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17 men asked to live without any money
SEVENTEEN Lisburn men employed on an unemployment relief scheme at the Hillhall Road claimed m 1958 that due to a mix up in regulations they would have no inco me whatsoever for three weeks. The men, who were registered for unemployment benefit said, they were assured that National Assistance benefit would be paid to them until they recerved their first pay but when they went to collect it they were told it would not be forthcoming.
Mob runs riot
DAMAGE running into thousands of pounds was caused by a crowd of youths who roamed through the centre of Lisburn in 1972 in one of the worst nights of violence ever seen in the town.
The trouble started when about 60 youths congregated in the Bridge Street Area about 10.40 pm and the numbers later increased to 100.
The crowd, armed with sticks, stones, bottles and beer tins, made their way 4 up Bridge Street and bro windows in various businesses and threw missiles at police.
Then they went down the town towards the Corner House bar at the Bow Street Antrim Street junction. It was closed at the time but they forced the door open and set fire to the premises causing fairly extensive damage to the bar on the ground floor.
On the way up Bow Street the crowd, which had grown to about 250, erected a barricade and windows were broken in various businesses. During the incident two police constables were slightly injured and some damage was caused to police vehicles.
PAST TIMES
Looking back at news from Lisburn's past
14 October 2011
Star reader Roy Graham submitted this old photograph of Lambeg Primary School Football Team (1948.49). Winners Schools' Senior Cup and Lisburn Schools' Cup. W. Dougherty, J. McQuillan , H. Watson, R. Waring, W. Kennedy, R. Graham, J. Hillocks, W. Tolerton, F. Maguire, S. Toland, C. Minford and J. Gill.
Lost letter sheds new light on soldier's death
Plans revealed for major new in shopping centre
IN 1985 it was revealed that Lisburn was to have a major multimillion pound shopping centre. It was to be based around the Blaris Road in the roundabout area and was regarded as one of the most exciting property happenings in Northern Ireland.
The shopping centre was to include the arrival of the first out of town Marks and Spencer in I Northern Ireland.
Initial indications were that the centre could accommodate up to 36 shops
making it one of the
I biggest of its kind outside Belfast.
At the time the Lisburn unemployment figures had reached a new record total and the news of the shopping centre was being seen as a huge boost to the area because of the jobs it would create.
Negotiations had been going on I for a long time and it was hoped the scheme would get the go-ahead as soon as possible.
Bomb blast rocks Lisburn
1971 the IRA struck in Lisburn for the second time within a week. The central shopping area of Market Square was rocked by a very heavy blast which went off outside the County Antrim Arms Public House.
The pub was wrecked and severe damage was caused to a number of buildings close by. No one was injured in the blast which happened at 1.15am.
Betty Ogle at George McClure's grave
A LETTER home from the Western Front dated April 18, 1918 has thrown new light on the death of a Moira man killed in Flanders in the closing months of the Great War.
The perfectly preserved letter, signed WI Allen, is believed to been written by the Commanding Officer of Rifleman George McClure of the 36th Ulster Division who is buried at Canada Farm Cemetery, outside Ypres in Belgium.
Previously Rifleman McClure was thought by his family to have died from wounds sustained in the Third Battle of Ypres as Canada Farm was a dressing station or field hospital.
But now, according to the letter, found recently inside a book belonging to his late sister Anna Tate, at Carnbane Road, Lisburn, he was killed by enemy shellfire while on sentry duty on the night of April 17.
Canada Farm is at El verdinge on the Woesten Road three miles from Ypres, but more significantly the site of the cemetery is on a quiet country thoroughfare, the ends of which were christened Donacloney Corner and Dromore Corner. It was traditional for British soldiers to christen local roads and lanes with names to remind them of home, so it indicates that there were quite a lot of local servicemen in this particular area. A soldier buried next to Rifleman McClure is Rifleman Fred Law, also from Moira.
The letter dated April 18, 1918 reads:
"Dear Mr/Mrs McClure, It is with profound regret and sorrow that I
learned this morning of the death of Rifleman G McClure which took place
last night by enemy shellfire, while at his post of duty for his King
and Country.
"We feel his loss very much as he was one of the first to join this Battalion.
"But great as our loss is, yours will be greater, and if sympathy helps you to bear the burden of sorrow then it will be easier borne, for every heart beats in truest sympathy with yours in this sad hour of bereavement.
"May the Divine Comforter be your true consolation in the hours of
temporary separation.
"Yours, WI Allen."
Brian Ogle, who turned up the letter, said: "Rifleman McClure would have been my mother's uncle, and she travelled to Canada Farm no fewer than 10 times while in her seventies to visit the grave at Canada Farm.
FANCY a new pair of boots? You could have snapped up these Army Boots from Clarke's in Bow Street for 32/6 (about £1.52) back in 1958.
"The cemetery register gave no information, nor could we get any, about the circumstances of his actual death, but we presumed that he must have died from wounds as Canada Farm was the name of a field hospital or dressing station.
"Now it appears he was killed by shellfire while on sentry duty, so this adds another little piece to the mystery of what happened to George. Until we found his grave about 15 years ago the general assumption by the family was that he had died at the Somme."
Betty Ogle, who sadly died recently, had a memorial plaque to her late uncle dedicated in St George's Church, Ypres, in May 2004, and travelled along with other family members to the service of dedication which included the playing of the Last Post. The plaque is prominently displayed at the side of the entrance door to St George's -" a place of pilgrimage to thousands of UK and Commonwealth visitors each year to the Ypres salient - and one of the very few naming an Ulster soldier in St George's.
Drinkers come to town to beat early closing
THE shutters went up early Lisburn pubs in 1969 when al publicans couldn't cope with all those who could not get a drink in Belfast because of the Government's ban on sales after 7pm and so came to Lisburn.
Pub doors were closed as early as 6.30pm and many, people had to go home with- as much as a single beer.
Some hotels in the area also took steps to regulate the numbers. The Woodlands hotel in the town was also said to be packed.
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Ulster Star
14/10/2011
