Author: OPC

Probus Wed 5th March 2025 Speaker: Dr Johnny Hamill

The guest speaker on Wednesday 5th of March was Dr. Johnny Hamill, well-known local historian with an insightful talk on “Desmonds”, for many years sole supplier of garments to Marks and Spencer. At its height Desmond’s operated eight factories in West Ulster. At its peak the company employed several thousand workers and had an annual turnover of £100 million. Faced with rising competition from Asian garment manufacturers, it went into voluntary liquidation in 2004 by which time it was only a shadow of its former self. The company’s strength in its heyday is reflected by the fact that it’s Omagh factory once had 350 employees who produced 5 million pairs of chinos for per annum for Marks and Spencer’s.

Dr. Hamill’s talk focused on the origins of the company, started in 1885 by Bridget Desmond. This remarkable lady employed local women to piece together shirts in their own time in their own homes. With no direct control over quality and supply lines Bridget opened her first factory in her husband’s workshop in 1907. Its success in the years which followed owed much to the way Bridget cared for and looked after her employees. She set both the style and standard, creating a culture and ethos in the workplace that secured the loyalty and commitment of the workforce long after her death in 1911 age 48. It was a legacy kept alive by her grandson, Sir Denis Desmond, right to the end.

Wednesday 26th February 2025: Mr Boyd George, Moypark

The speaker on Wednesday 28th February was Mr Boyd George from “Moypark” with a very interesting talk about the poultry industry.  Mr George began by reminding his audience of the place of poultry in our culture and history by quoting passages of scripture in which God’s care for his children is likened to a hen “gathering her chicks under her wings”.  Today the industry exists on a vast scale across several countries and continents and globally generates millions of tonnes of meat and eggs per year. Statistics abounded in his presentation:
• The United Kingdom is largely self-sufficient in broiler meat producing 2.4 million tonnes per annum.
• The industry is truly intensive: broilers take only seven weeks from hatching to table
• Moypark [Europe] processes 6 million broilers per week, most going to supermarkets and fast-food outlets such as KFC and McDonald’s
• the UK industry is worth £4.2 billion per annum
• Northern Ireland with a population of 2 million people annually produces enough meat and eggs for 10 million people
Mr Boyd’s talk emphasised the biosecurity measures taken to ensure that what the customer buys is safe to eat. He went on to explain how breeding programmes are aimed at meeting customer preferences. This prompted one member to liken Moypark to the old Sun Newspaper, being all about birds with big breasts and shapely legs. This brought to a good-natured conclusion a fascinating talk about an industry of which many had only passing knowledge.

Wednesday 19th February 2025: Speaker: Mr Alistair Orr
Topic: Cliff Scenery of Southwest Donegal

Alistair kicked off his presentation by protesting that he was not used to giving talks.   It was a protest quickly rejected as he launched into a fluent, fascinating and fact-filled talk. He attributed his connection to the area to a Derry Nun who enthused about the work of Fr James McDywer, the Parish Priest in Glencolmkille and urged his father, Albert Orr, to make his acquaintance. It was the start of regular visits to Southwest Donegal and the collection of many books about the culture, history and geography and of the area.

To whet the appetite of his audience Alistair began with a quiz and distributed two sheets of A4 depicting people and events with a connection to Southwest Donegal.  Members studied the 12 pictures, scratched their heads but between them came up with all the answers. The images included, Saint Columkille, The Spanish Armada ship, Girona, Bonny Prince Charlie, Poets William Allingham and Dylan Thomas, Singer Gracie Fields, Film stars, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick and Father Brown, the latter famed for his photographic record of the area in the 1920’s.  Father Brown was a Jesuit priest who had been a chaplain in the Irish Guards during the first World War and been highly decorated for his courage.

Club member, Oliver Loughran spoke for all present when he warmly congratulated Alistair on an erudite, well prepared, very interesting and informative talk.

Beetlemania: Hugh Ward

The speaker on Wednesday 12th February 2025 was club member Hugh Ward, drawn by lot to address the meeting on the topic of his own choosing.  Hugh entitled his talk Beetlemania and regaled members with his enthusiasm for buying, restoring and driving VW beetles during a period in his life some might consider a middle-age crisis.  He began by looking at the genesis of the Beetle during the 1930s when Adolf Hitler was chancellor in pre-war Germany with a vision for an affordable “people’s car” – Volkswagen. Costing 1000 Deutschmark and capable of carrying two adults and three children at 100 kilometres per hour he entrusted automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche with the design, and the rest is history.  The last Beetle to be built was produced in Mexico in 2024, part of a manufacturing network which at its height in the 1960s spanned the globe.

Hugh’s interest was sparked by his son who purchased a wreck of a Beetle from a scrap yard and together they restored it, an engineering achievement which became a passion as they acquired more and more old Beetles. At one time Hugh had 11 in his workshop with parts for sale on e-bay having bought out a VW service and repair dealership in Tassagh, Co Armagh.  With the passing of time his enthusiasm dimmed leaving him with precious memories, a shelf full of VW workshop manuals and many photographs of beloved Beetles. He was warmly thanked for his talk by Oliver Loughran whose wife still owns and drives a yellow Beetle sourced 12 years ago from Mexico.

Mr Sean Fitzgerald

The guest speaker on Wednesday 5th February was Mr Sean Fitzgerald, an ambassador for “Mercy Ships” since his retirement as a Stena Line sea captain. “Mercy Ships” is an international charity founded in 1978 by Americans Don and Dayton Stevens, and committed to bringing hope and healing to parts of sub-Saharan Africa where thousands of people do not have access to modern health care. A hospital ship is an efficient way to deliver state-of-the-art medical services to places where clean water, reliable electricity and skilled doctors are non-existent or scarce. The charity maintains two ships which together perform more than 5000 surgeries and over 28,000 dental procedures annually, while training more than 2800 medical professionals. This ensures ongoing support after the ships depart. The aim of the charity is to make itself redundant by establishing modern on-shore health care facilities.

The images below show the “Global Mercy” [on the left] and the “Africa Mercy”. To give some idea of scale the “Global Mercy” has a crew of 950 covering 200 different jobs. It has 6 operating theatres, 200 patient beds, a laboratory, a CT scanner, out-patients’ clinics as well as dental surgeries. The “Africa Mercy” boasts five operating theatres, an X-ray unit, a recovery suite, an intensive care unit and 86 ward beds. Both are similar in size to the Stena Line car ferries which daily between Belfast and Liverpool and were built on blue-prints provided by the company.
Sean was warmly thanked for his informative talk.

PROBUS CLUB 29th January 2025 Mr Oliver Loughran

Omagh Men’s Probus Club annually extends an invitation to the president of Omagh Rotary to address members in recognition of the fact that the club was sponsored by Rotary in the first instance, and owes its existence to Rotary, – as do all Probus Clubs in the UK and Ireland.  Unfortunately Mr Peter Waterson, Rotary President 2024 – 25 was unable to attend on Wednesday 29th. In his absence club member and Omagh Rotarian, Mr Oliver Loughran filled in and conveyed the best wishes of the Rotary Club for the year ahead.

Oliver took club members on a light-hearted trip down memory lane reminiscing about his childhood in Ballygawley where his grandfather, Joseph Loughran, had brought electricity to the village. Oliver attended St Matthews Primary School, Garvaghey where his mother was a teacher.  He recalled that the school was fully integrated and was envious that the Protestant pupils were allowed to play outside when the priest came to teach R.E.

Oliver is not the only club member to have attended the Christian Brothers Grammar School in Omagh and his contemporaries enjoyed sharing memories of the hardships they endured and the successes they enjoyed. At Queens he read English and with some pals formed a dance band. Their first booking was in an Orange Hall in Sandy Row.

In such lively and engaging vein, Oliver filled the morning with characteristic wit and good humour, a contribution for which he was warmly applauded.

 

New Year 2025 – Club Members at A.G.M 15th January 2025

Omagh Men’s Probus Club was scheduled to resume on Wednesday 8th January with a new year message from Mr Gareth Hayden, Lay pastor on the Omagh and Fintona Methodist Circuit. Regrettably the meeting was cancelled due to snow and ice. However, things got going again on Wednesday 15th January when the club held its Annual General Meeting in the Golf Club at 10:30 am. Mr Felim O’Neill was re-elected as President with the post of Vice-President going to Mr Victor Russell. Mr Jim Graham was elected treasurer in absentia, a nomination which he graciously accepted after the event. The remaining members of the committee are unchanged from 2024, namely Mr Alistair Orr, Secretary, and Mr Jim McBain, PRO and Archivist.

The first guest speaker of 2025 on Wednesday 22nd January was Mr John News, Environment and Place Officer, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. His chosen theme was “Waste Management and Recycling”, a topic on which he was well versed and which he addressed with insight and enthusiasm. Having done his best to avoid TLA’s [‘ three letter acronyms] he promptly began speaking about EPR’s [Extended Producer Responsibility]. Most of what we call “rubbish” is in fact packaging of one form or another- bottles, cans, carry-outs and wrappers of all types. Issues around waste could be reduced considerably, if producers used less material to package goods.

Mr News demonstrated how waste management has moved on from the days when metal dustbins were collected and dumped in landfill. Nowadays the focus is on “recycle” and “reuse” with a concentrated effort being made to raise the current rate of recycling rate above 50%.  Fermanagh and Omagh District Council serves 47,000 households and annually collects over 100 million bins. Its annual budget exceeds £40 million which covers not only the cost of keeping 200 bin lorries on the road, but street cleaning and keeping public places free of litter. Recycling centres such as Gortrush, play a large part in the council’s commitment to better manage how our environment is kept clean, tidy and safe for residents of the district.

Mr News was warmly thanked for a most informative and engaging talk by club member Mr Jim McBain.