Monthly Archives: July 2013

Today I attended, on the invitation of John Kennedy, the Annual Wreath Laying Ceremony at Islandbridge, hosted by the Royal British Legion Ireland on the Saturday nearest July 11th, prior to Ireland’s National Day of Commemoration. The ceremony was open … Continue reading →

Frederick Hermann Schomberg was born at Heidelberg of a German father and English mother in the year 1615.  He became a Captain in the Scottish Guards of the French Army in 1652 and fought at the Battle of the Dunnes … Continue reading →

Special branch for Somme man A fine sycamore towers in the front garden of a small house in the Donegal village of Gortahork. People can’t remember a time when it wasn’t there. Before he travelled to France last weekend for … Continue reading →

ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY WAR HERITAGE GROUP MONDAY 8 JULY 2013      6.00 pm COMMITTEE ROOM 4 (MAIN COMMITTEE CORRIDOR)   HOUSE OF LORDS  Minutes of the Meeting  Apologies for absence:   Lord Boswell, Lord Eden, Julian Lewis MP, Ann McGuire MP, Madeleine Moon … Continue reading →

Andy Murray won his first Wimbledon title and ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s champion with a hard-fought victory over world number one Novak Djokovic. The Scot, 26, converted his fourth championship point in a dramatic final game to … Continue reading →

This was the 50th Wedding Anniversary Party of my oldest friends, Edmund (Big Ed) and Kathleen Irvine of Conlig, organised by Sonia, Megan and Edmund (Eddie)…

Helen’s Tower at Clandeboye contains a beautiful room in which are inscribed poems by Lady Helen Dufferin, Lord Alfred Tennyson and Rudyard Kipling, amongst others. Tennyson’s reads:  Helen’s Tower here I stand, Dominant over sea and land. Son’s love built … Continue reading →

William Sloan was born in Newtownards, County Down, Ireland. He was the only  son of Anthony and Lizzie Sloan ( McCreedy) who lived in Roseneath Cottage, Main Street, Conlig, Co Down, near my father’s shop, at the corner of  the … Continue reading →

For me American Idependence Day should make us reflect on the American Civil War which was a direct result of the War of Independence, on the retention of British North America, which became Canada, that model of modern Democracy, the destruction … Continue reading →