A Brackaville man, who received a leaf blower for his 50th birthday last week, has been told to return home after admitting he didn’t know where to stop blowing the leaves after starting in his garden and reaching Coalisland. 

Paul Gillan, who managed to blow the leaves carefully from the top of Brackaville Hill to Coalisland Main Street, said the instructions never said when or where to stop blowing the leaves. 

“To be honest, I did a great job and probably only lost about 30 leaves in the 1 mile journey. And there were thousands of them. But as I approached Coalisland it dawned on me about where to stop. I was thinking that maybe I’d to blow them the whole way to the Washingbay and into the Lough.” 

Gillan was subsequently chased from Coalisland, who are vying for the title of Tidy Town with Stewartstown, and had to blow the leaves right back up Brackaville Hill, where his brother was waiting for him with a bin liner.