Great weather but cloud hangs over us with lake tragedy!
Good morning! Micheal with you here. Wow, what a few days for the weather! Records galore – Armagh even recorded its hottest day ever! And then it only went and recorded Northern Ireland's hottest day EVER! We couldn't let Tyrone have that one over us. And it's going to be another great one today – highs of 28 degrees touted. Sadly it's looking more like southern France temperatures over the weekend with highs of 26 – pathetic...
Resplendent as the weather has been, there has been a cloud of sadness hanging over the area following the awful tragedy in Scarva on Monday afternoon. Little Jay Moffett, who was only 13, lost his life in a man-made lake in a field, close to the family home in the village. A funeral service is due to take place outside Jay's home in Scarvagh Heights at 1pm later today (Friday), followed by a committal service in Banbridge New Cemetery.
As a news website you get informed by the public of unfolding emergencies on a regular basis – less detail on some than others, and some less serious than others too. But in some cases you know things aren't good – I'm not sure how to explain it but you get a sense of the gravity at certain times. This was one of those times. Details started filtering through to us late afternoon – the Air Ambulance is usually the first indication of the level of severity but on many occasions, that can be just precautionary. We've followed up with the NI Ambulance HQ many times to be told as much. However, then came details of a young child and a lake – an hour or two passed and more details came through. Fire service confirmed there was an incident, then came the police line, which preceded the ambulance update. It wasn't looking good. We were told it wasn't good. Then, tragically, police confirmed the horror. Every parent's worst nightmare.
There's a sense of trepidation writing a story like this. Even though it has been confirmed, it's just never nice. You watch as the comments stream in – the genuine heartbreak people feel, the shares even – they tend to be more personal again. You read them. Again, the devastation is palpable. All you can do is hope you've covered it as sensitively as possible. It's at times like this you understand how closely knit our community is.
Most importantly though, for the Moffett family, is the fact we live in an area where community still means so much and hopefully that will be of some comfort of the coming days, weeks and even years.
Latest Jobs
Armagh Jobs is now officially here, up and running. It's our jobs board dedicated to jobs across County Armagh and beyond. If you have a job and would like to advertise it please get in touch. Here are the latest roles on the website..
Experienced Accounting Technician required at McCreesh & Co. Armagh — armaghjobs.com
Sales Assistant required at Boardwalk Shoes and Bags in Armagh — armaghjobs.com
Re-Gen Waste in Newry looking for Recycling Operatives — armaghjobs.com
Morgan McLernon recruiting for a Transport Co-ordinator — armaghjobs.com
Warehouse operatives — armaghjobs.com
Jobs Profiled..
Linwoods' Callum O'Neill loving new product development career he 'stumbled into' — armaghjobs.com
Giveaways!
We'll be announcing the winner of our Ray Ban sunglasses winner later this afternoon (Friday), so if you haven't already, you can enter here. Alternatively, you can enter by commenting on this article (follow link).
We’ve teamed up with Menarys Armagh to give one lucky reader a £100 voucher — www.armaghi.com
Our members section is something we've been playing about with recently – trial and error really. We had launched a members subdomain and our new commenting platform (at the bottom of each story) at the same time. In hindsight, it was probably counterintuitive, as the two offered us the same thing.
We've made it no secret that we want more people interacting on Armagh I – we are much more than a Facebook page, in fact, it's no longer our main audience driver as people are coming organically. We love that, thank you.
Which is why we want to have a commenting platform open to all our readers no matter how you travel to the website, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, direct or whatever. You all read our content on Armagh I – the website.
So, we've decided to stick with commenting on Armagh I. Readers have to register to comment but that's similar to what the members subdomain offered. When the numbers grow we will introduce really cool functionality which will hopefully improve the user's experience on the website.
Again, it's not just there for giveaways, we are actively encouraging people to get involved in commenting directly on the website.
Videos this week...
10 headlines you may have missed..
Armagh timber business’ pandemic ‘stop-gap’ continues to boom — armaghi.com
Ryan turns passion for craft beer into growing success as brewery continues to expand — armaghi.com
Banbridge councillor Alderman Junior McCrum passes away, aged 57 — armaghi.com
Deliberate fires in Craigavon and after hours activity on South Lake inflatables cause residents concern — armaghi.com
Priest in appeal for people to ‘talk’ as much-loved father-of-four Caolán Doyle is laid to rest — armaghi.com
Child in lucky escape after petrol bomb thrown at house in Craigavon — armaghi.com
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Councillor queries Test and Trace logic after being told to isolate for 10 days — armaghi.com
Louis Boyd – synonymous with mens fashion in Newry and beyond – passes away — armaghi.com
UVF displays on Lurgan houses are ‘attempt to intimidate residents’ — armaghi.com
Alleged armed robber broke his ankle trying to escape police in Lurgan, court told — armaghi.com
One last thing...
As always, we'd love to hear from you. If you have any stories, tips or general goings on please let us know. If there's anything we should cover please let us know.
PS. If you know anyone who you think would like to receive this newsletter just hit the forward button and get them signed up.
Until next week...enjoy the sun!