Hi all,
Just back today, barely awake, my wife Doreen has gone to bed already. We had a wonderful time, the weather in Portrush was nothing to write home about, but all round the weather was fair. I have to make a special mention to "Harnee" on her suggestion to go to the " Country Kitchen", the rhubarb tart was super and even the second time around it was just as good,even though we have never met I was thinking about you when I ordered it.
Lisburn certainly has changed a lot, which is only to be expected, I am sure we would all have our opinions as to whether the changes were for the good or otherwise. Personally I like a lot of them and my wife would probably give her thumbs up to the Bow St.Mall. From information I was given there are going to be a lot more changes made,especially to the Bridge St.area. Incidentally Megs I went to #15 and it was boarded up. There are a lot more things to talk about,but I think I better go off to bed and try to beat the jet lag. Tomorrow I will catch up on Fraser's trip and also all the other comments since I left, looks like about 170 of them. Nice to be back......... I think

Beano

Hallo Beano
nice to have you back, I,m going to Burgenland in Austria for a few days on Friday to try the wine. We have a room in a vinyard in Rust so won,t have far to go. Last time we stayed there the owner,s son took us for a sampling tour of his wine cellar and showed us some of the wine storage tanks. He has to climb into them through a small inspection door and scrub them out. Nothing or nobody would get me in there. Neuseidler Lake is not too far away, it,s no deeper than 5 foot, ideal for my wife as she can,t swimm. Sometimes they have wading competitions there over to Hungary. We celebrated our 40th!!! Wedding anniversy on Sunday, nothing big just a meal with the kids and grandkids ( no sons in law any more )Did you see my question about "wee tin box ?"
The wine vats bring to mind the joke about the night watchman in Guinness,s brewery who fell into a vat of Guinness and was drowned. The manager upon bringing the sad news to his wife was asked by her if her husband died happy. He answered " I think so because he climbed out at least three times to go to the toilet!"
Have a nice time all
Donald

Hi, all you wonderful people with Irish blood in your veins! Donald thank you for your faithful correspondence, you kind of keep things going and are kind of 'the boss'! I send my congratulations to you and your wife on your 40th wedding anniversary - now there is an achievement in life that not many could boast of. May you both have many more years more. You talked of the wine storage tanks, which took me back to my recent trip home, when my husband and I went to Bushmills Distillery. Wow! I don't like whisky, but to be in there with the giant barrels is quite unforgettable. The air is INTOXICATING - very pleasant indeed, I felt (for a few moments) that I could stay there for ever! There is a tour taking visitors around and you can see the stuff being bottled etc.

Beano I beamed when I saw you back again, so pleased you had a great time. Our holiday last year was in Toronto. We have dear Canadian friends who live close by and who are our adopted family. They took us home with them last year. They said "well Liz, isn't Canada beautiful" I replied, "it's too big to be beautiful!" But I was overawed with the Niagra Falls, I can't describe it. The most unforgettable sight in my life! But the wee Antrim coast road is the second, and I saw no litter.

Frazer I am so sorry you didn't enjoy your trip too much, I have been wondering why (apart from the litter) I love Ireland, full stop. I identify with the people, their humour is great. I never laugh so much as when I am home. But then you see I have dear family there and dear friends, and more than that I pray for the peace of Nornirn and have seen this happen at least in part.

Liz

Hallo Liz,
Thanks for your compliments, I enjoy writing om the forum,it taxes my memory and helps to keep me mentally fit . It,s also good for my english as I seldom get a chance to exercise it since I stopped working ( notice I didn,t say retired ). I miss Lowroader and Dabbler,s contributions, they are the real bosses, I,m only filling in for them until they start pulling their weight again.I enjoy reading everybody,s comments as they all play a part in the forum.
Donald

Hiya Beano! Glad you had a good time.
Great to see everybody back ‘at work’.
Austria is it, Donald? I’ve been there. Igls, and one or two other places. That’s why I learned a little bit of German. So that I could ask the locals to help me find my skis when I fell down; which was often. Austria is the most beautiful place that I have fallen down.
You know what? I’ve never been to the Glens of Antrim, unless you include Curry’s Glen, where we pinched the hazelnuts. And I’ve never been to Dublin. I would like to do a ‘Joyce’s tour’. For the culture, you understand? To re-acquaint myself with young Stephen Dedalus, whom I first encountered when I was in my teens. But it’s not going to happen. I don’t do anything without my better half, and she would rather crawl barefoot across O’Connell Street in the rush hour than go on a pub crawl. Having said that, she has, in her fifties, accompanied me down many an icy slope in the Alps, and me havin’ supped on the gluwein, so you can’t have everything, can you?
As I may have already written, I went on a coach trip to Dundalk and Drogheda, when I was fourteen or fifteen, with the mill workers. I was too young to drink, but somebody older went in and got the Bulmers Cider, and I sang a couple of songs on the way back. Billy Thompson told me to put a sock in it. Awful singer I was. Still am. And I’d still give you a verse or two after a glass or two. Big Lizzie Kidd, Neville and Edward’s mother, was on that trip. If there are any relatives out there, believe me, she was one smashing woman. Life and soul of the party.
I have never been to Ameriky either. I read On The Road when I was eighteen; borrowed it from a library in my first year in England, and boy, did I fancy some of that.
There I go again, blathering away. Why am I telling you all this? I’m not sure really. I like talking/writing, and there just might be someone listening/reading, who finds it remotely interesting. Gotta go! The Boss is callin’. See yis later.

Really good to have all of you back on the forum again. I notice mixed reactions to the oul country and generally I have to agree with a bit of all that you say. Though like Liz I find that the only time I really laugh out loud is when I am at home or whenever I am speaking to someone from home. I DON'T like the changes because it is not MY Lisburn anymore but I do recognise that everywhere changes, it has to, but as I have said before I will always have my own wee Lisburn in my heart and in my memories. That's one of the reasons I enjoy the forum because all of you add to my memories and revitalise those that I thought I had forgotten.
Dabbler big Lizzie Kidd is a relative of mine. If anyone is called Patterson,Heasley,English,Williamson,or Kidd then you can nearly guarantee I am related to them. A lot of all of those families were at uncle Tommy's funeral.

Dabbler
Welcome back, Herzlich Willkommen , your comments were sorely missed. All we need is Lowroader to make the treat complete. Gluhwein! nectar for the Gods, but tends to make the old loaf throb the next morning! Don,t you agree? especially if it has been spiced with a few Schnapps! I tried the old sking lark myself but decided it was not for me me, firstly because I,m to much like Winston Churchhill ( No Sports ) and secondly I prefer the Apres Ski to flying up and down the slopes all day.
My Children and Grandchildren love sking and my ex son in law,s half brother was chosen to accompany the Austrian Ski Team to Canada in their summer training camp as a potential future Team member, before he died as an 18 year old as a result of drug overdose.
Donald

HI Beano, Glad you are back from your holiday and to know that you enjoyed it ,i know that harold and i had a great time when we were there did you take the trip on the Lagan Belle ? glad you were able to visit the Country Kitchen isnt the tart great ,we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary when we were there we did think rhe shopping was very expensive .
I remember one time that you mentioned the book My Lady of the chimney corner ,i was able to get it at a second hand store in Bridge st i really enjoyed reading it .hope you get over the jet lag soon it took us about five days before we were back to normal like you i dont think we could live there but we do like to go back family is great that is one of the things that i miss here Renee

HI DONALD ,CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 40TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY I BEAT YOU BY TEN YEARS WE ARE CELEBRATING OUR 50TH A LIFE TIME REALLY ,WE HAVE HAD TWO CELEBRATIONS ALREADY AND NEXT WEEK WE WILL BE HAVING ANOTHER ONE ,WE ALL WENT ON THE DISNEY CRUISE ALL 10 OF US WE HAD A GREAT TIME I LOVE BEING WITH MY GRANDCHILDREN ,THEN WE WWENT TO IRELAND AND CELEBRATED WITH MY BROTHERS ,NEXT WEEK WE ARE GOING OUT FOR DINNER WITH ALL THE FAMILY TAKE CARE AND MAY WE ALL LIVE TO SEE MORE ANNIVERSARYS RENEE

Maureen
You say Lizzie IS a relative? Don’t you mean WAS?
How about Toby English? Related to Coulters.

Donald
I have overdone it on many things, but not gluwein; just enough to warm me up before the next assault on those red runs; so I don’t know about the after effects. Schnapps, yes I’ve had a few. Every time one got a strike in the makeshift bowling alley at a ski resort, a glass of Schnapps was the prize. Had to lick salt off my wrist first, or something like that, then down the glass in one. Bloody awful, but the resulting inebriation felt good. Till the next morning.
Did you know that Winston suffered from clinical depression?

Renee/ Donald,

First of all let me congratulate you both on your anniversaries, may you have the health to enjoy many more, Doreen and I will celebrate our 44th on Oct.3rd.

Renee,
I didn't manage to go on the "Lagan Belle" I had made that many other arrangements we just couldn't fit it in,looking back I am sorry we missed it. A question I would like to ask, and since you came from the centre of the furniture manufacturing...... is there no one making furniture in Lisburn anymore??? Wrights, Duffs,McCarters,Hopkins and Taggarts are all closed or so it seemed to me, or perhaps they have moved any ideas?. Does anyone else know, furniture manufacturing was second only to the linen industry in Lisburn in bygone days.

Beano

Dabbler of course I meant "was" a relative but I suppose it depends on how you look at it. My daddy has been dead for 25 years but you know what? He is still my daddy.........
Toby English?......who knows?
Renee I can remember once when John came off his bike at the corner of Young Street and Sloan Street. The ambulance was there and I was either coming back from tapdancing or going to it. I remember closing my eyes because I thought he was going to be splattered all over the road or dead.......he was obviously neither...I think he broke his leg actually.
Well today my daughter and I took my five grandchildren to St, Annes just outside Blackpool. It was windy but fairly warm. The kids obviously enjoyed themselves on the sand and they all came home tired. While I was sat on the sands with them I thought back to when my own six children were small and all the beaches I had taken them to....Newcastle..Douglas..Ramsay..Peel..Blackpool..Southport...Formby..Prestatyn..Rhyll...Bournemouth...Scarborough...St.Ives... Newquay..weymouth...Morcambe..etc etc. Wonderful memories and all the photographs are in the albums still. Fortunately my kids never asked for anything they were always content just to dig in the sand and make sandcastles. We always brought our own sandwiches and drinks so Mr Ronald McDondald never made his fortune
out of us. Ha Ha. bye for now Maureen

Maureen
Sorry. I was half hoping you would say she was still alive, and getting on for a hundred.

There is no more furniture manufacturing factorys in Lisburn the last one was Mc Carters both the factory and house has been sold and it is my understnding the property is going to be developed i think into homes ,the furniture that is made today would not compare with what was made then .My uncle Rennie Patterson had a bedroom suite made at Wrights then he french polished it by hand it is as good today as the day it was made and that was almost 70years ago Renee

Harnee, I have been away, just catching up, but you mention Rennie Patterson. Could this be who my mother called Rainy Patterson? I remember Rainy had a second hand, piled up on high shop I think near to where the post office is near Linenhall St. I can see him now, thin dark, and his wife fair and pleasant. Does this mean anything to you?

Liz

Hallo all
I remember a second hand shop there , I bought from the lady who owned it a snuff box with an inscription from Fred to his mother "to my dear mother from Fred , France March 1945 BEF"
My friend Billy McGrath from Liverpool told me that BEF meant British Expeditionary Force and was the forerunner of the Territorial Army who where dispached to France shortly before the outbreak or world WW2 ( world war 2 ) to pave the way for British troops
anyone know anything else?
Donald

Hi Liz, Yes his name was Rainy Patterson he was my uncle as a matter of fact i am called after him he has been dead about 16years his wife is still alive she lives on the Ballnahinch Road i was with her about six weeks ago when i was on holiday in Lisburn .I remember as a little girl coming from the central school calling into his shop and he always give me money for sweets Renee

I HOPE YOU STILL HAVE THAT SNUFF BOX I KNOW THAT MY UNCLE HAD MANY INTERESTING THINGS IN HIS SHOP ,AS A MATTER OF FACT THAT WAS HIS WIFE THAT WORKED IN THE SHOP SHE IS STILL ALIVE RENEE

Gave it to my Cousin Eddie, a German friend who was with me also bought a small book of prosie in German. Your Aunt sent me a message for her that day fo a chemist in Piper hill for cod liver oil capsules and trusted me with the money although she didn,t know me
Don

Correction to snuff box, it read naturally 1939 not 1945
Donald