25 YEARS AGO/1983

Sinn Féin wins council seat

THE Sinn Féin candidate, Seamus Kerr, scored a landslide victory in the Area 'D' by-election for a seat on Omagh District Council.

Mr Kerr, who was elected on the first and only count, had a majority of almost 1,400 votes over his nearest rival, John Hadden of the Alliance Party.

Mr Kerr of Carrickmore thus becomes the first Sinn Féin member to enter local government politics in the North in well over 50 years and, at 23 years of age, he is also to be one of the youngest councillors in the whole of Ireland.

Nestlé wins big Chinese order

NESTLÉS milk factory in Omagh has won an order worth £350,000 to supply 264 tonnes of powdered milk to China, it was revealed by the company. The order, which a management spokesperson said would improve the viability of the plant and make existing jobs more secure, comes at the end of an 18-month period in which more than half of the factory's original 400 strong workforce were made redundant as a direct result of falling demand for Nestlé's cream and chocolate-based products.

The Chinese order – the first the Omagh plant has had from that country – was only received in the last month and since then the present staff of 170 have been working flat out to have the initial consignment of 50 tonnes loaded for shipment.

50 YEARS AGO/1958

Policeman dies at football

A TWENTY-FOUR years old Derry policeman, Harold Brian Hammond, who belonged to Gosport, collapsed and died while playing a football match in Omagh.

Constable Hammond, who was attached to Lecky Road RUC station, was playing for the Derry City XI against a Tyrone county team in the Inter-County RUC Championship and was standing alone on the pitch just before the commencement of the second-half when he collapsed. Medical attention was immediately summoned but he was dead on the arrival of a doctor.

The match, which was being played at the depot of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, was at once abandoned.

Unionist bid fails in Tyrone

IN Belfast City Hall, Unionist party officials, dumbfounded by the loss of four seats to Labour, sought to keep up their spirits by imparting a "great secret" to some of the onlookers. The "secret" was this: That the Unionist party had made a clean sweep of the seats in Tyrone and that the next day's count in Omagh would record Unionist victories in the three contested divisions.

Came the dawn! The count at Omagh revealed that, in the two constituencies where straight fights had taken place, the Unionist candidates had gone down. Staggered by the figures, the Unionist agents and election workers made no pretence at concealing their disappointment.

75 YEARS AGO/ 1933

Gruesome 'joke coffin'

THE perpetrator of a rather gruesome 'joke' is being sought by the Dungannon police.

It appears that a young man called on Joseph Howard, undertaker, Dungannon, and made arrangements for the funeral of a Parkanaur woman.

He obtained a quantity of grocery goods, etc. for the wake, but later when Mr Howard took out the coffin it was ascertained that the woman was very much alive.

Still found in Tyrone bog

ONE of the biggest poteen seizures for a number of years in County Tyrone has been made by the Cookstown and Dungannon police whilst on revenue duty in the Sperrins, in the townland of Aughascrebagh, about 16 miles from Cookstown.

The search party included district inspector Hall, Constable Fennin, Cookstown; and Sergeant Neill and Constable Hanna and Catney, of the Dunnamore Station.

In a cut-out bog, half a mile from the county road, they discovered a complete still head and condenser concealed in the heather. The still was in perfect working order and was slightly warm, indicating that it had been in use, sometime previously.

Portion of the still head was new and had apparently, only been used once or twice.

100 YEARS AGO/1908

Evils of cigarette smoking

LORD Grenfell, Commander in Chief of the forces in Ireland, has issued the following Irish command order:

"The Commander of the forces has during recent visits to the military hospital, has again been struck with the harm that the increasing prevalence of cigarette smoking is doing to the health of the army. It is not confined to the Army, and Parliament is likely soon to deal with it, as affecting the national health. He points out that the health and well-being of the troops in his command have greatly benefited from the loyal and intelligent co-operations of all ranks in giving effect to sanitary measures suggested by the medical authorities, and he looks forward with confidence to a similar appreciation of his endeavour to mitigate the harm done by excessive cigarette smoking, especially among the younger soldiers."

Tragedy of bearded woman

AN inquest was held on the body of an unknown woman who was found drowned under the diving board in the Serpentine in London. Dr Trevor said the deceased was a very stout woman, about 60 years of age, 5ft 4in. in height, with a fresh complexion, grey hair, blue eyes and she had a beard and moustache.

An open verdict was recorded.

– Joseph McCrory