We look back at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1979
Thieves halt the building of community centre in Lenadoon
THE completion of the new community centre in Lenadoon has been put in jeopardy after thieves broke into the newly completed building for the second time inside a week.
On the first occasion the thieves made off with five bags of cement and this time they stole the plumbing contractor’s complete kit of tools which not only held up the work but has made him reluctant to continue at all unless he can be assured that the costly plumbing fittings he will be bringing on the job will not be stolen.
The whole job is now nearing the finishing stage and sub-contractors stand to lose a considerable sum of money if the thieving continues so they have held an emergency meeting with the members of the Glen Road Community Development Association to get some assurances regarding fittings and tools etc.
Mr Liam Harrison, Chairman of the Development Association, which is building the hall, has assured the contractors that he will do all in his power to let them get the job finished in peace.
“The people of the Glenveagh area were absolutely great while the structure was going up and their vigilance against vandalism ensured that the building went up without any major hitches. It would be a great pity if their wonderful work were now to be jeopardised by a few selfish thieves.” Mr Harrison told our reporter:
“The people of the Glen Road and Lenadoon need the community centre badly and we will all have to be very watchful from now until May when the new centre opens.
“If the contractors pull out now the vandals will most surely take over and the opening will be put back indefinitely.”
In February 1979 the Andersonstown News organised a ceilí and awards ceremony in the Kerri Inn on Finaghy Road North, where the Andersonstown News Award was presented to the families of H-Block prisoners
Editorial
TALK’S cheap – remember that when you read Fine Gael’s latest ‘policy’ document on solving our British problem.
Garret Fitzgerald’s party were in power in the 26 counties for over four years; and during that time they made no effort whatever to get Britain to move. They proclaimed it would do nothing that might, as they put it, “exacerbate” the situation. They remained silent as Britain committed crime after crime against the Nationalist people of the north; and they co-operated to the full by imprisoning and torturing pro-Irish elements in their own area.
So much for Fine Gael – now for their ‘policy’ document. The Unionists, as UTV viewers saw on Monday night are laughing their heads off at it; and no wonder, because this culaith ghaisce, despite what Gerry Fitt and others say, contains nothing new. It contains nothing that 26 County politicians, including De Valera, haven’t said a hundred times over the years.
It’s just the latest outbreak of this old Free State pastime or disease, called ‘wooing the Unionists’, and it’s all a waste of time, which is about all a party in opposition can waste.
The Unionists won’t be wooed by talk of a United Ireland, closer relationships, cross-border co-operation, etc. All the Unionists want now is what they have always had – a privileged position guaranteed by Britain. They want to be top dog with the Catholics underfoot.
This Unionism, the creed of the Loyalists parties and organisations must be seen for what it is – not defensible, legitimate point of view, but a crime, sanctioned and supported by the British ‘Godfather’. If Garret Fitzgerald has any appeals to make, let him make them to Britain because Britain can, by leaving Ireland for good, force Unionists to come to terms, as equal citizens, with the rest of the Irish people.
Woolly, tongue-in check appeals to their better feelings won’t work. They’ve got to be made to do what’s right, and anyone with any savvy can see that. Why tell lies about it?
Taking part in the Kerri Inn evening
Pensioner punched in Andersonstown
LAST Saturday night a 74-year-old woman was punched and knocked against the wall of her own home in the Rosnareen area of Andersonstown by two youths who stole her bag and ran off.
The woman has been living in the Rosnareen area since she was burned out of her home in Conway Street in the Lower Falls in 1969. She was deeply shocked and depressed as she spoke to our reporter.
“We were forced out of our home in August 1969 and were left with nothing except the clothes we stood up in but it grieves me even more than that to think that anyone would abuse an old woman of 74 for a few miserable shillings,” she said.
We were forced out of our home in August 1969 and were left with nothing except the clothes we stood up in but it grieves me even more than that to think that anyone would abuse an old woman of 74 for a few miserable shillings.”
“I had just come out of the house to go to bingo in the La Salle school when these two young lads rushed over and punched me against the wall and then ran off with my handbag. If I had not been able to save myself I could easily have hit my head against the wall and God only knows what would have happened to me then.”
The bag itself contained only a few pounds for her bingo night out, so the thieves did not make themselves rich by their dirty work, but it did contain two pairs of glasses that she cannot do without and a few keepsakes of great sentimental value. So if you hear of anyone who has found a handbag or a couple of pairs of glasses the Andersonstown News will be only too glad to pass them on to this old age pensioner.
Taking part in the Andersonstown News Award night
