Aoife Doherty delves into the archives to bring you the news and images from yesteryear.
OCTOBER 18, 1975
Top RTÉ men came to Letterkenny to meet the locals
WHEN Big Frank Hall rode into town flanked by top executives of finance and engineering of RTÉ it was not to sniff around his pet corner of the public toilets (what a thought!) or to seek out the geraniums growing up the middle of Main Street. He was after bigger business. He was on a special mission from his superiors. He was carrying the message of RTÉ 2.
In Letterkenny he carried it to FOUR people …. all the way from Dublin.
But the message was clear: RTÉ personnel want another channel. They felt they had more talent than their RTÉ 1 showed. And in Letterkenny most folk might have been surprised; they probably thought that RTÉ might do the nation good by snuffing out some of their existing “talent”.
Most TV fans of the locality were not, of course, over-familiar with RTÉ programmes. After all they had the free use of BBC and UTV. But they did switch to RTÉ for the news.
The sentiments of very many people who are tired of this very prolonged debate were echoed by councillor A. D. Kelly “Do we want another channel at all? Surely one is enough,” he remarked.
Letterkenny Jets on pop scene
One of Letterkenny’s newest pop groups, the Jets, are rapidly making great strides in the Donegal music world.
The band have only been in action a little over a year, but already big things are predicted for them. The boys specialise in pop and rock music, but they try to accommodate everyone. In fact, they are a very hard band to categorise. Music is their motivation and pleasing the fans is their objective. Many observers ‘in-the-know’ in music circles feel that the boys could go on and emulate the feat of another Letterkenny band, the Rascals, who have begun at last to receive the recognition they deserve. The Jets line-up is Jerome Keeney (electric organ), Peter Kilkie (bass guitar and vocals), Malachy Keeney (lead guitar), Hugo Blake (lead vocalist) and Dermot Donoghue (drums).
New swimming pool makes progress
The Letterkenny Swimming Pool has made rapid progress in construction, and increasing interest is being aroused among the young in particular who look forward to its opening.
For them it will be a valued additional amenity in the town. The local Council join on a fifty-fifty basis with the Co. Council to meet the costs of running and the loan charges. This is a sizable boost to the pool’s prospects, which never could hope to pay its way. But it is being looked on as a very necessary addition to Letterkenny. Many young people from the locality and much further afield will learn to swim here.
OCTOBER 20, 2000
An Grianan – one year on
Earlier this week the Director of An Grianán Theatre, Ms Patricia McBride took time out from her busy schedule to look back with some pride on a hectic year of programming.
“I wouldn’t like to go through the first few months again as it was hectic. Understandably there were teething problems but I think that we managed to iron most of those out and as a result the first year has gone better than expected,” she said.
It first opened its doors 12 months ago, costing in the region of £3 million.
The theatre opened on Saturday, October 16, 1999 with the ‘Magic of the Musicals’ and ever since then audiences have enjoyed the best local, national and international artists in dance, drama, music, comedy and traditional arts – representing the single biggest investment ever in the arts in Donegal.
Natural Dairies forced to dump 80,000 gallons of milk after blockade lifted
Refuse disposal contractors DM Waste have been handed the problem of getting rid of the milk and cream lake left over from last week’s six day blockade in Convoy.
The loss of the milk was expected to run to £60,000 but disposal costs could reach hundreds of thousands, according to the company’s Sales and Marketing Manager Richard Burke.
The blockade was targeted at Natural Dairies because it is one of Dunnes Stores’ main suppliers of own brand milk.
The farmers maintained that the price of a two litre unit of milk as sold by Dunnes Stores would drive down the price they were paid for milk.
As the blockade ended dairy farmers said they would refocus their campaign on Dunnes Stores outlets.
Australian experience leaves McEniff feeling ‘sick’
After two successive defeats to Australia in the space of a week in the Compromise Rules series Irish team manager Brian McEniff admitted on Monday morning he felt a bit “sick”. Australia inflicted a 68-51 points defeat on Ireland last Sunday to deservedly win the series by 25 points.
Ireland’s preparations were badly hit by the unavailability of some of their top players and the GAA’s congested fixture list which saw McEniff robbed of the Kerry and Galway players for the first test due to their involvement in the All-Ireland final.
There have been calls for major changes for the re-match next October in Australia. For a man who has enjoyed success as a player and manager all through his career, Ireland’s bad showing in the test series against Australia has left manager Brian McEniff angry at the clash of fixtures in the build-up to the games. McEniff will lead Ireland in the return games next year and says that he wants things done differently.
