Was a member of the big hall and saw some great league matches there!

John, my dad was the caretaker at Hilden Rec. club, saw some great games there also, real quiet when game was on , all lights out only over tables, as a boy the tables looked very large. The club was at the bottom of Victory St..

I was a member in the early sixties , Tam Dornan from Hilden was caretaker of the Billard club then. At the annual members meeting Arthur Rooney was called upon to sing , he gave a rendering of "Bonnie Mary of Argyl ", then Joe( Gandi ) English sang " Oh Mona ". Jack Barbour presided over it all. The adults all got a few bottles of stout and us boys lemonade. That was when it was announced that Forthill school had been given the grounds as a sportfield. An ex serviceman, who lived in Bridge St, married to a local girl Smith?, Townsend I think was his name was groundsman. We used to sneak in without paying to the football matches at a hole in the hedge in Delacerios Ave on Fridays until an offical started to collect entrance fees there.
Donald

Donald, you sure knew a lotta folks that I remember. 'Ghandi' English was a regular at the toss in The Hollow. He was of sallow complexion. I think he had an older brother.

Dabbler
That was his Dad Rabbi who worked at the Army barracks, He had a younger brother Robert and a sister Ann, I,ve been told Ghandi died a few years ago, outlived by his mother Ginni who only died last year.
Donald

Frazer, Your right i was a the Hilden club when the big hall made a league visit, like you say all lights were out and as quite as a mouse.
There were some great players from all the clubs, like Hilden, the Legion and the Wee Hall and of course the big Hall.
Had some great nights as a lad watching the big guns play. 1000 brakes at ease...
Oh the memories.............
John

Joe Duffy, Harry O`Neill, Roy Ganley, all had handicaps of -50.
Donald

Big Hall Famous players..Sandy Lavery. Joe Duffy, Mick Greene, Dan Mooney,(publican) Dessie Dicky & John Lavery another publican. The Big Hall is now demolished & is a car park, a former parish priest nicknamed the Demolition Man was responsible for many changes. He is now gone to other Demolition sites. !!!! No Billiards r Snooker now.
Joe Burns.

I wrote about Billy Dunleavey playing in the Temperance Institute Hall in Railway Street. Just today, I remembered that he used to play snooker in some annual tournament at the Big Hall. I recall him saying about his low handicap. I think he may have won or been runner-up on one occasion, early fifties. Taxing my brain still further, I THINK that I can remember trying to play either billiards or snooker at one of the halls in Lisburn, but I could barely see over the top of the green.

Dabbler
by any chance would it have been " the wee Hall ?
Donald

Donald
Maybe; and could have been any time in the fifties.

Had another look at the Snooker players, saw Sammy McShane who was Master of Ceremonies in Dan Mooney,s Saturday night sing song 1960s in the lounge. Who remembers him? His party piece was " Goodbye Joe, gotta go, me o mio, gonna have some fun on the Bio"
Hard to believe that,s over 40 years ago. Dan Mooney, Joe Duffy all look very young
Donald

Donald et al,
Thanks for all the posts!
Joe