I was born and bred in Upper Catherine St. Lived there from Mar 1967 – Dec 1980 (we moved house the day John Lennon was shot!). My memory is a bit hazy but our side of the street (circa 1975) went as follows (I think).
Yanks Bar
No 55 – ?
53 – Mrs Magennis
51 – Miss O’Hanlon
49 – ?
47 – Mr & Mrs McCourt
45 – Margaret Pedlow
43 – Us (Frank and Maureen Hughes and family) – (Peter Hughes, Warrenpoint Librarian)
42 – across the street – Paddy Fitzpatrick and wife.
41 – Ann O’Callaghan
39 – Ms Lily Lively
37 – Mrs Baines
35 – Mrs McGovern
33 – Kathleen Lavery and her mother (the only house with a phone)
31 – Mrs Loughran
Across the street at the top of the hill lived an old lady (whose name escapes me) and her son who had Down’s Syndrome and was called Tony. The house, along with two others beside it and a row of houses that was known then as ‘The High Walk’ – which at that stage was occupied by members of the Travelling Community, have all made way for Our Lady’s School.
Round the corner facing the
29 – Miss West (who had a great apple orchard and two giant Monkey puzzle trees in her garden)
27 – Peadar Hughes and family
25 – The Gill Family (including my best friend at the time Marty)
23 – Can’t remember the name of the family but after they moved out it was bought by Alcoholics Anonymous.
Then the Convent of Mercy – the names of the nuns there resident were previously listed!
I have great memories of living in that street – endless games of street football competing with the Magees and others from Mourneview and the previously mentioned kickabout with Pat Jennings; and spending hours on end playing up in Milligan’s Orchard – site of Our Lady’s School – on the big swing which was really just a rope stolen from the back of one of McFerran’s Cranes tied up to the top branch of the highest tree – Marty Gill was the only one who could ever climb to the top to perform this task.