Credit should go to such leaders of industry and commerce as Jim Fairgrieve, Len O�Hagan and Peter Fitzsimmons of Reeds and SGA; also such businessmen as Louis Rodgers, draper and dance promoter; Vincent Havern, newsagent and councillor; Terry McAnulty and Billy McCabe, Protestant and Catholic undertakers, who operated from adjoining premises; Joe Duffy of pork-pie fame; Tony Malocca of the Genoa Caf�; Frank Carvill, taxi-driver; Ted O�Hare, draper; and Maurice Murphy, chemist, as well as past president of the local Chamber of Commerce.

And four women have had a major influence on this locality, - Sheila McNulty in GAA and history circles; Mrs Lilian McArdle-Trodden in the field of choral music, who died recently; and Mrs Maeve Hall.

A former Dublin model, married to Roger Hall of Narrow Water Castle, Maeve transformed the basement of the stately home into an art gallery, organising the first Northern Ireland Amateur Artists Exhibition. Chairman of the Newry and district Community Services Council, she also made the castle grounds available for several charities, including the annual Concern Garden Fete.

Apart from Dr Liam Bradley, this family from Clontifleece, where their father was school principal, have certainly produced a wealth of teachers, - Ted, who was principal of St Peter�s primary school in the �Point; Kevin, who was Sportsmaster at St Joseph�s High School in Newry; also Geraldine and Moira.

Sport has played a major role in this locality, especially GAA, golf and soccer. St Peter�s GAC, which celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1981, has played a major role in the sporting and cultural life of the town. It also provided the manager of the Down squad, which brought the Sam Maguire Cup across the border for the first time in 1960, - Barney Carr; and also Peter Rooney, who starred on the Mourne side, which recaptured the premier trophy in 1968.

In soccer circles, the name of Vincent Gilmore, who died recently, will always be associated with the great Warrenpoint United side, while Teddy McNeill was another fine exponent.

Meanwhile, 1960 was also a golden year for Catholics of the `Point, when a local priest, Father John Crawford, son of its Town Clerk, was created a bishop by Pope John Paul XX111, being posted to the Solomon Islands.

Indeed, the 60�s were a period of ups and downs on the local economic scene for, while a new container service began to operate from the local port in 1964, and Prime Minister Terence O�Neill officially opened an extension to the Reeds complex, it also saw the last train pull out of Warrenpoint Station.

And though the Dow Mac plant closed, plans were announced for a dual carriageway between Newry and the `Point, the local promenade was given a complete make-over, while a new club-house for St Peter�s GAC was officially opened in Mary Street, and a local Branch of the Credit Union was also set up there, moving in 1981 to its present offices at Church Street.

Sadly, despite the lack of any sectarian tension in this resort, its people have not been spared in the recent Troubles, even being the setting or the greatest loss of life, when 18 paratroopers were killed in a double bomb-attack at Narrow Water in 1976.

The same year saw a local teacher, Liam Prince, mistakenly shot dead by soldiers after a bomb blast on the border; Matthew Campbell died from wounds, after a bomb attack on the Ulster Bar at the Square; and RUC Sergeant James Hunter was fatally wounded at a local filling station.

In 1981, customs officer, Ivan Toombs was shot dead while employed at the `Point docks and, two years later, Constable Thomas Dowd from Warrenpoint died in a mortar-bomb attack on Newry RUC Station, in which nine police personnel, including two women, were killed.

But one of the most tragic events was in 1989, as Joanne Reilly lost her life when a large bomb was detonated close to the fortified `Point police station. Only superficial damage was caused to the barracks by the blast, which destroyed the adjacent builders supply premises of Heatley and Morgan, killing the young woman, while her employer�s wife was trapped in the wreckage, severely injured.

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