WE look back at the stories that were making the headlines this week in the Andersonstown News in 1982
21st birthday party for Brendan (Elvis) McGarrigle with parents and family in the Donegal Celtic 
'A group of them started kicking me on the ground'
A YOUNG Ballymurphy man arrested on Tuesday July 13 had 13 stitches inserted in a severe head wound received when RUC personnel assaulted him at Castlereagh Interrogation Centre.
It was while waiting in a Land Rover at the ‘unloading bay’ after his arrival at Castlereagh that Michael Vallely was attacked.
“A peeler punched me in the mouth and then threw me out of the jeep, banging my head against a wall,” said Vallely.
As he fell to the ground bleeding profusely from the cut, a crowd of RUC men joined in the beating.
Said Michael: “A group of them started kicking me as I lay on the ground. One grabbed me by the hair, put my arm up my back and then held me over sandbags so that my blood fell onto the sand.”
Though this incident occurred at 11pm it was not until 1am that the injured man was brought to Dundonald Hospital.
There, a doctor told him he was surprised there was no fracture. 13 stitches were inserted in the gash.
After being brought back to Castlereagh, Michael Vallely was held for five days. During this time, he experienced continuous headaches.
On Monday last, British soldiers arrived at the Vallely home in Ballymurphy looking for Michael. Fortunately, he was not at home at the time.
Sean Neeson (BELB) and Hugh Cregan (Saint Vincent de Paul) present boxing trophies at the Holy Trinity Youth Club annual presentation and parents’ night
Census figures in doubt
THE validity of last year’s census returns has been called into question by a local statistician.
His examination of the preliminary census report published a fortnight ago, shows a massive discrepancy between the census figures for the Falls/Andersonstown area and the figures complied for the latest Catholic directory.
According to the Catholic Directory, the population of the Falls/Andersonstown area is approximately 85,000 but the census says that it is only 60,000. This difference of 25,000, according to the expert, must put the whole census figures in doubt.
The Catholic church figures are: 800 St Mary’s, 12,000 St Peter’s, 14,800 St Paul’s, 11,250 St Teresa’s, 17,850 St John’s, 6,580 St Agnes’, 6,000 St Michael’s, 7,500 Holy Trinity, 8,000 St Oliver Plunkett – making a total of 84,780.
Over and under-16s who won the Down & Connor Badminton League during the Holy Trinity Youth Club annual presentation and parents’ night
British Army detonate bomb
EXCLUSIVE pictures which have been received by Andersonstown News of the Springfield Avenue explosion add weight to the belief that the British Army deliberately detonated the bomb.
The series of photographs illustrate how the British Army had dragged the van out from a builder’s yard into the open, thus increasing the devastation it caused.
RUC claims that the explosion “took us by surprise” also ring hollow when this photographic evidence is viewed, as the pictures taken illustrate how the Goliath robot was withdrawn away from the van before the explosives were detonated – something which can hardly have been seen as the action of troops who were “taken by surprise”.
Hugh Pyper makes a presentation to Davy McFadden and Rab Quinn at the Central Darts League presentations in Peter Pan Social Club
