It’s just a photo of a middle-aged lady long ago standing at the junction of Bull’s Hill and Aileen Terrace, isn’t it?
Mary (Curran) Martin
Reminiscence
Burn the furniture!
I remember during the early part of the war – the Second World War – that most things, including fuel, were rationed.
Kilkeel Residents 1916
This is another in our occasional series intended to help those in search of their forebears – this time in Kilkeel, County Down. There will be two more of Kilkeel 1916 to follow …
Nailer’s Prize Buggy
The usual starting and finishing points for these gladiatorial buggy contests were the Egyptian Arch (actually a point 500 yards to the town side of it – where the entrance to Derrybeg Park is today) and the corrugated fence of McClelland’s chicken coop, at the foot of the Pighall Loanan.
Buggy Launch!
After all that work, it is little wonder that we favoured a great fanfare launch when – at long last – our new ball-bearing buggy was ready to be inflicted upon an unwary world!
Hippy and Cornerboy …
After the disaster with the boiled chicken, I learned quick and there were lots of good feeds in my house. Like I said, the younger fellows had to bring something to the house …..
Red Hot Poker here!
As intimated already, the two axles of your ball-bearing buggy had to be flat and not bowed. If they were bowed, the steering didn’t work properly. I remember a number like that, and the frantic and unsuccessful efforts of owners to plane the offending wood back to a level surface!
Dad reaches out
My father too was heart-broken. This was the first time in my life I had seen him cry and I wanted to cry too, with him, and with mother, for Hughie, and for myself but the tears would not come. I walked away to be alone.
What are ball-bearings?
It has just occurred to me that you may not know just what a ‘ball-bearing’ is.
Well, you surely know what one tiny 5mm diameter steel ball bearing is!