There’s a famous scene around half an hour into the 1975 movie Jaws the same year Eamonn Mallie began his career in journalism where Quint (maverick actor Robert Shaw who lived the final years of his life in Ireland) announces his presence to the room.
It’s going to be a big weekend in Clonoe. It’s all the chat as the men of the village call at the barber get their hair trimmed. The ladies’ salon next door is, as they say in these parts, “wile busy”. There’s a real sense of anticipation.
The race to secure places in post primary schools across Northern Ireland begins today (Tuesday) when the Education Authority’s online application portal opens at noon.