Richmount News April 2021 Working together for all in our community The Stage is Set In this issue: For a return to the community centre Our Garden Party - Thursday 27 May Murder at Ballyfodrin Our Activity Programme Our Sewers –quilts for older people - Warm Well Connected Child buried at foot of bed - murder ? Before the NHS - Rural Dispensaries Our meals on wheels service Our outdoor stage is now on site. We have a substantial activity programme planned for the summer months. See pages 9 & 12 for details. Our first major event will be our garden party planned for Thursday 27 May. The highs and lows about cholesterol Back to Normality Get connected - IT training We would all hope that there will be a return to a degree of normality after 24 May, however, we will have to accept that Poems from Dessie McKittrick. social distancing and the wearing of masks may be with us for some time to come. Richmount Drumalive - Great exercise, Once we get details of the relaxation of restrictions we will mood enhancer and stress buster. immediately put plans together for the full reopening of the Richmount Centre. We have a large programme of activities Our Big Day Out 23 June lined up as outlined on page 9 &12. Our first event will be our garden party and we hope to be able Trip to Scotland 28 August to have a reasonable number of people along. Joe Garvey the Association’s chairman Despite the Covid restrictions the community association’s and editor of Richmount News, is no volunteers have been very busy and working away making stranger to bringing meals, writing and distributing these community magazines awards to the Community making up food parcels , organising and delivering Zoom association wining sessions and our local sewers who made so many items under basically all the awards the Warm Well Connected Scheme. that could be won. Howev- There has also been a lot of working going on in the back- er, this time the award was ground to secure funding for safety equipment to make our for him: See page 3 Centre Covid Safe and to ensure we have a full activity programme when we do return. See centre pages from the See our Centre Page Spread from the Portadown Times Portadown Times Volunteers Thanks to all our funders : The community association does not have any paid staff . We Armagh City Banbridge Craigavon Bor- rely on our volunteers to provide our services. We would wish ough Council , Department for to thank all those volunteers who helped us over the past year . Communities ,Cooperation Ireland, Arts However, we need more. We would welcome people who could Council for Northern Ireland, assist with: Bookkeeping, gardening, cutting hedges, general Community Federation Northern Ireland, maintenance, cleaning, food preparation, organising activities TADA RSN, Halifax Foundation, ASDA for older people, befriending, cleaning, general administration, Foundation, CLEAR Project, Heritage videoing, writing and so on. It can be rewarding and good for Fund, Department of Foreign Affairs & career enhancement . Please join us - Don’t wait be asked. Trade and the Community Fund which is Just contact us by text on: 07934186635 or supporting the publication of this email: [email protected] magazine 1 Our Planned Outings & Trips ( Deposits would be refunded in event of Covid restrictions which would result in cancellation) Our trip to Scotland: A few places left but all single rooms are booked. Only some twin/doubles left. Our Big Day Out Wednesday 23 June Meet Jamese McCloy, the sheep and the dogs at Glenshane Country Farm (Sheep Dogs at Work) You will be assured of a great experience & welcome by Jamese See ; www.glenshanecountryfarm.com/ OUR BIG DAY OUT Heading to an extensive Garden Centre for retail therapy then to the mountains near Glenshane in South Derry. Meet the sheep and command your own sheepdog. We will finish off with dinner followed by a night of storytelling and craic in a traditional restaurant and bar that has been in the same family for 5 generations. ( Do not expect to be home before 10.00pm ) Trip includes all admission fees, evening meal and return coach from the Richmount Centre Colemans Garden Centre, Templepatrick, gardening , shopping and coffee for those that want to relax. Great food , craic and banter at Friel’s Swatragh 2 Good Relations Awards 2021 Joe Garvey - good relations champion By Martelle McPartland At a special Award Celebration held by the NI Community Relations Council on Wednesday 31st March Joe learned that he was one of eight nominees to receive the coveted Highly Commended award. The overall winner was Baroness May Blood. The Good Relations Awards, recognises good relations champions for their peacebuilding work in local communities throughout Northern Ireland. This year there was a very high number of nominees but Joe’s work in developing good relations shone through. At the ceremony Joe’s work in good relations was high- lighted. When Joe came to the Community Association, ten years ago he developed a corporate identity with the motto “working together for all in the community”. One of Joe’s first objectives was to establish connections and goodwill with the local immigrant population, mainly Bulgarian and Ukrainian. It started off with a multi-cultural food festival. Joe has since nurtured the relationship between these communities and the indigenous population. There have been numerous Joe Garvey , Chairman of Richmount Rural programmes for ethnic minorities and many joint projects. There Community Association recognised as a are currently two Bulgarian representatives on the Association’s good relations champion management committee. Joe has also been successful in offering the hand of friendship and cooperation to groups and communities outside the Richmount area including people from the Garvaghy Road area. Joe instigated a £50K peace monument in the village – the only one under the Peace through the Arts programme in the former Craigavon Council area. It was entitled “All together Now”. The good relations work by Joe is ongoing and has involved cross border activities and schools from all sections of the community. His persistent message over the past ten years is to respect the other person’s culture. The promotion of the local and wider community being connected would be one of the keys to Joe’s success in promoting not simply good relations but endeavouring to ensure that all in the community get equity of access to services. He organised many intercultural and cross community celebrations They were encouraged to celebrate their diversity, accept their differences, agree to differ but always respecting each other. Joe is clearly seen as someone who is trusted by all in the communities. Through Joe’s efforts the local community hall is now seen as a shared and safe space for all. He has tried to ensure equality for all including health and wellbeing, the opportunity for cultural expres- sion, but doing this in an inclusive way and across the segregations that can occur within cultural groups. Joe has proved to be a dynamic worker for good relations in his locality and further afield and a voice for all. His enthusiasm in this field is exemplary and how one person can change so many perceptions as regards to religious and cultural differences is evidenced in his many projects and justified awards. Joe is not only a man of vision in this field, but he has worked tirelessly and more importantly, voluntarily, to improve good relations . He has also become a lifeline to other ethnic groups in the community, and to other community groups where he frequently assists them including filling out forms, offering his time and advice and assisting them with grants. In conclusion his work in good relations, though unpaid, is colossal. For ten years he has been steadfastly promoting Good Relations in all aspects of his work and his many good relation projects, too numerous to mention here, have had a positive impact on all. Joe is a champion for all in the community but it is also important to note, that he does not receive any payment for his good relations work yet his achievements are phenomenal. Joe is to be presented with a certificate in the near future. Earlier in the month Joe was also highly commended in the Armaghi Community Awards Congratulation to Joe on his success. 3 A Mysterious Crime by Martelle McPartland (Part 1) The sad case of little Patrick Breen an eight year old child from Ballyfodrin, Portadown Co Armagh, who was abused, murdered and dumped in a quarry hole. On Tuesday the 1st June 1909, little Patrick Breen left his home at 2.30pm to go to Thomas Crockett’s fields to herd in cattle. He never made it to Crockett’s farm. Shortly after midnight his little body was found by a search party that included his father and brothers at a nearby quarry hole after his hat was found floating ominously in the water. This is the sad story of a poor boy in rural Co Armagh and how he fell prey to his neighbour who murdered him. The scene of the tragedy was near a quarry in the townland of Ballyfodrin about three miles from Portadown. A fairer spot for so foul a crime could scarcely be conceived, lying right as it did in the garden of County Armagh in a district famous for the abundance of its fruit. A short drive from Portadown along the Moy Road through smiling orchards and delightful landscapes brings the visitor to a by-road leading to the Dungannon Road. Just off this narrow thoroughfare, in the townland of Fara guarded by hawthorn hedges glowing in the bloom of early summer, and perched on top of a hill was a cottier dwelling tenanted by a labourer named Breen and it is his son Patrick, a sharp little boy of close on nine summers who was murdered on Tuesday under strange circumstances.