IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
McBriar Way, NEWTOWNARDS, BT22 2UQ

EIIR pillar box (BT22 481), outside the post office, at Main Street.

Work on the community centre began in 2009. http://www.t-agroup.com/projects.aspx/project/48/Carrowdore-Community-Centre

A gospel hall on the Main Street. The following quotation comes from the hall’s website: “In the year 1905, a new school was built and opened on the outskirts of the village of Carrowdore. The old school in the village was vacant and was purchased by a man called Mr. Dan White. He converted the ground floor of the building into a Taylor's shop, and the floor upstairs into a Mission Hall for the preaching of the Gospel. After Mr. White's death, the work of the preaching of the Gospel in the Hall continued by different people, until the building was demolished in 1975 by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to make room for new houses. In that same year, Mr. Sandy Sommerville, bought a large house at the upper end of the village and made the ground floor into a Hall to continue the preaching of the Gospel. This Hall was put under the care of Trustees. Mr Sommerville passed away in July 1988, but the work continued. Through time the building deteriorated and it was decided to build a new Hall. No public appeal was made for money, but God was good and the new Hall was opened on the 23rd May 1998 to the Glory of God”. This link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maranatha explains the name.

This school draws its pupils from both the Unionist and Nationalist communities as well as from other ethnic and religious backgrounds. It aims towards having an annual intake of 40% Protestant, 40% Catholic and 20% other - a rather tall order in the Ards Borough for which the 2001 census gives community background figures as 80% Protestant, 15% Catholic and 5% “other”. The school has between 500 and 600 pupils.