Must be a slow news day? I wish it was...
Good morning! It's Micheal again. It feels like a welcome back after a two week hiatus from the newsletter – school's back and now I'm free again!
It must be a slow news day?
Every once in a while that adage will pop up – 'It must be a slow news day?' In fairness, sometimes there are, but it's akin to saying to a painter and decorator, 'you've missed a spot', or worse, 'you've put it on inside out'. As my summer job of 10 years, I've had experience of all the best painting quips!
However, the slow news day in question was Sunday, August 22 – I wish it was a slow news day (it was a SUNDAY after all). Anyway, a building was on the verge of collapse in Tandragee, as many of you may have been aware. We covered the initial story – the photos were dramatic enough too. We subsequently had some video footage of the scene, which prompted one reader to inform us that they had footage of the collapse, the same collapse we obviously missed half an hour after leaving the scene...I blame nobody for that...
Of course, we were delighted. However, delight turned to despair, or more like an 'eh?!'. Said reader decided to renege on their original offer! It went something like 'it must be a slow news day if you're looking more video – do you not think one video is enough'. Alas, the video never came. This was one of the most read stories of the month. I thought it was a genuinely decent local news story.
It was strange but these things happen. I just wanted to highlight the fact that we get a lot of messages from readers, many of which we can help with, many we can't. And some that baffle us.
Recently, we had a report of a helicopter crash locally. This can't be right??! It wasn't, but it was the Air Ambulance and there was an incident, which we covered in the end. If something has happened, we can help chase it up. If you don't know the whole facts, we endeavour to chase up the story. More often that not we get an answer and sometimes those answers just don't make stories.
The moral of the story/ramble – if you want us to look into something, we'll try our best no matter how sketchy the initial detail. PS. We do love a good video too.
This week's cinema ticket giveaway is..
Congratulations to Jim Mallon who won himself a pair of tickets to the cinema, courtesy of our friends at Omniplex Armagh. I believe he too is off to see Paw Patrol. He may or may not bring his son....
Keep an eye out on our listings later today for your chance to win a pair of tickets next week!
In case you missed it...
Innovative Markethill brothers bringing farming machinery into the 21st Century — armaghi.com
Dog removed from Armagh property after biting family member’s finger off — armaghi.com
New Lurgan brewery – and first distillery in 200 years – will create 55 new jobs — www.armaghi.com
Crossmaglen Police Station ‘not fit for purpose’ as review recommends move to Newtownhamilton — www.armaghi.com
Time Out Cafe: From nursing lunch break dream to cafe supreme for Janet and Faith — www.armaghi.com
Keady building contractor’s frustration as families left in limbo for 13 months over planning dispute — www.armaghi.com
Parent’s disgust after vandals daub crude and racist graffiti over children’s play park in Milford — www.armaghi.com
Two teens among four arrested after man stabbed during mass brawl in Portadown People’s Park — www.armaghi.com
In Pictures: Poignant Red Plaque unveiling remembering tragic loss of city firefighter John Nichol — www.armaghi.com
Podcast: Singapore, Oz, cruise life and stunt performer – how Gemma Winchester ended up in Armagh — www.armaghi.com
Armagh stunned by loss of ‘our beautiful Bronwyn’ as school, club and neighbours pay tribute — www.armaghi.com
Man fined £1,000 for Craigavon house party Covid breach — www.armaghi.com
Plans for multi-million pound garden centre, restaurant and apartments at historic mill — www.armaghi.com
Jobs
Our jobs site Armagh Jobs is really picking up ahead of steam too, we've more than 20 live jobs on there now. Check them out here. Norbrook are recruiting for a number of roles over the next month and a bit, as are Morgan McLernon and Ann's Care Homes.
Push notifications
The last newsletter mentioned our push notification platform – Pushed. We haven't highlighted that too much as we wanted to get some feedback on how a small number of users (the guinea pigs) found it. There has been a brilliant uptake but we're a little in the dark about how people have found it for updates. If you have used it, please let us know what you like - or dislike about it? For those of you curious as to what I'm on about, download the Get Pushed app on iOS and Android and subscribe to Armagh I.