Hi,
Does anyone remember the name of the newspaper agents down the Low Road, near Spruce Street I think? Was it Rickerts?

Thelma

Hi Thelma
they lived in eastdown view,there names were freddy and lawerance rickard, also a little guy fron lambeg called tommy gore delivered as well

We lived across the road from the wee shop, sold everything, papers, sticks, vegetables, books for children, started to read the series in small paperbacks called Hans Anderson Fairy Tales, then later Girls Crystal. My brothers got al the comics Beano, Dandy, Hotspur, etc.The Rickards were a great family, Jenny the daughter, was in a wheelchair & listened to the radio all day, wrote to Geraldo who played requests for her, Hughie was a comedian, when he gave u change, he put the money in the opposite hand& slapped it on the counter like a conjuror, when u asked him for a soda & wheaten, he said " A seeden & a Whoda" or a loaf "A Woof". A box of matches was " A mox of batches" He also did bookies runner. Jack was another funny fellow in fact they all were great laughs. No wee shops like it now r funny families in wee streets selling everything. We used to help young Laurence(grandson) deliver the papers in the evening after collecting them at Hilden Halt, where the guard threw them off the train. Great times. Pat

Hi Thelma, Rickard's shop was just across from where I was born in East Down View. Every Monday I went across the road and got the comics - ie. the Knockout, the Adventure or the Wizard. On Wednesday it was the Beano or the Hotspur. Happy Days.

Ann ,

What is going on there? Never knew u to b out of bed this late, enlighten Me? I will b here for a while. Pat

Hi Pat and Ann,
How come you two are up so late? My mother used to get her Sunday papers there. I think the Rickards from that little shop were related to a family a few doors up from me on Alanbrooke Avenue.

My father's family (Ramsey) lived on Victory Street, did you know any of them?
Thelma

Pat,
Thanks for all that info. on the Rickards, it brought back memories.
Thelma

The Rickarts who lived in Alanbrooke Ave lived before on McConnells hill at Lisnatrunk beside the MCGuinness family in two thatched cottages which caught fire in the middle of the night in the 50s. They were related to the Rickards in East Down View. The twins Terance and Brigit went to Hilden school with me and I think Freddie the father went around selling the Sunday papers. I remember two other older children, Pat and Nancy. Pete was a bookies runner and came every Saturday to the buildings in Hilden and collected the bets.
Donald

Donald,
The family on Mc Connell Hill were Fred Rickard,s family Pete,s brother. Pete was Hughie,s nickname. I forgot to say they sold lovey bread, plain loaves, & scrumptious barm bracks fresh fresh, can taste them now. East Down View & Grand St. shopped there, we hardly ever moved out of the Low Rd, we lived then in ghettos. Everyone knew everyone else. Changed times. But then there is the Forum. Pat

Hi Thelma,I am always late going to bed, I am not a morning person, come to life around noon. Ann is the opposite,she wilts about 2.0pm. I read in bed until about 2 in the morning, Joe falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. Nice to know the Forum is awake most of the night. I live in a fairly isolated place so enjoy the company, Joe could live as he says "at the back of a mountain".Ann says she would go "Bonkers" living here. She may tell u about staying once, when we went to Canada.Must ring her now & see why she was up last night, must be important. Pat

Pat,

Me thinks, Ann is so tired because of her delicious cooking, she spends all her time shopping and in the kitchen, me thinks she should be on a cook programme on Television and maybe goes to bed early to dream of her next recipe. Yum Yum
You are like me Pat, I don't go to bed to early and read for about 1 hour, sweetie is like Joe asleep as soon as he sees the pillow, I always say I'll me asleep long enough some day.

Katie

I must confess I am a morning person. Hubby is both. I cannot read in bed either, soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out for the count (normally). Come around 2 pm, after lunch, I get tired and go into the living room for a read, but inevitably doze off. Hope no would-be burglars are reading this because forget it. My two wee trusty dogs lie beside me, Tess on my knee, and Eva at my feet. At the first sound of a noise, they're up like lightning, yapping away.

Yes, Katie, I love to cook, not sweet things really, but savoury. I find it therapeutic. Once, when I was over at my daughter's in England, I offered to bake some wheaten bread for her and her husband. Forgot to say she is very very houseproud and tidy. I think it was her nurse's training because she wasn't particularly tidy when she lived with me. But, I digress. Anyway, she left me to the kitchen and I baked away, listening to the radio, feeling quite useful and thinking of how when she would eat the bread she would think of home. I made a batch so that she could freeze some. Also forgot to say that I am a very UNTIDY COOK. I don't clear up as I go but leave an almighty disaster which takes me ages to clear up later.

After I had shouted to my daughter that I was finished baking (big mistake doing this before I cleared up) she opened the door of the kitchen and stopped dead. Regardless of the beautiful smell of freshly baked bread, all she could see was her lovely kitchen, every floury dust everywhere, wooden spoons covered in dough, floor looking as there had been a snowstorm. I of course am used to this but not my daughter. She didn't speak for a minute and then said, "Mum, never ever again offer to cook anything for me". I thought she was going to cry. Before I could attempt to start clearing up, she ushered me out into the living room like a geriatric, sat me down in a chair, turned on the TV and told me not to come near the kitchen until it was back to normal. I've never cooked anything for her again. She also is a great cook but very tidy and clears up as she goes. We will be visiting her and her husband shortly.

One night when we were visiting we went out for a meal. Hubby doesn't like certain foods like fried onions, salad, coleslaw, things like that. SO I am used to reaching over and helping myself to these. You all know I have a good appetite.

Well, as I say, we were all out for a meal and I thought everyone had finished. I noticed a good plateful of fried onions left on my son-in-law's plate. He had set down his knife and fork, what else would you think? Smiling over at him, and nodding at the onions I said, "Do you not want those?". He looked at them and then at me and relied, "Actually, yes I do". Talk about being embarrassed. We still laugh about that.

Ann,

Remember the nickname "Guts"
Pat

Methinks you remember a lot.

Ann,
Word of warning:

While going to the boarding area in the Airport, sweetie noticed a suitcase lying on the tarmac, he said to me they have dropped that case of the truck, walking on and looking out of the window,I then noticed a bag tied onto the case. Well panic and laughter, started to kick in, it was my suitcase lying in the middle of the tarmac so isolated looking. Sweetie walked on unconcerned, I said u'll have to report that or I'll arrive
in daughters without clothes or presents,(sweetie still walking on not bothered), we walked on and on, then a truck arrived and lifted my isolated suitcase up, by the way the only one on the truck.
Suitcase arrived off the carousel and I sighed with relief.
(Sweetie laughted,said why do these things happen to you.)

Katie

Ann,
U kow what they say about elephants. Pat

Katie,
If I won the Lotto I would never cook again. After 50years of it I am content to b served. Joe is a very conservative eater, has to b homegrown, nothing out of a tin, cooked thoroughly, only certain foods, no sauces r vinegar (horses ********* Ann would,nt even cook for him. I love making jam,am doing raspberry , picking them out of the garden this week, have 10 pots made already. Find it very relaxing, it is lovely over rice & ice-cream, also make apple tarts for grandson who arrives every w/end to stay, brings his lap-top, fair exchange apple tarts for use for use of it, he even left it for me this week. I am like Ann, can eat practically anything especially savoury foods,hence the weight problem. My brother callsus the 2 fat ladies & Joe says all we need is a side-car & a motor-bike for r travels. God to have u on line again. Pat

I never remember the Rickards selling anything other than newspapers and comics, Sarah Morrow owned a wee shop on Grand St, John Morrow had a milk buissness in Easr Down View, beside Dermot Dornon,s gents hairdressers
Donald

Donald,
I am older than you, I can assure you it was as I have said, it was a real corner shop in my young day. Pat.

And wasn't there a nice bakery close to Rickards too? They sold the best cream filled buns covered in icing sugar. Can anyone tell me the name of those buns?
Thelma

Hi, Thel,
Din,t know of any bakery as such, but as Donald says there were other shops around, Morrows at the top of East Down View, Morrows near Leamington, later Ferriss,s, all sold buns etc too. Even later there was Sharkey,s above Spruce St, it did become a bakery shop. The buns were called just cream buns as I recall, big fluffy cream-filled ones with icing sugar on top, can taste them.. Soft in your mouth with the cream ozzing out on the tongue....Yummy..Pat

Thelma, were the buns called cream cookies?

Hi Ann,
No I think they might have been called just cream buns. In 98 my husband, two kids and myself went down to my uncle's in Victory Street and we had to wait outside in the car for him to come home. We stopped at the bakery and picked up the cream buns and sat outside his house eating them. By the time he got home, I was covered in icing sugar. What an enjoyable memory.
Thelma

PAT,
dO UR DAUGHTERS LIVE NEAR U?, IT MUST BE GREAT TO HAVE THEM CALL SO OFTEN,MINE R TOO FAR AWAY.aNN COULD NOT SLEEP LAST NIGHT AND MY COMPUTER WAS BROKEN, STILL AS U CAN SEE, NOT WORKING RIGHT.


KATIE

Yes, Katie, my daughters live quite close about 15mins by car, that is really the reason we came here to live. My sons r still in Dublin & Meath but visit often too. Then there r the grandchildren all growing up now so don,t see for long, going their own way, like we all did. we have 12, aged from 25 to 2. How, that for a branch of the family tree? Pat

Pat,
Great ur daughters live so near, I have eight grandchildren 17,15,11,10,9,8,7,6yrs. Can't make a difference in them, so all have to get equal quanity money or presents, still would'nt be without them.
When the Galway son lived in New York, used to go every year to see him, I love New York, ,so wished he had never moved.
Daughter from Tip, is just back from Canada, she loved it as some great photos to send me. She had a eye operation just before she left fro Canada, and one of her eyes is giving terrible trouble,so she has to go see the consultant in Dublin next Tuesday, I think we will go down on train and meet her. Hubby hates the train, but it saves the trouble parking and we get for free, so why not.
Ann's away spending money on hubby or is it herself.
I am going out later, weather terrible here rain and more rain.

Katie

Katie

The money was ALL spent on hubby. He hates shopping, but we got him all the new clothes and shoes too. I have never visited the new M & S restaurant - today was the first. Great variety of foods, plenty of hustle and bustle. I only wanted a toasted sandwich as did hubby. Anyway, everything is clinically pre-prepared. Our sandwiches were wrapped in cellophane, ready for the microwave - just choose your paricular filling, these already pre-packed too. Then they give you an alarm, you go to your table and when your sandwich is ready, the alarm flashes and buzzes. Well seen I never get out much. I suppose everyone in Lisburn knows this. When we came out it was bucketing. I was dressed in a white linen skirt and white sandals as it had been ok before we left. I had to buy an umbrella to get to the car. Then we went on the cheap for groceries this week and visited SuperValu. Home now, tea made, just having a wee juke to see all the news Going in shortly for a well earned sit-down.

Re: the Rickards.
The oldest daughter was Nancy and then there was Maureen before Pat.

I have to agree with Donald.
I never knew Rickards to sell anything other than papers, books and comics with a few sweeties thrown in.
In that family there was also Larrie who spoke with a very exaggerated English accent and was known as "Whose Deal" by the local card school fraternity.

After the Morrows gave up the shop at Leamington the Mulholland family took over for many years.

John Morrow sold milk for many years before opening up the shop.

The only other shop I remember in Bap Row was Dermot Dornan's hairdresser.

I was speaking to Nancy Rickard in Lisburn about 2 weeks ago. Her late brother Laurence's son died, aged 51. (suddenly). Nancy looks great, she has a lovely trim figure and is still good looking. (just like me)

Ann,

I think I saw Maureen Rickard in the Mall a few weeks ago, is she home now?.

Katie

I never knew that Laurence Rickard had a family, After his mother who owned the wee shop died he moved to a flat in Lawnmount Cresent. He was a mate of Ned Close who was stationmaster at Hilden Halt. Pete never married either if I remember correctly, both were very sensible men.
Donald