Monthly Archives: January 2011

Van Morrison:The Bard of Ireland

Today I launched the yearly Burns Celebration Week of the Ulster Scots Agency here in Belfast. In 1968, the year before I graduated from the Queens University of Belfast, my grandfather and grandmother presented me with The Poems and Selected … Continue reading

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High Sheriff, by James O'Fee

As mentioned in Swearing-in last Friday, I attended the Swearing-in of Cllr Dr Ian Adamson OBE as High Sheriff of Belfast. It was quite an occasion with around 200 guests attending the ceremony held in a main reception room of … Continue reading

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The Swearing-in, by James O'Fee

Yesterday I attended the official swearing-in of Ian Adamson as High Sheriff of Belfast, an appointment announced by Ian in The High Sheriff, by Cllr Dr Ian Adamson OBE (Saturday, January 1. 2011). About two hundred guest attended the magnificent … Continue reading

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Bangor, Light of the World: Summary

In November 1911 I began a series of posts named Bangor, Light of the World , a series with I  have concluded earlier this week with its 17th part. . It began with a Christian legend that the centurion who attended the crucifixion of … Continue reading

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The High Sheriff

On this First day of January Two Thousand and Eleven, Owen Patterson, one of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State wrote to me, “Whereas I have been pleased to nominate you for and to be Sheriff of the County Borough … Continue reading

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The Ulster Volunteers

When France and Spain supported America in its fight for independence, and their ships were seen off the coast of Ireland, civic leaders in Belfast responded by forming an Ulster Volunteer Company in May 1778 for defence against invasion. Towns … Continue reading

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