Lisburn Exiles Forum

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The Lisburn Exiles Forum is dedicated to the memory of James Goddard Collins (The Boss) who single-handedly built LISBURN.COM (with a lot of help from many contributors) from 1996 to 29th November 2012. This website was his passion and helping people with a common interest in the City of Lisburn around the world is his lasting legacy.


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Education

Well my education is complete now I have read "My lady of the chimney Corner". Why was this book not part of the national curriculum? I thought I had had a good education at Wallace High but I had only vaguely heard of this book before it was mentioned on the forum. You see this forum is not just fun it's also educational.

Re: Education

Maureen
as next try "The Souls of poor Folk" by the same author. it,s a selection of short anecdotes ISBN 0 904651 86 X
Sad and humourous.

I also have the Autobiography from Dr Irvine from April 1930, " A FIGHTING PARSON ". I discovered it in the internet. Inside are old newspaper cuttings, one describes how quickly time flys. Written by Edgar A. Guest 1938, but still applys today.

Questions

What has happened to the spring?
What became of all the days?
Summer,s calendared to bring?
Where are gardens bloom ablaze?
Did they pass so swiftly by
That their charm escaped the eye?
Here,s December at the door
Bringing Christmas time once more!

What became of merry May?
Why the haste of Mistress June?
Did July and August say
Why they had to go so soon?
Who today can make report
Why their visits were so short?
Now the harvest time has gone
And it,s Christmas coming on!

Christmas time a year ago!
Only yesterday it seems
Come and gone the months as though
We had passed them in our dreams
Now Thanksgiving Day is oér
Here,s December at the door
We´ve lived through another year!
Christmas time is almost here!

Could have been written by my old English teacher Dr Semple.
have a nice day everybody
Donald

Re: Education

Maureen/Donald - There is much to be learned about modern Lisburn on the .gov site, but it lacks the craic. Even reading the Hillsborough stuff, much of which, from my meagre knowledge of the town, could equally be about Tossa De Mar, I feel that I am ‘listening’ to some old residents, perhaps coppers or ex-coppers, with a deep sense of humour.
The Top Hat seems to have been THE place. During which period did it operate? I have not been to Lisburn since the late fifties.
I am not sure what I seek here. I do my little bit of banking online, all payments and transfers, submit meter readings for my utilities, read articles from newspapers online, even books, some foreign. I have been known to add my views to football sites. I read, and occasionally subscribe to a local forum; (much nimbyism). I email members of my family, and a few others. Very rarely, when sufficiently motivated, I email my MP, or someone at the House of Commons.
And then I come back here!

Re: Education

Dabbler
Good an ye til say that, I,m listening til Barnbrack singin at the minit " If we only had old Ireland over here" Hi tru!
Donald

Re: Re: Education

Dabbler, The Top Hat was, as far as I know opened in the early sixties. I was born in 1950 so my teenage years were the sixties and that is when I started to go to the dances there. And then afterwards we went round to "Greasy Lizzies" in Smithfield for a nice greasy fish supper.

Re: Re: Re: Education and Top Hat

Maureen/Dabbler
If you go to the search page on this site and put in "Top Hat" there is an interesting article with a some more info.
Don't believe the bit about getting your booze back, it never happened!
Terry

Re: Education

Dabbler
If you were puzzled concerning my mail yesterday, it was not to test your knowledge of Norniron, but to show my Grandkids the dialect. They are here for the weekend as their mothers ( my daughters ) have taken my wife to Verona open air opera to see Turendot and I am left to babysit.
To be honest it,s very difficult to cope with boys who hae been brought up to express their opinion and not like us supressed
Donald

Re: Education

Terry
Thanks. That is an interesting piece on The Top Hat. Sad ending to the place.
Donald
The Lisburn, (little 1950’s Lisburn), comments in here, generally refer to people or places at least vaguely etched in my memory. Hillsborough, on the other hand, could equally be any village. I knew little or nothing about it.
That is what I meant about puzzles.
Until your mention of the band here, I always thought a barnbrack was a kind of bread. My early musical interest, handed down from my inebriate sire, was anything from John MacCormack to Bing Crosby. My mother liked the dancehall music referred to previously. I never had money to buy/collect records. Had I done so, it would have been an eclectic lot. Pat Boone, Jim Reeves, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Elvis; then The Beatles and The Rolling Stones changed the music scene forever. Queen lit my fire, even in my advanced years. I never could get into opera; too highbrow. Though, through a chance acquaintance, who had a vast collection of vinyl, I have had the opportunity to listen and learn a bit about Verdi, Puccini, and some of the great tenors and sopranos. I enjoy some arias by tenors, reinforced by Pavoratti’s rendering of Nessun Dorma for the world cup. :-)
The nearest I have come to reading recently anything related to religion is The Da Vinci Code. As often stated, I am a totally convinced atheist, but the furore caused by this publication whetted my appetite. I regard it as I do stories of King Arthur.
I am currently interested in Patricia Cornwall’s renewed investigation of the Jack The Ripper murders. About ten years ago, while viewing a Sickert painting, I had the pleasure of discussing her theory with an erudite Keeper of Fine Art. He was extremely sceptical, but believed that anything that drew the attention of the general public to his passion was good.
There y’are! What a mixed-up wee man from the slums o’ the oul town I am, with m’ six years primary education. In some ways I feel quite smug wi’ m’self. I’m sure that some o’ me oul mates wuddn’t know what erudite manes.
That’s me done braggin’ for the day.
Luv t’ yis all.

Re: Education

Dabbler
away a that an quit coddin, yir the quare geg so y are.

When you speak about an electic lot of records do you refer to a broad selection of the artists mentioned or did you mean a selection predestined to eternal life?
To be honest I had to refer to my Encyclopedia ( the one I often have to use when reading Alexander Irvine,s " A Fighting Parson" ) to find what erudite meant.
Looking forward to the wife and children coming home today and to many long years banter here on the Forum
Donald

Re: Education

ECLECTIC , Donald, not ELECTIC. As in: Selected from various sources. But then I went and wrote Cornwall instead of Cornwell.
Och now, sure Ah’m a powerful headcase alt’gether.
Ah wud think a man like yerself wud be keen on Oliver Goldsmiith, with his Vicar of Wakefield an’ stuff like that.
But enough o’ that.
Do y’ remember the purdy hokers? I knew one or two that did that. Quare sport, Mary said, but hard work. She later married above herself, but that wus’n hard.
Ah’ve jus’ come back from a bracin’ walk. Me an’ the wife, an’ two neighbours half our ages. If that dozen kill me, Ah’l live till Ah die.
When Ah got in, there wus a message on the answerphone, somebody askin’ fur a lift, if Ah wus home on time. Ah rang t’ tal thum Ah wus’n.
See yis all later!

Re: Education

Dabbler
Living in Hilden ,next door to the farming communities of Lambeg and Tullynacross we used to "purty hoke "in the school holidays until a large potato wholesaler from Belfast , Hayes I think was the firm,s name closed deals with the farmers, bought the whole crop and brought their own workers to gather the potatoes. I remember them coming, rough diamonds, sitting, singing, joking and smoking on the loading area of the open backed lorries and leaving sitting on the full sacks of potatoes. Looking back it,s a miracle no one was killed falling off. But to be honest I didn,t really mind as the work was monotonous and back breaking. We worked for a modest salary,paid in cash ( tax free ) at the end of each day, the farmers wives would serve a nourishing and well cooked dinner in the barn to the workers, followed of course by tea, drank out of jam jars.
Donald

Re: Education

One may wonder what on earth I am doing in here on a warm and sunny Bank Holiday morning. I suppose it is an example of my eccentricity.
My wife, at this moment, is talking to one of our sons on the phone.
I’ve been looking on the website, and must congratulate Jim on the new layout about Churches, and Ulster. Yes, I know I’m a disgraceful disbeliever, but I still enjoyed reading about Dr Cromie and his family.
Also, I have a strange attachment to Church buildings, of any denomination. They symbolise to me the continuity of our society. I really cannot understand the mentality of people whose anger against perceived injustice is turned against these lovely old edifices, into and out of which have spilled countless generations of decent families.
There is much pleasant reading about old towns on the Ulster link. A 1930’s picture of the Castle Gardens is as I remember it in 1950.
Well done, Jim. Your efforts are appreciated.

Re: Re: Education

Dabbler, Noting you views on religion, I can’t help but wonder how as an atheist, you feel about things like the supernatural, spiritualism, psychic power, astral travel, hauntings, ghosts etc? I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I have only known one other person who claimed to be an atheist, and I never knew his views on these things!
Terry

Re: Education

Terry
I do not believe in an all-powerful all-seeing God, who controls and judges everything and everybody.
I have long gone past the (adolescent) stage of even half believing in astral travel as described in novels such as To The Devil A Daughter.
Having ‘seen’ a ghost, I believe that this is a probably a ‘mistake’ made by the brain, a temporary condition similar to Paranoia or Schizophrenia, perhaps resulting from trauma.
I have neutral feelings about ‘spells’ and ‘curses’, particularly among uncivilised peoples. I believe that it may be possible for a person or persons to cause someone to become ill without touching them.
When it comes to education, I believe in secularism. In England at the present time, there seems to me to be a tendency to bring religion more and more into the classroom. Whether this is an attempt by the Christian minister or priest to influence children who are not part of his diminishing congregation, or by the leader of an ethnic minority demanding equal rights to worship facilities, I suggest that neither is valid.
But, sorry; I’m getting carried away. You did not ask me about that.

Re: Re: Education

Dabbler, thanks for your interesting response. I had an experience when I was younger, (witnessed by a friend) convincing me that there is some form of physic energy out there?
I have never seen a ghost, but do have a photograph, that I shot in the quaint village of Cockington, Devon, a few years ago. It shows two uninvited images with sufficient clarity to sway me in favor of believing.
Terry

Re: Education

Terry
You should see some of the uninvited images I have got on photos over the years!
Double exposure accounts for the vast majority of weird stuff appearing on many mysterious negatives.
As for psychic energy, common sense tells me that this is a nonsensical conception. However, like my acceptance of the possibility of witchdoctors, warlocks etc, being able to exert powerful influence on susceptible others, likewise I do not entirely dismiss the chance that an inanimate object which is considered to be ‘holy’ or ‘unholy’ by a person or group of persons, may indeed, through the power of suggestion, have a good or bad effect on the said person or persons.

Re: Re: Education

dabbler terry
i,ve been reading your postings on the supernatural and i always come back to my aunt jinny who was a doffing mistress in the island mill{ whatever that is] who when asked by us kids about ghosts and things said when you die you go to heaven or hell.. if you go to heaven you don,t want back... if you go to hell you can.t get back
made a lot of sense then to small kids and probably still valid
good luck tom