AFTER 32 years of teaching, husband and wife Fergal and Christine McCann, from Irvinestown, will now have all the time in the world to spend together as they said goodbye to their respective places of learning where they have helped to nurture countless students.

Fergal retired from St. Mary’s Primary School, Tempo, where he was principal for 17 years, while Christine said farewell to Loreto Grammar School, Omagh where she was Head of PE.

The pair met at St. Mary’s College, Belfast and have been together ever since, and were celebrating 30 years of marriage in July.

Before settling in Tempo, Fergal also spent time teaching at St. Patrick’s PS, Mullanaskea; St. Michael’s PS, Enniskillen; St. Paul’s PS, Irvinestown and Tummery PS, Dromore.

Looking back through his time, he said the main thing that motivated him in teaching was “making sure children got the best start in life and all their talents are recognised early on and they can make the most of what they can be”.

For Christine, who spent her entire career at Loreto, she loved working with other schools. She was heavily involved in shared education in Omagh and worked closely with the six other Omagh schools heading towards the Strule Campus.

There was much delight in Irvinestown for this year’s Lady of the Lake Festival ‘Back with a Bang’, and with its vast range of events and stellar community support,it proved a blast indeed.

Speaking at the time to The Impartial Reporter, Joe Mahon – one of the festival organisers – said that he was delighted that the full festival programme was back, following last year’s reduced offering due to the pandemic.

“It’s going really, really well – there have been tremendous crowds,” said Joe, noting that there was a large crowd gathered in Irvinestown main street on the Friday evening of July 8 for the festival opening event, where the new Lady of the Lake was unveiled.

Going on to share some highlights from the first weekend of the festival, Joe said: “On Sunday [July 10], there was the Donkey Derby in Necarne, and the tractor and trailer reversing competition along with games for the children.

“The whole of Necarne was packed. It was great,” he added.

In July, Fermanagh sizzled as the sun reared its head in Fermanagh as temperatures soared and topped the 2022 record for Northern Ireland.

Fermanagh set the North’s Met Office record for the year so far, as a temperature of 31.2C was recorded in the village of Derrylin one Monday.

The Northern Ireland-wide temperature record was set in July last year in Castlederg, Co. Tyrone, where temperatures hit 31.3C.

Many Fermanagh people enjoyed the sunshine and took in all of the beautiful attractions our county has to offer, with several readers sending in photos for publication.

The hot weather saw pressure continuing for medical staff at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH), with the Western Health and Social Care Trust releasing a statement saying that the SWAH was facing challenges.