DOWN THE YEARS

Memories from days gone by

Publican’s Porsche is spirited away November 1991

James Osborne of The Farmer’s Kitchen was the privileged owner of a rare Porsche Carera Targa when he locked up his Drinagh premises on Monday night and went to bed.

But on Tuesday morning, when he awoke, he discovered that the prized motor valued at £20,000 had disappeared from the car park, stolen during the night by professional thieves who made not a sound as they spirited the car away.

Mr Osborne was devastated at the discovery, and optimistically hoped that the because of its rarity, the car would be spotted and recovered within a few hours.

‘It’s bottle green, and it would be difficult to miss. It was the only Porsche ever made in that colour,’ he said. ‘I thought somebody would have noticed something, and reported it to the Gardaí’.

No such luck. By Tuesday evening, he was beginning to lose hope of ever seeing the gleaming 16-year-old car again. His last chance is that a vigilant neighbour or passer-by may have spotted suspicious activity in the area that night.

‘We heard absolutely nothing, so they may have wheeled it down the road and onto another vehicle to take it away,’ he said. ‘It was obviously a professional job.’

Mr Osborne bought the car about twelve years ago. One of only three Porsches in Wexford, it featured a special number plate: 142 VAL.

Anyone with information which may lead to its recovery is asked to contact The Farmer’s Kitchen or the Garda Station in Wexford.

Two weeks later:

Publican gets his Porsche back November 1991

James Osborne of The Farmer’s Kitchen in Drinagh has been reunited with the prized Porsche which was stolen two weeks ago from outside his premises in the middle of the night.

The unfortunate story had a happy ending thanks to an article here in ‘Wexford Diary’, and the vigilance of a Waterford woman who spotted a gleaming bottle-green Porsche parked outside her door.

Having read the ‘Diary’ piece, which stated that the stolen car was the only one of that colour that was ever built, the woman smelled a rat and immediately contacted Waterford Gardaí, who took the car into custody. She also rang the Osbornes, who were overjoyed to hear the good news.

The had nearly given up hope of ever seeing the precious £20,000 car again, until the woman (whose husband happens to be a member of An Garda Siochána) contacted them with the happy message.

So delighted were the couple that they dropped everything and rushed to Waterford to recover the car, which has been their pride and joy for twelve years.

‘We were over the moon,’ said Rita Osborne. ‘We were devastated when it was stolen. I had a couple of sleepless nights over it. We’ve had it so long, and it means so much to us.

‘ The lady rang to say your car is in Waterford Garda Station. She had woken up and found it outside her house. And she had an idea it was ours because she had read the story in the newspaper.’

Apparently the car had been abandoned in Waterford by the thieves, and when recovered by the Osbornes, it was looking a little worse for the wear.

The petrol cap had been prised open, the door handle broken, and the paintwork damaged. Inside the car was a collection of rubbish, including Lucozade bottles, cigarette packets, and sweet wrappers, indicating that the culprits were probably young.

Council Chair gets phone service back November 1983

Mr Jimmy Curtis, Chairman of Wexford Count Council, now has his telephone service back, after making a stand against poor service by refusing to pay his bill.

However, he says the service itself is still no better than before.

It may be remembered that he withheld payment of his bill because of the poor quality of the service. The P&T reaction was to cut off the connection – leading Jimmy to discover then that even a poor service was better than none at all.

Jimmy’s decision not to pay his bill was born out of frustration. ‘I have been on to the P&T people, I have been on to the TDs and even to Ministers over the years, but my telephone service continues to be diabolical. When the connection was restored last week, I had no line. I went up the road and found that the wires were caught up. I fixed them myself. I have since been unable to get people I want to talk to on the phone. It is a terrible service,’ he said.

Even as this reporter spoke to him by phone about the problem, the connection broke down, and then after calling back, an ‘engaged’ sound played over what the Council Chairman’s voice.

Jimmy says he is encouraged by the number of people who have been in contact with him since it became known he had refused to pay his telephone bill, but that aspect is offset by the dissatisfaction he encounters.

He is now considering calling a public meeting, with the object of forming an association of people who have similar difficulties to the ones he has been experiencing over the past five years. He intends to invite the TDs and the P&T people to attend the meeting.

Rossman warned not to strip off again November 2003

The New Ross man who bared all during the Leinster Hurling Final escaped with a €100 fine and a warning when he appeared before the Dublin District Court last week.

A fully-clothed and relieved-looking Kevin Caulfield emerged from the court on Thursday after receiving a firm warning from Judge Jeffrey Brown that he is not to strip off again, even if the Wexford hurlers are losing.

Caulfield, originally from Pondsfields in New Ross, had pleaded guilty to ‘offending modesty and causing scandal’ when he dashed onto the pitch at Croke Park on July 6 during Wexford’s showdown against near neighbours, Kilkenny.

Donning nothing at the time but a purple and gold headband and a lavender-coloured hair style, the 24-year-old made a sprint across the pitch, having jumped the barrier at the Canal End.

New Line Road crash had a real ‘crunch’ November 1987

There was a real ‘crunch’ to a traffic accident on the New Line Road last Friday afternoon, when the back doors of a rigid truck swung open in the collision, depositing the truck’s cargo of Tayto Crisps all over the road.

The crash between the truck and an oncoming car happened at a bend in the road, with Gardaí saying it may have been caused by ‘an ill-judged overtaking manouevre’ on the part of the car driver. Luckily, there was no serious damage or injuries caused, as the truck driver was able to take enough evasive action to ensure that the vehicles just glanced off each other, rather than crashing head-on.

His truck ended up in the ditch though, with the back doors bursting open in the impact, and several boxes of Tayto Crisps (containing 48 packets of crisps each) being thrown onto the road.

A Garda spokesman said that other motorists and passengers who arrived at the scene were ‘very willing’ to help in the clean-up operation.

From the adverts November 1986

It’s 32 years ago now that Tom Cruise burst onto the big screen in ‘ Top Gun’, starring alongside Kelly McGillis.

‘It will take your breath away’ declared the advert for the old Abbey Cinema in Wexford, echoing the film’s theme song, which was performed by Berlin.

The Abbey also had an interesting-sounding double bill on offer that weekend. First up was something called ‘Confessions of Sexy Supervixen’, and the second part of the bill was ‘Doctor in the Nude’.