Just another thousand years

On August 7th 2009... At 34 minutes and 56 seconds past 12... the time and date will read... 12:34:56 07/08/09 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 That's twice today but this won't happen again for another thousand years.

and not just in North Roscommon :)

PS Those white blobs on the horizon near Inishowen turned out not to be Tall Ships but merchant vessels. Hope you enjoy the real thing :)

Minister McGuinness misses 'Rathlin Rave'

It's been a busy few days in Ballycastle and Rathlin Island. The former had its Marconi Festival and the latter its Jigs in the Rigs Festival aka the Rathlin Rave.



Martin McGuinness, deputy First Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, arrived back in Ballycastle aboard an unscheduled sailing of the Rathlin Express catamaran accompanied by what appeared to be some minders and the remnants of the Rathlin Rave and 'chaperoned' by Mary O'Driscoll, a director of Rathlin Island Ferry Limited. The Minister said that he'd had a very enjoyable visit to the island and I understand that one of his guides on the Puffin Tour was a RIFL skipper.

Waiting anxiously to greet the Minister on the quayside for the next part of his itinerary - a visit to the Corrymeela Centre - was the Rev Harold Good, sometime Corrymeela Centre Director and, more recently, a witness to the decommissioning of IRA arms. I say anxiously as the catamaran has been running well behind its advertised 20 minute crossing time and had broken down the previous Monday. There's a tale going round that someone forgot to switch on the water supply to the engines leading to overheating but that sounds a rather unlikely explanation for a modern £1.2 million craft.

I wonder if either Minister realised that Rathlin's Stone Age arms facility has never been 'decommissioned' - well, there are no photographs to prove it.

Adds August 3, 2009

Eye On The Hill has highlighted some disarray in the Declan O'Loan press release front; Declan is the SDLP MLA for North Antrim.

“Do a draft for me? Include some nice words about Rathlin.”

Well, the nice words didn't appear in the FIRST release but some of Declan's ditherings did. This is one for the political anoraks :)

I've posted the following to the Devenport Diaries:

Here's a line for you, Mark: "Who pays the ferryman?".

The DFM travelled on an unscheduled crossing on a quiet August Monday on a publicly subsidised life-line ferry.There appeared to be no OFMDFM staff or other SF elected representatives. Martin and the Minders were too late to have appeared as a support act in the week-end's 'Rathlin Rave'.

Holy Trinity Church, The Diamond, Ballycastle

I'm told that plans are afoot which could dramatically alter the visual impact of the Diamond in Ballycastle town centre, especially for folks coming down Castle Street.

Holy Trinity Church at the Diamond has been attacked several times recently by 'anti-social elements' but now the threat is coming from a different quarter.

In theory, the town centre will be protected from inappropriate development by certain features of the proposed Northern Area Plan 2016. However, I'm not sure about the current status of this plan or the effectiveness of the Planning Service in implementing it.

Designation BEL 14 O’Connor Memorial LLPA

A Local Landscape Policy Area is designated as identified on Map No. 5/01 a – Ballycastle and Map No. 5/01 b – Ballycastle Town Centre

Those features or combination of features that contribute to the environmental quality, integrity or character of this area are listed below.

1. The tree framed Listed Building of Holy Trinity Church, set behind The Diamond, provides a high quality visual focus in the heart of the town.

Any alterations to this centrepiece of the Conservation Area will be required to be particularly sensitive to its visual quality.


The architectural sketch shows that the listed building is also to be 'framed' by extensions and by a new zinc clad church hall. The latter lurking behind on the right reminded someone of an aircraft hangar!!

If you wish to support the conservation of Ballycastle's vanishing heritage you can send your letter of objections to Application No 2009/0180F to District Planning Office, County Hall, Castlerock Road, Coleraine. BT51 3HS and seek the support of your MP, MLAs and District Councillors.

Ballymoney Court, 1933 - Man who annoyed by saying "Aye, aye"

A friendly smile can sometimes be mistaken for an aggravating stare - apparently. I stumbled on this hilarious court report from 1933 whilst researching some Bushmills family history for folks in England and Australia.

Similar reports will be gratefully received at nalilblog@gmail.com