We look back at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1980
22 families in the cold after Electricity raid in Twinbrook
AN early morning raid by Electricity Service employees, backed up by two Land Rovers and eight RUC men, left approximately 22 families in the Twinbrook estate without electricity.
At 7.30 last Monday morning, the first household was awakened by the banging on the front door, and were confronted by the RUC and the Electricity men who proceeded to disconnect the supply and remove the meter. In one particular case, a man was struck on the face by one of the Electricity employees while trying to remonstrate with him about the disconnection.
A woman in Glasvey Rise with two small children, had her meter disconnected in the raid, despite her pleas that here electricity accounts were in order. Her supply was reconnected in a couple of days with an apology for the inconvenience caused.
The Electricity party spent about two hours in the estate before being escorted out by the Land Rovers.
When contacted by an Andersonstown News reporter, an Electricity Service spokesman stated that after a general inspection on all meters in the Twinbrook estate, carried out some time ago, 22 meters were found to be irregular and the Service had decided to remove the meters from all these premises pending legal proceedings.
He stated, however, that reconnection would be made on the payment of all arrears.
Our own investigation seems to confirm that while some of the houses raided may have had meter irregularities, by no means all the houses raided had so. An unemployed family in Laburnum Walk with three young children under-five, were forced to borrow £141.66 to play all arrears before they could have the supply reconnected. The only irregularity in this case was the fact that the meter had been broken into by thieves some time ago, but which had been rectified by the Electricity Service itself shortly before the disconnection.
The people of Twinbrook are concerned that this latest activity by the ESNI represents a new strong-arm policy to extract arrears from distraught consumers, and are also anxious to know why Twinbrook has been singled out for this minute inspection.
St Gall's basketball team who this week in 1980 were in the top half of the All-Ireland First Division, their first year in that division
Seventy Lucozade jobs set to be lost
AFTER nearly 30 years in production, the Lucozade Factory on Andersonstown Road is to close in May, with a loss of 70 jobs. The shock announcement came at 4 o’clock on Tuesday when the workers were called to a meeting to hear an “important statement” from the Managing Director of Beechams, the multi-national who own Lucozade, McLean’s Toothpaste, Brylcream and a dozen other businesses.
On Monday local managers were summoned to the firms’ head office in England where they were told that because of the high costs of serving such a small area as the Six Counties, the Andersonstown plant was no longer viable. They say that this cost is far out of proportion with England and Scotland where they serve “more people with less mileage”. The plant will close on the 8th of May and the wind-down has already begun.
Eamon Boyle and Joe Rollins from the Hatfield bar on the Ormeau Road present Gerry Kelly and Eamon Gargin from St Malachys GAC with a cheque towards a new kit
Hope for framed Belfast family
AS Mrs Annie Maguire, framed five years ago by English police and now serving a 14-year sentence in Durham prison, completes her third week on hunger strike, a public outcry is rising that could eventually force the British Home Office to re-open the case.
Following the death recently of Mr Guiseppe Conlon, who was framed at the same time as Mrs Maguire, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, asked that his name be cleared and this led to much TV and newspaper speculation that the Maguire family might not be guilty, something which they and their relations have maintained all along.
West Belfast MP Gerry Fitt, who at one time believed all the Irish prisoners in England to be guilty, has now taken up the case on behalf of the Maguire family, and it is believed that he has been instrumental in having Home Secretary William Whitelaw see a video tape of a recent Spotlight programme which highlighted the family’s plight.
Over the past four weeks the case has been featured in Irish newspapers including a full page in the Belfast Telegraph. All these have been sympathetic to the Maguire family and suggest that, at least, a doubt exists about their alleged quilt.
Mrs Maguire’s sister, Mrs Mary McCaffrey, told us that the family are encouraged by the recent publicity, and that they hope that their efforts over the last years to see justice done will not be in vain.
The Hatfield Bar dart team from March 1980
