Around Ireland: slimming down

By Stephen Mckinley

Waistlines in Kanturk are shrinking in aid of a very good cause. Fr. Patrick Lawton and Patricia Winters have gathered a local group of people from Kanturk town who will do a sponsored slim to raise funds for the Stained Glass Windows Project.

Already nearly 50 local people, of all ages and weights, have joined in with the sponsored slim, and meet at 8 p.m. each Tuesday at the Edel Quinn Hall, Kanturk, where they are weighed in and their progress is monitored.

HORRIFIC BEATING

A Fermanagh student was brutally beaten in sSouth Belfast recently in what was described as a horrific attack.

Staff and student leaders at Queen’s University have quickly sought to reassure families and prospective students that the area is generally safe for students.

But there have been numerous reports that there are a number of sinister “anti-student” gangs in the area.

A gang of five or six men armed with sledgehammers and clubs broke into the 21-year-old student’s house. The student has been released from hospital and has now returned home after suffering a fractured skull, two broken arms, a broken jaw and multiple cuts and bruising.

GAS ATTACK

Tragedy struck the Killybegs fishing community in County Donegal in January when fishermen in the hold of the Katrina Lee fishing vessel were overcome by poisonous fumes from rotting fish, while docked in Providence, R.I. One fisherman, 22-year-old Steve Follet, died from the gas. His colleagues were hospitalized and have made full recoveries. The U.S. Coast Guard suggested that the presence of the deadly gas hydrogen sulfide caused the death.

FIFTH WORST

Tuam, Co. Galway, has the dubious distinction of being the fifth most disadvantaged small town in Ireland, according to the local paper, the Tuam Herald.

The Herald was quoting from a recent survey that when rated in terms of education, housing, health, poverty and crime, worst in Ireland was Longford, followed by Tipperary, Cavan, Carrick-on-Shannon and Tuam. Ballinasloe, also in Galway, came in eighth.

The study was carried out by Area Development Management Limited. The other towns included in the list are Athy, Youghal, New Ross and Mallow.

LISA LOSES JOB

There’s dedication for you. Reigning Rose of Tralee Lisa Manning lost her job in Australia over her determination to fulfill her St. Patrick’s Day duties in Ireland — despite the fact that she has been her company’s top salesperson over the last six months.

Manning, who was born in Perth, has been manager of her home town branch of Molliney’s, one of Australia’s largest shoe store chains. But her company refused to let her take three weeks’ unpaid leave to return to Ireland for St. Patrick’s day, even though she was No. 1 salesperson out of 120 stores. So she resigned.

“I suppose I can understand where they’re coming from. They did have a good reason in that it coincided with the launch of our winter stock, but I don’t think they understood from the beginning just how important the Rose of Tralee is, unfortunately,” she said.

“When I decided to resign, my attitude was that as one door closes, another will open. It’s only going to open to do good and it’s not going to be impossible to get another job.”

SLIGO DATE-RAPE?

A horrified Sligo woman has warned other women, that like her, they could become victims of date-rape drugs.

The woman woke up in a friend’s house recently after a night out, with no underwear, her neck badly marked and her keys and handbag missing.

She had been out the night before with friends. She has no recollection of what happened, although her friends told her that they had gone to a nightclub in another county.

The woman now suspects her drink may have been spiked with the date-rape drugs Progesterex, which may cause sterilization, or Rohypnol.

A man chatted to her, her friends said, but when they tried to intervene, she told them she was fine.

SLAP, SMACK OR

SENT TO ROOM?

Carrickfergus children could be sitting uncomfortably, after a series of advertisements in the County Antrim town asked parents if smacking was an appropriate form of discipline.

The local newspaper, The Carrickfergus Advertiser, asked local parents what they thought.

Sandra Hunter said, “There is a need for discipline. A child needs to learn and sometimes the only way to make a child realize it has done something wrong is to smack it. I don’t agree with anything more than a quick slap on the backside, though.”

Heather Lown spoke to the Advertiser on the subject: “I have seen the advert on television with the theme ‘Why smack you child?’ and that made me think twice about it. That advert has made me feel a bit guilty about smacking.”

WILL YOU? IN FM STEREO

A Carlow man made history recently when he proposed to his fiancee over the airwaves.

Ivan Tucker went on Today FM’s morning show last Friday and asked Ashleigh Farrell if she’d have him.

“Luckily, Ash agreed,” Tucker told the Carlow Nationalist newspaper. “DJ Ian Dempsey talked to Ash for a while just slagging her and that and then I came on and Michael D. Higgins read a poem for us. It was all a bit of fun and then I proposed.”

The wedding date has been set for July 6.