Archive (1372 life histories found)

A significant date I will always remember was 11th November 1971. It was a time when my whole life changed and I became a Christian. Life really became more meaningful, seeing people in a different light and knowing they are important to God.I got…

I was invited to the Mansion House to meet Mary McAleese the President of the Irish Republic with the care group from the Belfast City Hospital and again with a group of pensioners from Taughmonagh and had a lovely lunch with her. We also had a…

What education I had up to the age of sixty was in P Elementary Schools. I took a notion at that age to do a six month course at Rupert Stanley College and was able to get a certificate with good marks. I received a B1 which really gave me the urge…

The Yanks threw a party for all the children in the district in the ballroom of the Great Northern Hotel. A beautiful building covered with ivy when changed colour.Their barracks was just a short distance from May Cottage and we saw a lot of what…

It was my fourteenth birthday and Mr. Mitchell the head forester offered me a job right away working with the foresters on the mountains. This gave me a wonderful outlook on the works of nature for the rest of my life. I appreciate more every day…

Because of the blitz in 1941 our house at 82 Medway Street was wrecked by the German Luftwaffe. As our house was nearby the shipyard the blast from a German bomb damaged our house so badly we had to be evacuated to Killowen the next day.My Aunt…

Lindsay, Ryan and Connor. Lindsay was born in Belfast and when she was born, she lived in Wedderburn Avenue on the Erinvale Avenue at Finaghy. It was heartbreaking when Thomas and Margaret decided to go to Vancouver. Ryan and Connor became the…

My only son Thomas was born on New Year's day in Gardner Robbs Maternity unit of the City Hospital in Belfast. My wife wanted a wee girl and was disappointed when presented with a little boy. When he was about 2 years of age Hannah dressed him in…

Tommy was serving his time as a shipwright and they lived with granny Duncan in Avon Street and came down to Rostrevor at the weekends and Tommy and I sometimes went to Newry by bus and went to the pictures: Savoy, Frontier and another I can't…

I first met Hannah in a queue waiting to go into the Crumlin Picture House. She was wearing a Linfield scarf and I a Glentoran scarf. Glentoran were beaten.Because Hannah's mother died on the date arranged we had to postpone the wedding for 6…