We look back at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1979

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Electricity Service Christmas onslaught on needy

THE Electricity Service has mounted an all-out Christmas campaign locally, to recover outstanding debt.

Knowing consumers to be particularly vulnerable during the festive season, the service agents are pulling out all the plugs in an effort to satisfy an order from the Malone Road power chiefs that all debt must be cleared within two years, no matter who it hurts.

Household supply is being cut whenever and wherever possible, even in the case of families paying sums, which, although well above their means, still don’t satisfy the High Street and Lisburn trouble-shooters.

“Our orders,” said an ‘electricity switcher-off’, “are to pull the fuse first and ask questions afterwards.”

Last week we reported on the case of a chronically ill, unemployed Lenadoon man with a large family whom the NIES has refused to connect up unless he pays a substantial sum, plus £10 per week, (this on top of the £25 already being deducted by the Housing Executive from his state invalidity benefit).

An example of the Electricity Service audacity and callousness was the suggestion made by a High Street clerk to the man that he borrow £300 from a bank to pay off part of his arrears. When questioned about this highly improper suggestion by SDLP Councillor Liam Hunter, the clerk refused to comment, as well as refusing to give his name.

A solicitor closely involved with people being harassed by the NIES told me: “The Electricity Service policy for some years now has been to recover all debt, even recent debt, by whatever means possible regardless of the financial or family situation of the consumer.”

If you are in debt, even for the first time, the NIES’s immediate move is to threaten disconnection. If this is allowed to happen you will find it extremely difficult to have the supply re-connected without arranging to pay a sum to satisfy their Credit Control Department, plus a reconnection fee. This sum to be paid will be almost certainly much more than you can afford, although the NIES won’t worry much about that. Therefore you mustn’t let them disconnect your supply.

Meadow Senior Citizen's committee present Leo Presley and Archie Morgan with prizes at the Corpus Christi Amateur Boxing Club's Christmas Dinner
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Meadow Senior Citizen's committee present Leo Presley and Archie Morgan with prizes at the Corpus Christi Amateur Boxing Club's Christmas Dinner

Editorial

AS we write this, seven people have died this week, as the agony of the British presence continues.

There are over three hundred men who’ll wear nothing this Christmas but a blanket, in a filthy cell where the light of day doesn’t penetrate and where the food is pig-swill. There are another two-thousand men and women, imprisoned in our country. And there are those who died during the last ten years of this Irish-English war.

The forecast is gloomy this Christmas tide, as we remember the birth of Christ; and one can be excused for feeling hopeless and helpless.

We should remember, however, that the nationalist people, despite everything that has been thrown at them, have come this far. In spite of soldiers, and ‘police’, crooked laws and treacherous clergymen, we’re still here and we’re not beaten. We’ve shown Britain that we’re not prepared, ever again, to put up with her tyranny, injustice and insult.

We’re a force to be reckoned with.

That’s the Christmas message – tomorrow will be a new day.

Irish Cup winners Cliftonville play Andersonstown Leisure Centre five-a-side team: Paul McVeigh, Peter McCusker, Jim McAteer, Brian Johnston, Walter Mills, Marty Quinn, Mr Halliday (referee), Harry McDonagh, Peter Dunlop, Michael Scannell, John O'Connor, Joe Quinn, Ciaran McCorry and Brian McCaul
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Irish Cup winners Cliftonville play Andersonstown Leisure Centre five-a-side team: Paul McVeigh, Peter McCusker, Jim McAteer, Brian Johnston, Walter Mills, Marty Quinn, Mr Halliday (referee), Harry McDonagh, Peter Dunlop, Michael Scannell, John O'Connor, Joe Quinn, Ciaran McCorry and Brian McCaul

Clonard music

LAST Saturday night week, I was privileged to be a member of the audience at a concert of Irish traditional music in Clonard Hall. Organised by Clonard Traditional Music Society, the concert was a well-deserved success.

Most of the acts were provided by young people who attend the music classes run by the society each Saturday night. The high quality of these acts was the best possible tribute to those who teach the classes. The teachers themselves (the McPeake family) also appeared on the bill, as did the Moya Connolly School of Dancing.

Incidentally, I hear that the Sarsfield’s Gaelic Club has started tin whistle and violin classes on Wednesday nights in their Hillhead premises. With their dancing teams’ recent successes, Sarsfield’s are making quite a reputation for their cultural contribution as well as their football and hurling achievements. Let’s hope other GAA clubs follow their example. It could do a lot for traditional music. 

Musicians form the Gaelic Children's Mass in Clonard Church, with the McPeake Family
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Musicians form the Gaelic Children's Mass in Clonard Church, with the McPeake Family

St Agnes' Choral and Clonard Choir

ST AGNES’ Choral Society has been invited once again, by the Board of Governors of the Lyric Theatre, to present their annual Christmas concert on Sunday, December 30, at 8pm.

The Society will feature their past member, Kathleen McCarney, mezzo-soprano, who has almost completed her studies at the Northern College of Music, Manchester, and from reliable reports, her voice has matured remarkably well, and a very big future lies ahead of her.

Meanwhile, Clonard Choir’s long awaited long-playing record has just been issued this week. The record features favourites including Christmas songs Holy Night and Oíche Chiúin. Copies are available at Clonard Monastery at £4 and will be in the shops in the New Year.