James Morrow of Saintfield Rural Development Association has asked us to advertise two forthcoming events that they are organising.

The first is a TABLE QUIZ in Saintfield Orange Hall at 8:00pm on Tuesday 18th February.  Teams can have up to four members, and there is a nominal entrance fee for each team.

The second event is a SAINT PATRICK’S NIGHT MUSICAL EVENING, again in Saintfield Orange Hall, on Friday 14th March at 8:00pm.  The Kilmood Fiddlers will provide the music, and there will be Irish Stew and Apple Tart.

(To avoid confusion this organisation has no connection with Saintfield Development Association.)

Funding is in place to upgrade Saintfield Square and the architects presented their initial proposals at a recent meeting attended by Down District Council and Saintfield Development Association.

The initial proposals for the upgrade of Saintfield Square can be found HERE.

The Executive Summary of the recent Public Consultation Questionnaire on the new Saintfield Community Centre can be viewed HERE.

As part of the Public Consultation process for the new Saintfield Community Centre a meeting was held in Saintfield High School on Monday 3rd February.  The meeting was hosted by Consarc, the design consultants for the project, and Down District Council.

Members of Down District Council and Consarc  who hosted the
Public Consultation Meeting in Saintfield High School.

Members of the public were able to view the Executive Summary of the information gathered
from the 900+ questionnaires which were returned to SDA during the previous week.

From Monday 27th January to Saturday 1st February members of Saintfield Development Association operated a shift system from the former Mace store on Main Street as part of the Public Consultation process for the new Community Centre.  They handed out questionnaires to ascertain the views of the public as to what facilities they would like to see in the Community Centre.

Over 900 completed questionnaires were returned!

The questionnaires were presented to Consarc, the design consultants, and Down District Council at the Public Consultation Meeting in Saintfield High School on Monday 3rd February.

Saintfield Development Association would like to thank everyone for making the effort to return their questionnaires at such short notice during a week of inclement weather.

Some of the members of Saintfield Development Association outside the
shop they operated from during the six days of the Public Consultation.

The questionnaire for the Public Consultation on Saintfield Community Centre can be downloaded in two formats:

MS Word version

PDF version

The completed questionnaire can be emailed as an attachment to info [at] discoversaintfield [dot] com, or printed out and handed in to the former MACE shop on Main Street.

Completed questionnaires must be returned by 5:00pm on Saturday 1st February.

Public Consultation

Monday 27th January – Saturday 1st February

As promised in Saintfield News Issue 3, there is to be public consultation for the facilities to go into and around the new community centre.  Now that the design consultants, Consarc Design, have been appointed by Down District Council, all systems are go!

To meet the very tight deadline of having the contractors in place and the work starting by January 2015, we need to complete the public consultation exercise at very short notice, by the end of January.

Come in to the former Mace shop on Main Street and have your say by filling in a questionnaire.

Opening hours:

Monday 27th January – Friday 31st January: 11:00am to 8:00pm
Saturday 1st February: 11:00am to 5:00pm

Members of Saintfield Development Association will be there to answer any queries you may have. Please make sure you come and have your say and encourage all your friends and neighbours in the Saintfield area to do the same.  This is the chance to make sure that our new community centre meets the needs of as many people and community groups as possible for decades to come.

If you cannot call in to the shop then copies of the questionnaire can be downloaded HERE from Saturday 25th January and emailed to:
info [at] discoversaintfield [dot] com

There will also be a public meeting hosted by the design consultants on Monday 3rd February from 7:30pm to 9:00pm. [Venue TBC]

Betty Catania emigrated to Ontario with her parents in 1949, when she was less than a year old.  Her mother, Elizabeth (Betty) Wilson, remembered growing up in Saintfield.  Betty  Catania is keen to make contact with anyone who knew her mother and she has provided the following information about her family.
“I came to Canada with my parents, Elizabeth and Samuel James Hanlon (formerly O’Hanlon) in 1949 at under a year of age. They have both been deceased for many years now. As a child I remember my Mother, talking about growing up in Saintfield, Northern Ireland. She was born Elizabeth (Betty) Wilson on April 1, 1929 to her parents – Elizabeth (Bushnell, I believe) and William (Billy) Wilson. She was one of the youngest of a large family – 16 children – with several sets of twins. The siblings I remember her mentioning were Maizie, Tommy, Peggy, Winston and Sadie. Many would have left the family home by the time she was growing up. Sadly, when my Mother came to Canada she lost contact with her parents and siblings and she died at a young age – never getting back home to her beloved Ireland.

My Father, Samuel James O’Hanlon was born in Canada to Irish parents, who had emigrated to Canada sometime earlier. He was born in Toronto, Canada on October 14, 1921 to Lavinia (Thompson) and Bernard O’Hanlon. My father had four siblings, Bernard (Ben), Norman, Ronald and Phyllis O’Hanlon. The family went back to Belfast, or close by, in 1938 and my father served in the British Army from 1939-1946. On June 18, 1947 my parents married and I was born the following May 15, 1948. The address on my birth certificate is 12 Cedar Valley, Ballydollaghan, in the district of Ballylesson, Lisburn.

In the Spring of 1949 my parents and I came by ship to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. All of my Father’s siblings, except for Ronald and Phyllis, emigrated to Canada after that. My Grandfather, Bernard O’Hanlon, left the family and has never been heard from. My Grandmother, Lavinia O’Hanlon, stayed in Ireland and lived on 29 London Road, Belfast until her death many years ago.

Any information on either side of my family would be greatly appreciated. I am hoping to take a trip to Ireland (and hopefully) Saintfield this year.

Sincerely,

Betty (Hanlon) Catania”

The last two people who made enquiries about their families through this website were successfully re-united.  Let’s hope this can be a third success.

Maurice Bunyan contacted this website recently, wishing to make contact with his relations in Saintfield.  His cousin has responded and, once again, people far away have been able to re-establish contact with family members still in Saintfield.