President enjoys warm welcome at Sacred Heart

Those were the words the President of Ireland Mrs Mary McAleese inscribed in the visitors' book at Sacred Heart Church after her visit to the Ballyclare parish on Monday afternoon.

And after what had been a frenetic time of planning and preparation in the run-up to the important visit, they were just the words that parish priest Father Eugene O'Hagan wanted to hear.

"We didn't have too many days of planning in the run-up to the Presidential visit let's just say, so it was all quite intensive as we tried our best to organise things so the day would run as smoothly as possible," Father Eugene told the Times afterwards.

"From the sending out of invitations to all our parishioners, to the erecting of the marquee, the security arrangements, printing of passes and programmes, recruiting of stewards, and the arranging of the musical entertainment - the visit presented us with something of a logistical challenge, but thankfully everything went according to plan, and we were all 'singing from the same hymn sheet' as it were, by the time it came around."

At 2.30pm on Monday and following her visit to Ballyclare High School, the President and her husband Dr Martin McAleese enjoyed a private tour of Sacred Heart Chapel on Doagh Road with Father Eugene, before being escorted to a marquee specially erected in the church grounds for the occasion.

For full story and more pictures see this week's Times...