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`Old Chapel` And Cemetary Treasure-House Of History
(part 2)


In the meantime, a lifeboat full of passengers had been released from the powerless vessel, which was pitching and tossing in the mountainous seas. As the lifeboat came closer, some of those on board scrambled on to the `Empire Plover`, while the remainder were left clinging to the overturned craft.

Three seamen, including Raymond Kelly, climbed down the ship’s net to water level, and managed to haul two more survivors to safety. The young Newry sailor then plunged away from his ship, and swam to try and rescue the others, floundering in the water. The last anyone saw of Raymond was while struggling to save a woman passenger, as the waves washed over them.

Young Kelly had gone to sea on the SS `Rowan` at the age of 11, in order to earn sufficient money for his widowed mother, in order to rear the rest of the family.

Another person, who risked life and limb to save others, was the late fire chief and councillor, Jackie McClelland, a native of Chapel Street. He died of injuries received in a bomb-attack at Newtownhamilton, had received the MBE, while McClelland Park was named in his honour. A son, John, became Chief Fire Officer for Northern Ireland.

After working as a weaver in Bessbrook Mill, Jackie went to England, taking a job in a Birmingham factory, which had its own fire service. During German bomb-attacks, the workers helped with the fire-fighting. Returning home, he joined the National Fire Service, until its disbandment.

Appointed a foreman at Ulster Textiles plant, he became a member of the Northern Ireland Fire Service, being promote to the rank of Sub-Officer, Recalling Internment Day, Jackie said it reminded him of Coventry during the blitz. “Shops were blazing along Hill Street; and as strove to control one inferno, we watched helplessly as groups of youths set fire to nearby buildings.

“But my worst experience was in the aftermath of the bomb-explosion at the local Customs Clearance Station, in which nine people were killed. Firemen had the chilling task of picking up pieces of flesh, and portions of human bodies, putting them into plastic bags.”

Jackie’s fatal injuries occurred when a bomb at O’Malley’s shop in Newtown hurled a door frame into his thigh, also severing part of a hand. Carried by stretcher over bog-land to a helicopter, he spent weeks in agony, hovering on the brink of death. Apart from losing 20 feet of intestines, he had a hole in his bladder and died a few months later.

Meanwhile, dynamic and articulate, Paddy McGuinness has fought death, disease and destruction, wherever disaster has struck anywhere across the globe. As Deputy Chief Executive of Concern Worldwide, he has master-minded his charity’s response to famine in Ethiopia; flooding in Bangladesh; earthquakes in Turkey, genocide in Rwanda, as well as the recent catastrophe in Asia.

On the home front, this past pupil of the Christian Brothers launched a labour of love, leading a team of visionary volunteers, who transformed the derelict and vandalised Secondary School at Abbey Yard into the modern training and employment complex known as Clanrye Abbey Developments.

Recalling the challenge, Paddy, who hails from Kilmorey Street, said: “We gingerly picked our way through the rubble, the jumble of rotting books and desks, seeking out memories of the times when most of us sat in those class-rooms. Our feelings were a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Decay was everywhere, and we had no money! Demolition, and the construction of a car-park seemed a sensible option.

“Now the Abbey has been restored to its former glory. Its regeneration is a statement of our town and district, - when we care enough, we can make things happen. The vision continues to grow; the spirit lives on.”

As a teenager, Paddy McGuinness had been involved in fund-raising for such charities as Oxfam and St Vincent de Paul. And, after graduating with a degree in building construction, he took two years’ leave of absence from his employer, being sent by Voluntary Services Overseas to Papua New Guinea, where he supervised the building of schools, including that country’s first secondary school, setting up training schemes for apprentices.

Then, after a spell back home, he set off for Sierra Leone with his wife, Deborah O’Hare from Erskine Place, a teacher at Our Lady’s Grammar School. He described those two years as the happiest, albeit living in primitive conditions. During a spell in Bangladesh, he established the credit union, which proved to be an enormous success, enabling the poor to gain some measure of dignity.

Valuable support came from the Newry branch of Concern, spear-headed by Jennifer Malone, Property Manager of the local Enterprise Agency, along with her husband, Jackie, who took part in many marathons. They were assisted by an enterprising team, including secretary Leslie Aylesbury; Margaret Sands, John Duffy, Eddie O’Donnell, Paddy Matthews, Ciaran Rowntree, Terry Ruddy and Oliver McGuinness. The Fun-Run to Narrow-water Castle and Gala, have been an annual highlight.

“Restoring self-respect and human dignity for young people and families in the Newry area, as well as the poorest of the poor worldwide, has been our motivating force,” commented this Deputy Chief Executive of Concern, who made the headlines when he constructed a typical third world dwelling at the Ideal Home Exhibition in Belfast.

Indeed, Newry city can be proud of such selfless and heroic citizens, who have portrayed a positive image of this old frontier town. And those who have survived hazards of various kinds, had the opportunity to exchange experiences at the Chapel Streets Area Re-Union.

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© Fabian Boyle 2001-2008