School Boys pick a winning name for development

Thanks to the creativity of two local school boys Clanmil Housing Association’s new housing development at Green Road in Bessbrook has been named Dobsons Way after Clanmil approached the nearby St Paul’s High School in search of an imaginative name for the new development of 62 much needed family homes.  

Over 40 inventive names were put forward by pupils at the school.  The name, Dobsons Way, which reflects the site’s location close to Dobson’s Pond, was chosen as the winner by Newry and Mourne District Council and came from suggestions by Year 9 pupils Chea McArdle and Christian Mathews.  Four runner-up names were suggested by Clare Ward, Natasha McCann, Sarah Kilgallon and Melissa Ward.

Work on the construction of the £7.8 million housing development started in July 2012 and is scheduled for completion in Autumn 2014.  The homes are being built to high energy efficiency and design specifications, including Lifetime Homes and Secured by Design standards, which ensure added security for tenants and flexibility of adaptation if required at a later date.

Jan Sloan, Development Manager at Clanmil, joined the pupils in their morning assembly and presented the winners with gift vouchers in recognition of their creativity.  She said “We were delighted by the interest the children and teachers at St Paul’s High School have shown in our development and very impressed by the standard and range of names suggested.  Chea and Christian helped come up with the perfect name for the scheme and we’re really looking forward to welcoming tenants to their new homes at Dobsons Way in the Autumn.”