Over the years there have been any number of changes to our town, the large amount of new houses and thee ‘by-pass’ being the two most obvious. But one street in town has changed dramatically in the past few years. That street is Pound Street and the major chnage would have to be the knocking down of the Auburn Hall, for many of us growing up a focal point, if it wasn’t the pool hall it was the main hall itself. Over the years it was a a backdrop to various commitees who would meet, you could play badminton or table tennis, take part in Scor or pantomimes, go to discos or if you wanted, play Bingo. If you were one of those people who bent or even broke the rules, you might appear before a judge at a Circuit Court held in the Hall. None of it sophisticated but a pattern in the tapestry of our lives. Once upon a time it was a cinema. Before it was built there were four dwelling houses on the site. The Hall was built in 1944 and officialy opened in 1946 with a dress dance with the Carlton band on a snowy night. Bartley and Minny Hunt celebrated their engagement on that occasion. Due to the war it was impossible to purchase a maple floor. A second hand pine floor was purchased from a hospital. But the Auburn wasn’t the only entertainment centre on Pound Street. On the same side, further up the street was a small hall. This hall was called the “Hut”. In the past dances were held and travelling shows performed there. After World War 1 it was used as an entertainment centre for soldiers returned from the war. It served as a supper room when the Hunt Ball was held in the Auburn. It has now been knocked. Besdie it was another small building that was, in it’s last years, a butcher’s shop but prior to this ICA meetings and court sitting were held there. In place of the Auburn we now have a combination of shops with apartments for rent upstairs. Not all the shops have tenants yet but there is a drycleaners, a discount shop and a small cafe/pizzaria.

For the past several months there has been an ongoing dispute between the owners of the Manor Nursing Home in my hometown and a number of the staff. From my vantage point it would seem a justified strike based on the arrogance of the new owners. For many years the Nursing Home was operated by the Sisters of Mercy and they managed to provide both a valuable service and a fair level of employment. The Sisters chose to sell the Manor to a man and woman who owned and operated a similar business in Multyfarnham which is when things went bad. A short period after taking control the new owners decided to change a lot of the conditions of employment, cancel benefits, cut hours and so on. If the business they took over was in bad financial shape then such steps could be taken as necessary to bring the Manor back into a more profitable situation.  The key issue though, is not the profitability or lack of it, but the fact that the ‘cost cutting measures’ (if that’s what they were) were undertaken without any consultation with the staff that were going to be most affected. One could make the argument that the owners can run their business as they see fit, but is that necessarily true? Unless the owners are able and willing to run the whole thing themselves then they need the staff. As a nursing home it can be important to patients that they are dealing with familiar faces, for older people this can be a source of comfort in a period of their lives when they are dependent on others for survival. The new owners refuse to negotiate so any goodwill they might have had in the community has probably evaporated. The workers, are, by and large local, so the community is going to be supporting their family members or friends. In terms of the business this lack of discussion cannot surely be good in the long term. There are echoes of the Irish Ferries dispute here, and echoes of the 1980’s when it seemed most business’ had a group of picketers outside the gates.

Update This strike has now ended. Not being party to the negotiations I don’t know what terms were agreed, though I have heard various bits and pieces mentioned over the course of the last while. For a news update you can read the following article from Longford Today website.

I don’t watch much television and my main reason for not watching television is that there is nothing on worth watching.  Both parts of that last statement are true …..and false. It would not be unusual for me to spend a couple of hours watching something on televsion but compared to the time i spend on a computer or reading, my televison watching is the least of the three activities. And while I do watch more televsion than I claim to, I like to think I watch the ‘better’ quality programs. I’m a big fan of David Attenborough’s programs and wildlife, nature programs in general. Documentary television can be interesting when well done and can be thought provoking. More and more though I tend to buy a season, or collection of programs on DVD and watch them that way. I have watched episodes of certain series on tv and followed them when I could but would forget  to record them or(and this happens regularly) the schedule is changed for some reason and I would miss it. Now that these are coming available on DVD I can watch them when I want to. Or follow spinoffs(for example the Law & Order program, or CSI) or try something someone else recommended. Getting the DVD means no adverts of course, but also might give a little background into the series and it’s stars or stories as well as giving you the freedom to re-watch old favourites(as someone who often re-reads favourite books again and again this is a great benefit to me). There are, and have been, some great programs on television, CSI Vegas and New York(can’t stand David Caruso’s portrayal of  Horatio Caine). I’m a big fan of Law&Order Special Victims Unit(gritty television dealing  frequently with uncomfortable topics, with great minor character acting). Band of Brothers, based on the true tale of Easy Company and their exploits during World War II. Deadwood, more gritty television and as far away from the wild west of John Wayne as you’re likely to get(even Clint Eastwood would feel out of place in this Western tale). ER – in some ways the pioneer for many of these other shows, more realistic, packing a whole lot of stories into single episodes, yet also carrying out some stories for several episodes, strong character actors with good main cast(has any other show gone through so many key characters and still keep going, fifteen seasons it lasted). My latest is ‘The Wire’ – it’s hardly a favourite with the Baltimore tourist board showing a city rife with violence, drugs, murder and corruption. Another mix of strong leads and great character actors.