Fifty years in Local Government Jack Patterson

Most of my life has been spent in local government, as a worker and later on as a Councillor.

I started work with Newry Urban District Council as a bricklayer in March 1964, and a few years later I was appointed Assistant Town Inspector. The Clerk of Council was Gerald Cronin and after my appointment was approved at a Council meeting, he sent for me and gave me some useful advice, he said ‘deal with the facts; don’t listen to what is hearsay’.

In my new job, I was based in the Council Depot in Francis Street and one of my first duties was to investigate a complaint about animals being kept in a house. When I visited I found that a donkey was being kept in the living room.

Newry Urban District Council staff at tea in the Town Hall Pictured, left to right, Maura Turley (née McKeown), Clerk and Shorthand Typist, Mary (Maisie) Keenan, Clerical Assistant, Gerald Cronin (Town Clerk) and Maureen Daly, Administrative Assistant. Newry and Mourne Museum Collection

I remember Charles Blayney, the former Town Surveyor who worked from 1902 – 1959 in Council. After he officially retired, he continued to measure the monthly rainfall and I had to go every month to his house to collect his recordings. There was also Margaret Barry who worked from 1909 – 1970 as a filing clerk in the Town Hall until she retired at 79. However, it was the custom for women to leave their job in Council when they got married.

The Urban Council had wide responsibilities ranging from water supplies, repairing the roads to street lighting. These functions were removed from Council control in 1973. Many Urban Council workers were relocated to the new departments such as the Housing Executive and Water Service. Other staff, in particular the refuse workers, were transferred to Newry and Mourne District Council.

For the first three or four months there was some confusion in the new Council, for example a refuse crew went out from Newry to south Armagh, and ended up somewhere near Castleblayney. I got a call saying, ‘there is one of your lorries in County Monaghan emptying bins’.

The Troubles impacted on both the old and the new Council. I actually had three cars blown up, and when bin lorries were hijacked or burnt, it was a scramble to find and adapt replacement lorries to empty bins.

I took early retirement in 1993, and it was suggested that I stand as an Independent Councillor, which I did and was elected as a Newry Town Councillor. One of the major highlights of my career was in 2003 when I became the first elected Mayor of Council, after Newry was awarded City status in 2002. It was a very busy year and I attended 650 functions.

It is ironic to think that some functions that were removed from Councils in 1973, are now coming back to Council in 2015.