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140-year-old Killarney Arbutus writing desk to be restored

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By Sean Moriarty

A 140-year-old writing slope - once owned by a local nurse who was a World War One hero - has been rediscovered and is set to be restored to its former glory.

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The Killarney-made handcrafted piece of Killarney Arbutus furniture was gifted to Sr Louisa ‘Lula’ Greany from Muckross by the Herbert Family in 1879.

She was Thomas Greany's first child, the local land agent for the Herbert’s, owners of Muckross House at the time. It is believed the writing slope was a present to the family on the occasion of their first born.

Louisa trained as a nurse in Dublin and moved to London in 1914.

As a Red Cross volunteer she was stationed in both Le Touquet and Dinard in France during World War One.

After the war she worked in Alexandria (now Cairo) and Jerusalem and was made an Associate of the Royal Red Cross for exceptional services as a military nurse.

Local Killarney Arbutus Furniture expert James Flynn has been tasked with the restoration. The Ross Road man’s work recently featured on RTÉ's 'Nationwide'.

“After the ‘Nationwide’ programme a couple in Dublin contacted me. I met them at the Great Southern Hotel and agreed to restore it. I am retired now. This was made specially for Louisa, it is a very important piece,” James told the Killarney Advertiser.

“There is a lot of work in it. I need to use donor pieces to get the patterns right.”

The writing slope is about the size of a modern-day laptop. It features several compartments for storing ink, pens and letters.

Details on the slope include a hand engraving of Muckross Abbey, a shamrock carving that James has never seen on previous furniture he has restored, and pencilled handwriting of Louisa’s name.

James has already sourced period-style ink bottles in Britain and will hand carve an exact replica of the shamrock. Brass hinges will have to be specially ordered to complete the restoration.

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Massive Park Road housing development given green light

A private developer has been given planning permission to build 249 new residential units at Upper Park Road. The development, which will be built on a recently cleared site near […]

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A private developer has been given planning permission to build 249 new residential units at Upper Park Road.

The development, which will be built on a recently cleared site near An Post’s sorting office, will include a variety of properties from five-bed houses to single apartments, along with a crèche and over 500 car spaces and over 300 bike spaces.

The development has been welcomed by local councillor Martin Grady.

“Killarney has a massive housing shortage so this is very positive. It will retain young families in the area, stimulating economic growth,” he said. “After 17 years of different planning applications it’s finally coming to fruition.”

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Ballydribeen residents living in fear due to anti-social behaviour

Residents in the Ballydribeen are living in fear as a result of increased anti-social behaviour in the estate. Several serious incidents in the estate have resulted in several Garda visits […]

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Residents in the Ballydribeen are living in fear as a result of increased anti-social behaviour in the estate.

Several serious incidents in the estate have resulted in several Garda visits in the last week.

Local councillor Martin Grady told the Killarney Advertiser that residents are “living in fear” as a result of very serious incidents in the last week alone.

One house in the estate was badly damaged when fire crackers were placed inside a letter box.

Another house had its windows smashed in over the weekend.

“It’s a major problem,” added Grady after meeting residents there earlier this week.

One of the most serious incidents occurred on Tuesday night.

A passing motorists had rocks thrown at his car while driving along the bypass whch is adjacent to the estate.
Taking to social media, local primary-school teacher Pádraig O’Sullivan posted:

“Travelling home tonight, at 11.05pm on the Killarney side of the bypass our car was hit by a rock – not a pebble – from the Ballydribben side , which hit the passenger door.

“It was centimetres away from hitting the window where my father, who is visually impaired, was sitting.

“This could have caused catastrophic permanent injury to him.

“The Killarney Garda were on the scene within three minutes.

“They can’t be patrolling the bypass all night.

“It comes down to parenting. You should know where your children are at this hour and be able to teach them what’s funny and what ruin a person’s life or cause a fatal crash.“

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