The 2013 World Police and Fire Games will begin on 1 August 2013 in Belfast. To coincide with the games, Armagh Public Library has selected sources from its own collection to give an insight into the history of local fire and police services, as well as into the history of law-making and law enforcement in general.
Entitled ‘To the Rescue’, the small exhibit will run until the end of August. It carries references to the Armagh Corporation which appointed police constables and sergeants, and which was responsible for bringing the first fire engines and crews to Armagh at the end of the eighteenth century. The Corporation was also responsible for providing piped water to almost every street in the City, which helped the work of the fire fighters.
The Keeper of Armagh Public Library, the Very Revd Gregory Dunstan, said: “In the records held in the Library, there is sometimes information of use in ways of which those who compiled them would never have dreamed. This is one of the riches of our collections, available to the people of Armagh, to our visitors, and to scholars everywhere.”
Library staff were joined by Sergeant Allen Beattie from the Neighbourhood Policing Team, Armagh and members of the Alpha Watch for Armagh Fire and Rescue to launch the exhibit.
