OTD: £200,00 facelift for Kilkenny railway station

Work on the £200,000 reconstruction and development plan for MacDonagh railway station is expected to begin next summer.

This information was given by CIE regional manager, Mr T O’Connor, to Ald T Martin at a meeting of the South East Regional Development Organisation in Waterford.

Under the development plan, Kilkenny will become a major railhead and one of the principal distribution centres of the South-East.

There will be a big increase in road freighting activity from Kilkenny and employment will also get a boost. CIE’s £27m plan to streamline services over the next five years was outlined to the meeting by Mr O’Connor.

He mentioned that, from Monday, December 2, the handling of freight at Thomastown and Glenmore would cease, but there would be no redundancies.

Ald Martin stressed the importance of the development plan at Kilkenny being implemented as soon as possible as it was holding up Co Council development work in the vicinity of MacDonagh station.

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Thomastown Vocational School are champions at school debating. They won the 1974 Kilkenny Junior Chamber schools debating award, beating Presentation Convent, Castlecomer in a fine debate.

The motion for the debate was ‘Socialised and bureaucratised welfare and medical schemes erode the community consciousness to their Individual Responsibility in this area’, which proved very appropriate during Share If You Care week. Both teams handled the motion well and showed a very full knowledge of the entire subject.

The winners now go forward to a regional final in which they compete against the winners from Waterford, Tipperary and Cork. If successful they will compete in a national competition in the new year.

Fourteen years ago farmer John Whyte, Seven Sisters, Johnstown, was ploughing on his lands. He lost his valuable pocket watch.

During the week his son was tilling the same field. He found the watch.

Apart from rust on the outside, the timepiece was in perfect condition and is now keeping time as good as ever.