Seosamh Mac Coille Collection

Memories from the History Girl mural in east Belfast’s Thistle Court. (Close-ups below.)

• We used to go to Church Street East Disco … It was brilliant. Dee Street Disco in the Community Centre was good too.
• Geary’s and The Tab sold all the electrical goods. The TV rent man came on a Friday. We sometimes didn’t answer the door!
• I loved Nabney’s, Burkes and Nellie Stewarts. Dora Burnes was a good wee shop too.
• There was a swimming pool in Victoria Park that opened in the summer. It was always freezing though!
• I used to buy a bag of broken biscuits and and damaged fruit as a treat, when I went to the cinema.
• We used to get our hair cut in Sammy Sanford’s.
• The Road was always busy – shops and bars all the way along.
• Barlow’s hardware at the Conswater Bridge used to have all the plates and cups outside in crates for you to buy.
• I drank in the Con Club. It was great – they didn’t let women in!
• I came from Singapore to live here with my husband. He died and I went home, but had to come back to Belfast. I missed it too much … it’s my home now.
• My granny had a bathroom. I thought that was great. Our toilet was in the yard …
• I worked in the Ropeworks and love it … the craic was great.
• I loved Joe Bump’s chippy – the pasties were great.
• If you were late for work at the Ropeworks they locked the door and you lost your pay. Hardly anyone was ever late.
• My grandpa took me to the shipyard and swung me on a crane in one of the workshops. My mummy was raging when she found out!
• We used to play Kick the Tin … there were sometimes 30 of us all playing together …
• I loved the smell of Inglis’ Biscuit Factory along the Road.
• The was The Vulcan, The Ulster Arms, The Four and Twenty, The Clock Bar and The Armagh House. Hastings, who own all the hotels now, used to own a good lot of the bars on the Road.
• I remember seeing a ship being launched in the yard. It was about 1976 and all the ones from Mersey Street School went. I met my daddy in the crowd of thousands.
• You got your good shoes in Irvine’s and your gutties in Warwick’s. It’s still there.
• My granny kept her milk in a bucket of water because she had no fridge.
• I worked in the shipyard – left school on a Friday and started in the Yard on Monday.
• Everyone had a net bag made in the Ropeworks. You don’t see them nowadays.
• We followed the Glens everywhere, but a home match in the Oval was always the best craic.
• All my mummy’s brothers were in the Army or Navy during the War … they all came back.
• I remember Stanley Brookes. They cashed your Providence Cheques.
• We used to go to the cinema on a Saturday morning for the Kids Club. It was always bunged!!

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02702 X02703 X02705 X02704 history girl titanic H&W crane ulster fry east belfast thompson graving belfast harbour playground football glentoran orange order lodge hall ymca fire engine ducks bunting trams rope groundwork housing executive belfast city council brookes’ princess picture houses They were proper department stores. Lesley Cherry Art in the eastside