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The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

An old friend from my childhood dropped in on me the other day, as we got talking about the past,about the
places where we used to play as children, we recalled
Ginny Donegans shop at the top of the back lane, and
George mc Comisky sitting on the doorstep at the top of hill st. then our thoughts turned to other people who lived in the area at that time,does anyone remember the following; SAMMY Downey, Alex Scott,
Maisie Spence, Biddy Riley, Annie Kerrs we shop.
Frankie Printer,John Mc Shane, and ****** Phillips the
chimney sweep. Agh. memories ,makes you feel young again.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Hi Gerald , The sweep in ? I think was Hughie Phillips and there was a story told of him going into Tom Browns pub one morning and asking Tom could he have a pint until he picked up his pension, Tom reminded him that credit wasn't given in his pub which Hughie accepted and he went to walk out and Tom called him back and told him "he would let him have it this once but never again" so Tom pulled the pint and Hughie thanked him and had most of the pint finished and Tom asked him what time did he get his pension and Hughie told him when he became sixty-five, Tom didnt see the joke and Hughie was barred Regards Ted

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Hi TED, there were two chimney sweeps in pipers hill
They were brothers, Hughie and Robbie Phillips,
The lad i was referring to was the son of Hughie,
He would probably be about our age if he is still around, he married a german girl and the last i heard of him is that they were living in Warren Gds.
I think old hughie was barred from most of the local pubs in the area for using the old pension scam,
Ted, did you know the barber in pipers hill ,his name was Charlie Postal his shop was at the back of
Menaries, he was double jointed, and to keep children
from getting nervous /or bored he used to put one of his legs around his neck and continued cutting hair whilst hopping around.Wee Davy Jones used to call in now and again, you never needed to go to the circus
when those two were together .

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Charlie Postal,I remember this guy, English ? and few stories that I wont Recall....Frank

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Hi Gerald , I remember the barber in question but I was never in the premises, Regarding the German lady you mention I remember her I think she use to come into Elmores in Warren Gds were they had a prossesing plant and bought fish, and I knew she was married to one of the Phillips, I am sorry thats about all I remember at the moment . Regards Ted

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Hi, boys and girls!
My keyboard was out of action.
It's good reading these old stories, particularly about the sweeps. Robbie was married to my aunt Mary, who was quite a bit younger. He presented her with a ready made family, one of whom, (Hughie) married the German woman.
I used to get my hair cut in that barber shop, but the only trick he ever did was nip the nape of my neck with his clippers. Like Donald, I remember sitting on a board across the arms of the chair, so that I was high enough.
PS: The nickname is correct, Gerald.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Actually, Gerald, it was such a long time ago, I may be wrong about Hughie being a son of Robbie, though I went through childhood believing that to be so. Very confusing. I'm not even sure it was Hughie who married a German, though he, as well as his brother, Arthur, may have done so. Arthur, drunk along with my dad, once said that when his wife started nagging him, "Sie machs mir Bad." Those are the words my dad used, or tried to use, when reiterating the story to my mum. Arthur had picked up a bit of Deutsch during his time in the forces, and from his wife.
I recall Robbie dying when I was young. I do not remember old Hugh, who also lived in Piper's Hill, and who died before his brother.
The offspring of Robbie and Mary, my cousins, I, of course, knew well. As I wrote a few years ago, I watched little Maurice die in my mother's arms. (Meningitis).

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dabbler!Speaking of Sweeps,Tommy Mc.Bain,the father of Maggie Mc.Bain ,my foster mother,was the duly appointed Chimney Sweep at Government House,Hillsborough for many years.I have the paperwork signed by the Governors Secretary...Frank

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Hi Frank!
It's funny to think of people sweeping chimneys these days, though there must still be some around.I clearly remember the extending pole being shoved up the inside of the stack, with that round brush on top.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

DABBLER,I remember those terrible times ,I had a child Eamon Francis Mc Grogan,older brother of Jim ,who was well known in Lisburn,die on my knee,of convulsions at 13 Bullicks Court about 1946 or 47 as his mother Annie went for the doctor in those days without phones.I was about 12 at the time,and will never forget it.My own eldest son is called Francis Eamon...frank

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Frank, what a sad story. As you have portrayed, times were hard in those days. I can magine the poor mother's face when she returned home to find her child dead.

Frank, it must have been very traumatic for you as well, coping with dying at such a tender age.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dabbler, you could be right about Robbie Phillips being young Hughie's father,as i was friendly with Hughie i am certain that he did marry a German girl as i often had tea with them when they lived in Warren Gds. As for the demon barbour, Frank was quite right when he said there were a few tales he could tell, but are best left untold,if they are the same stories that i heard many years ago.
Gerald.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Frank
That was indeed sad.
You must have been my neighbour, as I lived there throughout my entire childhood.
I'm really showing my ignorance here, as I would have been ten or eleven, and, although I have faint memories of McGrogans, cousins of the Whitbys, I do not even recall a number 13.
I imagined that someone told me the number was purposefully left out, as it was unlucky.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Gerald
Dabbler, you could be right about Robbie Phillips being young Hughie's father,as i was friendly with Hughie i am certain that he did marry a German girl as i often had tea with them when they lived in Warren Gds. As for the demon barbour, Frank was quite right when he said there were a few tales he could tell, but are best left untold,if they are the same stories that i heard many years ago.
Gerald.

Gerald
The English? soldier, (a very close friend of young Hughie), who lived with Hughie's stepmother, Mary, during the sixties, and perhaps beyond, was still alive and walking around Lisburn four years ago.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dabbler,I didn't actually live in Bullicks Court,I only visited my Aunt there,The Whitby's and the Mc.Donalds were school friends of mine,of course.So I spent a lot of time there....Frank

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dabbler,The chimney sweeps!those connecting rods were of Mallaca Cane and highly prized,as when the war begun, no more were imported.you couldn't buy them for love nor money.Remember when were young, many houses were 100 years old,and there were many chimney fires,which the insurance companies were reluctant to pay out on,so folks became prudent and had their chimneys cleaned regularly,it was a thriving business.....Frank

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Frank, as i read what you experienced in bullicks
court, my heart went out to you, icould never imagine,
what a frightening experience it must have been.It must have been terrible for you ,not something you would get over very quickly. Now on a much lighter note Frank, did you know frankie printer he lived in Barnsley's Row, (his nick name was Dulcie)he would have been four or five years older than you or I,
Ican remember my brother Desmond and i sitting behind him at mass on a sunday morning, and when Canon M'c Cauley was up in the pulpit preaching, Frankie would
put a childs dummy in his mouth and all you could hear was him sucking, We would rush home to tell our mother about it, she would laugh , and later she told us that he was not weaned off the breast until his teenage years, Thats what his mother May had told her,
Iknow now that times were hard in those days, but surly she could have afforded solid foods ,even back then.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Frank
I heard that Adrian served on the local council.Being a bit younger, I knew Patsy better.

Gerald
That story reminds me of a guy I worked with. He blamed his history of drunkenness and getting into trouble on being weaned off the breast when he was only thirteen.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Frank, I was terrified of a chimney going on fire.

My mother used to light a Belfast Telegraph and stick it up the chimney for this purpose. She did this pretty regularly and the roar of the fire scared the life out of me. I always ran outside.

We did have a chimney sweep call sometimes too.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dabbler, I know you're not ancient but you do know a lot of things.

Did you ever heard of mothers giving their children, still in prams, a cigarette to stave off hunger?

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Ann
Although I come on here regularly to linger in the past, I have a very young (and sometimes naughty) mind.
I don't remember CHILDREN having a ****** ward off hunger, but many adults did so.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

I see I'm in the top three once again, (just like at school), so I'll go away and give your heads a rest, till you think of something to write.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Is it American censorship that ruled out me saying kids didn't have a fa g (cigarette) to ward off hunger?

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dabbler, I wouldn't worry about it. It happens to all of us.

Still, again I ask if anyone remembers or heard about children in prams being given cigarettes or maybe a pipe to keep them from crying? I know years and years ago women drank gin to stave off hunger but I still think I remember something about the babies in prams too.

Maybe I've read about the cigarettes in one of Charles Dickens' novels but I don't think so. Can anyone help?

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

frank
Dabbler,The chimney sweeps!those connecting rods were of Mallaca Cane and highly prized,as when the war begun, no more were imported.you couldn't buy them for love nor money.Remember when were young, many houses were 100 years old,and there were many chimney fires,which the insurance companies were reluctant to pay out on,so folks became prudent and had their chimneys cleaned regularly,it was a thriving business.....Frank

Frank
It was during the war that -(I've just remembered Hugh) Hugh Phillips cleaned our chimney. I honestly didn't remember until this minute that I had seen Hugh alive, but now I recall that it was not Robbie, married to my mother's sister, but his brother Hughie, that did the job. If Robbie's great great grandchildren are alive, I beg them to forgive me for saying that wee Maggie, my mummy, thought Hughie did a cleaner job. She wouldn't have paid much, my ma. The rent for those wee houses was only between three and six shillings a week during the war years.

I note, and am interested in, your learned remarks about the scarcity and value of the canes.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dabbler! I met A lady in Townsville North Queensland, at a Tool hire store,heard the accent, NI.'where are you from I says',Lisburn' she says''where exactly I says' Chapel hill she says,ears perk up'who are you' I'm kathy o'Brian,'No O'Brians in Chapel Hill I says.I know everybody from Chapel Hill" Sorry she says I changed my name for business reasons.I am Olga Rooney she says,Now we are getting somewhere,Lawrance Rooney,Dominic Rooney etc. now we got it.She came to my place on Magnetic Island with her two sons several times,a nice lady ,lost touch in the late 80's.I was the only one her sons had met who knew her family ....Frank

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Frank
That must have been a pleasant experience for both of you.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Gerald,

John McShane was my uncle. I remember well his passing even though I was very young. The condition John had (hydrocephalis) is easily treated today. My father was Sammy McShane and he was such great fun, a fantastic singer and entertainer too! We were reared on wonderful stories about life and people in and around Barnsley Row, especially the haunting of Piper's Hill! I just wish we had written them down! Our mother was Eileen (Esther) Burns whose father was Tommy, a master butcher apprenticed as a youth to my grandfather Danny McShane also a master butcher. Our mother died 1981 and our father 2006. They are buried together in Holy Trinity. My father's brother Frankie is the last survivor of my father's family. My mother's brother Gerald (Rockey) was laid to rest also in Holy Trinity last Friday 9th Sept. My mother and uncle are survived by their 4 brothers and 2 sisters.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dorothea
Forgive me, but I knew many of those people. I am curious to know if Laurence McShane, of Haslem's Lane, is still alive. Sadly, I'm pretty sure Danny and his wife Gaily, my post-war neighbours in Bullick's Court, will be long gone, as they were a fair bit older than me.
I am always sorry to hear of deaths, but even sad news links me to the past. Although he was older, I remember one-eyed Danny very well. On more than one occasion, he won my pocket money at card schools under gaslight coming from residents' windows up the lane.
He and my dad had some 'in' joke going on about 'The Casbah' which is how they referred to Bullick's Court.
I think there was a 'Bogart' or perhaps a Peter Lorre connection, which both found highly amusing.

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dorothea nee McShane]Gerald,

Dorothea, it grieves me to hear about anyone from my
childhood who has passed on may he R.I.P
As children we often played together in the we park just over the Union Bridge, more than often we were frightened of John as he would give us such a pinch on the arm if we did not collect stones for him to skim across the lagan. Of course as kids we did not
fully understand his ailment, there were other times
he was quite gentle and would often take part in our games, But alas he got bored very quickly , and return to his own little world. Gerald

John McShane was my uncle. I remember well his passing even though I was very young. The condition John had (hydrocephalis) is easily treated today. My father was Sammy McShane and he was such great fun, a fantastic singer and entertainer too! We were reared on wonderful stories about life and people in and around Barnsley Row, especially the haunting of Piper's Hill! I just wish we had written them down! Our mother was Eileen (Esther) Burns whose father was Tommy, a master butcher apprenticed as a youth to my grandfather Danny McShane also a master butcher. Our mother died 1981 and our father 2006. They are buried together in Holy Trinity. My father's brother Frankie is the last survivor of my father's family. My mother's brother Gerald (Rockey) was laid to rest also in Holy Trinity last Friday 9th Sept. My mother and uncle are survived by their 4 brothers and 2 sisters.[/quote]

Re: The Back Lane Became Memory Lane.

Dabbler,

Regarding the 'Caspah': my sister and I laughed so much as this revealed to us for the first time our father's hidden joke re. my sister's house when she and her husband first bought it over 30 years ago! It was a little stone cottage which needed a lot of work! So thankyou for that. I'll ask my uncle Frankie about 'The Casbah', 'Bogart' and Peter Lorre to see if he can throw any light on the matter.



Regarding Lawrence: If this is my uncle Arthur's son (Arthur being my father's oldest bro)relatives came from Canada when he died some years ago. When the McShanes get together, weddings or funerals, the craic is mighty (after solemnities of course) and no less for Lawrence. For 6 weeks Lawrence's "ascent into Heaven" was toasted. He would have loved it! Alas however, the old ones are mostly gone and with them fades the stories of a wonderful sense of community that was "The Back Lane" ... unless someone who still has living memory of it writes them down! I hope so.



My uncle Danny passed away some years ago but Gaily is still with us and living in Lisburn.

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