terry
re your question.. ronnie mccabe is my brother as is desmond and irvine
i was with them last year wild time ronnie lives in antrim town
tom

dabbler
you asked if anyone knew the name gilliland?
many years ago there was a girl from county down called audrey gilliland and played out with all her mates in the wee park
us rough ones from antrim street area used also to go to the wee park
audrey married a chap called rodney glover from low road and apparantly moved to australia though i havent run across them yet rodney,s sister married my best friend neville mcmullan from dublin road who unfortunately is dead now. small world
tom

Hallo Tom
Was Rodney Glover any relation of Dennis Glover, also from the Low Rd?
He worked = where else ! Hilden Mill, was a very good Dart thrower and married a girl called Blaney ?
Donald

Tom, I remember your parents and all your brothers well. Back in the 60’s they used to enjoy the entertainment at Presho’s at Ravarnette, as did a lot of people from the Low road, including Tommy Troughton (he used to play guitar) Dazzels, Harvey’s,
Geordie Cambell, (punchie) to mention a few.
Your family was very talented singers; I can still remember Ronnie singing Engelberts hit “Am I that easy to forget” Those were great times.

Lowroader, thanks for the welcome. Morrell Gilliland whose parents owned a farm on Orr’s Lane just off the Hillhall road was a friend of mine. His brother was a salesman for Thornboroughs (?) chicken factory on the Waterloo road. The foreman was there were Bobby Gilmore whose family lived around Church St and Laganbank road, and later the Ballynahinch Rd in the Co Down. The last time I seen Morrell he was dating a girl from Ballycrune called Shirlock, He didn’t like working on the farm either.

Just wondering - the name Desmond Mc Cabe rings a bell with me - did he marry Valerie Dowling or have I got the wrong person?

Beano,
I worked with Jimmy in Altona where I did my first years as an indentured apprentice before moving on to the Shorts factory at Montgomery Drive to work on missile design. I remember Mr Dickey as a very dapper and extremely nice person. I have it in my head that he worked in the paint shop at Altona.

Terry,
I honestly cannot remember any names. I should point out that I am referring to a period 1950 - 1952 ‘ish.
These “conversations” make you realise how small a world we live in.
LR

Hallo,
could that be the same Valarie Dowling that went to Hilden School with me around 1955, her brother was Ivan Dowling, they lived in Spruce St , then moved to Lawnbrook Drive, into the flat my Dad, Ed Watters lived in until he died in 1966? I think she worked in Just,s Fish and Chip Shop once.
Donald

lowroader
While you worked there perhaps you know why the Aircraft factory Altona was called Altona?
In Hamburg is a part or the town called so ( Hamburg, Altona ). I would like to know if there is any connection. Did you know my neighbour Billy Lyness also a painter who worked there in the 1950s
Donald

terry
thanks for the memory? i used to go out to pressures with them too they were great nights. ronnie had his am i that easy to forget as you remember desmond was "spanish eyes"" i didn,t bother singing i was having a great time and didn,t want threw out
they were good days good luck tom

donald
i dont know if rodney glover had another brother.
his sister was called lyn and married my friend neville. they lived just down from fort hill school

opposite side near the wee shop on the corner, the glo
vers that is. rodney was a sheetmetal worker

tom excuse typing please this thing has a mind of it,s own

hilary
you got the right desmond mccabe who married valerie dowling.. a lovely girl . valerie died about 12 years ago a big loss. des has married a girl called sandre who,s great a real fun person and they still live at pond park that is when they,re not on holiday. half their luck
tom

donald
i dont think thats the same valerie downing the valerie dowling mentioned by hilary lived in county down and never went to hilden school far as i know but big coincidence desmond who married the other valerie lived in spruce street isn,t it strange
tom

Donald,
As far as I am aware that part of Lisburn (on the Old Hillsborough Road) was known as Altona before the factory went there. There is a factory estate further down from the factory which I believe is known as “The Altona Estate”. Yes I am sure I did know Billy Lyness. If I am not mistaken Billy the father was a painter and decorator. I went to Hilden School with young Billy. Do you remember Denis Connor from the bottom of the front row? I often wonder what happened to him. BTW Beano if you are reading this Denis was an apprentice to Jim Hannah who also worked in Altona.
LR

dabbler
just stitched on
buggy row no sorry mannamees i can put a name to but not a face
hamiltons nothing at all
sorry
tom

Lowroader, that,s the same Billy Lyness, I think he was a spray painter in Altona, and did a bit of house painting on the side. His son young Billy ,served his time in Hilden as a fitter and also did a bit of painting on the side. He married Agnus Patton from the Longstone if I remember correctly.
What became of Dennis Connor I don,t know. He had a brother, a very quiet chap. I think he had a hip problem.
Joe Keenan was another one from Hilden around the same age, he trained as an architect and married a Lurgan girl. His mother worked in the dining room in Hilden Mill. Do you remember him?

Tom - I knew that Valerie had died, sadly; - I went to school with her sister Lorraine Dowling and met up with Lorraine again recently through Friends Reunited. It was good to catch up with her, although she has had some tragedies including her dear sister Valerie dying. I remember Valerie as being a vivacious very good looking girl and I remember when Desmond and Valerie were courting - I do believe he had a white mini (where do these memories come from??) - Lorraine & I were only about 14 at the time and I remember looking on at this courtship with great interest!

hi Beano,the new swimming pool is located just off the Dublin road onto Governors road then turn left into the rexplex,there is playing fields,omnicinema,restaurants and this is all located behind where the Central scool would be.

hilary
yes valerie was a vivacious good looking girl.
i remembered the date she died it was in 1987 and i,d been in ireland on a trip in 86 so i remember her very clearly. was a great loss to des.
funny enough you mentioned his mini.. but i think it was red? i was over on another trip in about 65 and he was working as a joiner in derry staying there all week so i got the use of the mini.
i remember spending the week tapping the fuel guage because i,d filled it with petrol and went everywhere newcastle bangor all over the place and the needle hardly moved? happy days
i was at the wedding des and valerie and so remember me to lorraine if you talk to her
good luck
tom

I would like to know more about the Simpson farm you mentioned, especially where it is located. My ancestors were from Lisburn. They left Ireland in 1770 and I know nothing of their life before then or of any Simpsons still in the area.
Thanks! K

Hello Tom Ii also had an aunt and uncle, Jean & Davy Doonan, in Lisburn who I last meet in the 1980s.
They only had one daughter who tragically died when still a teenager. I cannot remember their daughters name.
My father Robert was from Dromore as was my uncle.
If this was the same family do you have any more information on their daughter as I was living in London when the death occurred but did not find out until much later.
Thanks.

donald
I have enjoyed reading these old posts. I can scarcely believe that I was so rude. Perhaps I replied in another thread, but I certainly did know Jim Hamilton and his brother. I also knew Audrey Gilliland, and, incredible though it may seem, I now have a fuzzy memory of Rodney Glover. I repeat; reading these old pages has been fun, Thanks to all of you, especially Darryl

desmond,
jean and davy doonan were also my aunt and uncle. jean [jinny] was my mothers sister. davy was as you say from dromore and he took me with him many times when visiting his sister, we had lovely lagan walks. they lived in mckeown street off antrim street, three doors from my granny.their daughter carol was a lovely young girl, very clever at school the central. she drowned in the lagan at about age sixteen i was in australia then. it was about 76 i think. good luck to you. use my email if you wish tom

desmond, wrote a good reply, but it disappeared. email me please on
twmccabe@dodo.com.au tom

"Was Rodney Glover any relation of Dennis Glover, also from the Low Rd?
He worked = where else ! Hilden Mill, was a very good Dart thrower and married a girl called Blaney ?"

Donald, he was indeed. There were 4 brothers (Rodney, Donald, Dennis and Bill) and sister Lynn. I'm proud to call Dennis my dad (I'm his eldest son out of two and myself a Lisburn exile having moved to the US in 2005), so I guess you could call this insider information. :) And yes, he married a Blaney, so spot on there too!

Rodney moved to Australia before I was born (early 1960s I think) and at some point divorced and remarried. I never did get to meet him but his kids all did the Aussie "round the world trip" thing and stopped by to visit at various times.

Donald was in the Merchant Navy for a while and later lived in the Stranmillis area of Belfast. Bill lived over in Old Warren for a time. Lynn lived across town.

Dennis never left the Low Road, in fact my first 4 years were spent in the house on Wesley Street where *he* was born, right across from what was once Willie Foot school, then we moved round the corner into Roseville around mid 1977.

Sad to say, the only one of the siblings still among us is Lynn.

Paul
what a coincidence, was reading the announcements yesterday in the Ulster Star and saw a memorial to Dennis, he died 14th July 2004. We worked in Hilden mill 1959, it was later he married Elish, I knew her family also. They lived in those small yellow houses past East Down View on Grand St. Dennis was a very good dart thrower, he was a member of the Hilden Rec team. Seems like yesterday
donald

Doesn't seem like almost 10 years. Dad was definitely good at the darts, a skill I apparently didn't inherit despite practicing often! My wee brother got all the sporting genes I think. Was in Hilden Mill just about his entire working life too, almost 40 years working there.

My mum's family moved around a bit but settled in the Low Road area. Her and dad married in 1967 and lived in Wesley Street (my Californian wife is shocked that I actually lived in a house with no inside toilet, though it's not as if I was old enough to care where the privy was!).

My granny Blaney (Lizzie/Elizabeth) ended up in the old houses on Grove Street until they were torn down and replaced with newer ones, she moved into Roseville too. Pretty sure I came a cropper once or twice off that big high pavement that used to be on that side of Grove Street!

It's funny how memory works. I'm seeing names mentioned here and suddenly remembering that I or my parents knew them, or are related to them. Small world indeed.

I've enjoyed reading through the posts here yet again.
My cousin Charlie Phillips married Agnes Blaney.

Paul, being a Low Roader, I knew both Dennis and his wife, just to speak to, as we say here. However, I knew Lynne quite well and remember her and a girl called Doreen and another called Kathleen who used to play outside the houses where they lived, facing the Methodist School. I attended the Convent School and always spoke to them on my way home. That's how I got to know them. Wee Kathleen, up until very recently, worked in Kearney's Paint Shop in Lisburn. I haven't seen Lynne or Doreen for a very long time but am glad to know that Lynne is alive and well.

Hello I'm trying to contact Tom McCabe but the email address he gave in 2013 no longer works?