WE look at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1985...
Three students from St Mary’s CBS win Queen’s University Open Scholarships
EACH year the most able candidates applying to Queen’s University Belfast, are invited to take the Open Scholarship Examination in their chosen A-Level subjects. There are only 15 scholarships to be won.
St Mary’s CBGS have won three of these fifteen this year.
John McAteer, formerly of St Luke’s Primary School, Twinbrook, studying Maths, Physics and Chemistry, has won the top award. This is the Sullivan Scholarship worth £310 per annum for three years. John will be studying medicine at Queen’s next year.
Damien Armstrong, formerly of Holy Child PS, studying Maths, Physics and Chemistry, won a Foundation Scholarship worth £100 per annum. Damien will also be studying Medicine at Queen’s.
Paul McCourt, formerly of St John the Baptist PS, studying Maths, Physics and Economics, also won a Foundation Scholarship. Paul will be studying Engineering at Queen’s next year.
TOP MARKS: Damien, John and Paul congratulated by Brother Lynam
Editorial
THE local elections are over and the only thing to be decided is who gets the seats. Not that it makes much difference anyway. Because the power of local authorities has been restricted to such an extent that if they were abandoned tomorrow, we would hardly notice it.
Does anyone think that if these councillors didn't meet once a month to berate one another for party political reasons, that the bins wouldn't be collected, or the sewerage works would cease to function? We should think not. And in fact, there might be some reason for believing that the services now being administered by the councils would function a lot better without the intervention of some of the numb skulls foisted on us by this so-called exercise in "Democracy" every five years or so.
Looked at in a rational manner it is difficult to see just how democratic these elections are anyway. Five or six political parties meet in back rooms and decide of their own accord who they will allow us to vote for, and then they try to tell us that this is an exercise in democracy. If this is democracy, then what must authoritarianism be like? It is hard to believe that the whole thing is not a massive con trick, thought up by some Machiavellian egghead in central government to lull the electorate into a false sense of participation in the system, much like the Roman Emperors did with the games that kept the Plebs happy.
If the mass of the people can be led to believe that refuse collection and effluent dumping are worthy of their attention at election time, then they may well forget about the vastly more important issues that this so-called democratic system will not allow them to decide upon. Like who polices their community and how? Or, who administers their laws and how?
You can rest assured that our leaders, great exponents of the democratic system that they are, will not allow us to democratically decide of issues of such importance. To them democracy is all right as long as it is confined to matters of no consequence, so yesterday's vote in the local election was nothing more than an exercise in "Blindfold" Democracy, designed to obscure your denial of true democratic rights.
Angela at Opera House
SOME tickets are still available for Madame Buterfly which takes place in the Opera House on 21st, 22nd and 25th May.
Angela Feeney will make her operatic debut in Belfast in the part of Cio-Cio-San with the newly formed Opera Northern Ireland.
After attending the Belfast School of Music, Angela continued her studies at the Dublin College of Music with the renowned Veronica Dunne. As Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro she made her debut with Irish National Opera, also appearing in the same year with the Dublin Grand Opera Society. In 1978 she received scholarships from the Belfast Education Authority, the City of Munich and the John McCormack Award from Dublin, enabling her to study with Ken Neate at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium where she received her diploma in 1980. She was then engaged by the Bavarian State Opera Studio for two years making guest appearances with the renowned Bamberger Symphoniker, the Hamburg and Frankfurt State Opera Companies appearing regularly on German radio and television.
Her work with the Studio led to a contract as Soloist with the Bavarian State Opera working with such renowned conductors as Wolfgang Sawallisch (Director), Carlos Kleiber, Giuseppe Patane, Ferdinand Leitner, Heinz Wallberg, Heinrich Bender and Heinrich Hollreiser.
Not neglecting her native country, however, she sang Giulietta in Verdi's 'Un Giorno di Regno at the Wexford Festival, a performance which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. In February 1983 she opened the Cork City Opera's first season in the role of Leonora in Il Trovatore broadcast both on RTÉ Radio and Television, returning the following year to sing her first Mimi in 'La Boheme' also recorded for RTÉ Radio.
Along with her opera career Angela makes regular concert appearances, a recent success being at the Queen's Festival, Belfast. Recent recordings Include Peer Gynt by Werner Egk and Eugen d'Albert's Tiefland.
