TO CRAFT a perfect comedy show, you’ve got to have the right ingredients – how about loneliness, home invasion, drugs and suicide? That might sound like an unlikely list, but they’re all at the centre of Nuala McKeever’s acclaimed black comedy In The Window. Having scored five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe and a much-praised…
North Down to honour its local heroes again
LOCAL heroes across north Down are to be recognised in a new annual version of the prestigious Civic Endeavour Awards ceremony which has feted their achievements for the past 20 years. Uncertainty had surrounded the future of what had become one of the most important dates on the local civic calendar and involved a gala…
Two months to save Stewart Memorial
THERE are just two months to save threatened care home Stewart Memorial House from the axe. At the end of last week the people in charge of the unique Bangor care home, the Northern Ireland Institute for the Disabled (NIID), launched a formal consultation on shutting it - and that consultation ends on September 17…
£600k to upgrade sheltered housing
ABBEYFIELD and Wesley Housing Association has joined forces with Choice Housing Ireland Ltd to renovate a seven bed supported sheltered house for older people in the Bangor area. The property, located at 111 Hamilton Road, Bangor, is currently undergoing an extensive £600k refurbishment programme and is scheduled for completion early 2016. Geraldine Gilpin, Chief Executive…
International recognition for Grey Point
GREY Point Fort at Helen’s Bay received a prestigious award on Saturday in what represents a major first for Northern Ireland. Committee member Colonel B. Clements handed over the Fortress Study Group’s Pembroke College, Oxford, plaque in recognition of the restoration and reuse of the monument which is under State care. It is only the…
‘Government cock-up means we could close in two weeks’
A VITAL service helping women back into work could close in just two weeks because of a government cash cock-up. Kilcooley Women’s Centre in Bangor is currently under threat, centre heads told the Spectator, because the government hasn’t handed out tens of thousands of pounds the centre is owed in EU money. Staff haven’t been…
North Down CAB seeks new volunteer advisers
NORTH Down Citizens Advice Bureau (NDCAB), which held its recent annual general meeting at Bangor Library, has the twin aims of safeguarding human rights and getting a fairer deal for everyone in the community. However, the well-attended meeting heard there was a need for more volunteer advisers to maintain the excellent service provided by NDCAB.…
Garden of memories
A LEADING charity’s garden makeover for a Helen’s Bay family has become a poignant reminder of its beloved eldest son, after he died earlier this year. Oisin Fitzgerald, who was 18 and had a severe learning disability, died as Positive Futures was planning the makeover with the help of charity partner Sainsbury’s in Bangor. They…