Szécsény is a town in Nógrád county, Hungary.

Culture

The community centre co-ordinates and organises the cultural life of the town. We have several traditional festivals: Town Day at the end of May or at the beginning of June, Autumn Art Exhibition of Szécsény and Szécsény Vintage Festival. The cultural centre sponsors the Ferenc Erkel mixed-voice choir that has been performing for 30 years. There is a projection in the building once a week. The kindergarteners and school children regularly watch different educational and entertaining films there. The town library works within the framework of the cultural centre. Readers can choose from 44 thousand volumes. The number of the registered readers is nearly 2,000.

Education, school system

The local government maintains the following educational institutions: – Kindergarten: The teachers do high quality pedagogic work in the three buildings of the nursery school. – Ferenc Rákóczi II Elementary School: It has one building. Owing to the high-standard didactic and educational work, pupils won several inter-school competitions. – Sándor Kırösi Csoma Secondary Grammar and Vocational School: The municipal corporation founded it in 1994 as an 8-grade secondary grammar school. The vocational education of computer technology began in 1998. Teaching foreign languages and computer science have -outstanding – importance. The following institutions are maintained by the county self-government: – The School of Arts: The music section is fairly successful. The members of the dramatic group regularly perform at the town festivities. – Béla Lipthay Agricultural Secondary Vocational School: This technical school trains agricultural skilled workers. The students come not only from Nógrád but also from other counties as well. The school also organises courses for adults and courses adjusted to the trade, too. Social welfare, healthcare, unemployment Three general practitioners and two paediatricians work in Szécsény as entrepreneurs. There are four dentists. The dentists also attend the inhabitants of 12 villages in the region of Szécsény. Besides basic healthcare a small laboratory, physical therapy and therapeutic gymnastics are available as well. There is a gynaecological consultation too but it is a private practice. More and more people appeal to holistic medicine practitioners whose work is co-ordinated by one of the paediatricians in the framework of a medical centre. The ambulance station has been working since 1993. Its job is confined to transporting patients. The emergency service is operated by an enterprise owned by a doctor.

• Social welfare

The present data of the unemployment show that approximately 1,000 inhabitants are entitled to a form of social allocations the major part of which is financed by the local authority.

• Unemployment

Our figures, which were published by the Employment Centre of Nógrád County, relate to Szécsény and its region. The number of the registered unemployed: 1,625, including 896 men and 729 women. Manual workers: 1,429 people, not manual, white-collar workers: 196 people. Professional grouping: – Skilled worker: 425 – Semi-skilled labourer: 507 – Unskilled worker or handyman: 520 Classification according to educational level: – fewer than 8 elementary grades: 245 – 8-grade elementary school: 688 – trade school: 392 – technical school: 24 – technical academy: 40 – vocational technical school: 130 – secondary grammar school: 86 – college, university: 20

• Agriculture

As a consequence of the Act of Co-operative farms 1992, one of the best co-operative farms of the country was liquidated in Szécsény and was succeeded by a number of collective and private farms. They work in the agricultural sector and deal with cultivation first of all. The traditionally grown plants are: potato, maize, sunflower and grain crop.

The collective farms are raising cows at present as well as sheep. Growing number of private farmers keep horses too. The majority of the landowners have a farm of 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres). This area supplies their household mainly. There are few private or collective farmers who run a farm bigger than 50 hectares.

• Industry

The biggest employer of the town is Eurocandle Ltd., the owners of which are Danish entrepreneurs. They employ 300 people and export their products. The other important industrial company, the Tommy Invest Ltd. gives work to 280 workers. Several building entrepreneurs work in the town. There are two important factories: furniture and packing machines ones. A lot of trading companies work in our town. The most significant of them is Palóc-Coop Ltd. The local government is revising the tax on practice of a trade, the amount of which is 2,0%.

• Religion

The majority of the inhabitants are Roman Catholic, the minority is Lutheran. The practice of the Catholic religion is helped by Franciscan friars who live in the local Franciscan monastery, founded in 1339. The Clarissa nuns (Franciscan Order of Poor Clares) undertake the task of nursing of great importance.

• Ethnic minorities

The Gypsy Minority Self-government has been working in the town since 1994. Their aim is to preserve and protect the Gypsy traditions. The mayor’s office supports their work and supplies the material conditions for them.

• Tourism

The tourism has not made the most of the potentials of the town yet. The local authority maintains a Tourinform office, which works together with the Handicrfts’ Society in the renovted building of Handicraftsman’s House. All visitors get a free brochure about Szécsény and its surrounding. The town has developed the buildings of the historic part of the town turning the historical values of Szécsény to account. We used European Union resources for fulfilment of this task. The display of the unique historic relics will be advanced when we form closer co-operation with the Franciscan order.