Harry Ferguson SELF-GUIDED TOUR Legacy TRAIL & MAP Following the footsteps of the truly remarkable engineer and inventor Harry Ferguson

harryfergusonlegacy.com www.visitlisburncastlereagh.com WELCOME Welcome to a self-guided trail dedicated to the life of Henry George ‘Harry’ Ferguson. B orn in 1884, he was an Irish engineer and inventor who is noted for his role in the developm ent of the m odern agricultural , for becoming the fi rst Irishman SAT to build and fl y his own aeroplane and NAV for developing the fi rst four-wheel drive Form ula One car, the Ferguson P99. 54.511685 -6.035158

PLACES OF INTEREST LAGAN VALLEY ISLAND, LISBURN

3 LAGAN VALLEY ISLAND 14 15 LOCATION MAP The Lagan Valley has a long association For more information contact: w ith engineering and technological Lagan Valley Island, Lisburn BT27 4RL 4 HILLSBOROUGH VILLAGE FOREST AND 16 BROOKHALL HISTORICAL FARM , LISBURN innovation. A num ber of local Tel: 028 9250 9292 PLANE SCULPTURE personalities have m ade outstanding Email: [email protected]. 17 NEW CASTLE, COUNTY DOW N contributions to various aspects of uk 5 DRUM LOUGH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH this, not least Harry Ferguson, the main or visit: www.laganvalleyisland.co.uk 18 SHANKILL ROAD, BELFAST subject of this Trail and M ap booklet. 6 GROW ELL GOSPEL HALL 19 41 LITTLE DONEGALL STREET, BELFAST Lisburn being a historical focus of 7 THE FERGUSON HOM ESTEAD AND road, canal and rail transportation and M EM ORIAL GARDENS, GROW ELL 20 CHICHESTER STREET, BELFAST Harry’s contribution having been in the 8 21 MAY STREET, BELFAST fi eld of transportation and agricultural TESTING FIELD, GROW ELL engineering, it seem s appropriate that this com m em orative trail should begin 9 BALLYKEEL PUBLIC ELEM ENTARY 22 DONEGALL SQUARE EAST, BELFAST SCHOOL, HILLSBOROUGH at Lagan Valley Island, where a plaque 23 ULSTER FOLK AND TRANSPORT MUSEUM , at the entrance car park provides som e 10 WATSON’S SHOP, DROM ORE introductory information.

11 DROM ORE VILLAGE 24 M AGILLIGAN Lagan Valley Island is a multi-purpose building and contains the Island Arts 12 ULSTER AVIATION COLLECTION, 25 NEW TOW NARDS C entre, which is open to the public. M AZE / LONG KESH There is also a theatre, conference 26 TULLYLAGAN MANOR HOUSE, centre and it is the civic headquarters for COOKSTOW N 13 REX MCCANDLESS HOM ESTEAD Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council. 27 THE ULSTER GRAND PRIX, DUNDROD

2 3 O n 17 Novem ber 1909, aviation pioneer he made a 130-yard fl ight on 31 December Harry Ferguson transported his fi rst 1909, thereby becoming the fi rst Irishman DRUMLOUGH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH and untried aeroplane which had been to design, build and fl y an aeroplane. The constructed in Belfast, by road to site of his fl ight is believed to Hillsborough, to the large park owned by be a fi eld known today as SAT Drumlough Presbyterian Church was Lord Downshire. Due in part to the diffi cult N ear M agennis, just to the NAV established in 1818 and features a terrain, initial fl ight trials carried out proved north east of the Agri-Food graveyard that contains the burial plot of unsuccessful; however, after modifying the and Biosciences Institute the Ferguson Family. Both Harry’s parents Farm . 54.459105 design and fi tting a more effi cient propeller, -6.082966 are buried here, however Harry and his w ife M aureen are not. Their rem ains were crem ated and scattered over their estate of Abbotswood, near Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotsw olds.

Drumlough Public Elementary School existed on the site where the church hall stands today. Harry attended Drumlough Public Elementary School for a period betw een 1889 and 1899. He was expelled for a period of roughly seven months after an argum ent with the Headm aster. These months he spent at Ballykeel Public HILLSBOROUGH VILLAGE Elementary School. FOREST AND PLANE SCULPTURE SAT NAV

A marble obelisk bearing a bronze plaque was erected to celebrate the centenary of 54.422057 Harry Ferguson’s fi rst successful fl ight. It -6.048355 is sited in the car park of Hillsborough Forest close to where the historic fl ight took place. The achieve- SAT ment is also marked by a half- NAV scale replica of the aircraft, in stainless steel, which was later erected half a mile away at the 54.458781 P antridge Link junction on the -6.099954 A1 dual carriageway.

H illsborough was the closest village to Harry’s home and, to get to Belfast, he and his brother Joe would have caught the train there at the railway station on Culcavey Road. SAT NAV For further information please call at Hillsborough Visitor Information Centre, The Courthouse, The Square, 54.459105 Hillsborough, BT26 6AG or Tel: 028 9244 7640 -6.082966

4 5 GROWELL GOSPEL HALL SAT NAV

The present Grow ell Hall was constructed 54.416068 in 1933. It was built on ground donated -6.029327 to the church by Harry’s father, James Ferguson, to replace a cottage that had once stood there. Jam es and Mary Ferguson were devout members of the Plymouth Brethren, a religious sect that had broken away from the A nglican Church. The hall was built for the congregation to m eet in after it grew beyond what members’ homes could hold. The Ferguson Family had a high reputation within their religious community, often inviting visiting preachers to stay in their hom e.

Family life in the Ferguson household was dictated by the teachings of the Bible; this meant Harry grew up in a very stiff and restricting environm ent, one that he broke away from in later years. Harry never fully embraced the religious and strict lifestyle of his parents, but his upbringing did instil good self-discipline and a strong work ethic which enabled him to thrive in the business world. His regular disagreem ents w ith his father also m eant he developed THE FERGUSON HOMESTEAD AND SAT a greater certainty in NNAAVV his ow n judgem ent. MEMORIAL GARDENS, GROWELL

54.419557 -6.026033 The memorial garden is steeped in history This location is a perfect photo opportunity. and aptly set opposite the Ferguson It is the site where Harry grew up as a boy H om estead in the Tow nland of Grow ell, in a family of 11 children and is also where H illsborough. Here, a tim eline of inform ation he would have worked the farm with his boards retell the story of Harry’s fascinating father and tested som e of his ideas and life and show his many accomplishments in machinery. the areas of farm ing, m otoring and aviation. The gardens also feature a life-sized bronze The Ferguson Hom estead and M em orial statue of the m an him self, depicted leaning Gardens can be easily accessed from on a gate with a look of contem plation on H illsborough, Drom ara and Drom ore. his face, a look he no doubt would have worn many times during his life. Visit www.harryfergusonmemorial.com for more information.

6 7 BALLYKEEL PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HILLSBOROUGH SAT NAV

Harry attended Ballykeel Public Elementary later, . 54.414978 S chool for a brief period after he was -6.032497 expelled from Drum lough for arguing with Ballykeel Public Elementary School once the Headm aster. The issue arose after stood opposite the Orange Hall on the Harry disagreed with the Headmaster who Dromore/Ballynahinch Road. Today not a he felt had wrongly punished a fellow pupil. single brick of the original building rem ains. For a tim e after its closure in 1939 it A lthough his tim e at this school was short, w as converted into a bungalow , but was it was a signifi cant event in his life. It was eventually demolished. one of the fi rst signs of Harry’s reputation for fairness and directness, som ething A new private residence inhabits the form er TESTING FIELD, GROWELL which he was well known for in future years site, opposite the Orange Hall. w hen he began to deal in autom obiles and

In the early days of design Harry needed system with plough attached. somewhere suitable to test the three-point SAT linkage system and therefore to prove its Many other locations were used for NAV w orth before producing it for the open demonstrating and testing as Harry m arket. exhibited his machinery all over the country, but it was appropriate to have 54.409780 Harry acquired a diffi cult, steep, sloped actually tested his workmanship at Growell. -6.044342 and stony fi eld where a plough would have every obstacle in its path. The fi eld was an This device designed and m anufactured ideal testing site as it was just dow n the by Harry marked him in history forever and road from the Ferguson Hom estead, on the had an im pact across the world. D rom ore side.

This particular fi eld would prove to be a challenge for any piece of machinery, however, it was no match for Harry’s Ferguson tractor and three-point linkage

8 9 WATSON’S SHOP, DROMORE

This shop, located at 7 M eeting Street in Dromore, , was the home of Harry’s wife to be, Maureen Watson. It was a grocers that Harry would have regularly visited during his days living at Growell.

The building still stands but is currently occupied by Gamble’s Funeral Furnishers. After Maureen’s family had left the premises, it was occupied by a PHOTO SUPPLIED BY LINEN HALL LIBRARY greengrocer named Robert Watson who w as unrelated to her. they subsequently went to live in Belfast and, much later, in Stow-on-the-Wold, It is well known around Dromore that Harry . m arried a girl from the tow n even though SAT Members of Maureen’s family are buried NAV in Dromore Cathedral Graveyard, not far from M eeting Street. 54.420074 -6.132388

DROMORE VILLAGE

D rom ore was a m arket village during Harry’s lifetime, and it was here that he w ould have attended the cattle m arkets held in the main square beside the town hall with his father. It was a regular trip that would have been made on foot or bicycle and the cattle would have been driven to and from the m arket.

To mark the signifi cance of Dromore in Harry’s life, there is a Ferguson TE20 Tractor at the north entrance to the village. This lovely example sits on steel wheels and is set in a grass area surrounded by fl owers and shrubs. It is located just off the SAT A1 dual carriageway on the Hillsborough NAV Road.

54.413397 -6.149452 10 11 REX MCCANDLESS HOMESTEAD

Another man from the Lagan Valley to A lthough M cC andless was born in 1915, achieve fame in the fi eld of engineering and more than 30 years after Ferguson, his technology was Rex McCandless. Fiercely exceptional abilities caught the latter’s independent and largely self-taught, attention, which led to a brief, ill-fated SAT McCandless, like Harry Ferguson, was association in regard to the developm ent NAV im bued with irrepressible inventiveness and testing of the ‘Mule’. With a view to it and had an im pressive list of developm ents being produced by Ferguson’s company, w hich never cam e to pass because the 54.488149 to his name including motorcycles, four- -6.100459 wheel drive racing cars, cross-country two men couldn’t agree about some vehicles, brick-making machinery and aspects, this off -road vehicle was tested gyroplanes (autogyros). His fi rst major at Abbotswood in England where Harry success was the ‘Featherbed’ motorcycle eventually went to live. frame that was used by Norton during the 1950s. Rex McCandless was born at Aghnatrisk Road, Culcavey, just fi ve miles from the ULSTER AVIATION COLLECTION Ferguson Hom estead. MAZE / LONG KESH

By fl ying successfully at Hillsborough Television series which highlights the on 31 December 1909, Harry Ferguson am azing aviation career of engineer/ inaugurated an extensive history of aviation inventor Harry Ferguson—he of in Ulster and . Many aspects farm tractor fame. The BBC actually of this are represented by the Ulster com m issioned the construction of a replica Aviation Collection at the M aze/Long Kesh Ferguson aeroplane, one the fam ous Regeneration Site. The assemblage of aviator built and fl ew himself before the historic aircraft and aviation m em orabilia in First World War. The fi nal assembly was the care of the Ulster Aviation Society and done over several weeks in the hangar accommodated there includes a one-third of the Ulster Aviation Society at Maze/ scale model of the last variant of Harry’s Long Kesh, with the assistance of aircraft. society volunteers, said UAS Chairman Ray Burrows. “The pilot himself, William The Ulster Aviation Society has played McMinn, is a Society member; he took a key role in the ambitious new BBC a lead role in those fi nal stages, along with member Steve Lowry, who’s been a key part of our aircraft restorations programme,” said Mr. Burrows. “The Ferguson aircraft has been an interesting SAT project,” said Mr. Lowry. “There’ll be NAV memories for myself here, and I can say to my grandchildren: ‘I built that.’” 54.476616 -6.099628 Viewing of the collection is strictly by prior arrangement – telephone 079 7450 2319 or 077 2489 6215 to arrange a tour. www.ulsteraviationsociety.org 12 13 HARRY FERGUSON SITE LOCATION MAP

24 To Magilligan 3 LLAGANAGAN VALLEVALLEYY ISLISLANDAND and Belfast 4a International Airport HILLSBOROUGH FOREST B154 4b PLANE SCULPTURE Lough Neagh A20 5 DRUM LOUGH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 27 18 19 20 Dundonald Glenavy B38 A22 6 GROW ELL GOSPEL HALL B12 B38 21 22 23 A30 7 THE FERGUSON HOM ESTEAD AND B156 Stoneyford M EM ORIAL GARDENS, GROW ELL B101 M1 Lough Reservoir to Belfast A23 8 TESTING FIELD, GROW ELL Beg B12 A26 To A501 Newtownards 9 BALLYKEEL PUBLIC ELEM ENTARY SCHOOL, HILLSBOROUGH Lower 25 Ballinderry Upper A30 10 WATSON’S SHOP, DROM ORE Ballinderry B104 16 11 DROMOREDROM ORE VILLAGE Aghalee Carryduff 3 LISBURN 12 ULSTER AVIATION COLLECTION, LONG KESH B1 Maghaberry 05 B178 REX MCCANDLESS HOM ESTEAD A3 13 12 16 BROOKHALL HISTORICAL FARM , LISBURN 26 A24 B6

M1 to A49 17 NEW CASTLE, COUNTY DOW N Dungannon 13 18 SHANKILL ROAD, BELFAST Moira Lough 4a Henney A1 19 41 LITTLE DONEGALL STREET, BELFAST River 4b Lagan Hillsborough 20 CHICHESTER STREET, BELFAST Annahilt Lough Erne 21 MAY STREET, BELFAST 5 To 22 DONEGALL SQUARE EAST, BELFAST 7 B177 Ballynahinch 8 6 To Dromore/ Drumlough /Newcastle 23 ULSTER FOLK AND TRANSPORT MUSEUM , 9 CULTRA Newry/Dublin Lough B2 17 Aghery 24 M AGILLIGAN 10 11 B7 25 NEW TOW NARDS 26 TULLYLAGAN MANOR HOUSE, COOKSTOW N

27 THE ULSTER GRAND PRIX, DUNDROD

14 15 BROOKHALL HISTORICAL FARM, LISBURN

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Brookhall Historical Farm on the Ballinderry collection. It houses a Ferguson TE20 Road, Lisburn is now a farm museum with tractor, a Massey Ferguson 135 model som e fantastic historic points of interest and a Massey Ferguson 165 model. and is well worth a visit. It off ers a lot in Implements on display include a Ferguson relation to countryside living and farming of drill plough, a grubber and a m anure spreader. a bygone era. NEWCASTLE, COUNTY DOWN The proprietors have converted the house Visits to Brookhall Historical Farm are and surrounding buildings to off er a fi rst by appointment only. Tel: 028 9262 1712 class visitor attraction. The farm contains or visit www.brookhall.com for more In New castle on 8 August 1910, after The North Prom enade in New castle is now many Ferguson implements and machines, information. unsuccessful attempts during July, Harry hom e to a granite m em orial, which m arks which are on display in a small museum won a prize of £100. This was off ered by his historic fl ight in 1910. the local Sports Committee for fl ying a distance of m ore than 2 m iles in a straight SAT NAV line along the beach from the entrance to Inner Dundrum Bay to just past the Slieve D onard Hotel. His unsuccessful attem pts 54.531367 ended in crashes which resulted in dam age -6.131098 that included tw o wings, three propellers, great lengths of rigging wire and severe buckling of eight wheels.

16 17 41 LITTLE DONEGALL STREET, BELFAST

In 1903, the Ham ilton Partnership dissolved and Joe Ferguson, accom panied by Harry, moved to larger premises at 41 Little Donegall Street, Belfast, under the title J B Ferguson & Co Autom obile Engineers. The business prospered and expanded rapidly, taking in premises at the junction with Union Street and Harry im m ersed him self in all aspects of it. SAT NAV M oreover, his attraction to speed, com bined w ith an engine tuning talent, led him to become heavily involved in competitive 54.603777 -5.942923 events for motorcycles and cars, with notable successes. This helped to prom ote the business, which soon outgrew the prem ises on Little Donegall Street.

The site of the original J B Ferguson & C o Autom obile Engineers has now been redeveloped and there is no longer any trace of the building, how ever the streets have rem ained the sam e. The location of the shop can be view ed, where a new SHANKILL ROAD, BELFAST building now stands.

In 1902, Harry Ferguson went to work as an apprentice in the Ham ilton P artnership, in which his elder brother Joe was a partner. At this point Harry was contem plating em igrating to Canada, but abandoned the idea after Joe off ered him the job. Harry was desperate to be involved with the rapidly expanding motor vehicle industry, and jumped at the chance.

This sm all engineering business was located on the Shankill Road, Belfast, betw een Hudson and M cTier Streets, and SAT w as engaged in tool m aking, engineering, NAV repairing and servicing cars.

A s a result of urban redevelopm ent, the 54.601747 prem ises no longer exist but were m ore -5.928590 or less on the site of what is now Shankill AN EXTRACT FROM ‘NORTH BELFAST 1900’ Road Gospel Hall, 41 Little Donegall Street, AS REPRINTED BY ALAN GODFREY MAPS B elfast. 18 19 CHICHESTER STREET, BELFAST

By June 1907, J B Ferguson & Co A utom obile Engineers were the m ost SAT NAV prestigious m otor business in Belfast and had m oved to new and larger prem ises at 60-76 Chichester Street. 54.596045 -5.924715 By 1909, Harry had become Works Manager and a Director in the company. H e becam e im bued with the idea that building and fl ying an aeroplane would be great publicity for the car business. With Joe’s agreement, Harry designed and built his fi rst aircraft in the workshop of J B Ferguson, and com pleted the project w ithin six weeks. This aeroplane was the fi rst variant of what would become a succession of aircraft.

C hichester Street in Belfast has been largely redeveloped and the site of the form er J B Ferguson prem ises is now part MAY STREET, BELFAST of Victoria Square, a multi-million pound shopping com plex containing a num ber of restaurants and an Odeon Cinem a. This Throughout 1910, Harry became Harry started trading in a vacant property facility is popular with local people and increasingly involved in his aviation at 87 May Street, Belfast, eventually named visitors, and is the m ost expensive piece of enterprise, fl ying at various locations, Harry Ferguson Motors Limited. It was in architecture in to date. modifying and repairing his aircraft as these premises that Harry completed the the result of crashes at considerable cost design and construction of what turned out MAP SUPPLIED BY ORDNANCE SURVEY For more information please visit to himself and the company. Relations to be the last variant of his aircraft. NIMA PERMIT NUMBER LA 100-156 www.victoriasquare.com between Harry and Joe deteriorated and they went their separate ways. In the late 1930s, the road layout of May Street was completely remodelled. Telephone House now stands in the area that was previously Harry’s showroom.

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MAP SUPPLIED BY ORDNANCE SURVEY NIMA PERMIT NUMBER LA 100-156 20 21 ULSTER FOLK & TRANSPORT MUSEUM, CULTRA

The Ulster Folk and Transport M useum is a fi rst class tourist attraction. The m useum is spread across 200 acres with various exhibits on transport, agriculture and life over the last centuries. Many old buildings have been rem oved from all over Ireland and reconstructed in the M useum .

This Museum houses a full-scale replica model of Harry Ferguson’s last monoplane and also an early Ferguson Tractor and Plough, all of which are on display to the public.

DONEGALL SQUARE EAST, BELFAST The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is part of the National Museums of Northern Ireland. For more information Harry later moved Harry Ferguson Motors An image of Harry appears on £20 notes please visit www.nmni.com Limited to a showroom on Donegall Square issued by the former Northern Bank now East, where he changed the name to Harry D anske Bank. Ferguson M otors. The business was the SAT distributor for Austin Cars in Northern Ireland. NAV The show room still rem ains and is 54.652540 occupied by the Ulster -5.799172 Bank, near Belfast City H all, and is m arked w ith a blue Ulster History Circle plaque.

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22 23 MAGILLIGAN

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NEWTOWNARDS

In June 1910, Harry changed his fl ight zone Undeterred by the destruction of his to a m ore suitable location at M agilligan, aircraft in October 1910 where his fl ights over the sands were soon attracting at Magilligan, Harry was fl ying an entirely new large crow ds design from the beach of spectators. at New tow nards There he tested a by June 1911. further-modifi ed version of his Although he badly aircraft and m ade dam aged the aircraft steady progress in a landing accident until a disastrous at the adjacent show grounds during that crash in October month, he repaired and fl ew it successfully 1910 destroyed from the beach betw een Septem ber and the m achine the end of the year. By then, he began to beyond repair. lose interest and fl ying experiments ended when the machine was written off by Harry’s friend and associate, learner pilot SAT NAV John Williams, on 30 March 1913.

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24 25 THE ULSTER GRAND PRIX, DUNDROD

SAT NAV Harry Ferguson’s passion for all things In 1953, the event was run over a completely m echanical and his talent for tuning engines new 7.5 m ile circuit at Dundrod. Since then, it m eant he was participating in com petitive has expanded to include a week-long festival 54.592058 -6.765180 motor cycle events from an early age. With of racing and is an internationally recognised others, he lobbied for the introduction of fi xture in the road racing calendar, attended legislation to permit temporary closure of by tens of thousands of enthusiasts from public roads for racing purposes. In 1922, all over the world. On the basis of a win the fi rst such race was held on a 21-mile- in 2016 by Ian Hutchinson, who set a lap long course at Clady in County Antrim. It record of 134.089 m iles per hour, it has been becam e an annual event and in 1935 the recognised as the fastest motor cycle road international governing body of motor sport race in the world. gave it the title Grand Prix d’Europe. The U lster Grand Prix, as it was nam ed, was The Dundrod Circuit is within the curtailed on the outbreak of the Second administrative boundary of Lisburn & World War but resumed in 1947 on a shorter Castlereagh City Council yet is an ideal TULLYLAGAN MANOR HOUSE, Clady circuit of 16 miles and, in 1949, it was location as it is rural and creates m inim um chosen to be one round of a new World disruption to traffi c on race days. Harry COOKSTOWN C ham pionship series. Ferguson also lobbied the RAC to organise the famous Ards Tourist Trophy motor car races, which werewere held fromfrom 11928928 until 1936. Tullylagan Manor House was built in the Harry was invited to come to Tullylagan early 19th Century by the Greer family and and service the cars on the estate. M r For further information on the Ulster M r Thom as M acG regor Greer farm ed the G reer also saw the potential of som e of Grand Prix and the Dundrod Circuit visit surrounding lands at that tim e. M acG regor Harry’s ideas in relation to farming, and www.ulstergrandprix.net G reer was interested in m echanical encouraged him to proceed with the Harry could see engineering devices and was the fi rst tractor and plough developm ents. M r Greer m an to drive a car dow n Cookstow n M ain off ered to help with fi nance to allow Harry the potential with SAT the circuit at Clady NAV S treet. and his assistant Willie Sands to produce and it became a a tractor with hydraulics fi tted that would A fter som e research M r Greer heard couple to a plough and this was tested on designated road racing circuit in the 54.581010 about a young engineer by the name the Tullylagan soil. Mr Greer became the -6.084323 of Harry Ferguson who allegedly was a fi rst owner of the new black tractor. early 1920s. great m echanic and it was not long before Tullylagan Manor House sits overlooking Tullylagan House Hotel giving a view of the building where Harry stayed when he was servicing cars at Tullylagan. It is now a restaurant and bistro named Harry’s Bar. The present ow ner has a sm all collection of Ferguson machinery which is not open to the public but can be seen on brow sing the grounds. Many pictures and historic photographs can be seen in the bistro and a full story of Harry’s connection with Tullylagan can be obtained on a visit.

For more information please visit www.tullylaganhotel.com 26 27 We gratefully acknowledge the following in the production of this booklet: Aramark Ireland, Banbridge District Council, British Telecom, Drumlough Church, Growell Gospel Hall, Kathrina Fashions (Marketing), McKibben Property Consultants, Northern Bank, Tullylagan House Hotel, Ulster Flying Club

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