice Cross Downhill World Championship To Be Staged On Prestigious Grounds Of Stormont Estate
Red Bull is excited to
announce that Belfast
will stage one of the
four stops of the Red
Bull Crashed Ice World
Series 2015, on the
grounds of Stormont
Estate on 20th and
21st of February 2015. Over 100 competitors
will take part in the
action-packed race on a
heart-pumping assault
course that has been
specifically designed for
Belfast. The track will
be positioned in front
of Parliament Buildings
and enjoyed by 40,000
spectators over two days
in February.
Red Bull Crashed Ice
is a world series in the
winter extreme sporting event of ice cross
downhill. It is a four
man full-contact, highspeed, downhill ice
skating race along a 440
metre track, with steep
turns and vertical drops,
reaching speeds of up to
60 km/h in a timed battle, where the first to the
bottom wins. The energy
and competitive spirit
of Red Bull Crashed
Ice makes for a breathtaking spectacle and
a hugely entertaining
event for all.
Belfast has been selected as one of the four
stops to host this major
The event will be
broadcast live around
the world so whether
you live in Northern
Canada, Siberian Russia or Dublin city, you
will get the opportunity
to experience the excitement of Red Bull
Crashed Ice, Belfast.
Luca Dallago of Austria,
Derek Wedge of Switzerland (back from left),
Scott Croxall of Canada, Marco Dallago of Austria,
perform during the finals of the Red Bull Crashed Ice
sporting event and will
be the only non-winter
sports location on the
tour. Previous host
countries have included
Canada, USA, Russia,
and Finland, countries
where sub-zero temperatures and winter-long
snowdrifts are norm!
The Red Bull Crashed
Ice 2015 season will
kick off in ice-cold Saint
Paul, Minnesota (US) in
January before moving
on to Helsinki (Finland).
Belfast will welcome the
third stop before the series moves to Edmonton
(Canada).
Constructing the 440
metre long course is
an epic undertaking in
itself. Expertise will be
sourced from the four
corners of the world,
working in partnership
with the local Red Bull
team. It will take three
weeks to construct the
world-class course on
Stormont Estate. Once
construction is com-
plete, the painstakingly
slow task of setting the
ice begins. In order to
ensure the ice surface
meets the highest possible standard – the ice
is gradually set over a
period of five days, millimetre by millimetre!
North Down Advertiser
Page 17
Page 18
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Storey Announces
Review Of Private
Rented Sector
Regulation
Social Development Minister, Mervyn Storey MLA, has
announced a review which aims to enhance the private rented
sector in Northern Ireland.
The review, which is
a commitment in the
Department’s Housing
Strategy, will examine
the effectiveness of
current regulation and
what improvements can
be made to help make
the private rented sector
a more attractive and
viable housing option.
The Minister made
his announcement during his keynote address
to the Housing Rights
Service
conference
“Bigger and Better:
The Future of Private
Renting in Northern
Ireland” in Belfast.
Minister Storey said:
“My
Department’s
Housing Strategy, Facing the Future, sets
out a clear vision for
housing in Northern
Ireland with a focus on
ensuring that everyone
has the opportunity to
access good quality
housing at a reasonable
cost.
“The private rented
sector is helping to
meet housing need and
provides an important
housing option for
those who either by
choice, or necessity,
cannot access either
home ownership or
social housing in their
preferred area.”
The Minister added:
“As it has grown,
there has rightly been
an increased focus on
how the private rented
sector is regulated and
my Department has
introduced a number
of initiatives in recent
years to improve the
regulation of the sector.
These have included
the introduction of the
Tenancy Deposit and
Landlord Registration
Schemes, but now is
the right time to look
again at the regulation
of the private rented
sector.”
The Minister added
that his departmental
officials have begun a
series of meetings with
interested bodies and
have already developed
a list of issues including
those which were put
forward by the Private
Tenants Forum. He
said: “We will also take
account of what is happening in Great Britain
and across Europe and
consider whether there
are initiatives that could
be adapted to enhance
the private rented sector
in Northern Ireland.”
Minister
Storey
concluded:
“If we introduce any
changes it is important
to get the balance right,
protecting tenants while
ensuring good landlords
aren’t burdened with
unnecessary or cumbersome regulation. Most
landlords abide by the
law and provide much
needed, good quality
and well managed accommodation however,
we all have a common
goal and must work
together to make the
private rented sector
a more attractive and
sustainable
housing
option.”
New Community Facility
Opens In Hillsborough
The new Hillsborough Scout & Community Hall at Ballynahinch Road, Hillsborough,
officially opened recently on the site of 1st Hillsborough Scout Group’s Old Scout Hall.
Financial
support
for the project was
received from Lagan
Rural Partnership; the
Alpha Programme; the
Department of Education; the Garfield Weston Foundation; the
UK Scout Association;
scouting parents and
the wider community
of Hillsborough.
Alderman
Allan
Ewart, Chairman of the
Local Action Group of
Lagan Rural Partnership, said:
“I am delighted that
Lagan Rural Partnership was able to
provide £250,000 to
this very worthwhile
community
project.
On behalf of the major
funding body the EU
Rural
Development
Programme, I would
like to commend the
Hillsborough
Scout
& Community Hall
Group (HSCHG) on
driving and managing
this project from inception through to the
future.
“Scouting
gives
children more confidence, responsibility, a
broader set of friends,
a chance to pursue
things they might not
get to do otherwise,
adventure and an extended family. The new
Hall will not just be
used by the Scouts but
it will be available to
Contractor Peter O’Hare Ltd, Mayobridge within an impressive six-month timescale between March and
September 2014, built the new hall. In addition to the architect, Robert Bleakney, other professionals involved
in the redevelopment included Wheelan & Co Quantity Surveyors, Ian Black Consulting Structural Engineers,
Bennett Robertson Design and Thompson Mitchell Solicitors.
the wider community
and it is hoped that all
those who use the new
facility will enjoy it
and gain new friends
and skills. I would also
like to congratulate
the local community
for providing financial support to this
project,”
concluded
Alderman Ewart.
After being used for
70 years the former
hall was deemed as
having outlived its useful life and a ‘Vision
for the Future’ was
launched by HSCHG,
which is a charitable
company that was
established to take forward the construction
and ongoing operation
of the Hall. It currently
has
four
directors
from 1st Hillsborough
Scout Group and four
from the Hillsborough
community.
Alan Clarke, HSCHG
Chairman along with
his committee colleagues launched a
dedicated fundraising
programme. Following
a number of unsuccessful funding applications, the Group
was delighted to secure
a range of funding
streams during 20122014, which would
enable the vision of
a new hall to become
reality.
Capital grants were
also secured from the
Department of Education’s Youth Capital
Grants
Programme;
the Alpha Landfill Tax
Programme, administered by Groundwork
NI; and the Garfield
Weston
Charitable
Foundation. Fundraising from scouting
parents and the wider
Hillsborough community has also helped
towards
the
total
redevelopment
costs
and the UK Scout Association has provided
a loan, which is now
repayable over the next
10 years.
Minister Outlines His Response
To Report On Advancing PostPrimary Irish-Medium Education
Education Minister, John O’Dowd, has outlined his response to an advisory group report on advancing post- primary Irishmedium education.
The Minister set up
the advisory group in
August 2013. It was
chaired by Helen Ó
Murchú and included
Paul O’Doherty of the
CCMS, Paul McAlister
of the Education and
Training
Inspectorate and Micheál Ó
Duibh of Comhairle na
Gaelscolaíochta.
In a statement to the
Assembly the Minister
said:
“Irish-medium
education
continues
to expand successfully at pre-school and
primary levels, with
almost 3,600 children
currently
attending
Irish-medium primary
schools and units.
“Yet there is a gap in
the strategic development of Irish-medium
post-primary
provision. In the last school
census there were 830
post-primary
pupils
attending one standalone school in Belfast
and three Irish-medium
units in English-medium schools where the
curriculum is delivered
all or partially through
Irish.
“I therefore set up
an advisory group to
focus on the development of practical and
deliverable solutions
to increase access to
Irish-medium post-pri-
mary education and to
address the challenges
facing the future development of sustainable
provision.
“I thank the group
for their report and
I am satisfied that it
can form the basis of
a framework for the
delivery of high quality Irish-medium postprimary provision.”
Turning to the recommendations contained
within the report the
Minister
said:
“In
relation to a strategic
approach
to
planning, I welcome the
focus on practical and
deliverable solutions
in the short, medium
and long term. The
recommendations include mechanisms for
measuring demand, the
roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders and my Department’s vision.
“There are 11 recommendations
relating
to a viable pathway to
a sustainable school
which include optimal
geographic locations of
present and proposed
post-primary provision
as well as models and
levels of immersion
and intake rates.
“While
I
cannot
comment on specific
areas and potential development proposals,
collaborative working
in the Irish-medium
sector, focused on the
provision of high quality education for all
pupils, must form the
cornerstone of progress
and development.
“The report makes
12 recommendations
to remove barriers to
progress. These relate
to teacher supply, continuing
professional
development,
northsouth co-operation, resources, the use of ICT
and current and future
funding approaches.
“I accept the expert
advice of the advisory
group that I need to
create increased access
for pupils in short, medium and longer terms.
The group recommends a development
model of provision
which begins with
units culminating in
stand-alone
schools,
which I accept.”
Page 20
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Foster Congratulates
Food & Drinks Industry
On Commitment, Growth
& Record Awards Haul
Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister, Arlene Foster,
has congratulated the food and drink industry who, this year,
announced investment projects worth around £180million
and promoted over 800 new jobs.
The Minister was
speaking at an event
organised by Invest
Northern Ireland and the
Northern Ireland Tourist
Board to celebrate the
achievements of companies in the Great Taste
Awards, the Irish National Food Awards and
the Irish Quality Food
and Drink Awards.
Arlene Foster said:
“The investment projects
announced by food
and drink companies,
together with the record
haul of awards, demonstrate the vibrancy of
the industry here and
the commitment of those
businesses to developing
products which combine
outstanding taste with
innovation and quality.
“The performance of
our companies in this
year’s awards has been
outstanding. 101 Great
Taste Award winners;
eight local products
featuring in the Top 50
UK Foods; 34 awards in
the Irish National Food
Awards (Blas na hEireann); and four category
awards in Irish Quality
Food Awards is surely a
feat worth applauding.
“Many people know
Northern Ireland for
its soda farls, seafood,
craft beers and cider. In
many ways the event
here showcases the cooperation between Invest
Northern Ireland and the
Northern Ireland Tourist
Board and the work being done to help accelerate the growth of this
industry as a means to
harness the potential of
food as a tourism driver.
Food and drink is now a
major strand in our business and tourism growth
strategies which focuses
on strengthening our
economy and helping to
build Northern Ireland
into a confident and
successful private sector
region.
“The role of the agrifood industry cannot be
understated; it is currently contributing £4.5bil-
lion a year to the local
economy and growing
steadily. The Northern
Ireland Executive has
recognised the importance of the sector and
endorsed the Agri Food
Strategy Board’s ‘Going
for Growth’ strategic
action plan. It is vital
we continue to support
this important industry
by maximising potential
especially in relation to
new and existing export
markets.”
The Minister offered
special congratulations
to Yellow Door Deli in
Portadown on winning
the Deli and Farmshop
Signature Dish in the
Great Taste Awards for
the second year in a
row. She also presented
the Northern Ireland
Regional Golden Fork in
the Great Taste Awards
to Peter Hannan, Managing Director of Hannan Meats of Moira the
third successive year the
company has won this
category award.
Oasis Travel Agent Wins
First NI Travel Consultant
of the Year Award
Julie-Anne Vaughan, a travel specialist with Oasis Travel is the first recipient of a new ‘NI Travel
Consultant of the Year’ award, at this year’s Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards organised by
Northern Ireland Travel News, which took place recently.
Aaron Fletcher, who
also works for Oasis
Travel, was also shortlisted as one of only
five finalists shortlisted
within this esteemed
new category which
was sponsored by Blue
Insurances.
Sandra Corkin, Managing Director at Oasis Travel, which has
branches in Bangor,
Holywood, Belfast and
Lisburn, says; “With
two of the five finalists
from across the whole
of Northern Ireland being from Oasis Travel,
I must admit I had my
fingers and toes crossed
that one of my staff
would win. Both JulieAnne and Aaron are
tremendously valuable
members of the Oasis
team who make genuine
connections with their
customers and set a fantastic example to newer
members of staff. I’m
particularly pleased for
Julie-Anne on receiving the recognition of
Pictured at this year’s Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards are (from left) promo girl Zara Shaw; the
Awards evening’s host Gerry Kelly; Julie-Anne Vaughan from Oasis Travel, winner of a new ‘NI Travel Consultant
of the Year’ award; and Ciaran Mulligan of category sponsor Blue Insurances.
winning this award as
she has been with me
for some 26 years and
knows the travel business backwards.”
Said Brian Ogle of
the Awards organisers
Northern Ireland Travel
News: ”We added this
category as a way to
find and reward senior employees within
travel agencies who
live and breathe the
travel business. We
got the readers of NI
Travel News involved
in nominating their
favourite agents. We
asked them to suggest
those they had built a
good rapport with – the
personality that they
go back to see time
after time to assist in
organising their travel
requirements. Then the
five consultants with
the most votes from the
public were assessed by
an expert team from the
industry.”
About winning, JulieAnne Vaughan says:
“I am over the moon
to win this prestigious
award and would like
to thank all my clients
and the suppliers that
I work closely with for
nominating me. I am
passionate about my
job, and love nothing
more than sharing my
personal travel experiences and knowledge
with my clients to ensure I find the perfect
trip whatever their
requirements may be. I
love to see people I’ve
previously booked and
got to know come back
to seek further advice
on ideas of where to go
next.”
YES Programme Provides
Vital Employability
Skills: Farry
Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry met with young people
participating on his Department’s Youth Employment Scheme with Dunbia in
Dungannon.
The Youth Employment Scheme aims
to give young people
between the ages of 18
and 24 help and support
in looking for work by
offering work experience opportunities with
employers. There are
various strands of YES
including the Enhanced
Employer
Subsidy
which incorporates job
specific skills training.
Dunbia
successfully
provided employment
opportunities for nine
young people under this
scheme.
Speaking from Dunbia
in Dungannon, Dr Farry
said: “The emphasis of
the YES programme is
to provide participating
young people with an
opportunity to sample
the world of work and
develop employability
skills for use at future
job interviews. These
skills may include working in a team, using
your initiative, problem
solving, planning and
organising, communication and interpersonal
skills and computer
skills. Employers highly
value these skills as they
are used in a range of
workplace settings.
“I commend Dunbia
for their commitment to
the Youth Employment
Scheme by facilitating
and enabling the skills
development of our next
generation. Employers
can support this initiative by providing short
and long term work
experience placements.
This is much more than
employers meeting their
corporate social responsibility commitments,
this is about investing
in the development of
their workforce, with
government support, to
improve their business
performance and grow
our local economy.”
Marcus Gilmore, a
participant on the YES
Skills
Development
Programme, said: “The
work experience has
proved invaluable to
me, I have gained many
new skills and experience. I have found a real
job with my new skills
and experience and I
would encourage other
young people to get involved in these types of
initiatives.”
If you are a young
unemployed person and
would like to avail of
work experience opportunities please contact
your local JobCentre/
Jobs and Benefits office,
call 0300 200 7822 or
visit: http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/skills.
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Page 21
Supervalu’s Season Of Goodwill
Launch of National
Society of Apprentices in As Stores Aim To Raise Over
£100,000 For Action Cancer
Northern Ireland
A National Society of Apprentices in Northern Ireland has been launched recently
at an event for FE students, Festival, organised by NUS-USI.
The National Society
of Apprentices in Northern Ireland is an organisation that has been created to give apprentices
a voice on key issues
that affect them and will
be led by apprentices,
for apprentices.
President of NUS-USI
Rebecca Hall said: “This
is a historic day for apprentices in Northern
Ireland. The National
Society of Apprentices
in Northern Ireland will
ensure that the collective voice of apprentices
here is heard to help try
and deliver the best possible deal for them.
“The National Society of Apprentices here
will be an autonomous
organisation which will
work to ensure that the
concerns of apprentices
can be addressed.
“This is a momentous initiative and it is
extremely
important
that apprentices’ voices
are heard, given that a
cut of 10.8% has been
proposed for the Department for Employment
and Learning in the
draft budget. It is crucial
that the message gets
through that we may
not be able to deliver
the skills needed to help
people reach their potential, and help the economy grow, if funding for
DEL is cut. Increased
funding is proposed
for the Department of
Enterprise, Trade and
Investment; therefore,
DEL’s funding should
not be cut, as it’s vital
that government invests
in our future and our future economy by investing in apprentices and
students.
“Representation
for
apprentices by apprentices is extremely important, to ensure that the
apprentice voice has a
central input into policy
and decision-making in
Northern Ireland. We
welcome the Employment and Learning Minister’s continued investment in apprentices and
hope that the Society
can play a pivotal role in
apprentice strategy here
in the future.
“It is important that it
is recognised that decision makers, businesses,
and education and training institutions need to
engage with apprentices
to discuss issues that
concern them and deliver the best outcomes
to help apprentices reach
their potential.
There are many big
issues that apprentices
need to be heard on, like
apprentice pay, workers’
rights and the hidden
costs of apprenticeships,
like travel or equipment.
It is crucial that apprentices get the best deal
possible so that they can
continue to play a central role in our economy,
and the National Society
of Apprentices in Northern Ireland aims to help
deliver that.”
Christmas Crime
Prevention Tips
• Don’t tempt thieves
by leaving presents on
display in your home
or car
• Be cautious about
storing expensive gifts
in your home
• Don’t keep large
amounts of cash in your
home to buy presents
Make sure your home
is secure and keep
doors and windows
locked
• Ask about marking
valuable items with
your postcode and
house number, don’t
forget to take photographs too
For further crime prevention advice speak to
your local Crime Prevention Officer.
Innovating Innovation
A group of businesses led by South Eastern Regional College (SERC) have secured
research and development funding from Invest NI’s Innovation Voucher initiative.
Working in conjunction with the National
Insulation Association
and with specialist
expertise from SERC,
the funding will be
used to research the
performance and quality characteristics of
cavity wall insulation
materials and provide
detailed performance
information.
The research will
incorporate advice on
the inspection process,
cost effective outcomes
and remedial treatments. These could
potentially improve energy efficiency, reduce
carbon emissions and
greatly improve health
issues associated with
sub-standard homes.
Energy Store Managing Director Bill
McCandless,
who
has collaborated with
SERC to develop the
research, said “The
initiative offered us
a low risk way to explore new ideas with
a wider network of
specialists – ideas
that we wouldn’t have
been able to afford
and that could potentially help us grow by
entering new markets.
I would strongly en-
Pictured are John Ross SERC Energy Expert, Energy Store Managing Director
Bill McCandless and Thompson Keating SERC Director of Economic and
Corporate Development.
courage other business
to contact their local
college when seeking
specialist
expertise
or additional funding
which could help them
remain competitive in
the marketplace.”
The
innovation
vouchers programme
enables
businesses
with less than 250 employees to access up to
£4,000 of fully-funded
training and mentoring
to improve or create
new products, services
and processes, thanks
to the specialist knowl-
edge and expertise
of providers such as
SERC.
Thompson Keating
SERC Director of Economic and Corporate
Development explains:
“We currently work
with hundreds of employers and would
encourage them to
avail of this unique opportunity to access our
services at low cost.
With SME’s accounting for 99.9% of all
businesses in Northern
Ireland, we want to
support as many busi-
nesses as possible in
their growth plans as
the country moves out
of recession.”
SERC is encouraging
more businesses to apply for an Innovation
Voucher worth £4,000
to access specialist
knowledge and develop forward-thinking
solutions. The next
call for innovation
vouchers opens on 1
February 2015. For
more information or
to apply please contact
Janice Cooke on 028
92 626776.
WITH the season of goodwill fast approaching, SuperValu stores across Northern
Ireland are getting into the Christmas spirit to raise much-needed funds for charity.
From the start of
December, 37 SuperValu stores will be
hosting a variety of
festive-themed activities
in-store for customers to help reach their
£100,000 target for Action Cancer.
A number of events
will be held in a variety of stores including
Mince Pie and Mulled
Wine Tasting evenings,
Signature Tastes and
Christmas Party Food
Tasting evenings alongside competitions to win
everything you need for
the perfect Christmas
party.
The little ones will be
catered for with Action
Cancer’s Reindeer food
sold in-store and Surprise Santa Letters will
also be available for a
small donation to the
charity.
The money raised goes
towards Action Cancer’s
Big Bus mobile detection unit which began
operating in 2006. The
Big Bus has visited
over 1,000 workplaces,
community groups and
SuperValu stores in that
time, providing vital
Pictured getting ready for the season of goodwill is Santa’s Little Helper and
Action Cancer patron, Nuala McKeever, along with Santa Claus aka Chris Lindsay
from Action Cancer, SuperValu’s Donna Morrison and Action Cancer’s Stacey
Graham.
cancer screening and
information services for
men and women.
SuperValu Marketing
Manager, Donna Morrison, said: “SuperValu
and its independent retailers have supported
Action Cancer since
2006, providing £1.25m
of funding for the Big
Bus.
“With the season of
goodwill around the
corner, our stores will
be getting involved with
everything from colouring competitions for the
kids to family hamper
giveaways. All will be
Christmas themed to
encourage customers to
donate and help SuperValu reach its fundraising target,” she added.
MRPNI supports over
250 independent SuperValu, Centra and Mace
retail stores in Northern
Ireland, with a combined turnover in excess
of £600 million. MRPNI
is part of the Musgrave
Group, the leading partner to more than 3,500
entrepreneurial retailers
and food service professionals in the UK,
Ireland and Spain.
Bangor Lights Up
North Down Advertiser
Glenlola
Collegiate
Glenlola Collegiate in Bangor is one of Northern Ireland’s
leading grammar schools for girls.
As well as supporting
1100 pupils aged 11 to 18
years, Glenlola has a successful Preparatory Department and playgroup catering for girls and boys aged
3 to 10 years.
The new school building,
completed in 2003, boasts
excellent facilities and
provides a welcoming and
friendly environment for
all who attend. The campus
is located in the centre of
Bangor beside the Aurora
Aquatic and Leisure Complex and in close proximity
to rail and bus links. The
school prides itself on a
strong partnership between
staff and pupils. Its positive
learning environment contributes to the high standard
Issue 104 - December 2014 Page 22
The Snow Code - Tips
On Clearing Snow &
Ice From Pavements
Or Public Spaces
Don’t be put off clearing paths because you’re afraid
someone will get injured.
of academic success in public examinations.
At Advanced Level, the
school consistently exceeds
the Northern Ireland average for girls’ grammar
schools in A* to C grades
and at GCSE 99% of pupils
attained at least five grades
A* to C.
The school has a strong
international
programme
working with organisations
such as the British Council, Comenius, DFID and
RSPB with visits to Ghana
and Virginia Beach,USA,
during the past year.
Glenlola Collegiate offers
a wide range of extra curricular activities. In sport,
a number of pupils compete
at Ulster, national and international levels.
The staff team, led by
Headmaster,
Mr
WE
Thompson, delivers a wide
range of subjects to all age
groups including GCSE
Astronomy to Year 10 pupils and Cambridge Pre-U
Post-16 extension qualifications to girls in Senior
School.
Admission to Year 8 is
through selection under the
AQE CEA arrangements.
The school will also consider applications for entry
into Years 9,10, 11 and 13
under the existing system
of entry.
Remember,
people
walking on snow and ice
have a responsibility to
be careful themselves.
Follow the advice below
to make sure you clear
the pathway safely and
effectively.
It’s easier to move
fresh, loose snow rather
than hard snow that has
packed together from
people walking on it. So
if possible, start removing
the snow and ice in the
morning. If you remove
the top layer of snow in
the morning, any sunshine
during the day will help
melt any ice beneath. You
can then cover the path
with salt before nightfall to stop it refreezing
overnight.
Don’t make the pathways more dangerous by
causing them to refreeze.
If you use water to melt
the snow, it may refreeze
and turn to black ice.
Black ice increases the
risk of injuries as it is invisible and very slippery.
When you’re shovelling
snow, take care where you
put it so it doesn’t block
people’s paths or drains.
Make sure you make a
path down the middle
of the area to be cleared
first, so you have a clear
surface to walk on.
If your neighbour will
have difficulty getting
in and out of their home,
offer to clear snow and
ice around their property
as well. Check that any
elderly or disabled neighbours are alright in the
cold weather.
Why Not Make
Some Unique
Christmas Gifts?
If you want to stand-out and be remembered for your
choice of Christmas gifts this year, then we have a few ideas to
really help you out.
You could go down the
traditional route this Christmas. With the festive season
approaching, along with it
comes the many Christmas
markets. Take a day trip
out and see what you can
find. Can’t find what you’re
looking for? Then pop into
the local gift shops or simply just search online.
Why not ditch selection boxes for the younger
ones this year and go for a
classic jar of sweets. They
look visually stunning, and
that oddly wrapped shape
will certainly keep the kids
guessing for a little longer.
Add a bit of humour to
your gift giving and make
someone a land-owner.
Everyone deserves to have
land they can call their own
even if its only 1 square
foot.
If your artistically talented you could offer to paint
the picture they’ve been
longing to hang above the
fireplace or even simply offer to paint a family portrait.
Just as long as you’ve got
the patience for the fidgety
children.
Have a go at making your
own gifts. If they turn out
well then great, if not then
‘its the thought that counts’.
Page 23
North Down Advertiser
Issue 104 - December 2014
Bangor Lights Up
Winter Fun Sorted Food Standards Agency
At Bangor Aurora Urges You To ‘Look Before
Bangor’s state of the art aquatic and leisure complex is now open and well worth
a visit. Aurora has a wide range of facilities offering an excellent choice of sporting
and leisure activities.
Bangor Aurora Aquatic
and Leisure Complex is
the official name of the
new £38m leisure facility
at the site of the Valentines Playing Fields.
The development of the
centre includes a £15m
investement from the
Department of Culture,
Arts and Leisure (DCAL),
administered by Sport
Northern Ireland. The
centre includes the development of Northern Ireland’s first FINA standard
50 metre swimmming
pool.
Bangor Aurora has a
wide range of facilities
offering an excellent
choice of sporting and leisure activities including:
• olympic sized pool
• leisure waters with
flumes and sidewinder
slider
• health suite
• fitness suite
• eight court sports hall
• two squash courts
• outdoor floodlit
• synthetic grass pitch
for matches and training.
• children’s soft adventure play area and themed
soft play facility suitable
for parties
• children’s creche,
• two function rooms
• cafeteria
Residents of North
Down can now register
for the Resident Card!
Being in possession of
a Resident Card entitles
you to a discount on
casual activities at both
Bangor Aurora Aquatic
and Leisure Complex and
Queen’s Leisure Complex
in Holywood. If you live
in a North Down postcode
you can register free of
charge online. Please
bring proof of address
with you on your first
visit so your card can be
validated.
Full details of services
provided can be found at
bangoraurora.com including information on swimming lessons and health
and fitness, as well as
bookings and timetables.
Tel: 028 9127 0271
Bangor Aurora, 3 Valentine Road, Bangor, CoDown, BT20 4TH
www.bangoraurora.com
You Book’ For Christmas
Thinking of eating out this Christmas?
If you’re planning that special Christmas meal with
work colleagues, friends or family the Food Standards
Agency would like to remind you to ‘look before you
book’.
Christmas is a time to enjoy good company and good
food without worrying about food poisoning. But the
truth is, you can’t tell a restaurant’s hygiene standards
by how clean and tidy the staff look or by how busy
it is.
It’s the things you can’t see – like germs
spread by bad hygiene practices - that you need
to consider. There’s one easy way to put your
mind at rest – check the food hygiene rating.
The food hygiene rating tells you about hygiene standards in restaurants and other food businesses. It’s really easy to check. Just go online and check the Food
Standards Agency website: www.food.gov.uk/ratings or
if you’re out and about check for the green and black
sticker; if you can’t see one, just ask.
The ratings are determined by local council food
safety officers and run from 0-5, with a 5 rating meaning a very good level of food hygiene. 93% of food
businesses are rated 3 or better so there are plenty of
places with good standards and you can easily avoid
taking your family to those not meeting the grade. If
you don’t see a green and black sticker in the window
or you spot a low rating online, you can make a better
informed choice.
For
more
information,
visit
www.food.
g o v. u k / b u s i n e s s - i n d u s t r y / c a t e r e r s / h y g i e n eratings
or
contact Ards
Borough
Council Environmental Health on 028 9182 4000.
Sharing Christmas Spirit
Share your Christmas joy this year by helping out your local community.
Seek charities which
require gifts for children this year. You
could buy new gifts or
even donate any old
toys which are no longer used in your home.
It may not feel like a
whole lot to you, but
your gifts may make
another child’s Christmas. Consider putting
a Christmas hamper
together - food, clothes
and toiletries may be in
short supply for some
families. Visit your local animal shelter and
make sure they have
plenty of supplies to
keep them ticking over
this Christmas.
Instead of giving gifts
to your friends and
families, you could arrange to give donations
to each others favourite
charities. You’ll both
feel amazing for helping
others
through
Christmas.
Another
idea is to volunteer your
services/time this year
and help out a local
charity with any tasks
you can. Be it through
fund-raising,
preparing and serving food or
even simply spending
time with another.
You could also host
your
fund-raising
events at your own
home, or try and get a
local venue involved.
Hosting your own event
means you can choose
a charity or charities of
your choice to donate
even more money to.
See if you can find any
charities who sell their
Christmas Essentials
We Always Forget
Every year we tend to forget the same things around Christmas, after you’ve
meticulously stressed over every finer detail of your Christmas holiday.
Batteries are top of the
list and, as Christmas
day looms ever closer,
you could find yourself
having to do without as
the local shops enjoy
their own holidays. If
you’ve planned your
gifts in advance you
should remember to
check if batteries are
included or not. Don’t
assume, as you’ll find
your child watching you
run around the house on
a battery treasure-hunt.
Don’t you hate it when
you finally muster up
the energy to finally
wrap all of your Christmas gifts, only for the
sudden realisation that
you’ve forgot to pick
up any wrapping paper?
Remember too late and
you’ll find yourself
crafting your own giftwrapping for what feels
like eternity. Similarly
you may want to remember to buy sellotape,
after all your going to
need it to keep your gifts
all wrapped up.
Your gift may be an
amazing one, but batteries simply isn’t all
you’ve got to lookout
for. If you get any digital
device you should check
whether they come with
a memory-card or not.
If not, then the recipient will end up holding,
reading and possibly
crying at the fact they
can do very little without a storage device for
those precious photos
you planned take on
Christmas day.
HD-TVs tend to fall
foul of not supplying
HD-MI cables, meaning you’ll not be able
to make any use of your
HD quality.
If you find your tables
quite quiet, perhaps its
a result of the missing crackers. Everyone
loves the witty banter
from those awful jokes
on Christmas day. Just
make sure not to forget
or else the jokes on you.
own Christmas cards
or even if there’s any
options of gifting a
percentage of money
to charity when buying your Christmas
presents.
Donate blood this
Christmas or even sign
up to be an organ donor,
there’s no greater gift
than helping to save
lives. Consider signing
up to sponsor a child or
animal for the year or
even think about taking up fostering. There
really is plenty you
can do to help out this
Christmas.
North Down Advertiser
Bangor Lights Up
Issue 104 - December 2014 Page 24
Be Original This
Clandeboye Estate
Christmas With HomeMade Decorations
The Clandeboye Estate is a country estate located in Bangor, County Down,
Northern Ireland, 12 miles outside Belfast.
Get crafty this Christmas with these
decorations you should personally
attempt to make this year.
There are a few perks
of making your own
decorations, such as
you can make any design you really want,
it’s affordable and it’s
a fun activity for all
the family to part-take
in.
A family activity you
should try this year
is making your own
snow-globes,
which
are easily crafted.
The beauty of making
your own snow-globe
is you’ll be able to
choose what you have
inside, be it a simple
snowman, wintry cottage or a model of your
own family members.
To make a simple
snow globe you will
need hot glues, glitter/egg shells, acrylic
paints and a jar with a
lid. When you’ve got
your materials, paint
the jar if you wish.
Then fill your jar with
water followed by the
glitter, then glue your
model to the lid of the
jar. Once it’s dry, close
the lid tightly and seal
the edges with glue.
Choose to design
your own Christmas
wreath. You can use
this as an excuse to
go for a walk and see
what you can find at
your local forest parks.
Remember to consider
whether anything will
decompose over time,
especially if you’d like
it to last more than a
single year.
If you can sew or
knit, then why not
make use of your skill
and create your very
own Christmas table
cloth. You’ll be able to
make your own unique
design that is sure to be
admired by your guests
and family.
Another idea is to
make your own inn/
shelter using scrap
wood decorating the
roof and borders with
bark and the inside
with hay with a little
light to keep the inside
visible. You could either buy the models or
use clay to make your
own.
Covering 2,000 acres,
it contains woodlands,
formal and walled gardens, lawns, a lake, and
620 acres of farmland.
The estate is currently
home to The Marchioness of Dufferin and
Ava, widow of the last
Marquess (the title being
extinct).
Clandeboye was first
settled in 1674, but the
Clandeboye House of today dates from 1801, utilising a design by Robert
Woodgate that incorporated elements of the previous building and was
built for the politician
Sir James Blackwood,
2nd Baron Dufferin and
Clandeboye.
In memory of his
mother, Helen, Lady
Dufferin, Lord Dufferin
and Ava built the stone
edifice Helen’s Tower
on the estate, which has
since been immortalised
by Tennyson in the poem
of the same name. The
tower has taken on an
unforeseen poignancy, as
an almost exact replica
of it, the Ulster Tower,
was built at Thiepval to
honour the men of the
36th Division who fell at
the Battle of the Somme.
The estate was used for
army training during
the First World War,
and the 36th Division
trained beside Helen’s
Tower before leaving for
France. The tower can
be reached via the Ulster
Way, a five mile section
of which traverses the
estate.
The parklands familiar
to visitors today were
originally laid out by the
1st Marquess, who was
also responsible for the
addition of the banqueting hall to the house in
1898.
As a result of the work
of the 1st Marquess,
Clandeboye is home
to the largest area of
broad-leaved woodland
in Northern Ireland, consisting mostly of Oak,
Birch, and Beech. The
estate is also home to a
large variety of animal
species; those recorded
as present on the estate
include the Osprey, Red
Kite, Tree Sparrow, Barn
Owl,
Yellowhammer,
Song Thrush, Pipistrelle
Bat, Red Squirrel, Fallow Deer, Common
Newt, Marsh Fritillary,
and the Wall Brown Butterfly. The estate is home
to the Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland.
The grounds are tended
by head gardener Fergus
Thompson.
Local Man Receives Top Award
From National Charity
Peter Lyons, a local volunteer from Bangor in County Down, has won two
prestigious Volunteer of the Year awards from conservation charity the Woodland
Trust. Peter received the Oak
Award for ‘Most Outstanding Support’ at the
charity’s annual volunteer
conference held in Leeds.
And, putting Northern
Ireland firmly on the map,
Peter was also named the
Woodland Trust’s ‘Overall Volunteer of the Year
2014’ and was presented
with the Watkins memorial
medal. Peter is the first
person ever in Northern
Ireland to win this UK
award.
The awards were presented by Chief Executive
of the Woodland Trust
Beccy Speight and Woodland Trust President Clive
Anderson.
Peter has been involved
in several roles at the
Woodland Trust, including
photographer, researcher,
speaker and ancient tree
hunter. Having volunteered for over seven
years, he has worked with
a wide range of groups and
individuals, including corporate partners and landowners – and even crafted
a wooden bowl for HRH
The Princess Royal.
Peter Lyons, a local volunteer from Bangor with the Woodland Trust’s Chief
Executive Beccy Speight and Woodland Trust President Clive Anderson.
Lynn Thompson, Volunteering
Development
Champion, said: “The
Woodland Trust is incredibly lucky to have the support of volunteers around
the UK. Their continuous
and unrelenting efforts
go a long way in achieving our goals of creating,
protecting and restoring
native woodland, and
the Volunteer of the Year
award is one way we can
show all of our volunteers
that we really value their
outstanding effort. We
couldn’t do it without
them.” Each year the Woodland Trust gives awards
to the most outstanding
volunteers for their talent
and dedication. Winners
are selected from nearly
2,000 volunteers all over
the UK, who in 2013 dedicated over 140,000 hours
of their time. To find out how you can
get involved as a volunteer
visit www.woodlandtrust.
org.uk/volunteer
Page 25
North Down Advertiser
Issue 104 - December 2014
Bangor Lights Up
Crawfordsburn Shop local for Christmas
Filling Station
Local stores offer a relaxed, personal service and, instead of anxiously waiting for the post or delivery
van, you can simply take your gifts home and have Christmas all wrapped-up in no time.
Opened in 1955 by Jack McCormick, Crawfordsburn Filling
Station, locally known as Linda’s, has been serving the local
community for nearly 60 years under the watchful eye of
Linda McCormick, daughter of the late Jack McCormick.
Linda McCormick (business owner) and Basil Miller This local store has established itself as the first name
in quality local produce.
The shop stocks a vast
array of top quality local
produce including fresh fruit
and vegetables, such as their
popular fresh asparagus and
the smoked garlic. They also
bake artisan breads fresh on
the premises daily (including Sundays), with some
popular choices including
black olive, rosemary & olive, country sourdough and
roasted garlic.
As well as this, a best
seller in the store is
O’Doherty’s from Enniskillen famous Black Bacon.
Other O’Doherty products
you can find instore include
Fermanagh Corned Beef,
Stuffed Pork Fillets and
Black & White Puddings.
Other Suppliers include
Love Olive, The Local Chutneys and relishes from Bella
Jo, a selection of meat from
David Mawhinneys & Sons
Butchers of Bangor, bread,
cakes and traybakes from
the award winning Heatherlea Bakery. Linda also has a
range of gluten free products
including gluten free cakes
from Thyme & Co. The
cheese selection carries a
wide variety from Epoisse
to Selles Sur Cher, Black
Bomber to Haloumi.
This is definitely a Spar
store with a difference, a one
stop shop.
So why not call and see all
of their excellent choices for
yourself. They are based at
90 Ballyrobert Road, Crawfordsburn and their winter
opening hours are Monday –
Sunday, 7.30am to 8pm.
Backing regional retailers
is good for the environment,
too.
1 Drinks: Independent
off licenses are surprisingly
competitive. Remember to
check out drinks that are
manufactured or produced
locally to serve at your party
or xmas table!
2 Snow fun: If Winter arrives early again this year,
be prepared. Check out
machinery suppliers locally
for snow blowers for light
flurries and dual-stage for
heavier snowfalls. .A Leaf
blower could also be a great
gift for the garden enthiasiast that has everything else!
3 Party time: This sea-
son’s dresses are just off the
catwalk at your local High
Street boutique. The other
big benefit of avoiding the
chain store fashion trap is
that it’s much more unlikely
that anyone else will turn up
to the xmas do wearing the
same outfit...oops!
4 Crowning glory: Every
girl wants her hair to look
perfect for the party season.
Your local experts have
invested heavily in training
and products to ensure you
look a million dollars your
big night out but it won’t
cost city centre prices!
5 Christmas scent: Give
your home a welcoming,
festive atmosphere by filling
it with delightful seasonal
scents. Nothing better than
the aromas of fresh flowers,
fresh coffee or a yankee
candle..all available at local
stores near you
6. Activites: Whether it’s
swimming, Water sports,
horse-riding, karting, football, crafts, slimming clubs
or almost anything else you
can think of you can invest
locally to support your gift
recipient either with a gift
voucher from the activity
provider or in some cases
sportswear from the local
sports shop.
7. Cherished gift: Jewellery is a precious asset to
many women – choose
something handmade locally
so that your gift really is
special.
8. Fresh food: Cut down
on food miles and buy fresh
fruit, veg and meats locally
–we’re promised that you’ll
taste the difference!
Bangor Lights Up
North Down Advertiser
Issue 104 - December 2014 Page 26
Get All Wrapped Up And Make
A Difference This Christmas
As temperatures dip this festive season, cosy up in a Christmas Jumper and help raise funds for local kids living with cancer.
Cancer Fund for Children is urging people to
embrace the Christmas
magic, leave their shirts
and ties in the wardrobe
and pull on the cosiest,
cheesiest
Christmas
jumper they can find.
Gather up colleagues or
classmates and take part
in the charity’s fun All
Wrapped Up campaign.
By wrapping up in
a Christmas jumper,
people will help the
charity deliver its range
of “wrap-around” specialist services for local children living with
cancer from the point
of diagnosis and treatment through to remission and sadly, in some
cases bereavement.
Cancer Fund for Children’s Natasha Walsh
explained: “We are
there at every stage of
the cancer journey. We
offer financial grants,
one to one support ses-
sions and therapeutic
short breaks. This December, with your help,
we can continue to be
there.”
Georgina McKee from
Drumaroad,
County
Down, whose family
received support from
the charity after her
little son Eoghan was
diagnosed with cancer
explained why this help
was so vital:
“During
Eoghan’s
cancer journey we
enjoyed a therapeutic
short break. It was like
a sanctuary, a safe haven away from the gruelling routine of hospital. We got chatting to
others and gained a lot
from meeting families
who understood the
challenges and fears
of nursing a child with
cancer. The staff were
amazing and looked after us so well. The food
was delicious; it was
Little Eoghan Doyle, his older sister Amy and
baby sister Shauna are pictured with charity
fundraiser Natasha Walsh (left) and Jonny
Fusco (right) from Bangor Fuels
like eating out every
night. People don’t realise how much a place
like that is needed until
it happens to them.”
To sign up to the super cosy event, which
is kindly sponsored by
Bangor Fuels, contact
Alex on 028 9080 5599
or email alex@cancerfundforchildren.com.
For more information
log on to www.cancer
fundforchildren.com/
events
Will You Be Having A Calorie Conscious
Christmas Dinner?
Most Christmas lunches are packed with nutrients thanks to them containing
turkey and veg.
But all the extras can
quickly tot up the calories, too. Here’s how to
enjoy your meal without
breaking the calorie bank.
Turkey is a great option
for slimmers. It’s packed
with protein, which helps
fill you up, and provides
many other nutrients
including zinc, a mineral
that keeps the immune
system in tip-top shape.
But best of all, turkey is
lower in fat and calories
than many other meats,
especially if you go for
the breast. A 90g serving of roasted, skinless
turkey breast contains
just 140 calories and 1.8g
fat compared with 160
calories and 5.9g fat in
the same sized serving of
dark meat.
Don’t smother the
turkey with oil, butter,
margarine or lard when
you cook it. If you must
use something, use a
pastry brush to add a light
covering of oil rather
than pouring or spooning
it over. Remember, just
1tbsp oil contains 100
calories and 11g fat!
Pile your plate high
with traditional seasonal
vegetables such as red
cabbage, carrots, Brussels sprouts, swede and
cauliflower. The more
colours you have on your
plate, the greater the variety of nutrients. You’ll
retain more vitamins
and minerals, too, if you
steam veggies rather than
boiling them – and you’ll
be less likely to add salt.
Finally, don’t serve veg
smothered in butter. Just
1tsp will add 35 calories
and 4.1g fat to your meal.
Use less fat to roast
potatoes and parsnips.
Parboil them first, then
brush lightly with oil
rather
than
pouring
straight from the bottle.
Pop them into the oven
and you should have
delicious, crispy roasties that aren’t loaded
with oil. Keep them in
large pieces, too, as this
reduces the amount of fat
they absorb.
Make your own stuffing
with chopped chestnuts,
which contain just 2.7g
fat per 100g. It’s a better
option than sausage meat,
which provides around
32g fat per 100g! To keep
the fat content down further, use a spray oil to fry
onion if you plan to use it
in stuffing.
Beware of all the extras
such as cranberry sauce,
bread pudding and white
sauce. They add calories
but little else – allow 25
calories for 1tsp cranberry sauce, 40 calories
for an average serving of
bread sauce made with
semi-skimmed milk and
20 calories for 1tbsp
white sauce made with
semi-skimmed milk.
Page 27
North Down Advertiser
Issue 104 - December 2014
The History Shining A Light
Of Christmas In Donaghadee
Carols
Carols were first sung in Europe
thousands of years ago, but these were
not Christmas Carols.
They were pagan
songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations
as people danced round
stone circles. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, usually taking place around
the 22nd December.
The word Carol actually means dance or a
song of praise and joy!
Carols used to be written and sung during all
four seasons, but only
the tradition of singing
them at Christmas has
really survived.
Early Christians took
over the pagan solstice
celebrations for Christmas and gave people
Christian songs to sing
instead of pagan ones.
In AD 129, a Roman
Bishop said that a song
called “Angel’s Hymn”
should be sung at a
Christmas service in
Rome. Another famous
early Christmas Hymn
was written in 760AD,
by Comas of Jerusalem,
for the Greek Orthodox
Church. Soon after
this many composers
all over Europe started
to write ‘Christmas
carols’.
Before carol singing in public became
popular, there were
sometimes official carol
singers called ‘Waits’.
These were bands of
people led by important
local leaders (such as
council leaders) who
had the only power in
the towns and villages
to take money from the
public (if others did
this, they were sometimes charged as beggars!). They were called
‘Waits’ because they
only sang on Christmas
Eve (This was sometimes known as ‘watchnight’ or ‘waitnight’
because the shepherds
were watching their
sheep when the angels
appeared to them.),
when the Christmas celebrations began.
New Carol services
were created and became popular, as did the
custom of singing carols
in the streets. Both of
these customs are still
popular today! One of
the most popular types
of Carols services are
Carols by Candlelight
services. At this service,
the church is only lit by
candlelight and it feels
very Christmassy!
Perhaps the most
famous carol service,
is the service of Nine
Lessons and Carols
from King’s College in
Cambridge, UK. This
service takes place on
Christmas Eve and is
broadcast live on BBC
Radio. The Service was
first performed in 1918
as a way of the college
celebrating the end of
the First World War. It
is always started with a
single choir boy singing
a solo of the first verse
of the Carol ‘Once in
Royal David’s City’.
Perhaps the lighthouse is the thing on the Donaghadee
coastline that is most eye catching and jumps into people’s
minds as they think about Donaghadee.
Aside from being a
stunning addition to an
already naturally beautiful coastline, the lighthouse brings elements
of history to the seaside
town, making it even
more attractive.
The large and very attractive harbour which
is now full of pleasure
boats and sailing boats
was actually first built
in 1820 to accommodate the mighty mail
ships. There have been
many significant ships
anchored in the harbour
at Donaghadee, and this
ever changing horizon
line is created by what
ships are resting in the
harbour at a particular
time.
The lighthouse tower
itself is built from cut
limestone, and in its first
days stood on the edge
of the pier in natural
grey colour. However,
today the iconic lighthouse tower is now
painted a fresh white
colour, with a black
plinth, as it was first
done some time around
1875.
Without question one
of the most attractive
and relaxing things to
do in Donaghadee is to
take a leisurely stroll
down around the pier
and harbour and listen
to the sights and sounds
of the ocean. Why not
pack a flask of nice
warm tea, and find a
spot with a good view,
take a seat and warm
yourself whilst taking in
the scenery.
Peninsulas’ Christmas Punch
North Down Advertiser
Holywood’s Christmas Crackers
Christmas trees
The Christmas tree is a strong symbol of Christmas.
It serves as the family’s center of attention.
In fact, it is the center
of most Christmas ceremonies all over the
world.
Christmas is about
traditions and memories, and symmetric and
beautifully decorated
Christmas trees are
something that the entire family will always
value and remember.
Every year, between 25
and 30 million Americans celebrate Christmas with Christmas
trees, thus, the scent of
a freshly cut Christmas
tree enlivens the Christmas spirit among most
of us.
Christmas trees have
a long and exciting
history. During the preChristian era, people
and tribes often had
holy groves and trees
where they sacrificed
to the gods. The trees
were most often oak
or ash, and they symbolized a connection
between heaven and
earth. Similar ideas are
found in the Old Testament – trees symbolized wisdom and life.
In the 15th and 16th
centuries,
German
tradesmen began to
hold parties where a
spruce was placed inside a home. Another
story tells of how the
German
theologian
and reformer, Martin
Luther, put candles on
the leaves as symbols
of the stars twinkling
among the forest’s
trees. In the 17th century, the tradition of
decorated
Christmas
trees in connection with
festivities spread out
to the German towns,
and from there, to other
parts of Europe.
Did you know:
With 3,000 Christmas lights, a towering
Eucalyptus
regnans,
80 meters (262 ft) tall,
became the tallest-ever
Christmas tree in the
world. This record
was set in Tasmania in
1999.
Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the
idea of electric lights
for Christmas trees in
1882.
Issue 104 - December 2014 Page 28
Christmas
Dinner Games
Do you prepare Christmas dinner for everyone? If you are in
charge of the gathering for Christmas dinner, you will want to
organize a few fun games and activities besides the meal.
Here are a few funloving ways to divert the
crowd until the Christmas dinner is done.
Guess The Christmas
Dinner
Here’s a simple game
all your guests will love.
Have everyone who did
not work in the kitchen
guess the Christmas
dinner based on a smell
test. By sniffing aromas
in the air, players have
to figure out the Christmas menu. Although it
may be easy to guess
whether you’re cooking roast beef or turkey,
it’s harder to figure out
what type of potatoes
are being prepared. Are
they baked potatoes or
mashed with gravy?
Do you smell squash or
broccoli with cheese or
both?
Get
Board
On
Christmas
To avoid getting bored,
get board on Christmas
- that is, get out your
old board games. Find
the most childlike board
games you own and tote
them out for Christmas
fun. Have the grown
men sit on the floor to
play the games. Take a
photo of the guys while
they cluster around playing a round of Chutes
and Ladders on the floor.
An even better idea is to
give the guys a princess
dress-up game so you
can laugh at the fathers
and grandfathers wearing frills and tiaras. If
you play princess games,
make sure the camera is
handy to capture those
funny moments forever.
Christmas Tablecloth
Decorating
When the kids start to
clamor around the table
asking for food, divert
their attention by having
them decorate the tablecloth with Christmas designs. Leave your Aunt
Harriet’s fine linens in
the china closet and use
a cheap, disposable tablecloth instead. You can
even keep this doodling
tablecloth every year to
see the progression of
the children’s artwork.
Have the kids use permanent markers and date
and sign their creations
so you have the information in years to come.
The Colours of Christmas
There are several colours which are traditionally associated with Christmas.
The traditional colours
used are Red, Green and
Gold. But why do we
have them and what do
the colours represent?
Green
Evergreen plants, like
Holly, Ivy and Mistle-
toe have been used for
thousands of years to
decorate and brighten
up buildings during
the long dark winter.
They also reminded
people
that
spring
would come and that
winter wouldn’t last
forever! The Romans
would exchange evergreen branches during
January as a sign of
good luck. The ancient
Egyptians used to bring
palm branches into their
houses during the mid
winter festivals.
In many parts of Europe during the middle
ages, Paradise plays
were performed, often on Christmas Eve.
They told Bible stories
to people who couldn’t
read. The ‘Paradise
Tree’ in the garden of
eden in the play was
normally a pine tree
with red apples tied to
it.
Red
As mentioned above,
an early use of red at
Christmas were the
apples on the paradise
tree. They represented
the fall of Adam in the
plays. Red is also the
colour of Holly berries, which is said to
represent the blood of
Jesus when he died on
the cross. Red would
also have been worn by
St. Nicholas and then
also became Santa’s
uniform!
Gold
Gold is the colour of
the Sun and light - both
very important in the
dark winter. And both
red and gold are the
colours of fire that you
need to keep you warm.
Gold was also one of
the presents brought to
the baby Jesus by one
of the wise men and
traditionally it’s the
colour used to show the
star that the wise men
followed.
Sporting In Holywood
Holywood Cricket Club is amalgamated with the Holywood R.F.C.
Cricket may have
been played in Holywood as early as 1860
but the present club,
as we know it, was
formed as a result of a
meeting held on Monday, 28 March 1881.
In the first season
games against Ballynahinch, Enfield, Lurgan, North Down and
Sydenham followed the
opening game against
Wellington, when the
team was captained by
Joe Ross.
North Down Borough Council provided
HCC with a new home
at Seapark. “Seapark
Oval”
was
finally
ready during the 2005
season, after 8 years of
using the pitch at Sullivan School. The cricket
club now share the
Seapark grounds with a
bowling club and Holywood Football Club.
Holywood is the
home of the Royal
Belfast Golf Club, the
oldest in Ireland, dating from 1881. The
club’s present course
was designed by architect Harry Colt in
1926. The town also
features the Holywood
Golf Club, which was
founded in 1904; this
course is where 2011
U.S. Open champion
Rory McIlroy learned
his golf, and the champion still calls it his
home course.
Holywood F.C. was
formed in 1983 following the amalgamation of two Northern
Amateur League teams,
Loughview Star (1961–
83) and Holywood
Town (1972–83). These
two clubs had not been
very successful, though
Loughview had caused
a sensation when they
reached the Clarence
Cup final while still a
Second Division club,
losing 2-0 to Lisburn
Rangers in 1964–65
The club has enjoyed
even more success in
recent years, by winning the 2a title and
the Cochrane & Corry
Cup in the 1999–2000
season. As a result the
club were promoted for
the first time in their
history to intermediate
status in Division 1B.
Page 29
North Down Advertiser
Issue 104 - December 2014
The History of
Holywood
In the 17th century, Ulster ports began to rise in prominence. In 1625 William
Pitt was appointed as Customer of the ports of Newcastle, Dundrum, Killough,
Portaferry, Donaghadee, Bangor and Holywood.
In the early 19th century
Holywood, like many other
coastal villages throughout
Ireland, became popular as a
resort for sea-bathing. Many
wealthy Belfast merchants
chose the town and the surrounding area to build large
homes for themselves. These
included the Kennedys of
Cultra and the Harrisons
of Holywood. Dalchoolin
House stood on the site of
the present Ulster Transport
Museum, while Cultra Manor was built in 1902–1904
and now houses part of the
Ulster Folk and Transport
Museum.
The railway line from
Belfast to Holywood opened
in 1848 and this led to rapid
development. The population of Holywood was approximately 3,500 in 1900
and had grown to 12,000 by
2001. This growth, coupled
with the growth of other
towns and villages along
the coastal strip to Bangor,
necessitated the construction
of the Holywood Bypass in
the early 1970s. Holywood
today is a popular residential
area and is well known for
its fashionable shops, boutiques, arts and crafts.
The Old Priory in Holywood ruins lie at the bottom of the High Street. The
tower dates from 1800, but
the oldest ruins date from
the early 13th century. The
Priory graveyard is the resting place for many distinguished citizens including
the educational reformer,
Dr Robert Sullivan, and
the Praeger family. Robert
Lloyd Praeger (1865–1953)
was an internationally renowned botanist and his
sister, Rosamund Praeger
(1867–1954) gained fame
as a sculptor and writer.
“Johnny the Jig”, one of her
sculptures, is situated in the
town.
Holywood’s Christmas Crackers
The 12 Cocktails Of
Christmas
There are a number of traditional Christmas or winter holiday drinks, but in
recent years people have gotten very creative.
Some people have created Christmas-themed
cocktails from scratch,
while others have added
Christmas twists to existing cocktail recipes.
This is a collection of…
well, whatever struck my
fancy as a winter holiday
cocktail.
Eggnog is a tradition
for a reason. It tastes
great with or without
alcohol, which makes
it perfect for gatherings
that include drinkers and
non-drinkers.
Hot Buttered Rum is
a classic, cuddly sort of
drink – perfect for small
parties and parties of two.
Mulled Wine is a wintertime classic – red wine
with sugar and all sorts of
spices.
The Peppermint Stick
uses white creme de
cacao and peppermint
schnapps to get a mint
chocolate flavor. Easy to
serve one by one or in
premixed pitchers.
The Christmas Cookie
blends the commonly
paired Kahlua and Bailey’s with an unexpected
shot
of
peppermint
schnapps.
Had enough of the
holidays already? Have a
Grinch and feel better.
The Santa Shot layers
peppermint
schnapps,
grenadine and green
creme de menthe for a
beautiful little shot of
Christmas spirit.
The Chocolate Raspberry Martini is just what
it sounds like. Oh, yes, it
is.
The Red Hot Santa Tini
uses chili-pepper infused
vodka and a rim that’s
cocoa powder mixed with
cayenne. Not your typical
Christmas fare.
Tired of being a grown
What To Wear Support Your Local
To A Christmas Charity Shops During
Party
This Festive Time
The holiday season is on its way,
which means that there are holiday
parties to attend and plenty of
opportunities to get dressed up.
However, when you’re on a budget, purchasing
new attire for a holiday bash may seem overwhelming. The costs of clothing, shoes, and accessories quickly add up, and before you know it,
you’ve spent a small fortune on clothing to wear to
a single event.
This year, don’t go overboard on spending!
There are many options available to find beautiful
apparel that will last you through the holidays and
beyond. You can be stylish without bleeding your
bank account dry!
The type of apparel you wear to an event varies, but two basic outfits work for most holiday
parties:
A Cocktail Dress in Black, Red, Jewel Tones,
Silver, or Gold.
Choose a dress with a metallic finish or glitzy
sequined details, and dress it up or down using
accessories. If you have several parties to attend,
a basic black dress can serve you well and save
money, as you can easily change the entire look
with your accessories without appearing to “recycle” your party clothes.
A Nice Pair of Black Slacks Matched With a
Close-Fitting Top.
If you already have a pair of nice black trousers,
alternate wearing them with one or two tops with
festive, shining details to really help you stand
out.
The old adage “Charity begins at home” certainly counts for our families and
close friends, but also rings true for those less well off in our communities.
On the front-line in the
battle against poverty
and championing the
cause of those who may
be ill or not in a position
to help themselves, are
local charity shops.
At this time of year,
coming up to Christmas,
we are getting the house
ready for decoration and
getting the supplies in
for the festive season.
This often involves
clearing out old electrical items that we no
longer use or are about
to upgrade, like white
goods, or audio or visual
equipment. If you are
getting the family a
new widescreen TV this
Christmas – don’t just
throw your old set away.
Why not donate it to a
local charity shop? The
shop can sell the TV on
and earn money that is
used to help the community in your area, so
as you are clearing out
your house of unwanted
items you will at the
same time be helping
those less well off.
The same goes for any
of your old clothes that
you don’t use any more.
If you have a creaking
wardrobe full of clothes
that you haven’t worn
in ages, or will perhaps
never wear again, then
why not fill a bag of
old coats, hats or even
formal dresses and hand
them in at a charity
shop.
If you can, why not
buy a brand new gift and
donate it to the charity
shop – they will be able
to offer a great new gift
for sale in the shop. So
this festive season, think
about how you can help
your local charity shop.
In turn through them,
you will be helping
your local community.
There’s no better time of
year to do it.
up? Get a Snowball down
you. A blended, creamy
drink featuring tequila
and cinnamon.
The Poinsettia is very
simple:
champagne,
Cointreau and cranberry
juice.
The Candy Cane blends
peppermint
schnapps
with berry vodka and
creme de cacao to make a
drink that truly passes for
dessert.
Bonus: It’s not exactly
“cocktails” and certainly
not traditional, but you
can make Skittles Vodka
in red and green in presentation flasks – or Vodka
Gummi Bears in red and
green.
Page 30
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
O’Dowd welcomes O’Neill Meets With The
Chief Inspector’s Fishing Industry Ahead Of
Annual Quota Negotiations
report
Education Minister, John O’Dowd, has welcomed the Chief
Inspector’s report and underlined his commitment to raising
standards for all children and young people.
Chief Inspector of the
Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI),
Noelle Buick, has delivered her biennial report into the local education system, covering
the period 2012-14.
Commenting on the
report, the Minister
said: “I welcome Noelle Buick’s report and
very much value the
scrutiny and feedback
that ETI provides. This
report deserves careful scrutiny and it will
assist in implementing current education
policy and in informing
thinking on new policy
in the future.
“My top priority as
Education
Minister
is to raise standards
for all of our children,
regardless of gender,
religion
or
socioeconomic background.
I believe that the range
of policies currently in
place under the Every
School a Good School
umbrella are helping
achieve this goal and
are reducing the gap in
performance between
those from the most
affluent backgrounds
and those who are more
disadvantaged.
“There is a consistent
downward trend in the
number of young people leaving school each
year without reaching
the crucial standard
five good GCSEs, including English and
maths. I want to see
this trend continue, but
I recognise there are
still too many young
people in this position
and that there is more
work to be done by all
of us in education.
“In addressing this
inequality I am very
keen to encourage
parents, carers and
families to get involved
in their children’s education, from the early
years, right through
into adolescence. Such
involvement delivers
real benefits to educa-
tional outcomes and is
the focus of my ongoing Education Works
campaign.”
The Minister continued: “I am pleased
to note that leadership
and management were
evaluated as good or
better in the majority
of settings. These attributes are central to
the delivery of education and have a direct
impact on outcomes for
children.
“I am also encouraged by the high level
of pastoral care provided by local schools.
This is testament to
the
everyday
hard
work and commitment
teachers and staff right
across the system.”
In conclusion the
Minister said: “I thank
Ms Buick and her team
of inspectors at the ETI
for this report. I value
their expertise and the
report will prove a useful tool for me and my
Department.”
Fisheries Minister Michelle O’Neill met with DEFRA Fisheries Minister, George
Eustice MP and representatives of the fishing industry in Belfast recently.
The meeting was held
to discuss their negotiating priorities for
the forthcoming European Council of Ministers
meetings which will set
limits on fishing opportunities for 2015.
Speaking afterwards,
Minister O’Neill said:
“I was glad to be able to
welcome Defra Minister,
George Eustice and representatives of the fishing industry. This is the
second time this annual
event has happened in
the north of Ireland. The
negotiations are a joint
effort between Fisheries Ministers and this
meeting gives us an opportunity to listen to the
industry views and factor
these into our priorities
for Council.
“The
Commission’s
initial proposals for some
Irish Sea stocks were
published yesterday and
we will be studying these
closely. I’m disappointed
that the Commission has
proposed a cut in the Irish
Sea Haddock quota of
20% because of the lack
of a full stock assessment. I think a case can
be made to minimise a
cut. The haddock fishery
provides a useful alterna-
Pictured are Fisheries Minister Michelle O’Neill and DEFRA Fisheries Minister,
George Eustice MP.
tive for a few vessels and
helps to take the pressure
off the prawn stock. All
fishing trips are scientifically observed and the
vessels have been able to
target haddock this year
with cod by-catch less
than 1.5%. I also want
to see the Commission
to set aside a scientific
quota for Irish Sea cod so
that Member States can
continue to carry out a
meaningful assessment of
the state of the stock.”
The Minister added:
“Nephrops (prawns) will
be my number one priority as is always the case
for a Fisheries Minister
from the north of Ireland
which reflects the critical
importance of this stock
to the local fleet. Unfortunately the Nephrops
scientific advice is not
expected to be published
until Friday 31 October
2014 and it may be some
weeks before we get the
Commission’s proposal
for a Total Allowable
Catch for 2015. I will be
pressing hard for the best
deal for our industry. I
will resist strongly any
proposals to diminish
fishing opportunities in
the Irish Sea where these
are not justified on scientific grounds.”
TAKE ON AFRICA
FOR CHILDREN
BATTLING CANCER
A NEWTOWNABBEY woman is about to embark on the trip of a lifetime to explore
the wilds of Africa all in the name of a local charity…and she’s looking for company.
Mary O’Hea got bitten by the charity trek
bug when she took part
in Cancer Fund for
Children’s Great Wall of
China trek last year and
has just signed up to the
charity’s 10-day African
Tribal Trek which takes
place in June 2015.
Money raised will enable Cancer Fund for
Children to continue to
provide free practical,
emotional and financial
support to local children
affected by cancer and
their families.
Mary spoke of how
exciting the treks are
and urged others to join
her in signing up to the
adventure:
“I made some wonderful new friends among
the Team Daisy trekkers
in China. We laughed
our way through the
entire trek despite the
physical and emotional
Mary O’Hea from
Newtownabbey
raising money for
Cancer Fund for
Children.
challenges and saw some
amazing sights often
missed by the tourists. It
was an amazing experience that is just made
better knowing you are
supporting a local char-
ity which is doing such
wonderful work with local families affected by
cancer.
“I am expecting the
African trek to be even
better and I’m looking
forward to climbing up
to volcano craters in the
Great Rift Valley, tramping through grasslands
with no trees where we
might see Zebras, wildebeests and birds of prey.”
Cancer Fund for Children’s Natasha Walsh
added:
“Our African Tribal
Trek will be like a safari
on foot with the most
breath taking views! Imagine swarms of pink flamingos cooling in lakes,
buffalos herds, hyenas
and leopards! It’s an unbelievable opportunity to
experience Maasai tribal
life and do it all knowing
you have made such a
difference to local families at home.”
For more information
or to sign up visit www.
cancerfundforchildren.
com or get in touch 028
9080 5599 / alex@can
cerfundforchildren.com
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Page 31
CINEMAGIC’S YOUNG ‘Work Required To
FILMMAKERS FLY HIGH Improve The Safety
Of Prisoners In
WITH AER LINGUS
IT was lights, camera, action for Andrea Hunter, Business Development Manager at Aer Lingus and
Joan Burney Keating, CEO of Cinemagic recently at George Best Belfast City Airport as they announced
the airline’s sponsorship of the premiere screenings for Cinemagic’s new Northern Ireland feature film, ‘A
Christmas Star’.
As associated sponsor,
Aer Lingus will support Cinemagic with
their extensive air travel
requirements during the
making of the film and
with all their scheduled
premieres,
including
flights from Belfast City
Airport to London Heathrow and Gatwick and
transatlantic flights from
Dublin to New York and
San Francisco.
Earlier this year Cinemagic’s patron, Lord Julian Fellowes, announced
the production of the
Christmas feature film,
the first of its kind made
by Cinemagic Young
Filmmakers.
The film will give
hundreds of young people across the island of
Ireland, from all backgrounds the opportunity
to work with Oscar and
BAFTA award winners,
learning from the best
in the industry. It will
showcase Northern Ireland on an international
stage and will allow
young people to develop
new skills and make new
friends.
Speaking at the partnership launch, Aer
Lingus’ Andrea Hunter
said: “We were delighted
to be approached by
Cinemagic and thrilled
to lend our support to the
valuable work Cinemagic is undertaking in the
local community with
Pictured are; Joan Burney Keatings MBE, Chief Executive Cinemagic with Andrea
Hunter, Aer Lingus Business Development Manager, NI join young cinemagic star
Erin Galway-Kendrick from Newtownards (who will play Noelle in the leading
role), to announce the sponsorship.
this ground breaking and
unique initiative.”
“Through our network
of value routes we can
assist Cinemagic in
fulfilling their travel
demands and we look
forward to welcoming
Cinemagic’s cast and
production crew on
board to experience our
award winning service
and product.”
Joan Burney Keatings, Chief Executive of
Cinemagic commented:
“We are delighted that
Aer Lingus has come
on board as associated
sponsor of the premiere
screenings of “A Christmas Star’. Having the
support of such a well
established and trusted
brand means that Cinemagic can concentrate on
encouraging young people in Northern Ireland to
realise their potential.
“Our partnership will
provide Aer Lingus with
the chance to speak to
our devoted audience
and together we have
planned some exciting
incentives, including the
2015 Art for Schools’
Competition, visits to
the film set and amazing
competitions, which we
will roll out through the
coming year.
“Our new relationship
with Aer Lingus is a
great springboard from
which we hope to develop future affiliations.”
The project is supported by Aer Lingus, OFMDFM, Creative Skillset,
Tourism Ireland, BBC
NI, UTV, Department
for Social Development,
George Best Belfast City
Airport and Arts & Business Northern Ireland.
Action on Hearing Continuing
Success of Deaf Awareness Project
for Schools and Youth Groups
Action on Hearing Loss, the leading UK charity working with people who are deaf, have a hearing loss
or tinnitus, launched the D.A.Y (Deaf Awareness for Young People) in January.
Since then, they have
reached out to over 700
young people across 14
different schools and
youth groups, and are
spreading the awareness of deafness, hard
of hearing and tinnitus
across Northern Ireland.
The sessions are ran
by staff members and
volunteers to hearing
groups across Northern
Ireland, with the aim
to raise awareness of
the challenges deaf and
hard of hearing people
face, to increase awareness of sign language
and also to increase empathy and inclusion.
D.A.Y sessions are
fun and interactive and
are tailored to suit specific age groups through
age appropriate exercises and can even cater
for specific requirements, such as working towards a disability badge, for example.
Signing puppets and
story books are used for
younger children whilst
older children focus
more on how the ear
works, why people are
deaf and cover a range
of basic signs to enable
them to communicate
with someone who is
hard of hearing or deaf.
All children are encouraged to take part and
there are D.A.Y prizes
to be won, such as pens,
rubbers and yoyo’s for
example.
D.A.Y sessions offer a
fun and interactive way
of encouraging young
people to think about
their hearing, whilst
also encouraging them
to think about inclusion.
The sessions encourage
young people to think
about how hearing loss
affects people in everyday situations, what can
damage their own hearing and how they can
protect it.
Nuala Muldoon, from
Action on Hearing Loss
says, “So far this project
has been really well
received by schools and
youth groups. Children
who have participated
come out with a clear
understanding of how a
Deaf person might feel,
the obstacles they face
and will feel confident
enough to try to communicate. This in turn
will reduce isolation and
hopefully
encourage
more interest in young
people learning sign
language in the future”.
Special thanks to
Bombardier Aerospace
for funding the project
until July 2014.
If you would like to
book a D.A.Y session
please contact Nuala
Muldoon on telephone
/ textphone: 028 9023
9619 or e-mail: anya.liotti@hearingloss.org.uk
www.actiononhearing
loss.org.uk/day
Northern Ireland’
Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) and the
Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) have
called on the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) and
the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (SEHSCT), to
improve how they tackle issues of self-harm, suicide, bullying
and drug misuse in local prisons.
The
recommendations – which are to be
implemented within the
next nine months – are
included in a joint report
on the safety of prisoners
published recently.
“Serving
time
in
prison can be relatively
straightforward for some
offenders. But for those
prisoners with mental
health issues, personality
disorders, drug or alcohol
addiction or learning difficulties, it can be a time of
great vulnerability,” said
Brendan McGuigan, Chief
Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland.
“The safety of prisoners
is not just about preventing deaths in custody - it’s
about ensuring appropriate care and support is
provided to protect and
support those who are at
risk,” he said.
Given the concentration
of need found in Northern
Ireland’s prisons, Inspectors recommended that
existing policies aimed at
addressing these issues, be
reviewed to take account
of the inspection findings.
“Joint strategies between the NIPS and the
SEHSCT should be introduced to address the interlinked areas of suicide,
self-harm, bullying and
violence reduction and
the availability and access
to illegal and prescription
drugs,” said the Chief
Inspector.
“We believe this work
should be undertaken as
a matter of urgency and
completed by July 2015,
as the quantity and availability of drugs within
the prisons is concerning
and has significant links
to bullying and safer
custody.”
Reflecting on the current
situation, Mr McGuigan
said: “We would acknowledge the work the NIPS
and SEHSCT have carried
out to improve prisoner
safety since 2008. Inspectors saw evidence of good
work being undertaken by
Prison Service and healthcare staff on a daily basis
in dealing with difficult,
damaged and vulnerable
individuals in a caring
manner.
“This positive engagement coupled with quick
and decisive action, has
meant lives have been
saved.”
In conclusion, the Chief
Inspector of Criminal Justice said that given the importance of the safety of
prisoners more remained
to be done.
“We would urge the
NIPS and SEHSCT to enhance communication and
strengthen their working
relationships at strategic
and operational levels.
“I believe this inspection report can be used as
a springboard to develop
the partnership between
the two organisations to
improve safety and outcomes for prisoners, and
we will return to assess
progress as part of our
future follow-up review
programme,” he said.
Page 32
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Ford Rewards Justice
Dubai’s Business
Champions With Funding Leaders Seek Social
From Seized Criminal Assets Media Expertise
From NI
Justice Minister David Ford has crowned three ‘Justice Champions’ for services to their community at
an Awards ceremony in Parliament Buildings.
Albert Clyde and
Michelle Scott from
Riding for the Disabled,
Coleraine received one
of the three accolades
of Justice Champion
in recognition of their
work in helping offenders rehabilitate back
into the community.
They received £500 to
invest in equipment or
services to benefit their
local community.
Also named ‘Justice
Champions’ were Geraldine Doherty for her
work in building relations within the interface areas of the Top of
the Hill Community in
the City of Derry and
the volunteers of Victim
Support Northern Ireland for the emotional
and practical support
they provide to individuals affected by crime.
The Justice in the
Community
Awards
recognise individuals
and teams, voluntary
workers
and
staff
working within community and statutory
organisations
across
Northern Ireland. This
year money from the
Assets Recovery Com-
munity Scheme will be
returned to the community through these
awards.
David Ford said:
“These awards are an
opportunity to showcase the exceptional
work that is going on
within the heart of our
community, often by
volunteers,
working
quietly and diligently in
the background making
Northern Ireland a safer
place for everyone.
These people are truly
inspirational and should
be applauded.
“I am pleased to be
able to reward those
who want to do good
for the community by
giving back proceeds
from assets seized from
the hands of criminals.”
Eatright.eu Helps Early School
Leavers Cook Up A Storm
Teenage survival guide to healthy eating, food safety and physical activity
A teenager’s gotta eat
– and while it’s easy to
opt for quick and often
unhealthy options, a
new resource could
provide a speedy route
to healthier choices for
independent teens.
Safefood and the
Food Standards Agency
in Northern Ireland
recently launched a
new interactive online
survival guide to help
Early School Leavers
(ESL) learn skills in
healthy eating and food
safety.
‘Eatright.eu’ has been
developed in partnership with educational
trainers
across
the
island of Ireland and
is the first free, online
resource
specifically
designed with early
school leavers in mind.
With as many as 1
in 5 teenagers leaving
school
early,
there can be a negative impact on their
longer-term
health,
as limited knowledge
around healthy eating
and physical activity is
a contributory factor in
poor nutrition and food
behaviours.
Sharon Gilmore, Head
of Standards and Dietary Health at the FSA
in NI said:
“We have produced
Launching Eatright.eu is Ashlene Cahoon and
Barry Carson.
a range of resources
for schools and young
people in recent years
– but haven’t worked
with the ESL sector
before. We’re delighted
to have produced this
great resource together
with safefood and the
NEET Forum. We are
confident it will be really useful for young
people.”
Eatright.eu includes
worksheets, team and
individual
projects,
online games, videos
and posters as well as
and recipes. The programme complements
nutrition-related
curriculum in ESL settings
in a way that meets the
specific nutrition needs
of this group, taking
the range of abilities,
literary and attendance
aspects into account.
To find out more
visit Eatright.eu For
more educational resources on healthy
eating and food safety
visit www.safefood.eu
or www.food.gov.uk/
northern-ireland.
DUBAI’s greatest business minds are looking to Northern
Ireland for the latest in social media training, it has emerged.
Local social media
expert, Bill McCartney,
will be delivering social media training for
a number of influential
CEOs and Marketing
Managers who will be
attending the Dubai
Institute of Sales and
Marketing’s
bespoke
course.
Bill McCartney is
the managing director
of a Northern Ireland
specialist social media training business,
‘Bill McCartney Social Media’, which he
founded in April 2010.
Described as Northern
Ireland’s top social media trainer in addition
to the Official LinkedIn
EMEA Talent Solutions
Partner Bill is held in
high regard not just in
Northern Ireland but
also in the United Arab
Emirates.
Bill McCartney said:
“Northern Ireland is
seen as leading the way
when it comes to various aspects of business.
Our culture, whilst quite
unique, can be mirrored
in other parts of the
world, and often business leaders look to us
as an example of how to
learn new tools for doing business as well as
overcoming drawbacks.
With regards to social
media, we are actually
more advanced than we
give ourselves credit
for, and this is recognised worldwide.
“Having spent over
30 years in telecommunications I have been
training and advising a
range of clients on so-
Bill
McCartney,
of Bill McCartney
Social Media
cial media, from large
companies to sole traders, enterprise agencies
and charities for the last
four years. Working in
Dubai for the Institute
of Sales and Marketing,
has been exceptional;
senior managers fly
from all over the Middle East to attend this
bespoke social media
training event which
is organised by the
Institute of Sales and
Marketing.
“The latest event was
on the 2nd November
where I taught Social
Media Marketing training over three days with
a focus on LinkedIn and
Facebook. It has been
great for me to spread
the word about Northern Ireland to such
influential businessmen
and women, and I also
have to say I’m very
happy to exchange our
autumnal weather for
the wonderful warmth
of Dubai!”
Bill is also a subject
matter expert with the
Digital Marketing Institute and a social media
trainer for Sureskills.
As a keynote social
media speaker he can
be found presenting to a
wide range of organisations and businesses.
When it comes to
social media, Bill asks
organisation to think
social. He can be found
on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram,
LinkedIn,
Youtube and Google+
or visit www.billmccartney.co.uk.
Accessible GP services for
people with sensory loss
Did you know around 300,000 people in Northern Ireland are living with hearing loss and some 46,000 are living with sight
difficulties?
New guidance has
been launched to help
improve access to GP
services for those living with a sensory loss
across Northern Ireland.
The guidance provides a practical approach to improving
access to services for
people who are deaf,
have a hearing loss and
are blind or partially
sighted. It focuses primarily on accessing
services at GP surgeries, but can equally be
applied in other primary
care settings such as
community
pharmacies, dental surgeries;
optometry practices and
community based services provided by local
Health and Social Care
Trusts.
This new publication
has been developed
by Action on Hearing
Loss NI and the Royal
National Institute of
Blind People (RNIB)
NI with the support of
the Health and Social
Care Board. It has been
produced following the
findings and recommendations identified
by Action on Hearing
Loss NI, RNIB NI and
the British Deaf Association in their research
report ‘Is It My Turn
Yet?’ (2009), which
reflected the views and
experiences of people
with sensory loss in
accessing GP services
across the region.
Over 60 delegates
attending the event
including; GPs, practice managers, those
with a sensory loss and
health and social care
professionals, listened
to a range of speakers
describe the difficulties
that those with a sensory loss face when trying
to access services.
Speaking
at
the
event Gerard Heatley,
a service user who is
deafened, faced difficulties in accessing
his local Out Of Hours
GP service and worked
with Belfast Health and
Social Care Trust to resolve these.
Gerard says, “Like
many other people with
hearing loss, I couldn’t
hear the buzzer on the
intercom at the door of
the surgery to even get
in to the building, and I
was worried what might
happen in an emergency. The Trust agreed
to give me a mobile
phone number to text a
message to let the staff
know when I arrive so
they can let me in. One
small step for the surgery has been a giant
leap for me in terms of
my confidence in using
the service.”
A copy of the guidance can be obtained
www.hscboard.hscni.
net/publications/2014
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Page 33
Ballyrobert Helps Used Mazda MX-5 Wins ‘Fun Car’ Category
At What Car? Awards
Motorists Stay
Safe In Winter
With the clocks going back and the weather taking a turn
for the wetter, Ballyrobert is on hand to ensure drivers stay
safe in dark, damp and wintry conditions.
The dealership, with sites
in Bangor and Mallusk, is
getting behind the Vauxhall
Winter Safety Check campaign by offering Vauxhall
owners a thorough safety
inspection of their car ahead
of the winter season.
The dealer is also reminding Vauxhall drivers of the
free-to-join MasterFit Service Club, which offers considerable savings on repairs,
servicing and MOTs.
John Lyle, Retail Operator at Ballyrobert, explains:
“Autumn and winter bring
a wealth of unpredictable
weather conditions so it’s
important that cars are in a
suitable condition to combat
all that nature throws at
them.
“Whether making a quick
school run trip or driving
further afield, there are
potential hazards on every
journey, so we’re keen to
ensure Vauxhall drivers in
the area are set for safe winter travel.”
The 25-point Winter
Check
For drivers who want to
get their vehicle checked
and prepared for the cold
winter months, the Vauxhall
Winter Safety Check is the
ideal solution. It costs just
£25 and features a 25-point
visual health check of aspects such as wiper blades,
lights and tyre pressure,
plus, where necessary, topups of vital fluids such as
coolant, brake fluid, screen
wash and engine oil.
Customers booking a
Winter Safety Check will
drive away not only with
peace of mind, but also
a free Winter Survival
pack worth £20. The pack,
which comes in a Vauxhall
branded bag, contains Autoglym De-Icer, a wind-up
torch, a foldable shovel, a
high visibility jacket and ice
scraper.
Join the Club
In addition to the Winter
Safety Check, Ballyrobert
is also reminding drivers
who own a Vauxhall vehicle
aged over two years that
they could save up to 25%
off servicing and repairs and
get half price MOTs when
they join the free Vauxhall
MasterFit Service Club.
John Lyle concludes:
“The Vauxhall MasterFit
Service Club is a great way
for owners to take care of
their car for less and be assured that their Vauxhall is
in the best possible hands
with the people who know
it best.”
All those who book
servicing and repair work
at Ballyrobert have access
to the dealership’s team
of high-quality, Vauxhalltrained technicians. They
have the highest levels of
skill and expertise when it
comes to maintaining and
repairing Vauxhall vehicles and use only Genuine
Vauxhall parts that come
with a minimum 12 month
warranty.
MasterFit Club members
benefit from a 25-point safety check with any workshop
visit, along with no-obligation advice on essential and
non-essential work, a free
check for safety enhancements and upgrades to a vehicle and its software, plus a
free wash and vacuum with
every annual service.
To make membership
even more attractive, all
those who sign up before 31
December 2014 will receive
a free £25 MasterFit voucher to use against their next
service, repair or accessory
purchase.
For details about Vauxhall
MasterFit service offers
available and to book a
Winter Safety Check, please
online to www.ballyrobert.
co.uk.
Alternatively, to discover
more about the Vauxhall
MasterFit Service Club and
to join for free, please visit
www.myvauxhall.co.uk.
• Mazda MX-5 claims
‘Fun Car’ crown at 2014
What Car? Used Car of
the Year awards
• MX-5 sports car
praised for its fantastically
entertaining drive and exceptional handling
• Remarkable reliability,
great value and plentiful
choice of good used MX5s available
• Iconic Mazda MX-5
has achieved more than
114,000 sales in the UK,
so far
As the Mazda MX-5
celebrates its 25th year
in production globally, a
2009 example of the iconic sports car was selected
by judges as winner of the
‘Fun Car’ category at the
2014 What Car? Used Car
of the Year awards held at
the Hurlingham Club in
London recently.
The Fun Car category
judging criteria this year
included
‘performance
and handling, and above
all, the ability of the car
to make the driver smile,
when closing the deal on
the forecourt, filling it at
the pumps or powering
down a challenging Broad’. The judging panel
comprised three What
Car? staff members and
the Group Development
Director of the event’s
headline sponsor Warranty
Direct, David Gerrans.
Each judge road tested
a 2009 Mazda MX-5
2.0-litre Sport, together
with other short-listed
hot hatches and roadsters, before making their
decision.
Mazda has sold more
than 114,000 rear-wheel
drive MX-5 sports cars in
the UK since the model
made its debut in 1990. So
good is the reliability and
durability of the world’s
best-selling
two-seater
sports car that Mazda estimates more than 96 per
cent of those cars are still
in regular use on Britain’s
roads.
The MK III Mazda
MX-5 is also available as
a new car with a choice
of seven models in the
2014
line-up,
priced
from £18,495 to £23,695
on-the-road (OTR). Customers can choose from
soft-top convertibles or
power-retractable hardtops, with 126ps 1.8-litre
or 160ps 2.0-litre engines,
on sale across the UK
at 136 Mazda dealers
nationwide.
Page 34
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Bank of Ireland Northern Ireland: Ready To
Do Business In Las Vegas
to sponsor
Dr. McKenna Cup
Tourism enterprises from around the island of Ireland, including three
representatives from Northern Ireland, travelled to Las Vegas to join Tourism
Ireland for this year’s IMEX America.
Ulster GAA have announced Bank of Ireland as the new competition sponsor of
the Dr. McKenna Cup. The deal will see the Bank sponsoring the Dr. McKenna Cup
for the next three years, 2015-2017.
Speaking at the announcement of the
major
sponsorship
package recently, Ulster GAA President
Martin McAviney said,
“We are delighted to
welcome Bank of Ireland on board as the
main sponsor of our
primary
pre-season
inter-County competition. The Bank is a
leading player in the
personal and business
banking market in this
region and a significant
supporter of sport. The
Dr. McKenna Cup is a
fantastic opportunity
for our supporters to
get back out and follow their County teams
after the winter break
and will once again
provide the opportunity
for County and University teams to prepare
for their upcoming
Ulster Championship
and Sigerson Cup campaigns
respectively.
The Dr. McKenna Cup
has a rich history dating back to the first
competition in 1927,
and I look forward to
working with Bank of
Ireland to further enhance the prestige and
standing of the com-
show – which provided
valuable business and
networking and business opportunities for
the participating tourism operators from
across the island of
Ireland.
Alison
Metcalfe,
Tourism Ireland’s head
of North America, said
that there was very good
interest in the island of
Ireland as a conference
and incentive destination at this year’s IMEX
America. She said:
“IMEX America is an
important platform for
Tourism Ireland and our
partners to showcase the
world-class conference,
meetings and incentive
facilities on offer in
Northern Ireland and
around the island of Ireland. Overall, business
sentiment at the show
was very positive, with
interest in the island of
Ireland for conferences
and incentive travel
remaining high and advance business for 2015
looking good.”
Business tourism is
the most lucrative form
of tourism, with visitors
travelling here for business purposes spending
about 2.5 times more
than the average visitor.
Durkan Radically
Re-Thinks Waste
Pictured launching the 2015 Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup competition ticket
are (L-R): Sean Sheehan (Regional Director, NI Consumer and Small Business,
Bank of Ireland UK) and Martin McAviney (President, Ulster GAA).
petition in the coming
years. In 2014 we had
well over 60,000 supporters supporting their
Counties at the competition and we look
forward to another exciting series of games
in January.”
Sean Sheehan, Regional Director, NI
Consumer and Small
Business, Bank of Ireland UK, said:
“The Dr McKenna
Cup provides a lively
start to the competitive
year and is held in high
esteem in Ulster. Bank
of Ireland is committed
to helping communities right across Ulster
to grow and prosper
and we have a strong
belief that competition
brings out the best in
everyone. We look forward to some exciting
sport from the county
and university teams
and are delighted to
come on board as
sponsors.”
The Bank of Ireland
Dr. McKenna Cup will
throw in on Monday
Minister Storey
Meets With Church
Leaders On
Welfare Reform
Social Development Minister, Mervyn Storey MLA, recently
met with the Church Leaders Group to discuss the continued
uncertainty around welfare reform.
The meeting, which
was arranged following
a request by the Church
Leaders Group, addressed issues including
the continued uncertainty regarding the Welfare
Reform Bill, the impact
on vulnerable people
and the details of specific measures proposed
for Northern Ireland.
Speaking after the
meeting, Minister Storey
said: “I was keen to meet
with the Church Leaders and today’s meeting
provided me with the
opportunity to reassure
them that I was listening
to the issues that they
have raised, and that I
will be taking positive
Now in its fourth year,
IMEX
(International
Meetings and Events
Exhibition) America is
an important event targeting decision-makers
in the lucrative MICE
(meetings,
incentive,
conferences and events)
industry. Almost 3,000
buyers from North
America, and elsewhere
around the world, attended the three-day
steps to address their
concerns.
“I have given the
Church Leaders a letter
containing the details of
the measures I propose
to take to alleviate the
worst impacts of welfare
reform on vulnerable
people.
“I have also given an
assurance to them that
there will be a stepchange in how welfare
reform is communicated
which will help inform
the debate. I will continue to engage with
the Church Leaders and
explore ways in which
I, and my Department,
can provide more clarity
and visibility around the
changes that will impact
people on the ground in
Northern Ireland.”
Concluding the Minister said: “I made it
very clear to the Church
Leaders that I am committed to ensuring that
there is an informed debate on welfare reform.
I want to make sure that
clear messages reach,
and are understood, by
those who will be impacted by these changes.
“We need to alleviate
any fears and anxieties
felt by local people; the
role of the Church leaders in disseminating information to those who
most need our help is of
critical importance.”
4th January and will
once again feature all
nine Ulster Counties
and the Province’s
three main University
teams; University of
Ulster
Jordanstown,
Queens
University
Belfast and St Mary’s
University
College
Belfast.
For more information
on this sponsorship
deal, contact:
Ryan Feeney, Ulster
GAA Head of Public
Affairs, on (028) 3752
1900.
Environment Minister, Mark H Durkan recently published the Department of
Environment’s Operational Plan for managing and regulating waste in Northern
Ireland.
Last year the DOE
discovered
some
500,000 tonnes of illegal waste dumped
in the Mobuoy area,
Campsie, just outside
Derry. At that time, the
Minister gave a commitment to publish an
Operational Waste Plan
for Northern Ireland.
An independent review, The Mills Report,
published last December, highlighted that
there were systemic
failures in the management and regulation of
waste in Northern Ireland including significant criminal infiltra-
tion. It also identified a
lack of a joined up approach to tackling this
problem with agencies
often working in silos
and that partnership
working with councils,
industry and the waste
sector was critical.
Commenting on the
need to implement a
radical new approach,
Mark H Durkan said:
“The failures identified
by the Mills Report require a new radical, and
coordinated approach.
A key part of this is for
DOE to improve traditional methods of regulation and enforcement.
“My position is clear,
we need to use every
mechanism
available
to tackle the serious
problems
identified.
A narrow approach
relying mainly on traditional crime fighting
and tougher enforcement are indeed critical
to creating a legitimate
and successful waste
sector in Northern Ireland. However, used in
isolation they cannot
solve the problem. This
was a point emphasised
strongly in the Mills
report.
“Arguably the most
important actions in
the Waste Plan will
require strong partnership working between
the new local councils
and my Department.
Powerful co-operation
between the central and
local arms of government will go a long
way to ensuring the
proper
management
of waste in the North.
I have also recruited
Chris Mills, the author
of the Mills report, to
work within the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA)
to assist in driving
forward these essential
changes.”
Big Bus Brings Cancer
Services To Killough
Leading local cancer charity Action Cancer is bringing its SuperValu Big Bus mobile unit to Killough
next month as part of its ongoing tour of Northern Ireland.
The Bus will be hosted
by the County Down
Rural Network and will
be located at Main Street
Car Park, Killough on
Saturday 13th December.
The mobile clinic,
whose main sponsor is
retail group SuperValu
and its independent retailers, was launched in 2006
to help Action Cancer
save lives and support
people. The 18 metrelong articulated vehicle
with expanding side pods,
houses cancer prevention
and early detection services and staff on the unit
also provide information
about support services.
Services provided on
the Big Bus, which is
fully accessible include
digital breast screening
for women aged between
40 and 49 and over 70,
health promotion and
MOT health checks
for men and women. A
full body composition
analysis using the latest
technology provides clients with information on
their height, weight, body
mass index and more,
and also offers health
awareness and weight
loss guidance.
Big Bus staff can
provide information on
complementary therapies
and other cancer support services such as
counselling, a Listening
Ear Service, and support
groups, which are available for cancer patients,
their carers and families
at the charity’s headquarters in Belfast and at
other locations.
Anyone interested in
making an appointment
for the Big Bus when
it is in the area should
telephone Action Cancer
in advance on 028 9080
3344. Alternatively, you
can book online by going to www.actioncancer.org, and follow the
‘online booking’ link on
the home page. Appointments will be available
from 10.00am to 3.00pm
each day. Bookings are
taken on a first come
first served basis as there
are a limited number
of appointments for all
services.
SuperValu is part of
Musgrave Retail Partners NI (MRPNI) which
supports over 250 independent retail stores in
Northern Ireland, including Centra and Mace,
with a combined turnover
in excess of £600 million. MRPNI is part of
the Musgrave Group, the
leading partner to more
than 3,500 entrepreneurial retailers and food service professionals in the
UK, Ireland and Spain.
For further information
on SuperValu visit www.
supervalu.co.uk. And for
Action Cancer visit www.
actioncancer.org.
Issue 104 - December 2014
Young People FaceUp
To Lifestyle Choices
Cancer Focus Northern Ireland has launched a fun new app for young people
that looks into the future – showing the downside of too many calories and too
much alcohol.
FaceUp takes you on
a comic journey using
pop-up cartoons to show
how you could look in
future if you don’t keep
a watchful eye on your
diet.
Cancer Focus NI has
created the app to encourage young people to
take steps now to lower
their risk of getting cancer when they’re older.
It is available for download on iPhone and a
selection of android devices and can be shared
on Facebook.
Big Brother finalist
Ashleigh Coyle was one
of the first to test-run
the new app. She said:
“Working as a model,
you realise how important it is to look – and
feel - your best. My
health is so important
to me, both now and in
the future, so I try to get
plenty of exercise and
watch my diet.
“Your health is the
most valuable asset
you’ll ever have so
you need to look after
it. Cancer Focus NI
has come up with an
North Down Advertiser
Page 35
Reducing Rural Crime Levels
Justice Minister David Ford has addressed members of the farming community at
a rural crime conference held at Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast.
The aim of the one
day conference - ‘Tackling Rural Crime in
Northern Ireland –
Working
Together’
is to raise awareness,
facilitate sharing of
best practice in dealing
with rural crime, and
to enhance working
relationships with key
stakeholders. The event
is sponsored by DOJ
and hosted by the Ulster
Farmers’ Union.
David Ford said: “Rural crime not only dam-
ages farm businesses
but also has a wider effect upon farming communities and the rural
economy. Today’s conference provides an opportunity to consider the
impacts of these crimes,
and what further actions
we can take to tackle
them. I want to thank
the UFU for organising
this conference on such
an important matter.
“I am encouraged that
the latest twelve month
figures show a 9.6%
reduction in agricultural crime in Northern
Ireland, but I recognise
there are still ongoing
concerns, particularly
about the theft of machinery and livestock.”
David Ford continued:
“Government and the
police cannot tackle
rural crime alone. We
need farmers to play
their part too, not least
by learning about new
approaches and new
technology to protect
their farms. So I’m en-
couraged by the take up
of TRACKER devices,
provided by the Rural
Crime Partnership at a
subsidised rate, which
are now protecting
£3million worth of
machinery.
“We will use the
conference to listen to
farmers’ views and concerns, and I hope they
leave the conference
with improved knowledge on how to protect
their families and their
farms.”
Report on N. Ireland
Engagement in Europe
Big Brother finalist Ashleigh Coyle tries out the Cancer Focus NI FaceUp app
excellent, fun way to
encourage young people
to take better care of
themselves, so please
download the new app
and have a laugh but,
most importantly, take
those vital steps to improve your lifestyle and
cut your chances of getting cancer in the years
to come!”
Niamh McDaid, Cancer Prevention Officer,
Cancer Focus NI, said:
“All you have to do is
Minister
Praises Boxing
Outreach
Initiative
Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín has
commended Carl Frampton and Cyclone
Promotions / Barry McGuigan Boxing
Academy on the staging of a major
boxing outreach event.
Over 300 young male and female boxers from
boxing clubs across the north assembled at Belfast’s
Ulster Hall recently to take part in an intensive
coaching and workshop programme under the expert
tutelage of world champion Carl Frampton, former
world champion Barry McGuigan and leading
coaches from the Cyclone Promotions team.
The event, which was supported by the Department
of Culture, Arts and leisure and Sport NI, witnessed
the young boxers engaging in coaching sessions and
receiving nutritional and other advice. There was
also a question and answer session with Carl and
Barry and Shane McGuigan.
Speaking on behalf of Cyclone Promotions, Barry
McGuigan said: “In winning the World Title this
year Carl has achieved something truly inspirational
for all of the aspiring young boxers in Northern
Ireland today looking to emulate his success. It is
important that these young boys and girls are given
the hope and determination each and every day to
believe they too can achieve highly both in their
sporting and personal lives.
“The amateur clubs across the length and breadth
of the province do a fantastic job at developing
young promising talent and today is all about celebrating Carl’s success and inspiring each and every
boxer to believe that they can do great things. Cyclone Promotions are very proud of Carl’s achievements and those of our undercard boxers and are
grateful for the support of DCAL in hosting this
‘Meet the Champions’ event.”
take a few photos of
yourself on your phone
or from your photo gallery, pick your lifestyle
habits from a list and
press a button. The app
will transform you in a
fun way to show how
you could look in the
future if you go on making poor choices with
food and alcohol.
“You’ll be able to post
the images on Facebook. In some cases it
won’t be a pretty pic-
ture - but it’ll definitely
get a laugh from your
friends. Behind the joke
is a serious message –
the app also highlights
some of the cancers you
could get.”
For more information
about FaceUp or Cancer Focus NI’s cancer
prevention work in the
local community, call
Niamh McDaid on 028
9066 3281 or email
niamhmcdaid@cancer
focusni.org.
First Minister the Rt. Hon. Peter D. Robinson MLA and the deputy First Minister
Martin McGuinness MLA recently welcomed the publication of “Northern Ireland in
Europe.”
In a foreword to the
European Commission’s
Report, Commission President José Manuel Barroso
congratulates the region
on its many achievements
in Europe.
The President highlights
how Northern Ireland
has stepped forward to
lead European partnerships in key areas such
as in the transformation
of healthcare through the
use of new information
technologies.
The First Minister Peter
Robinson said: “Since
devolution in 2007, the
European
Union
has
played a vital role in supporting and strengthening the Northern Ireland
economy at an important
time in our economic and
political development.
“The Task Force established by President Barroso undoubtedly helped
us exploit what Europe
has to offer. I welcome
that the Commission’s
Report pledges continued
support to Northern Ireland from the European
Union.
“As an Executive we
have increased our ambitions in Europe and we
look to the Task Force
to help us fully achieve
these.”
The deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: “The outgoing
President of the European
Commission José Manuel
Barroso was the first international leader to visit the
north of Ireland following
the restoration of devolved
government in 2007.
“In a very tangible way
he demonstrated Europe’s
support for the new institutions by establishing
a Task Force of his officials to help us navigate
the complexity of the
European structures and
processes.
“The Task Force Report
shows clear evidence of
the benefits of our joint efforts in helping our region
develop and prosper. We
welcome the President’s
commitment to continued
support from the European
Commission in our efforts
to ensure lasting peace and
prosperity.”
Films Launched To Ease
Air Travel Concerns Of
Children With Autism
Children with Autism, parents and academics attended the launch recently at George Best Belfast City Airport of “Autism in
the Air”, a series of interactive films aimed at demystifying the experience of air travel for children living with Autism.
Funded by the Belfast
City Airport Community Fund in collaboration with the charity
Parents Education as
Autism
Therapists
(PEAT) and Queen’s
University Belfast the
five short films, which
are aimed at children,
will also be of benefit
to over 20,000 people
living with Autism in
Northern Ireland.
The films, which are
available on the airport’s website, were
shot from the perspective of a child living
with Autism and illustrate the various processes involved from
traveling to the airport
through to boarding the
plane.
Nichola Booth, Lead
Behaviour
Analyst
of PEAT said: “As
most parents will be
aware, the experience
of travelling through
a busy airport can stir
up a mixture of emotions for any child as
they are exposed to
a variety of new and
interesting sights and
sounds in a strange
environment.
“For a child with
Autism these emotions
can be intensified and
manifest in behaviours
which can cause problems which make travelling difficult.
“Working in partnership with the Centre
for Behaviour Analysis
Queen’s
University
Belfast, we devised
“Autism in the Air” to
help shed some light
on how parents and
children with Autism
can cope with the
various challenges they
may face and prepare
them in advance.
“We are so grateful to
Belfast City Airport for
their continued support
throughout the project
and for helping us to
make it happen.”
The videos which can
be viewed on Belfast
City Airport’s new
website, allow children
to become familiar
with some aspects of
the airport experience
from the comfort of
their own home.
Since 2009, the Airport Community Fund
which has supported
this project has donated over £170,000 to
more than 70 charitable causes throughout
Northern Ireland to
help promote positive wellbeing within
the community and
environment.
To view the ‘Autism
in the Air’ videos online, please visit www.
belfastcityairport.com.
Please navigate to Passenger
Information
and Travelling with
Children.
Pictured
at
the
‘premiere’
are
Bethany Convey, 11,
and Ethan Geddis, 9,
with Michelle Hatfield,
Director of Corporate
Responsibility
at
Belfast City Airport.
Page 36
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Celebrity Talking
Teddies Speak Up
Health Minister Underlines
Personal Commitment To Health
And Social Care Transformation
Health Minister, Jim Wells, has underlined his personal commitment to achieving
transformation in health and social care services at Policy Forum NI’s ‘Transforming
Your Care’ seminar.
Addressing delegates at the event, the Minister stated: “I am keen to emphasise my personal commitment
to Transforming Your Care and the overall HSC transformation programme. I believe that it is essential to
ensure that we are able to continue to offer high quality,
sustainable and safe services into the future.”
Minister Wells acknowledged the hard work of staff
across the HSC and their dedication to maintaining
services and delivering good outcomes for service users. He particularly highlighted the opportunities which
staff have taken to develop new ways of working to
support joined up care delivery.
Reflecting on the development of Integrated Care
Partnerships across Northern Ireland as part of the implementation of Transforming Your Care, the Minister
said: “The work undertaken by integrated care partnerships will help to improve the patient journey, support
the management of long term conditions and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions.”
The Minister also emphasised that, despite the significant challenges facing health and social care, that there
are also opportunities to adopt new approaches which
support enhanced patient care.
Drawing on the example of regional Tele-care services, he continued saying: “This supports independence
of citizens in their own home. We will be looking to
expand our e-health provision further by enhancing the
provision of better on-line information, giving patients
access to records, on-line appointment booking and
remote care.”
The Minister concluded his address to delegates by
emphasising the opportunity to renew our commitment
to delivering transformation. He said: “What can I do
today’ to make transformation a reality in my organisation, for my staff, and most crucially of all, for the
service users and patients for whom this system is created, managed, financed and sustained.”
Soft Toys for Education campaign immortalises James Nesbitt and a host of
celebrity friends as talking soft toys
Recently, IKEA unveiled six animated
videos of soft toys
voiced by celebrities
including
Northern
Ireland’s own, and
UNICEF UK ambassador, James Nesbitt.
The celebrity inspired
furry friends whose
voices also include
Strictly host Claudia
Winkleman, Dr Who
actor Arthur Darvill,
actress Nina Wadia,
and TV and film stars
Ashley Jensen and
Stephen Graham, tell
the stories of children
living in poverty in developing countries who
have been supported by
the €67 million raised
by IKEA customers.
The short films give
listeners a fairy-tale
style story read by
some of the country’s
best loved personalities. The films bring to
life how the money
raised by IKEA customers has helped children around the world
gain a quality educa-
James Nesbitt
with his IKEA
Soft Toy
tion and the hope of a
brighter future.
For every soft toy
purchased as part of the
Soft Toys for Education campaign between
now and 27th December 2014, the IKEA
Foundation will donate
1 Euro to support educational projects run
by Save the Children
and UNICEF around
the
world.
These
projects are changing
the lives of millions
of children, such as
those featured in the
films. Since 2003 the
campaign has reached
more than 11 million
children, but there are
millions more children
who still aren’t able to
go to school and get the
education they deserve.
In addition to the
UNICEF and Save the
Children projects, Simon Community will
be supported as part of
IKEA Belfast’s ‘Give
Twice’ scheme. Customers can choose to
buy an additional soft
toy and then drop it
into ‘Give Twice’ boxes at the exit of each
store. Donated soft toys
will then be given to
Simon Community in
Northern Ireland.
This year the campaign aims to raise
€700,000 in the UK &
Ireland, to add to a global total of €67 million
raised since it began
in 2003, supporting
more than 11 million
children through 99
projects in 46 different
countries.
The 2015 soft toys
range starts from just
80p for the GULLEPLUTT finger puppets.
Everyone Has A
Right To The Best
Treatment & Care
Health Minister Jim Wells recently said that everyone has a right to expect the
best treatment and care that the Health Service can provide.
The
Minister
was
speaking as he launched
a consultation on the
draft Northern Ireland
Rare Disease Implementation Plan. The
draft Plan sets out a
framework to support
continued action and
new developments to
tailor how we provide
services for people with
rare diseases over the
next six years.
Speaking at the Northern Ireland Rare Disease
Partnership
(NIRDP)
Autumn Event, Minister
Wells said: “Everyone
has a right to expect the
best treatment and care
that the Health Service
can provide, whether
their condition is one
of the many conditions
which are known under
the collective banner of
‘rare disease’ or one that
is more prevalent.
We need to address
the needs of people living with a rare disease,
regardless of their age,
where they live or their
circumstances. The UK
Rare Diseases Strategy
aims to ensure that patients with a rare disease
are not disadvantaged.”
The Minister contin-
ued: “As Minister, I am
committed to ensuring
that everyone who accesses our Health and
Social Care system
receives the best possible level of care. We
all want to see improved
outcomes for those living with a rare disease,
whether they are a patient, family member,
carer or member of the
broader support community for rare disease
patients.
“I see this Rare Disease
Implementation
Plan as the next stage of
our journey to improve
rare disease services in
Northern Ireland and I
would urge all stakeholders to respond to
the consultation, so that
my Department can be
assured that the proposed implementation
plan meets the needs of
those living with a rare
disease.”
The consultation will
run for 12 weeks, closing on 19 January 2015
and is available at http://
w w w. d h s s p s n i . g o v.
uk/showconsultations
?txtid=74325
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Page 37
Cancer Focus NI Welcomes
Belfast City Airport
Welcomes New European Revised European Code
Against Cancer
Airline To N. Ireland
George Best Belfast City Airport has welcomed an announcement by leading
European airline Vueling that it is to commence a twice weekly service to Barcelona
in May 2015.
The low cost yet full
service airline, which is
part of Willie Walsh’s
International
Airlines
Group (IAG), has ambitious plans for growth
with Belfast City Airport
being one of a number
of new routes from its
Barcelona El Prat base
announced recently.
The arrival of Vueling
to Northern Ireland is a
significant opportunity to
attract additional inward
tourism to the region.
Brian Ambrose, Chief
Executive of Belfast City
Airport, said:
“It remains our aim
to attract new airlines
to Northern Ireland and
facilitate more direct
European routes from
Belfast. We are therefore
delighted that Vueling
has chosen to include
Belfast City Airport as
one of a select few UK
airports in its plans to
expand its network.
“The hugely popular
European airline, which
carries a high percentage
of business travellers,
has an extensive network
with over 100 destinations across Europe including Paris, Brussels,
Rome, Madrid and has
a growing presence in
Russia, North Africa and
Scandinavia.
“This is a very exciting
opportunity to work with
Vueling whose strategy
is to partner with airports
that have high levels of
customer service and
are aimed at business
travellers.”
The announcement was
also welcomed by Niall
Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, who said:
“Today’s
announcement by Vueling is
good news for tourism
to Northern Ireland.
We look forward to cooperating with Vueling
Cancer Focus Northern Ireland has welcomed the launch of the revised European
Code Against Cancer - a move to spread prevention messages across Europe - and
urges local people, MLAs, MPs and MEPs
to support the campaign.
The European Commission, with the International Agency for Research on Cancer, revised the
code, which was last amended 10 years ago, and
now lists 12 steps people can take to lower their
risk of cancer.
Cancer Focus NI Head of Cancer Prevention
Gerry McElwee said:“We’re delighted to support
the revised code, which highlights the huge impact
that some simple changes could have on lowering
the impact of cancer on our society.
“The code is there to support governments to step
up their actions against cancer, and stresses that
positive government policies and actions are needed to underpin their citizens’ individual efforts.
“The code’s top tip is ‘don’t smoke’. Other messages encourage a healthy diet, promote breastfeeding, vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) and action against high levels of
radon.
“We should also avoid using sunbeds and women
are advised to limit hormone replacement therapy.
Finally everyone is urged to go for screening when
called.”
Cancer Focus NI has extensive cancer prevention
services that go out to schools, workplaces and
communities all over Northern Ireland. These include a Smokebusters club for primary school children, a schools’ health programme, Keeping Well
vans that bring vital health checks into the heart of
communities and stop smoking clinics.
For more information on these services please
call 028 9066 3281 or email behealthy@cancerfocusni.org. If you have any concerns about cancer
call the Cancer Focus NI free helpline on 0800 783
3339.
Welcoming the news this morning at Belfast City Airport is Regional
Development Minister Danny Kennedy with Brian Ambrose, Chief Executive of
Belfast City Airport.
to maximise the promotion of this new service
from Barcelona. As an
island, the importance
of convenient, direct,
non-stop flights cannot
be overstated – they are
absolutely critical to
achieving growth in inbound tourism.
“Tourism Ireland is
committed to working
with
Vueling,
Belfast City Airport and
other tourism interests,
through
co-operative
marketing, to drive
demand for this new
service – as we work
with other carriers and
partners to promote and
help maintain vital routes
and services to Northern
Ireland.”
In August 2013, IAG
announced its plans to
deploy an additional
120 A320s to Vueling
between 2015 and 2020,
with the airline expected
to be one of Europe’s
largest low cost carriers
by the end of 2014.
Page 38
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Newtownbreda Man Awarded Shotclip Announces Plans
Charity Takeover Accolade
To Set Up In Newry
A team of Marks & Spencer employees, including Glen Muir from the
Newtownbreda store, have been awarded the esteemed “Judges Choice” accolade
for this year’s Business in the Community’s ‘Cares Shops’ Challenge.’
Six
M&S
staff
members from across
Northern Ireland took
over an Action Cancer
charity shop in Lisburn
for the day with an
“Alice in Wonderland”
theme.
The M&S team was
one of fourteen companies who tried their
hand at running an Action Cancer shop, with
a whopping £94,000
raised in total.
The “Judges Choice”
Award won by Marks
& Spencer was made
up of 4 elements all
worth 25% each - Mystery Shop score on the
day; Innovation and
Creativity used in the
shop;
Sustainability
Plan; and Boardroom
Showdown at the Gala
Ball in the Europa
Hotel.
The
14
competing companies were
M&S,
Armstrong
Medical, Boots, Caterpillar,
Compass
Group, firmus energy,
firstsource, fonaCAB,
Northern Ireland Housing Executive, O’Hare
& McGovern, South
West College, SPAR,
UTV and Veolia Water. The overall winner
of the challenge was
Boots.
Peter Lynch, Action Cancer Shops’
Manager adds: “Every
pound raised makes a
real difference to people across Northern
Ireland. Since Action
Cancer’s BIG BUS
went on the road in
2006 we have provided
over 26,800 breast
screenings and 15,300
M.O.T. health checks
which take place on
board the bus itself.
“The funds raised
through our shops go
directly to supporting
someone’s grandparent
through their treatment, someone’s mother, daughter or aunt
who is facing breast
cancer, a dad who has
just learned that he
has prostate cancer, to
name just a few.”
“The money raised
during this challenge
will be used to help
people here in Northern Ireland and we are
indebted to the businesses involved in the
challenge for raising
such an impressive
sum of money.”
To find out more visit, www.bitcni.org.uk
ShotClip Ltd, a cloud-based software development company has announced that
it has moved its base from Dublin and is creating six high quality jobs in Newry over
the next two years.
ShotClip is a recently
established
company
which has created social
movie-making
software
that enables users to plan,
record and edit a professional
looking
home
movie through an interactive story-building app
on their Smartphone or
tablet device. The software
enables multiple users
to collaborate to make
movies at special events,
such as a wedding, or for
larger scale global crowd
campaigns.
Welcoming the company’s decision to locate
in Northern Ireland, Barry
McBride, Invest Northern
Ireland’s Executive Director of International Business said: “ShotClip is the
kind of innovative technology company that has
the potential to be a world
player. It has decided to relocate to Northern Ireland
because of the quality of
the talent pool here and the
opportunities for raising
investment quickly to support its scaling plans.”
Invest NI has offered
£48,000 of support for the
jobs, which will have salaries significantly above the
Northern Ireland private
sector average.
ShotClip has been devel-
Pictured is left, Barry McBride, Invest NI Executive Director of International
Business, with Conor McNally, Managing Director of ShotClip.
oping its software product
to beta status during the
last 24 months and currently has 70,000 users, of
whom 90 per cent are in
the Americas and 10 per
cent are in Europe.
ShotClip’s
Managing
Director, Conor McNally,
who also founded the
company, said: “Our aim
is to make ShotClip a
mass market global product with one million users
by the end of 2015. That
will require an extensive
marketing campaign as
well as further development of the product. We
will therefore be employing skilled technical,
design and marketing
professionals.
“While we will continue
to have a small presence
in Dublin, we decided to
move our base to Newry
because of the availability
of high quality personnel
and the excellent support
from Invest NI, both for
the jobs and through the
Growth Loan Fund.”
ShotClip has secured
£200k funding from the
£50m Growth Loan Fund
along with £150k from
Jenson Solutions Ltd to
allow it to undertake some
additional product development and marketing
activities.
Festive ‘feel good’ Factor
The X Factor, Strictly and the ‘Soaps’ – many of us find time to keep up to date
with these Christmas TV ‘specials’ so this year Volunteer Now is laying down the
gauntlet and asking people to take a little time to benefit from the ‘Feel Good
Factor.’
Lindsay Armstrong,
Regional Manager, Volunteer Now says;
“Volunteer Now is
encouraging
people
to participate in our
Christmas
Connections Campaign which
involves short term and
one off volunteering
opportunities
across
Northern Ireland that
are available in the
lead up to the festive
season.”
The campaign encourages individuals and
families to make volunteering part of their
festive traditions. There
are many activites to
choose from, for example: help at Santa’s
Grotto for Clic Sargent,
promote the Santa Dash
for N.I.Hospice, fundraise for Mencap and
much more!
Lindsay added, “For
many people this small
step and the feel good
factor that comes with
it could be just what
they need to get involved in the world of
volunteering”
Why not add volunteering to your festive
‘to do’ list and choose
an opportunity from the
Christmas Connections
Activity list on www.
volunteernow.co.uk
Issue 104 - December 2014
North Down Advertiser
Page 39
Health Minister Learn The 4Ts Of Diabetes
Introduces Food
Hygiene Rating Bill
Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs) in the South Eastern area are working together with Diabetes UK
and the South Eastern Education and Library Board (SEELB) to highlight the symptoms of Type 1 diabetes.
Health Minister Jim Wells has introduced the Food Hygiene
Rating Bill to the Assembly.
The bill will, if passed,
make it compulsory for
Northern Ireland food
businesses to display
their hygiene ratings
under the ‘Food Hygiene
Rating Scheme’ (FHRS).
The current, voluntary
scheme, which has been
operating here since
2011, gives consumers a,
‘behind the scenes look’
at food outlets, so that
they can check hygiene
standards when eating
out or buying food in.
Under the new proposals, businesses such as
restaurants, takeaways
and supermarkets, would
not be asked to undergo
any additional hygiene
inspections but under
the terms of the new bill,
would be required to
prominently display their
food hygiene ratings at
their premises.
The green and black
FHRS sticker, with rat-
ings numbered 0 to 5, is
now recognised by 83%
of consumers across
Northern Ireland. The
rating 0 means urgent
improvement is necessary whilst 5 means hygiene standards are very
good.
The ratings are based
on a number of criteria
including how hygienically food is prepared,
cooked, cooled and
stored; the condition
and cleanliness of the
premises and the procedures in place to ensure
the production of safe
food.
Businesses can appeal against their rating
if they consider it does
not reflect the hygiene
standards at the time of
the inspection. They will
also be able to request
and pay for a re-rating
inspection if they have
carried out improve-
ments. All of the inspections are carried out by
food safety officers from
district councils and the
frequency of inspection
of each business is based
on an assessment of risk
to the consumer.
Under the bill, there
would be a new requirement for food businesses
to give their rating
verbally if asked and it
would make it an offence
not to do so. This would
allow those with a visual
impairment or anyone
phoning a restaurant or
takeaway to find out a
hygiene rating before
booking or ordering.
The new legislation
also proposes the introduction of fixed penalty
notices for offences such
as the non-display of ratings. There are also powers to prosecute with a
proposed maximum fine
of £1,000.
Typerite Wins £100,000
Contract in Nordics with
Invest NI Assistance
Typerite in Warrenpoint has won new business in excess of
£100,000 in the Nordics for its thermal transfer ribbons.
Northern
Ireland’s
sole producer of thermal
transfer ribbons, Typerite currently exports
to 42 countries and has
used a range of Invest
Northern Ireland trade
support
programmes,
including participation
in targeted trade shows
abroad. It won this latest business following
participation in an Invest
NI trade mission to the
Nordics.
Welcoming Typerite’s
latest success in export
markets Dr Vicky Kell,
Invest NI Trade Director,
said “These encouraging
contracts give Typerite a
solid foothold within its
industry and positions
the company for further
growth within its sector.
“The company has
taken part in our trade
mission
programme,
and we’ve assisted it
to exhibit products at
major sector exhibitions
worldwide including Labelexpo in Brussels, the
world’s largest event for
the label industry.”
Michael Barlow, Typerite Director, said:
“Invest NI’s support has
been invaluable over the
years and has enabled
the company to expand
its international markets.
“We have been exhibiting at Labelexpo for a
number of years with the
assistance from Invest
NI. The last exhibition in September 2013
proved to be extremely
successful. We received
firm enquiries and orders from as far afield
as Russia, Middle East,
Australia, New Zealand
and Europe.
“This has led to visits
Do you need
new dentures?
from existing customers,
enquiries from potential
clients and securing a
lucrative contract with
the largest label manufacturer in Australia,” he
added.
Exports now account
for 93 per cent of its
business and remain
a key focus. Typerite
currently exports to 42
countries
worldwide,
Saudi Arabia and Australia being the largest
export markets.
Typerite was established in 1985 and is a
family run business. The
company also manufactures hot stamping foil,
cold foil, MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition). Typerite also
supplies Laser toners,
inkjets, paper, till rolls,
stationery, cash register
ribbons and printers.
Research by Diabetes
UK has shown that up
to nine out of ten parents do not know the
four main symptoms of
Type 1 diabetes. To address this lack of awareness, the charity created
a campaign to highlight
the ‘4Ts’ of Type 1 diabetes symptoms.
The 4Ts stand for Toilet, Thirsty, Tired and
Thinner:
1.Toilet - going to the
loo a lot, bed wetting
by a usually dry child
or heavier nappies in
babies;
2.Thirsty - being really thirsty and not being able to quench the
thirst;
3.Tired - feeling more
tired than usual;
4.Thinner - losing
weight or looking thinner than normal.
South Eastern ICPs
are raising awareness
by distributing 4Ts
campaign posters and
briefing materials to all
schools throughout the
SEELB area. ICPs are
networks of GPs, pharmacists, health and social care staff, voluntary
and community groups
and service users and
carers, all of whom are
working together to
improve joined up and
person centred care.
Dr Grainne Doran, GP
lead and Chair of the
Pictured also (L-R) are: Ms Cathy Hunter, Principal at St Comgall’s; Florence Findlay White, National
Care Advisor, Diabetes UK; and Dr Grainne Doran, GP lead and Chair of the North Down Integrated Care
Partnership (ICP).
North Down ICP said:
“ICPs are now working in local areas to
improve care for long
term conditions such as
diabetes and promoting early diagnosis
and early treatment
is an important part
of that work. We are
supporting this important campaign to help
ensure that parents,
carers, and those working with children know
the
symptoms
and
understand that a child
urgently needs to visit
a doctor and be tested
for Type 1 diabetes if
they have some or all
of these symptoms. By
simply
remembering
the 4Ts could stop a
child from becoming
dangerously ill.”
The campaign will
also raise awareness
among healthcare professionals and the wider
community. Posters and
briefing materials will
be distributed to pharmacies, GP practices,
leisure centres, community centres, outpatient
departments and libraries in the South Eastern
ICP area in the coming
weeks.
Teeing Up Our World-Class Golf In Italy
Tourism and golf companies from Northern Ireland and island of Ireland attend 2014 International
Golf Travel Market (IGTM) in Lake Como region
The 2014 International
Golf Travel Market
(IGTM) recently took
place in Italy’s Lake
Como region. Tourism
Ireland – together with
a delegation of golf and
tourism companies –
took every opportunity to
highlight why the island
of Ireland is one of the
top golf destinations in
the world to the influential golf buyers and media who attended from
around the world.
The International Golf
Travel Market (IGTM)
is a key B2B event for
the global golf travel
community – attended
by some 350 golf buyers and 100 international
media for four days of
Denturecare Express offer the public a bespoke
denture making experience, providing the highest
quality in customer service, and offering the best
tried and tested materials to their patients. Denturecare Express can offer immediate appointments
and dentures can be made in a week (depending
on your schedule of course).
With the majority of patients coming through the door by recommendation, this well established
denture clinic has made a truly exceptional name for itself, and continues to pride itself in the excellence of the service offered. New dentures, repairs, snoring devices or gum shields, what ever it is you
require, you will receive the same high quality of workmanship and customer care.
By offering a free consultation with John McIlveen (CDT) you will be given the time to assess your
needs and advised as to what action should be taken.
If you have been struggling with you dentures, if you are not happy with how they look or it is just
time for a new set, why not give Denturecare Express a call to arrange your free consultation on
02891823095.
Pictured is Simon Gregory, Tourism Ireland with Karen Hope, NITB and golf tour
operator Tom Cotter, the Cotter Collection.
pre-scheduled appointments, networking opportunities and industry
updates.
Simon Gregory, Tourism Ireland’s director
of markets, said: “Golf
is the world’s largest
sports-related
market
and is a major focus for
Tourism Ireland – particularly in our promo-
tions in Great Britain,
the United States, Sweden and China. We are
working hard to promote
Northern Ireland and
the island of Ireland as
a ‘must see’ and ‘must
play’ destination to golf
enthusiasts around the
world, capitalising on
the global success of our
golfers, including Rory
McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke,
Pádraig Harrington, Paul
McGinley, and others.
Our message is that the
island of Ireland offers
golfers the complete
package – with top
courses, stunning scenery, good value green
fees and the warmest of
welcomes.”