Thank you Brian – you were ‘Streetes’ ahead of the rest!

Photo shows, Brian and Alice Nerney. Brian has retired from his role as Westmeath Examiner notes correspondent for Streete and district.

One of our longest serving and most respected contributors, Brian Nerney, is looking forward to having more time to himself now that he closed the local notes correspondent chapter of his life, after 27 years of contributions.

Brian, and his colleagues at Streete Parish Park, began submitting district notes to the local newspapers in 1992, first to the Longford Leader, and soon after to the Westmeath Examiner and Westmeath Topic in Mullingar.

The Streete and District notes that Brian Nerney compiled were both local and international, because they regularly made their way to the far corners of the globe as the Streete diaspora valued them hugely and had them sent out from home every week.

Brian’s notes have been the most comprehensive in the district notes section of the Westmeath Examiner, and are an example to any aspiring correspondent on how the job should be done.

His reports have kept people up to date on anything that was going on in the western areas of County Westmeath and the neighbouring parts of County Longford, and they don’t miss a thing in the district.

As one of his colleagues on the Streete Parish Park committee, Kevin Brady, said in tribute: “He has been an outstanding local journalist, dedicated to our community, and was always ready to inform us on new beginnings, along with the sad passing of neighbours, near and far.

“Brian has always been willing to listen with a sympathetic ear, and at times has faced the difficult task of informing us on some sad news, along with many joyful moments.

“We salute you Brian and thank you from the bottom of our hearts on your wonderful contribution that you have shown to our community over the last 27 years. I am told to say from all your many well-wishers that we will miss your weekly posts.

“We wish you and Alice a great long and happy retirement and maybe if there’s any ink left in the pen you will add a little note every now and then!”

We at the Westmeath Examiner would like to echo Kevin’s remarks, and all of us here, as well as those who have worked at these offices during Brian’s time as local cor, offer him our thanks and wish him and Alice and their family the best of luck in the future. Brian, it has been a pleasure to do business with you. It’s time now to rest a little and let the pen, the laptop and the mobile phone cool down!

- Brian O’Loughlin, editor, and the rest of the team at the Westmeath Examiner