Reunion Reflections
On Thursday night last, along with my sister Vera who nowadays lives in
Never the twain shall meet
Fourteen-year-old Catherine Murphy walked down towards
To the Abbey Primary
Little did I know what was in front of us, that day long ago when Gene McKevitt and I ran out of Senior Infants in St Clare’s
Monaghan Row Residents 1975
A few Monaghan Row residents have remained in the same homes this thirty years or more – notably my dear friend
Mullaghbane
I was chatting on the phone an hour ago to our friend and contributor Sally Vandervelden – who is off soon to foreign climes, and I’d have been jealous, except that every day I can, and do stroll through
Art MacCooey
The most famous graveyard in all our area is doubtless that of Creggan, just outside of Crossmaglen, not least because it is the last resting place of the celebrated Bards, Padraig Mac a Liondain (1685-1733), Seamus Mor MacMurchadha (1720-1750) and Art MacCumhaigh (1738-1773).
The grave of Mac a Liondain is marked by a plaque erected by Eigse Oirialla, an organisation harking back to an even earlier period when the clans of Armagh, Monaghan, East Fermanagh, South Tyrone and
Putting one past Pat Jennings!
A once-in-a-lifetime memory from Peter Hughes, who works as a librarian in Summerhill, Co Down . . .
‘I was born on 26th March 1967. I grew up in the town of
Dog Tracks
There were no factories or offices on Greenbank Estate in my youth. There was The Showgrounds, or soccer ground, but there also was – wait for it! – TWO dog tracks! Owners, bookies and punters would travel from far and wide to ‘go to the dogs’ in Newry. During the summer, race days were Wednesdays and Sundays, leaving Jack Mullan’s track after the first meeting and then into Matt O’Hare’s. In the winter months it was Sundays only but both tracks, so again it was out of one and into the other.
Newry Agricultural Show
Newry Agricultural Show is still held today. In the past it was held, in the Showgrounds – now Newry City F.C. complex – on the last Wednesday of June each year.
Dublin on Newry General Holiday
After that long train journey to
Cranfield Camp/Train Trips
Unlike today, when everyone expects a week or two away, in the 1940s holidays were unknown. So when the Bosco Club in Kilmorey Street decided to arrange a week’s holiday in Cranfield for its senior members (‘senior’ as in youthful but members of some years standing!), pandemonium broke loose. The arguments began as to who was and who wasn’t going!
Street Games
The Rag and Bone Man: There was money one time in used and cast-off clothing, domestic cloth or ‘rags’ as we called them. In my youth there was more than one ‘Rag Store’ in the town. There was one just down the street from us on The Dead Pad (
Dance Bands…
Showbands: We experienced the pleasure of live music from visiting bands at our dances and ceidhles. They would all be fronted by a vocalist and dancers would send up pieces of paper with song requests written on them.
Message Boys
The Lamplighter: In my childhood the street lighting was supplied by gas. Men were employed to carry a long pole with a small hook on the end, and a wick to be lighted, from lampstand to lampstand. They returned at dawn to extinguish them. Since they had to be up and about at this time, their services were often utilised by the like of factory workers, to wake them up by knocking on doors or tapping on windows. The last lamps in operation were in the South Ward. Does anyone remember them?
Cattle Market/Troughs
I also have fond memories of ..