Author: OPC

Omagh Probus Club Wednesday 3rd December 2025

Wednesday 3rd December 2025 the Club held its annual Christmas Luncheon in the Golf Club for members and guests. The principal guests were Mr Ronnie Oldcroft, President of Omagh Rotary Club and Mrs Anne McBain, President of Omagh and District Ladies Probus Club. No less important were the widows of former members, wives of current members and ladies from the Ladies from the Ladies Club. Guests were greeted on arrival by Club President, Felim O’Neill and offered a glass of Christmas cheer. The function room was warm and welcoming with a Christmas Tree and festive decorations in the windows and around the walls. An extensive menu was available from the Golf Club Restaurant and each course thoroughly enjoyed by all present. Entertainment after the meal was provided by a brass ensemble from Omagh Academy who delighted with a programme of Christmas music and carols.    A lovely friendly atmosphere prevailed throughout, and thanks were expressed to the Omagh Golf Club Captain, Mr John Wallace for the arrangements and Mrs Mary Hughes for an excellent meal.

The speaker on Wednesday 9th November was Mr John Nevin, a retired civil servant whose career had been in the Department of Health and Social Services.  John began his talk by explaining that the concept of “social security” in Britain goes back of the reign of Henry VIII when monasteries doled out alms in the form of food relief.  Old Age Pensions were introduced in 1908, the rate being 5 shillings per week for a single person over 70, and 7 and 6 pence for a married couple.

John entered the social security service as an 18-year-old straight from school, and in the early days very much appreciated the help and guidance he got from older and more experienced colleagues. No-one, he said, likes being unemployed or being made redundant and having to “sign on”.  Back in the day this required a 15-minute face to face interview with a member of staff.  These encounters could at times become confrontational, but he found that the best way to deal with aggression was to be patient, listening, attentive and reflective. His experiences provided plenty of anecdotes of claimants trying to secure benefits while denying that they had jobs.

While most claimants were honest a small minority were referred to the FIO – Fraud Investigation Office.  John reported that although numbers were small (5%) the cost to the public purse was considerable – 5% of £980 million (total budget for 2024 in Northern Ireland) equates to £49 m. Interestingly, some 60% of claimants claim less than their entitlement.

Mr Nevin was warmly thanked for his talk by Club Member Harman Scott

Wednesday 12 November 2025: Club Visit to Terex Finlay Engineering

On Wednesday 12th November 12 members of the club visited the Terex Finlay manufacturing plant on the Drumquin Road, Omagh.  They were warmly welcomed by Clare Johnston who took the party into the Board Room for a briefing before a tour of the factory.  AS part of the briefing Clare gave a short history of the plant, from its beginnings as a block-making venture in the 1970’s to the global company it has become.  Later in the day club member Ivan Brown recalled selling their early block-making machines for Twelve Pounds, Shillings in 1949.
Today one of Terex’s large stone crushing machines would set you back £1.5 million and weigh up to 90 tons. Manufacturing is so efficient that one new machine rolls of the production line every day, it having taken anything from 6 – 10 weeks from start to finish. Each machine it tailored to the specific requirements of the purchaser. The scale of the enterprise and the logistics required to bring it all together begins to register when one understands that each crushing machine has some 62,000 components. Each component has sticky label with a QR code, which when scanned will inform the operator of exactly what needs to be done next. Increasingly Computer controlled machines do the precision engineering that turns raw steel into the component parts assembled to make the finished article.
Members were impressed by the scale and complexity of the operation and left with a feeling of pride in the success and achievements of this local enterprise.

The speaker on Wednesday 5th November 2025 was club member, Mr Kenneth Collins, who brought to the meeting a local history topic, entitled “A Fateful Migration”. While perusing newspaper columns from the mid-nineteenth century his attention fell on a death notice. Elizabeth Andrews, 22 November 1836, late of Omagh, lost in sinking of the ship BRISTOL, with 2nd son and three daughters”. Patient research uncovered the fact that Mrs Andrews had a shop in Omagh and when her husband David died she decided to sell and emigrate to the USA, to join her eldest son who had emigrated earlier.

Their journey began by taking a horse drawn open coach from Omagh to Derry where they took a paddle steamer to Liverpool and from where in October 1836 she and her children boarded the BRISTOL, a ship bound for New York.  By all accounts the 35-day voyage across the Atlantic was uneventful, but fatefully no pilots were available to take the ship on the final leg of its voyage from Long Island 20 miles up the to the New York docks.   While waiting a severe storm blew up which drove the ship aground and Mrs Andrews, her 2nd son and three daughters were among 100 fellow passengers who perished, despite the best efforts of local fishermen to rescue those on board.

Kenneth’s talk included how the story was uncovered, contemporary accounts of conditions on the old Trans-Atlantic emigrant sailing ships and photographs of the memorial erected in Rockville cemetery not far from Rockaway beach where the BRISTOL foundered. His talk prompted much discussion and earned him a well-deserved round of applause.

Wednesday 29 October 2025: Speaker Mr Norman Quinn

The speaker on Wednesday 29th October 2025 was Mr Norman Quinn who shared his life story from school days in Omagh Academy to retirement in Newtownstewart. He began by exhibiting a painting done by a German prisoner of war who had been assigned work in the army post office during the first World War under the command of Norman’s grandfather. On leaving school Norman joined the merchant navy as a radio operator and travelled the world on a succession of cargo ships. His ports of call included Cape Town, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong and the islands of Southeast Asa. While docked in Peru he experienced an earthquake in which 20,000 persons perished.

One particular voyage ended in India where he spent 6 months before travelling back to the UK overland via Pakistan, Afghanistan, Persia and the countries in between, On leaving the merchant he worked in the Reform Stores in Newtownstewart for a time before his skills as a radio operator found a new lease of life with the coastguard service. Norman concluded his talk with several anecdotes drawn from 14 years monitoring shipping off the northwest coast of Ireland and the role he played in relaying message to helicopters tasked with rescuing those in peril on the sea. He was thanked for an interesting talk by club member Oliver Loughran who shared that brother has also been a radio operator in the merchant navy.

Omagh Probus Club, Wednesday 22 October 2025

The speaker on Wed 22 October was Club President, Felim O’Neill, drawn by lot to address members on a topic of his choosing. For his truly fascinating talk Felim dipped into his collection of objects mostly unearthed during outings with is trusty metal detector. He presented members with four pairs of artefacts and invited comment on the age, style and provence of each pair. The first pair were two bronze miniature figurines, one of which was correctly identified as a representation of Lord Nelson, dating from 1806 – the other more likely a recent souvenir from Egypt, in the shape of a temple goddess.

The second pair to be passed around were the pottery bases of two drinking vessels, one made on a potter’s wheel and dating from Roman times, the other built up from coils of clay in a style that was first developed in the Iron age. The third pair were both Norman, one the pommel of a sword, the other a swivel from a dog collar – see photo below. The fourth pair were again bronze miniatures but from very different periods of history; the one shaped like a Carnyx [trumpet] was likely to have been the handle of a Celtic shaving razor; the other, modelled on the neck, head and beak of a heron was possibly Roman and may have adorned the lid an expensive bowl.

Felim’s talk generated much interested discussion and many questions as well as well-deserved appreciation for his presentation.

Omagh Probus Club Wednesday 08 October 20205
Speaker, Club Member Mr Aidan Quinn.  Topic “Reflections”

The speaker on Wednesday 15^th October was Mr Aidan Quinn who reflected on his journey through life, enlivened with amusing stories and anecdotes.  Aidan grew up on a family farm outside Ballygawley.  From Omagh Technical College he progressed to Loughrey Agricultural College. On a visit to the Balmoral show, while still a student, he got into conversation with an exhibitor demonstrating milking machines. Such was his interest that he was offered a job interview which led to a career installing miking parlours in all parts of the UK and Ireland. Aidan illustrated his life and times with a large display of photographs, posters and cuttings, much to the interest of Club members.

OMAGH PROBUS CLUB: 8th October 2025 BUSINESS MEETING

Club President welcomed everyone and thanked them for their attendance. Before opening the meeting, he invited members to stand for a short time of silent reflection on the death of Club member Albert Alle who had passed on Wednesday 10th August. Many tributes were paid in his memory, with those who spoke expressing their sadness at the loss of a long-serving and loyal member of the club. The fortitude and dignity with which he faced terminal illness was very much in the character of a man who was admired and respected by all who knew him.

The business of the meeting was to agree a programme for the Autumn session.  This was accomplished without difficulty due to the willingness of members to assume responsibility for a meeting in the weeks ahead.   Arrangements for the Christmas Luncheon on Wednesday, 3^rd December were delegated to the Club Committee

The meeting ended on a cheerful note with the presentation to David Haddow of his Honorary Member’s Certificate.