By Sarah Curran
NEWTOWNARDS is hoping to add to the town’s glittering array of recent awards, as residents wish a local Paralympian good luck.
Business owners around the town are sending their best wishes to Paralympian Barry McClements as he takes on the Mens S9 100m Butterfly tomorrow (Friday), after qualifying and taking part in the Men’s S9 100m Backstroke final on Tuesday and being placed eighth.
During the Olympics, the town was decorated to celebrate the borough’s local Olympians, including Newtownards gymnast Rhys McClenaghan who went on to bag the gold in the Pommel Horse final at the Paris Games.
The shopping town was also recently awarded silver at this year’s High Street Hero Awards in the top category of Best High Street.
Silverware was also awarded to Warden Bros in the Best Homeware Retailer category, Northern Card Gaming in the Best Generalist Retailer category and Eurospar Hardford Link in the Best Forecourt category, with Knotts Bakery in Newtownards awarded bronze in the Best Deli/Bakery category.
The President of the Newtownards Chamber of Commerce, Derek Wright, said Newtownards is an ‘award winning town’, as he wished Barry McClements, competing for Team Ireland, good luck in his upcoming competition.
“Here we go again with our Paralympian from Newtownards, Barry McClements, a Commonwealth medallist, competing in Paris,” he said.
“Lots of businesses in Newtownards are supporting him like we did with Rhys and our other Olympians recently.”
He continued: “Yet again we are an award winning town and Newtownards is coming to the fore of Northern Ireland with our winners, both in business and in sport.
“Barry has the support of the whole community and we will all be behind him over the next few days.”
Mr Wright added: “Many of us were late for work and school on Tuesday morning, eagerly watching Barry competing in the heats at 8.37am.
“He won his heat, finishing fourth to qualify for the final later that same day at 4.37pm.
“We all watched as he competed strongly, finishing eighth.
“We are all extremely proud of Barry and look forward to watching him compete again on Friday in the S9 100m Butterfly at 9.33am.”
