“I liked going to school here, but being a teenager and being a schoolgirl here is different from coming back and being the Town Manager,” she says.

    “When I went to school it didn’t seem particularly vibrant. Coming back now, I’m impressed - there’s a massive shopping centre, a huge big Safeway, a very modern thriving retail sector. It’s very busy and bustling.”

    Blanaid started her post as the new Town Manager on Monday and plans to spend the first few weeks getting to know everyone - “tramping the heather, working the beat”.

    She says plans will remain a bit up in the air until she starts to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and find out what people want.

    “I am going to have to feel my way and take advice from different people,” she says.

    Born and bred in Lisnaskea, she attended Mount Lourdes Grammar School and then studied politics at Queen’s.

    She went on to study in London before working on economic development in Aberdeenshire, followed by a five-year stint as town manager in Greenwich, south London.

    The area is up there with the Taj Mahal as a World Heritage Site, thanks to the famous meridian.

    As a district of a huge city, Greenwich contrasts enormously with Enniskillen but many of the concerns are exactly the same.

    “There are many of the same strategies that are applicable anywhere, whether in part of a large city or a market town,” Blanaid says.

    “Cleansing regimes, day to day environmental improvement - everyone likes clean streets and no litter.”

    She plans to enlist as many people as possible to get involved with the management of the town - business people, community groups and anyone with a stake. Blanaid’s concern is with the whole town - not just the shopping district.

    One of her most important roles will be in marketing Enniskillen as a good place to work, live, shop and socialise - “letting the rest of the world know about this little gem”.

    Coincidentally one of the town’s greatest under-exploited strengths is not a million miles from the aspect that sets Greenwich apart.

    “Having come from Greenwich, the big thing is water and maritime themes - ships and boats. Fermanagh is the same,” Blanaid says.

    “When I think of Fermanagh, I think of water, I think of the lakes. We need to build on this with a special emphasis on the town of Enniskillen.

    “To sail up to the Ardhowen on a summer’s night I think is impossibly glamorous. Where else can you sail to the shops?”

    At the moment, Blanaid is concentrating on getting to know the town again, but with appropriate grant aid, there may be potential for larger-scale projects such as shop-front grants, CCTV, improving the Christmas lights and resurfacing footpaths.

    Blanaid says she is keen to look at setting up an Enniskillen festival, and this time water and the boats that travel on it could be the main inspiration.

    Blanaid can be contacted at 028 6632 5050 ext 296 or on her mobile at 0773 9806160 or by email at blanaid.mckinney@fermanagh.gov.uk.