Wednesday 24 October 2018 Mr Ciaran McCreanor, Dalradian Gold Ltd
Probus President, Paddy McGowan with Ciaran McCreanor, Dalradian Gold Ltd
In a wide-ranging 75-minute talk Mr McCreanor addressed a number of issues including local employment, waste management, gas emissions, gold reserves, environmental impact, tunnel tours and the future of the company. He stressed the measures in place to minimise the effects of mining operations on the landscape and the planning in place to restore the area to its former state when mining ceased. Concerns about waste water were raised because cyanide is used in the process that separates the gold from the rock. It was explained that much of the water is recycled and what is ultimately released back into the rivers is treated to the point that it is purer than water coming into the plant from Sperrin streams. There are no lakes or lagoons from which polluted water might leach into the soil or seep into water courses. On-going testing of the river system showed no harm to any fish or the micro-organisms on which they feed. The speaker was up-beat about the future of mining in the region, quoting estimates of over 6 million ounces of gold in the Sperrins with the potential to generate over £5 billion worth of business over the lifetime of the operation – a period of time he described as “generational”. He was thanked for his detailed talk and invitation to visit the mine by Probus Vice-President, Oliver Loughran.
Wednesday 17th October 2018 Speaker: Mrs Cathy McCaul. Topic: “My life and times”
Mrs Cathy McCaul with Probus Vice-President, Oliver Loughran
Cathy McCaul [nee O’Reilly] is a native of Omagh. Her father was much involved in the town’s Rotary Club and her mother was founder member of “Inner Wheel”. A former pupil of Loreto Convent Grammar School she was the first female to take a degree in Computer Science at Queen’s and on graduating joined ICL then the UK’s premier IT company. After a few months writing code in a London basement she realised that a life as a computer programmer was not for her and moved into Project Management with the IT company “Digital”. When Digital was acquired by Compaq in 1989 her job was to integrate the two companies and give them a global reach. This involved a lot of travelling but after her losing her luggage a few times on inter-continental flights she learned how to travel the world with only hand luggage and [in her own words] with the bags under her eyes. After Compaq she worked for a time in London before being recruited by Mastercard to help the company improve customer relations globally. Her success in the role earned her promotion to the Board of Management of Mastercard with the title of President – one of only three females on the Board of Directors. Now working towards retirement, she divides her time between Omagh and New York while doing some consultancy work in the world of global finance. Mrs McCaul’s talk generated many questions and much appreciation.
Claire McElhinney shows her grandmother’s war medals to Vice President Zoe Reid
Probus Ladies hear of one local girl’s experiences in W.W.1 when she travelled ‘From the Plum to Pau.’
The October meeting of Omagh and District Ladies’ Probus, which was held on National Poetry day, commenced with Vice Chair Zoe Reid sharing the poem ‘Phenomenal Woman’ by Mya Angelou.
This proved to be a very apt choice as guest speaker Claire McElhinney a local historian, shared the story of her phenomenal grandmother who as a young girl left her familiar surroundings of Plumbridge to nurse wounded French soldiers in Pau, Southern France.
Claire became intrigued about her maternal grandmother’s life story after being given a photo of newly trained nurses outside the home of Mr.W.J. Millar JP in Newtownstewart and another of a Field Training day for the Ulster Volunteer Force Nursing Corps. Her grandmother was in both photos.
Research showed that Edith Harkness had joined the UVF Medical and Nursing Corps in March 1914 and had trained locally with mock battles and training camps. When World War1 broke out in Europe these young women were ready to put this training into practice. Their offer of help was gratefully received by the French authorities and fundraising started for a French Military Hospital. In October 1914 a group of Tyrone UVF nurses including 20 year old Edith set off, travelling by boat from Belfast via Liverpool to Bordeaux. Their destination was Pau, a mountainous region in Southern France chosen for its healthy climate and its safe distance from the front.
Using a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate her talk, Claire gave a fascinating insight into the nurses’ experiences there. Slides showed the ‘Villa Beaupre’, a previous school which was converted into a 50 bed U.V.F. Military Hospital, its grounds where patients were often nursed outside, the converted ‘goods trains’ which brought the wounded from battle and the amazing ‘trench art’ created by these recuperating soldiers.
Edith nursed in Pau Military Hospital until 1916 when it closed due to huge numbers of casualties needing treatment nearer the front.
Following the battle of the Somme the British Army began to evacuate its wounded back to England. Edith responded to an urgent call for nurses and was promptly recruited to nurse in a large military hospital in Ripon, Yorkshire where she stayed until 1920.
After the war, Edith returned to her native Plumbridge where she married and raised a family of eight children.
Despite this local girl being awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, back in her familiar home environment, she was very reticent to talk about this period of her life!
Claire was thanked for her very interesting and enlightening talk by club member May Bothwell.
The next meeting will be held in Omagh Library on Thursday 1st November at 2pm when the guest speaker will be Geraldine Fitzpatrick on “Practical First Aid Tips.”
Members are also reminded of this club’s 25th Celebratory Lunch on Thursday 22nd November 2018.
Wednesday 10th October 2018 : Topic – Integrated Education Speakers: Mr Anthony Bradley, Principal of Omagh Integrated Primary School and Mr Nigel Frith, Principal of Drumragh Integrated College
[L – R] Mr Nigel Frith, Mr Oliver Loughran, Probus Vice-President. Mr Anthony Bradley
Mr Bradley began by tracing the origins of Integrated Education back to Martin Luther King’s famous speech – “I have a dream”. The theme was picked up by the Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland in the 1960’s and today some 22,000 children in the Province attend Integrated schools. Currently there 43 Integrated Primary Schools and 20 Secondary schools, representing about 7% of the total. The first integrated school in Northern Ireland was Lagan College which opened in 1981 with 28 pupils. It had to wait another 8 years before the sector was recognised by the Department of Education and granted funding as part of the Education Reform Order of 1989.
Mr Frith introduced himself by telling members he had been born in Africa and in 1981 enrolled in the then New University of Ulster where he met a local lass who would in due course become his wife and later convince him that he should live and work in Northern Ireland. He was appointed Principal of Drumragh College in 2005 having been until them teaching in Comprehensive schools in Peterborough. Today Drumragh has an enrolment of 680 pupils and occupies a campus on the Crevenagh Road which it shares with the Integrated Primary School. The schools have shared goals in their vision of bringing together children and young people from both traditions and educating them together on the basis of equality and respect for each other’s traditions. Tributes from former pupils were quoted to show the success of the two schools in producing pupils committed to making the world a better place.
Top Table 03.10.18 [L – R] Oliver Loughran [Vice-President], Paddy McGowan [President], Bob Lingwood [Centenarian], Alastair Orr [Secretary]At the opening meeting of the Autumn session Bob Lingwood was invited to take the Chair as a mark of respect and affection for a member who had just celebrated his 100th birthday. As an old soldier awarded the Military Medal for gallantry during the Second World War it gave him great pleasure to introduce Mr Richard Scott MBE to speak about MAPS
Richard founded MAPS [Military and Police Support] in 2012, to provide support in the West for former service personnel who needed it, including a drop-in service, befriending, counselling, hospital attendance etc. It is an entirely voluntary organisation that receives some limited funding from Northern Ireland Victims Service. He himself had been in the Police and was at the Omagh Bomb scene minutes after it happened. A number of years later when he had to retire due to ill heath he realised there was little support for security force members who left under similar circumstances. MAPS received a citation from HM the Queen in 2017 and Richard was presented with an MBE by Prince William in 2018.
He also talked about his work as Chairman of Omagh British Legion and his visit to Belgium to lay a wreath as part of the Great Pilgrimage90 in 2018, when 1200 legion members and representatives from throughout the UK and Ireland paraded through Ypres to the Menin Gate with their Standards and wreaths.
The citation on the Omagh British Legion wreath was written by Honorary President Bob Lingwood. A number of members recounted their own family memories and history, including the use of photographs and the placing of Poppy Crosses on graves.
[L – R] Oliver Loughran [Vice-President] Paddy McGowan, [President] Richard Scott [MAPS] Bob Lingwood [Centenarian] posing before a poster of Bob carrying the Olympic Flame in 2006
Wednesday 30 May 2018, Ms Paula Canney, Dementia NI
Paula Canney, with Michael Cooney, Probus second Vice-President
Paula began by stating that over 850,000 people in the UK have a diagnosis of dementia, a figure that is predicted to rise to one a million by 2025. In Northern Ireland the figure is around 20,000 but may well be a third higher because of the number of cases either undiagnosed or undeclared. Dementia NI works with people in the early stages of the condition, helping them to get on with life, because remaining active – physically and mentally – is the best way to cope. Paula explained that there is much more to dementia than memory loss; to date some 204 types have been recorded, including Alzheimer’s Disease, Vascular Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia and Dementia with Lewy Bodies. The condition is no respecter of persons and fame and fortune offer no protection as in the case of Ronald Regan, Barbara Windsor, Robin Williams, and Terry Pratchett to name but four. Paula went on to discuss the common symptoms and factors which were associated with increased risk of developing the condition, such as ageing, gender, ethnicity, family history, cardio-vascular disease, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, Parkinson’s Disease, stress, MS, HIV, and Down’s Syndrome. More women that men have dementia because, statistically, women live longer. Her talk gave rise to many questions and interested discussion from a group of men fretful about their health in the future.
Wednesday 23 May 2018: Mr John Paysden. The Spanish Armada
Probus President, Paddy McGowan, with Guest Speaker, John Paysden
On 25 September 1588 three ships from the Spanish Armada foundered off the Irish coast at Streedagh Beach, Mullghmore, Co Sligo. Discovered by divers in 1985 lying in water just 15 -30 ft deep they have been identified as La Lavia, a merchant ship with 25 guns, La Juliana, a Catalia Merchant with 32 guns and the Santa Maria de Vision, a Ragusa merchant with 18 guns. In recent times a monument to commemorate what happened has been erected close to where the ships were attempting to shelter. Unfortunately the severity of the storm was such that the three ships were washed ashore and completely destroyed within the space of an hour. Not all drowned; 140 made it to shore, only for most to be massacred by English troops garrisoned in Sligo. A small number of sailors did survive, thanks to a mixture of good fortune and assistance from some of the Irish chieftains of the area. John’s informed talk included much interesting information about the Armada, including the fact that a typical Spanish galleon was 100 ft long, 36 ft wide, had a speed of 3.5 knots and was constructed from the timber of 2000 trees. The English Navy under the command of Sir Francis Drake had fewer ships but because they were faster, more manoeuvrable and had canon of greater range and accuracy they put the Armada to flight sending it on an ill-fated voyage back to Spain round the North of Scotland and down the west coast of Ireland. And “the rest is history” .
All-Ireland Rally 15 – 16 May, hosted by the Probus 97 Tralee
Omagh Probians who attended the All-Ireland Rally in Tralee. [L – R] J im Alderdice, Kenneth Collins, John Greening, Harman Scott, Jim McBain and John McCandless
Omagh Probus was well represented at the All-Ireland Rally. In all 14 persons travelled south – the six members of the Club in the photo above accompanied by their respective wives along with Miss Audrey Hodge and Ms Hazel Richards from Omagh Ladies Probus Club. Following a wine reception on Tuesday evening the Rally got off to an uplifting start with a wonderful concert featuring the Opus 96 Chamber Choir supported by the Realtain Nua [New Stars] Traditional Music Group. On Wednesday Mr Liam Sawers, Chairman of the Rally Steering Committee introduced Ms Norma Foyley, Mayor of Tralee, who warmly welcomed delegates and guests, in an address seconded by Mr Gareth Arnold, District Governor of Rotary International, Ireland. The Chairman then called upon Jim McBain to give a brief report on the 2017 Rally in Omagh. He was followed to the podium by Dr. Darragh Naughton who gave a very interesting and informative talk on “Audiology Medical Services” in the Republic of Ireland.
Next onto the stage was a Kerryman with such strong local connections that a road in Tralee is named after his father. Mr Dick Spring, former Irish International Rugby Player and Tanaiste in the Dublin Government, was greeted as an old friend and spoke in a humorous and affectionate way about his connections with the area. The Edwin Dunlop Trophy for the Probus club which had travelled the greatest distance with the greatest number of delegates was awarded to Lurgan Probus. After an excellent lunch efficiently served to 320 delegates in the Conference Centre of the Brandon Hotel the programme continued with a talk by Mr Justin Moran from Age Action Ireland. The final speaker of the day was Ms Mary O’Rourke, a well known member of Dail eirann, who spoke engagingly of her life and times as parliamentarian and political activist. The Rally was officially brought to a close by the playing of the Rally Anthem, a lovely piece of music specially composed for the 2018 All-Ireland Rally in Tralee, Co Kerry. Members of the Omagh party were in no hurry to leave and on Thursday enjoyed a coach trip round the Ring of Kerry, before returning home on Friday.
Wednesday, 9 May 2018. Mr Oliver Loughran: Local dances in the 50’s and 60’s
[L – R] Probians Ron Burch, Desmond Smart, John McCandless, Oliver Loughran and Eamon Cunnigham
Probus Vice-President, Oliver Loughran, was member of a local dance band during the 50’s and 60’s and has many memories. He recalled how males and females arranged themselves on opposite sides of the dance floor and it was the task of the dance band to get the lads across the floor to get things going. The answer was usually an old-time waltz. Dancing in parochial halls was mainly on a Sunday night – when the pubs were officially shut. In most cases that only applied to the front door with ready access round the back, but you had to be quiet ! As times moved on commercial ballrooms began to appear in the rural west. One of the first was the Gap Ballroom in Mullaslin, near Carrickmore. Large by local standards it lasted only a few years before losing out to newer venues with a drinks licence and meals, the Royal Arms being a good example. The dance bands of the day had to be in tune with political leanings of the management, it being customary to play an anthem at the end of the evening – either “God Save the Queen” or “The Soldier’s Song”. Another custom of the day was for a young man to say to a girl, “Save the last dance for me”. In the conversation which followed Oliver’s talk, one member recalled asking a girl for the last dance early in the evening, only to be told, “You’ve had it”.
After listening to the guest speaker at the meeting of Omagh and District Ladies Probus Club, which was held on Thursday 3rd May, a spokesperson commented “I along with many others I suspect, am recovering from a severe bout of Robinson’s Disease, a disorder caused by the repeated tickling of the funny bone to the point where the patient ends up doubled over with laughter.” This particular bout was caused by the eponymous Mrs Anita Robinson well known throughout Northern Ireland for her wry musings on life here.
While election apathy raged all around, members were right royally entertained to a series of vignettes ranging from Ladies who Lunch through to Ladies who Can’t Find Appropriate Underwear, stopping off at many points in between.
The gasps, giggles, grins and grimaces showed that most if not all present could recognise themselves in the woman driver (much better than the male version apparently), the swimmer reluctant to get her hair wet, the internet self diagnostician or the long-suffering woman “enjoying” a bank holiday trip to the seaside with her family.
In other words, Anita took her incisive scalpel of observation and wit to every woman you have ever known – every daughter, wife, mother and, most importantly, friend we have ever met and pointed out our common humanity in a tour de force of hilarious attention to detail.
While she used material which had by and large been written for her column in the Irish News or for one or other of her BBC Radio Ulster programmes, she was a consummate performer and the easy rapport which she established with her audience meant that the women who people her pieces came instantly to life; we know them, lunch with them, exchange minor grumbles and complaints and compare notes on the issues great and small which bedevil us all.
Moving seamlessly through her rogues’ gallery, Mrs Robinson held her audience riveted from start to finish and when club member Audrey Hodge stood to thank her for her talk it was clear that all present agreed that it had been a wonderful afternoon and a fitting way to bring our library based sessions to a close for the summer season.
The next meeting in Omagh Library Headquarters will take place on Thursday 6th September when the guest speaker will be a representative of Omagh Rotary Club who will examine the links between the two clubs.
