Three Sweet Shops (3) Stockmans, the Seaside Supply Store

George W: ‘The toffee apples and the hinged glass fronted biscuit cabinet. The ‘ding’ of the bell when you opened the door. Harry and Maggie Stockman’s friendly, welcoming demeanour. Distant childhood memories of a much simpler lifestyle….’

Me, it was ‘Oddfellows’ sweets that I liked. The jar up on the shelf, multi-coloured pastel-coloured sweets that fizzled and buzzled and popped in your mouth. A Saturday treat coming back from the beach, or a packet of sweets going to or fro badminton at the Kelly Hall. A great shop, shelves and shelves of jars of sweets.

Karen Ross has written about her dad, Derek Ross, at the Rock Shop and her mum June at LV Ross’s, on Main St., and continues her family story: ‘The photograph above, is the Seaside Supply Store, 68 Causeway Street, Portrush, property of Harry and Maggie Stockman, my maternal grandparents.

Trish: ‘Gosh, I remember them very well. Mrs Stockman not only watching the shop, but the stove going in the kitchen, boiling up toffee etc. The living room behind the shop had Toby jugs on a high shelf around the room!’

Sheila K: “Oh wow! Ross’ shops! There was one way down from the White House – I think it’s either an antique shop or an artist’s shop now – the other was near Rohdich’s … I can still smell the tobacco from it. And Stockman’s in Causeway Street – the best toffee apples ever!”

And Karen, ‘Yep! Granny toffee apples, 12 dozen of them daily in the peak summer period!’

Leslie M: ‘Loved that shop you could smell the toffee apples as you came through the door!’

Sylvia R: ‘Oh my goodness! I can still taste the toffee apples and fudge! ‘

Helena A: ‘The Stockmans had a shop in Causeway St. There was an entry beside the shop, there on the right of the photo, before the row of houses opposite Brankins. There were steps and then a sort of path that took you to the back of the houses in Hamilton Place. I used to buy broken biscuits with my pocket money and they had penny ice lollies.’

Lucy S: ‘I remember going down ‘Stockmans Lane’ from Hamilton Place with my friend to head into the shop with my 10p. Got a lot of sweeties back then.’

Billy D: ‘I think I got sliders in there. remember the toffee apples and 2oz (maybe 8 or 9) of brandy balls before the Sea Cadets.’

Rosemary P: ‘Mr & Mrs Stockman were directly across the road from us in Causeway Street – a wonderful couple, we were all very fond of them. In fact I have a couple of jars from their shop and a wonderful trifle dish that makes an appearance at Christmas xox.’

Trish G: ‘So many memories…. Bringing their black lab Bingo, back. Not having been brought up with a dog, I never realised there were such things as dog biscuits …’

George S: ‘Mrs Stockman’s fudge was amazing. I bought something recently called Scottish Tablet. It was nowhere near as good but it was similar, so probably an old Scottish recipe handed down from generation to generation.
‘On the odd occasion that I’d ever be fortunate enough to have a pound note, Harry would rub it between his fingers and say ‘You can’t pay with this, it’s just an aul soap wrapper’.
‘I remember the wee door bell that would chime to let them know someone had came in and the hinged glass fronted biscuit cabinet, not to mention Quenchers, Jokers, Merry Maids and Riley’s Chocolate Toffee Rolls.
‘I recall a very sad time when Harry was in hospital and I think on her way to visit, Mrs Stockman had a fall and broke her leg. I remember how unfair it seemed, it’s odd the things that stay in your head over the years. 
‘Norma Henry, I used to get Norman’s cigarettes for him and Margaret Eason’s. I couldn’t have been very old because they would give me thruppence for going and I was born in 1965 .’

Karen continues, ‘My maternal grandparents were Harry and Maggie Stockman, and their children shown in the photo were, eldest Bette on the left, then Andrew and then my Mum, June. There is an eerie resemblance between me and la madre!’

‘My Aunt Bette was a polio victim who walked with a leg caliper all of her short life. Their dad Harry Stockman had hoped to emigrate to the USA but the family visa request was refused because of Bette’s polio.

‘My Aunt Bette: honestly, I WORSHIPPED her! A million dollar smile always, despite her challenged life. Polio, and then C. Those times, as there was nothing to do about this cruel illness, the doctor advised my Dad (unknown to Maggie) to alleviate her suffering by putting whiskey in Bette’s lemonade bottle. And, God love her, my granny, she said, ‘It’s amazing, Bette always seems to feel a bit better after her lemonade.’ How charming life was then eh? And trust me, this is the absolute truth.’

And Pauline Rigby (Hunt) adds, ‘David I have just read your piece on the Rock Shop, and on the Stockman / Ross family. Mrs. Stockman made the best toffee apples ever. My mum, Gerry Hunt, would sometimes take us in on our way home from St Patrick’s and let us have one as a treat. Also Betty Stockman – always ‘Auntie Betty’ to me – was a close friend of our parents, Gerry and Frank Hunt.’

It was a tempestuous life also for Andrew, often called Drew. ‘He was in the Merchant Navy. His vessel was blown up during WW2 and when he recovered consciousness he found himself in a hospital down in Cornwall.

‘Another family story: he was also next one on the list to be assassinated during a hostage episode.

‘After WWII he continued serving in the forces, was stationed in Cyprus during the troubles of 1964, and was caught up in a crisis. The Prime Minister’s office phoned my grandmother Maggie to let her know that Andrew had been taken hostage.

‘As the crisis deepened, the Turkish hostage takers started shooting the hostages, beginning with the youngest. Later, the PM Office phoned with the good news that the crisis had been resolved and Andrew was fine.

‘My Uncle Drew had been next in the shooting line: he just made it.’

And Pauline writes, ‘As a coincidence story, I was a District Nurse in Scarborough and while out on my visits one morning I was trying to find an address, and asked a man walking his dog if he knew where it was? He answered me in a broad N Irish accent! Like we do I asked where he came from? Portrush, he says. Of course, I replied, so do I! Then he grinned from ear to ear and suddenly said, You’re Gerry’s daughter! I had a cuppa with your mum just yesterday in Abercorn.

‘Any time after that if he spotted me I would get, Miss Hunt, Miss Hunt, over here. And whenever he was going back home to visit his mum, he would ring me and ask if I wanted him to take anything back.

‘His name, after this long winded story? Drew Stockman.’

I ask Pauline, might you have any photos of him, from meeting him at Scarborough? No, she says. ‘Drew ended up working at GCHQ, at Irton Moor site down the road from me near Scarborough, but sorry I have no photos of him.’

I had written about the hunt for the german heavy cruiser the Bismarck in the episode about Portrush’s listening station in Ramore Head – Signal Station, WWII. Pauline continues, ‘Funny enough, that Irton Moor site – it was a listening station in WWII, and was where the message came through about the sighting of the Bismark, spotted by air-sea aircraft flying from Castle Archdale in Fermanagh. Pauline continues, ‘We have a connection to that story: my grandparents, the Shutts, lived in Irvingstown and my granny ran The Railway Hotel there – it was the family home until we all moved up permanently to Portrush, with grandad Capt. Shutt on the Sports Committee. The Air Force guys from Castle Archdale would regularly come in to the Railway Hotel pub for a drink. They came in that night after their long long search mission for the Bismarck, out in the Atlantic, and announced, We found her!’

Of the three Stockman siblings, the youngest was Karen’s mum June, who featured in the previous episode, about LV Ross’s shop – the photo above of her wedding with Derek Ross in 1952.

She was June Brockerton Stockman – Brockerton was her mum’s maiden name.. It was Sheila Brown who had told me the story of George Brockerton and his riding skills, like in the Wall of Death outside Barry’s, and that he was connected to the Stockmans of Causeway St. shop. Phew I was never any good at figuring out who was related to whom, but I see this 1947 story of the connections:

Karen remembers her granny. ‘At Christmas, Maggie, Grannie Stockman, didn’t just bake one Christmas fruit cake, she made a dozen. Why?, you may well ask. Some less fortunate and lonely folk were the delighted recipients of ‘Ma Stockman’s’ Christmas cakes.

‘She was also one of the first women in the town to drive her own car, a huge PINK Vauxhall, so obviously even more cool than today’s BARBIE!

‘Bette and June both passed away relatively young. Granny Stockman’s courage in the face of disappointment and staggering sadness, the loss of two daughters, and her remarkable generosity throughout her life, makes her a very hard act to follow…. Miss you Granny !’

And family photographs: above, Maternal grandmother Maggie Stockman with sister Michele, about 1958; and below, her cousin with Karen (in the white) on the East Strand prom about 1960, and Karen (dark t-shirt) with buddy more recently in Dubai.

Karen writes, ‘We lived in a top floor flat at 44 Bruntsfield House (above The Rock Shop) until I was 10, we then moved to 3 Bath Terrace – a house my Dad had dreamed of! Ten bedrooms! OMG! Granny Stockman generously offered to bankroll Derek to avoid interest charged by a bank!’

I ask, the photos like of Stockman’s shop, are such high quality – were they from a publication? Karen says, ‘Derek had a massive workshop in the house in Bath St, and might have been used for developing the photos in this episode.

‘Our next door neighbour on one side was The Moorings, a bed and breakfast joint, on the other side was Doctor Craig – he took me on as a receptionist for a summer job when I was around 14. He had a charming wife, whose hair turned white overnight when her husband had a huge health scare!

The photograph above shows the site of the Rock Shop, now New Beginnings, and there is the yellow door leading up to what was Bruntsfield House above. Rohdich’s shop on the right and Alice writes, ‘Damian has lovely memories of Derek, Karen’s dad. They were not only business neighbours on Main St, but personal neighbours on Bath Terrace too. He gave Damian his first toolbox, which he still has!’

Trish Gray originally saw the bits of information from Karen and had proposed, ‘I think you might have enough to do something on ‘Three sweetshops in the same family…’ which prompted this series. ‘And that Derek from memory, might have been Treasurer in Holy Trinity for some years? The Stockmans will be well known by your older readers. She made her own toffee apples, fudge etc. had an ice cream freezer. Sold everything from fresh fruit to buckets and spades!’

And so the three shops, Ross & Stockman, and in their new guises. Such warm memories, such positive experiences, so great Portrush characters. Thank you Karen for sharing x.

Three sweet shops:
(1) Ross, the Rock Shop
(2) LV Ross, Lower Main St.
(3) Stockmans, the Seaside Supply Store

And, Portrush Tales – index to other great stories

Three sweet shops (2) LV Ross, Lower Main St.

Karen Ross writes me of the sweet and tobacconist shops that her family ran in Portrush. We have read of the Rock Shop, next to Rohdich’s on the Main St, run by her dad, Derek Ross; and in Part III we will discuss the Seaside Supply Store, on Causeway St, run by Karen’s maternal grandparents, the Stockmans.

To recap, in the 1890s the Aitken family in Edinburgh expanded their golf club and golf ball making establishment to Portrush, with Bruntsfield boarding house above the shop on Main St. John Aitken’s daughter Lily – he named a patent golf ball after her – married Capt. P. G. Ross just after WWI, and she owned and ran the confectionery and tobacconist shop further up Main St, past the White House.

So, we walk in the door of that sweet shop, LV Ross’s, on Lower main St, and the friendly bell ting-a-lings, and there is a smiling face to greet you……

Karen writes, ‘That’s June Ross, née Stockman, my Mum, behind the counter! The shop at 61 Main Street, belonged to my paternal grandmother Lily Veitch Ross (LV Ross, nee Aitken of the golfing family), but was managed by Dad. Summer holidays, I earned money working in both of the shops, both the Rock Shop and this Lower Main St, one. as did Michele my sister.’

Trish Gray, her neighbour and family friend writes, ‘I love the photo of June in front of the sweetie jars. Who doesn’t remember them??? Clove Rock, brandy balls, midget gems, wine gums, Riley’s chocolate toffee rolls, chewing nuts, iced caramels, even Quality Street. And I wonder why I have a sweet tooth!’

And Trish licks her lips and remembers, ‘One year, there was a problem, a bag of brandy balls got dropped and smashed. I’m sure Dad got a good deal and we acquired this huge supply of smashed brandy balls, stored on the top shelf of our kitchen cupboard. My brother and I became great at climbing on to the worktop, to reach the top shelf… Mum eventually noticed the level had dropped significantly and we got a stern talking to! Such are memories made of!”

Alan McF: ‘Brilliant David! Maggie says Derek interviewed her for a job in the Rock Shop when she was 11 and asked her “If 4oz of clove rock cost 4d (4 pence old money) how much would 2oz cost?” She passed with flying colours and got a job with Avril Steele in L.V. Ross’s on Lower Main St. This would have been in 1964.’

Sheila Hamilton Stirrup: ‘I lived in East London, but my father was from Portrush. George Hamilton, Ramore Street. My Granny Hamilton lived there with my godmother, Auntie Anna and Uncle Tommy. Our summer holidays were spent in Portrush. I have such a strong memory of loving brandy balls, but I don’t know which shop they came from. Auntie Anna once sent us some at Christmas. What a lovely memory!’

Karen writes that her paternal grandmother Lily (Lily Veitch Aitken) married Capt. P. G. (Peter Graham) Ross, from Paisley near Glasgow, just after the war in 1919, and they had the two boys, Peter and then Derek born in 1927.

Capt. Ross was not a name that I was familiar with but the newspapers show that he was one of the big men of the town, through the 1930s to early 1950s. He was contemporary with Capt. Shutt on the Sports Committee, organising the town carnival and sports and events including the fireworks, and he is shown as Hon. Sec. in the 1938 article above. He was sporty himself – bowling, tennis, golf. And a strong social conscience, with his activities to develop Catering & tourism, and almost 20 years service on PUDC, the council.

In WWII he was very active around the town, active in the British Legion and supporting the war effort. In the 1943 clipping below, he is PUDC representative at the Trocadero Restaurant, next door to the Londonderry, honouring the brave Services personnel, with many US military in Portrush as D-Day approaches. Dangers all around: the news that same day of the battle of the Atlantic with the sinking of the German cruiser Scharnhorst.

And there is a tribute to Portrush people and to their contribution to the war effort: over 300 volunteers to the Forces, 10% of the population of 3,000 people, with tributes paid to their service in Middle East.

Lily and Capt. Ross had the two boys, Peter and Derek. There were wedding bells for Derek, in September 1952:

Karen: Wedding of my Mum and Dad, June Brockerton Stockman & Derek Alexander Aitken Ross
the Ross wedding party: Peter John Graham Ross (my Dad’s brother), my Dad, my Mum, with her sister Eliza Jane (Bette) Stockman as bridesmaid (with the L’Atelier photographer‘s marque, the studio next door to the shop on Main St.)

And the children, Karen and Michele, followed on. The photograph above is 1954, Karen with her grandad, and she writes, ‘Alas I never really knew my paternal grandfather Capt. Ross, he died in 1956 when I was only a few years old, a war injury. However I’m told that he was proud as punch, walking from 61 Main Street (the ‘more prestigious side of town’ I was told ) down to the more ‘working class’ ) Causeway Street shop, to my grandmother Maggy’s, to ASK – imagine that! – if he could take the baby out in her pram! And he did!

Karen’s cousin C writes with family affection, ‘By all accounts Karen was the perfect daughter, passing the 11-Plus exam at 9 years old, graduating at 20, working in a Police department in Florida as a summer job, then the Canadian consulate in Belfast, then Holland for 2 years, Algeria for 3 years, and now in Canada. Offered a year in Oman with her company, female colleagues were horrified: ‘Going as a young single lady to a Muslim country?? You’re not going are you?” ..to which our delightful heroine replied, Just watch me! and off she went.’

Back to talking of the shop, Trish writes, ‘In the shop near the White House, Avril was the permanent shop assistant. In the one next to Rohdich’s Jean – also Ross, though not the same family! – was the permanent person. I knew her better than Avril! She was always happy to find the odd extra ‘favourite colour’ for me, when measuring out a quarter of Midget Gems….’

William J W: ‘I remember Derek Ross very well as i supplied him with the range of Parkes Jars. He stocked also Riley’s Toffee Rolls and many other products including the rock dummies and many other products. One very popular one was tins of Humbugs, and Edinburgh Rock. I also supplied Mrs Stockman in Causeway Street, who was Derek’s mother-in-law. The lady who worked in Derek’s main shop was called Jean, and the shop in the Lower Main Street was Derek’s mother. Derek always stocked a great range of pipes and cigarettes and cigars.’

The photo above shows Karen in the white, with her cousin Cyndy who writes, ‘His work took Lily’s husband, Peter (Capt. P.G. Ross) to Belfast on a regular basis, meanwhile the ‘lower’ shop was Lily’s and was very much her domain. They had previously been living in London, returning for Lily to open the shop not long before their younger son, Derek, was born.

‘On entering the shop, the shelves and glass display cabinets on the left hand side housed the cigarettes, tobacco, pipes and cigars, and the shelves and display cabinets on the right hand side housed the sweets, chocolate bars, chocolate boxes and Fruit Jellies. Lily had shelves built along the far end of the shop to house Penguin paperback books. Some were for sale, but many of them were lent out for a small fee, the Readers’ names and borrowing date being written into a book to keep track of them.

‘Lily took great pride in her shop and would get up very early in the morning to ensure that it was spotless, and that the window displays were as they should be.

‘She had remembered seeing a black stuffed toy cat, with red ribbon and small gold bell round it’s neck, in Harrods (or Hamleys?) in London and sent away for one. For decades, it sat above the bookshelves to be enjoyed by the many children who came to buy their holiday sweets.

‘Amy Magowan was the permanent shop assistant in the lower shop in the late 1950s/early 1960s, before Avril Steele. When I was very young I was often sent in to ‘help’ Amy in the shop during quiet times. She left in the early 1960’s and I would love to have any news about her. For a long time, the permanent shop assistant in the upper shop was Jean Ross, from the Ramore area of the town.

‘Stock ordering was not completed ‘online’ in those days, rather travelling salesmen, from Gallaghers and elsewhere, would arrive with their order books to discuss what stock, and how much, was likely to be needed. There would be long discussions about the types of pipes that might be popular, with the salesmen producing samples from their cases. Similar salesmen would call to take orders for the Confectionery, and the number of visits for all goods orders increased greatly during the summer months. The shops were especially busy over the Easter holidays and during the summer, and many local schoolgirls were employed to help out. The shops would stay open until late then, and it was all hands on deck. Although elder son, Peter (Derek’s brother), was not normally involved in the shops, he would often be found in the lower shop helping out in the evenings and weekends during the summer, before he moved away from Portrush in 1965.’

Lily, LV Ross, ran the shop through to her retirement in the 1980s. And of the shop today – do you recognise it?

Karen in Quebec – she spatters her writings with ‘n’est-ce pas’-es and ‘Que voulez-vous’-es and ‘Envoyé à partir de Courrier pour Fenetre’ and ‘D’accord?’ses and ‘Bon weekend’ses – sees the photo of today and says, ‘Oh it is looking so great, super to see these photos David! What is now the Art Gallery was indeed my paternal Grandmother’s confectionery and tobacco store, LV Ross’s.

‘And she also had paperback books! I was “allowed” a sneaky read of the books, as long as they remained in pristine condition. I remember reading an Edna O’Brien novel, a hugely daring novelist back in the day!’

Ayla at the Frankie Creith Art Gallery, 61 Main St. reviews this blog and writes, ‘Hi David, what a wonderful blog! I’ve enjoyed reading it, thank you, and Frankie thoroughly enjoyed it too. She loves history, especially about local places, and remembers much of what you mention in it. Living on Bath Street for many years she remembers ’The Moorings’, Albert and Lily Rhodich, and she even taught watercolour painting to Mrs Craig, her with the beautiful white hair. 

‘Frankie has sent through some photos of the original tiles, below, if you’d like to use them. She’s had many people in the gallery over the past three years comment on the tiles, being what they noticed when they visited the sweet shop years ago. Apparently those tiles meant the entrance to sweet treats! 

‘And Frankie notices about the sweet shop with Mai Aitken’s boarding house, ‘Bruntsfield House’, above. Years ago her granny was put on the tram from Bushmills and sent to work in Bruntsfield House, and when she was a child her granny used to point out the ornate doorway and speak fondly of her time working there. Frankie still looks at the door and thinks of her.’

Closing this episode about the LV Ross’s shop, she ran the shop through to her retirement in the 1980s. Kirsty D writes of her job, ‘I worked in the Rock Shop and as part of the job was to make a morning cup of tea and leave it upstairs, for his mother, Mrs. L.V. Ross, with a wee biscuit. I never saw her though .’

Bobby Ann worked in the shops in the 1970s / 1980s and writes, ‘LV, Lily Vetch Ross, was Derek’s mother. She was very much a lady, and when I first went to work there, she brought me in a tray complete with cup, saucer, milk jug & sugar bowl, complete with sugar nips for cubes of sugar, a napkin & a very tiny fancy pastry. I reckon it was a sort of test, and I was terrified that I’d drop something.

‘Mrs. Ross was a lovely, but strict, boss. Later I was transferred to the Rock Shop, but some afternoons LV would ask Derek to send me down to keep her company.

‘Her home upstairs, above the shop, had beautiful antique furniture, very ornate, I’d call it Saloon style, and she must have had about three real fur coats. One day while I was there, she seemed to have a wee mini stroke. I couldn’t get hold of Derek so I phoned the doctor. When he arrived LV was normal. Derek arrived just after, but then she took another so they had to send her into hospital.

‘Derek would send me in his lovely white Opel Manta car, a sports model, to visit and find out if she needed anything. He visited her every night. When she was transferred to a nursing home, one day a week Derek sent me in his Manta to the home to visit her. Derek visited her every other day, though unfortunately she wasn’t there that long.’

Karen reads the above and writes, ‘Oh Bobby Ann, you are the most street-smart Lady I know! Thank you for your memories of my grandmother. She had such confidence in you, I’ve no doubt that the two of you got along famously. In later years you were an absolute ROCK to Bloggs….yes, you are one of the FEW people to know his nickname. You started as an employee but finished as a wonderful FRIEND. Thank you.’

The photo below is of herself, Lily Veitch Ross, described as her being ‘in Hyacinth Bouquet mode’ with a genteel hold on a little aperitif, with her sister Mai Aitken on the right, in Mai’s rooms at Bruntsfield House, about 1967.

I hope you enjoyed this episode! The previous episode was of Derek Ross at the Rock Shop on Main St; and the final episode will be about the Stockman shop, on Causeway St.

All the stories are based on the archive from Karen Ross.
It would be a delight, if you have memories, stories, photographs of the Ross / Stockman families and/or of the shops, that you would like to share for the Portrush history record – please do add on Facebook or Messenger or this blog 🙂 .

Preview: The Three Sweet Shops #3 Stockman’s, Seaside Supply Store

It was ‘Oddfellows’ sweets that I liked. The jar up on the shelf, multi-coloured fizzy sweets that fizzed and popped in your mouth. A Saturday treat coming back from the beach, or a packet of sweets going to or fro badminton at the Kelly Hall. A great shop, shelves of jars of sweets.

Index of other Portrush stories & history:
‘Portrush Tales’ by David Martin – Index of topics

Three sweet shops (1) Ross, the Rock Shop

Ethna J: ‘I remember those days! I worked with Derek in the early 70s. I loved the smell of the tobacco and sweets. Loved working there, and the customers who bought the tobacco for their own businesses. Peppermint rock is still my favourite .’

Rosemarie S: ‘Ooooh.. those 2 Ross sweets shops! Where we spent our Saturday pocket money (3d) with such excitement and relish.. Does anyone remember Derek Ross’s toy black cat?’

Karen Ross writes from Quebec, ‘Hello again David! I just saw your fabulous family photos on Facebook. I was thinking about my own family story, and am sending you something that might be of interest to you…. .

‘The name ROSS is one I think that a lot of folks would associate with Portrush. I have photos of The Rock Shop on Main Street that my Dad ran, photos with great and inedible memories, and of the other shop further up Main St. that my Mum ran, and of The Seaside Supply Store, run by my maternal grandparents, down on Causeway St. ……

‘It is 7 a.m. here now and I am dashing off to Quebec city this morning. I will do some digging on the weekend and find photos etc. which I KNOW will not disappoint! So, as they say, watch this space! Cheers, Karen!’

And so, The Three Sweet Shops – Part I – The Rock Shop, Main St.

Karen Ross: ‘The Rock Shop, 44 Main Street, Portrush, with my dad, Derek Ross’
Family photos – family album, courtesy Karen Ross

Trish Gray: “Wow, such history included in the picture of Derek in the shop! On the top left, the packets of ‘spills’ (is that the correct name?), you used them to light open coal fires as well as pipes! (It enabled you to reach the firelighter buried in the coals!) Or maybe pipe cleaners? Round cigarette tins with ?50 cigarettes in them… Tobacco that came in tins, not plastic pouches. My Dad was virtually never seen without his pipe most of his life, so a visit to the shop was fairly frequent! Gallagher Greens, in packs of 10, are also in the photograph, which was my Mum’s preference for her evening cigarette or two… Until that day when Harold Wilson’s government (1964 or 65 maybe) put 1d extra tax on a pack – Mum never smoked again! Now, I can’t believe a packet of 20 fags is £16 – I just checked the price!’

Around 1890, the town was booming – the Causeway tram had arrived, the nice new train station opened, the Northern Counties, The White House, continuing to expand…….. Bamford developed that Main St block, with his confectionery shop, and Lee’s photography studio, and the expanding Portrush Post Office re-located to next door, the Sportsland site I think, before it moved on to its Causeway St. location in 1907. May Graham told me that Rohdich’s there is the oldest shop in the town, that is in the same location, and still owned by the same family.

Sheila Hamilton Stirrup: ‘I lived in East London, but my father was from Portrush – George Hamilton, Ramore Street. My Granny Hamilton lived there with my godmother, Auntie Anna and Uncle Tommy. Our summer holidays were spent in Portrush. I have such a strong memory of loving brandy balls, but I don’t know which shop they came from. Auntie Anna once sent us some at Christmas. What a lovely memory!’

And there were big dwellings above those shop fronts! Trish Gray has described the Lee family accommodation above their L’Atelier photography studio, with 26 rooms in the floors above; and above The Rock Shop was a self-catering boarding house, Bruntsfield House, 28 bedrooms, run by Mai Aitken (Mary McKeeman Aitken), Karen’s great aunt, sister to Lily Ross. Like a Jane Austen novel, the newspapers recorded the ‘Visitor List’ so you could see Who’s Who was staying in the town, to go and hobnob with; the example below is 1907 – it’s a pretty huge list of guests, over 20, staying in Bruntsfield House.

Photo of May Aitken, from Ray McConaghy’s dad Jack collection. Ray: ‘Photo of Mai Aitken … a distant relative, pictured during/ after WW1….. though I really don’t know how she was related to me!’

The first golf course in Portrush, the Triangle course, opened, and golf businesses were established in the town, including Karen’s great-grandfather. Karen tells of their family story: ‘This famous golf ball [photo below} was made by my great-grandfather, John Aitken, in the 1890s, and it was named after his daughter Lily, my paternal grandmother.’ (‘Portrush’ and ‘Lily’ are marked on the ball.) I see that there is an advert in 1914 for the golf business in Portrush, below, of John Aitken, golf club and golf ball maker, in No. 6 in that Main St. block.

Lucy golf ball photo source: RPGC History, Ian Bamford

A newspaper search for Aitken’ and ‘Golf’ shows up in 1892, ‘Mr. (John) Aitken, of Edinburgh, who has a branch establishment at Portrush, the famous Ulster ground.’ Mr Aitken expanded from Edinburgh to Portrush as the Triangle links course opened up. He was well regarded in his field: on behalf of a 100 Irish golfers, he made a precious set of golf clubs that were then presented to the keen golfer Mr. Balfour, the prime minister, and was exporting clubs to Boston in USA.

My own Edinburgh University days, Bruntsfield was a name that I saw regularly: my bus routes took me past the busy thoroughfare of Bruntsfield Place, and there were golf courses of that name. I was always curious of the how the house in Main St, Portrush got its name! I see (above left) that in earlier years a Thomas Aitken (Snr.) was an instigator of and was winning golf medals in 1861 on Edinburgh’s Bruntsfield Links course. His sons John and Alex set up golf shop in Portrush. Oh must be a coincidence, serendipity, that the boarding house about the golf shop was called Bruntsfield.

Trish continues, ‘John Aitken was the original owner of the shop as his golf establishment which became the sweet shop, and his daughter, the Mai Aitken in Ray McConaghy’s photographs owned Bruntsfield House, the boarding house above the shop, with its doorway left of the shop in the photo.’

Karen Ross: ‘Indeed David, the shop was known as the Rock Shop, as illustrated above. The neon sign in this photo depicts a pipe, box of Swan matches and a pack of cigarettes. It was a confectionery and tobacco shop AND a Rock shop.
I should add that Dad’s shop was actually one of the first in the town to have a neon sign! High technology, back in the day! ‘

Mai’s sister, Lily Veitch Aitken, Lily of the golf ball, married Capt. P. G. (Peter Graham) Ross, and she ran the confectionery and tobacconist shop further up Main St, past the White House. I see that Capt. Ross was a prominent figure in the town, a compatriot of Capt. Shutt at the Recreation Grounds, including on PUDC in the 1930s to early 1950s. Their children were Peter and Derek Ross who ran the shop.

Trish writes that Peter and later Derek did the lights for the pantomime:

Karen: ‘Pantomime cronies, Dad, back row to the right. Dad did the lights for many years along with various other dubious conspirators.’

I asked Fred Williams but he says, ‘Hi David no its not me in the photo but from left to right, at the back is Sammy Kane and Derek Ross, and front is Ian Meneely and John Stafford, at the Portrush pantomime in the Town Hall.’

Rodney M: ‘Hi David, I remember Derek Ross. When I joined Ballywillan Drama Group in 1963, Derek did the lights with Eddie Clements who then worked in Phils Amusements.
‘Up until 1963 Derek did the lights mostly with his brother Peter, although the photograph is of the lighting team in 1958.
‘Derek’s daughter Karen was also involved with the Group in the ‘sixties. She helped change scenery and did makeup for the cast. She now lives in Canada.’

Ethna J: ‘I remember those days! I worked with Derek in the early 70s. I loved the smell of the tobacco and sweets. Loved working there, and the customers who bought the tobacco for their own businesses.
Peppermint rock is still my favourite .’

Trish writes, ‘Karen’s younger sister Michele, was my ‘best friend’ for most of my childhood! Carnalridge kids! I was a pretty permanent visitor at their house in Bath Terrace. Karen’s Mum June (Mrs Ross to me!) was very patient with me always being under her feet! Our Mums were very friendly… Karen, as a child, I think was in at least one of the pantomimes… her uncle Peter and later her father Derek did the lights!’

Above, Karen as the Candy Queen, all geared up for the summer Carnival, of 1957 – ‘Dad put REAL sweets in the display boxes!’

And a couple of years later, ‘as the Jewel Fairy, a winner in the 1959 Carnival, and who then ‘in the Aladdin pantomime of 1959 became Queen of the Jewel Fairies. Others in the cast were all dropping off like flies due to measles, lol! …….I’m the one right in the middle, with tiny Linda Campbell (now Logue), beside me, standing by the black grass skirt characters!’

Linda C: ‘Gosh, such memories from Karen! We spent many happy hours playing in the shop near Bath Street where I lived. We went to Carnalridge together and then Coleraine High School.’

Gerald McQ: ‘Another great read! Next time I’m in doing window displays for New Beginnings, I will take a few photos…

‘I remember this shop fondly. My sister Janet worked in it for a summer or two. I recall a Mrs Kilpatrick worked with her. Many evenings we went down town, feeling ever so grown up. We bought the latest record in Graham’s Record shop and then sweets out of Ross’s sweet shop. Loved the Edinburgh rock.

‘Often after fireworks displays we would get treated to sweets on way home.’

And Allison C writes, ‘Oh I can remember the smell of this shop just seeing the photos! A treat for us was to get one of the big rock dummies, or a quarter of Riley’s toffee rolls.’

And Karen Ross, thinking of Portrush rock, writes, ‘A little anecdote for you David. One year, maybe say 1967 or 1968, there was a strike and shop-owners couldn’t get Portrush Rock deliveries from the usual Irish suppliers. My dad commandeered a container, from “across the water” which delivered 1 TON – yes, 1 TON!! – of sticks of rock to him, which he then offered to other interested shop owners who, like him, didn’t have a local supply source. I remember stacking a container load of tins of bars of rock in our garage! Oh yes!’

Shelia Brown: ‘Great blog David! Ross’s sweet shop, Bruntsfield House, Derek – oh so familiar, so many memories. Derek was a nice man. I bought a lovely fireplace out of Bruntsfield House when Eddie Clements owned it, after Derek retired, and was renovating it.’

Brenda S: ‘ I had the privilege of working for Derek Ross in his shop on Main Street, and the Stockmans were our neighbours on Causeway Street. The secret fudge recipe eludes me to this day.

‘I am very honoured to have worked for and to have known Derek. He was a true gentleman  ‘

I hope you enjoyed this episode! Two more episodes to follow, of Ross / Stockman family shops, on Main St and on Causeway St., based on the archive from Karen Ross.
If you have any memories, stories, photographs of the Ross / Stockman families, that you would like to share for the Portrush history record, please do add on Facebook or Messenger me.

Janice F: ‘Oh this is wonderful , evoking many happy memories! I can’t wait for the next episode! ‘

And closing this episode, a final word from Karen Ross: ‘I am beyond happy to see this little tale has been enjoyed by so many people. The days of the confectionary and tobacco stores are long gone, but I can see that our readers have excellent memories. A story to charm and delight, thanks to David Martin and his blog.

‘One FINAL anecdote, that few people know. My nickname for Dad (Derek) was BLOGGS…. so David, unwittingly your BLOG is a BLOGGS one! How charming is that!’

** Photos in this blog, courtesy, from private family album of Karen Ross **

There are quite a few other really interesting stories of Portrush, in this ‘Portrush Tales’ series – here is link to Index – Portrush Tales, you will probably find topics there that interest you.

PS For golfers or local golf historians who may be interested in knowing more of the Aitken family with their golf shops at Edinburgh & Portrush, and official RPGC club-makers and pro at RPGC, Trish Gray found info here, http://www.northberwick.org.uk/clubmakers.html , snippet below:

The summer of ’79 / Best years of our lives

It is the summer of ‘79. That summer seemed to last forever. Those were the best days of my life.

Teenage years.
Roller-skating is on a roll.
I am walking around the town with my brother. We are outside the Silver Sands cafe near Morelli’s corner.
A young next-door neighbour, Karen McAleese, roller-skates by, does a little spin and pirouette, stops to say Hello.
Me, no good at balance sports, I am so impressed. How do you do that??? how did you do such a graceful turn and come to a halt, right on that precise spot???
I am really curious as to how stable the skates are: I touch one of her skates, gentlest of touches, to see.
The skate scoots away, Karen goes splat, falls on her nose.

I am a senseless idiot sometimes.

I had written up one other blog on Rollerskating around Portrush, there were some loose ends that I wanted to clear up….

Sindy Smith: ‘Hi David, I’ve enjoyed reading your blog on the roller discos, it brought back so many happy memories of carefree days. We worked in the shop at Margoth Caravan site and would spend our free time in the roller disco, upstairs on Dunluce Ave. We would skate for hours.

‘We went a shopping trip to Ballymena for a pair of Blue Roller boots – it must have been the best £20 I ever spent as they gave me so many hours of enjoyment.

‘That Dunluce Ave hall, from memory there were pool tables there too. And I remember a Portrush girl around my age was always there too. She was a brilliant skater, well, better than me, and I always tried to copy her, going backwards and doing fancy turns. I did master it in the end.

‘At the end of the Margoth season we got taken to the Miss Portrush competition in the ‘Counties – always the highlight of the year.’

Portrush, glamour, 1970s, Helena Alcorn: ‘Photos are a heat of Miss Portrush held in the Arcadia – Mary Law, Betty Edgar und moi. And that is me, taken at White Rocks. The Miss Elegance took place in Northern Counties and was open to all women, meaning older women, and married women could enter. No bathing suits. Lily Rohdich was main judge of it.’

And Sindy contines: ‘Every year, Maurice Smyth took the Margoth staff to Miss Portrush – maybe he got free tickets or something. It was held in the Northern Counties in what seemed like a very grand hall. And it was probably my introduction to live music, with ClubSound. I thought they were famous because I had their LP!

‘It felt like a grown-up night out… I thought I was the Belle of the Ball, coming down that big staircase. I had a photo of me with two of the Clubsound band members & the resident Irish wolfhound – I think he was called Finn – but it got lost between my three house moves!’

I try to get more about roller-skating at Portrush but everyone I ask is very vague: Did you skate at Dunluce Ave, or Causeway St? Was it upstairs, or downstairs? Oh I don’t know really. Was there music playing? What did you wear? Oh I don’t know really. Nothing special.

The person in the skating photo, glitzy red top, looks really into it, as if she would remember. Sindy says, ‘She was a work friend, and now is well-known local journalist Gillian Anderson.’

Gillian is elusive – various routes, no reponse. I try a message to a FB contact of her’s, a Graeme Anderson. Excuse me, but might you be Gillian’s brother? Graeme responds quickly – from Canada! ‘No, not related but I have known her since she worked at Margoth Caravan Park.’ He passes on my enquiry to Gillian and finally I make contact with her:

David: Hallo hallo, please are you the person who is in this photo? Might you have good memories of being there – any good stories, to add to my write-up?

Gillian: ‘Hi David, it is indeed me – that photo, quite some time ago. Memories? To be honest I don’t. We worked in Margoth Caravan Park, now Skerries, it was during school summer holidays so it would have been 1978 or ’79. We worked either 9-4 or 4-9 and then we would have gone to either Causeway Street or to Dunluce Avenue. We didn’t really dress up, it was just what we wore before going on to work. Black jeans and a red shirt – it looks shiny but that is just the way the camera flash has lit it up.

‘Later I bought my own roller boots, at Lillywhites sport shop in Edinburgh when I was there with my parents. I always enjoyed it. I was OK at it, I’m not sure I would say I was very good lol. It was always a lot of fun and as far as I can recall we went for a couple of years.

‘I wish I had interesting stories for you but sadly not. I just went there with friends before and after work – no broken legs, no holiday romances for me lol.’

OK thanks Gillian for your time. A little boring though. I will just have to make up some juicy stories about her myself.

(1980s: raft race, Radio 1 roadshow, uni fresher’s week (photos courtesy Caroline Dorsett)
Man, we were killin’ time, we were young and restless, we needed to unwind, but I guess nothing can last forever
forever, no Yeah

Oh, Caroline Dorsett / Snodden tells me, ‘I used to work with Karen McAleese in Rowland’s shop! This is where me, Karen and Sharon McFall along with Rowland and Mary Johnston used to pour most of the trendies in Portrush into their Levi’s, with the aid of a coat hanger. That was fun, trying to get someone who was a size 14 into size 12 jeans. With effort we usually managed it, although couldn’t guarantee that they would be able to fit into them when they got home, and far less be able to breathe. ‘

Photos courtesy Caroline: Rowland’s staff, night out at the Greek restaurant
(David: I remember that restaurant, opposite the train station. A family dinner, I was about 12, feeling big that I had started drinking coffee, and I asked for Greek coffee. A bit shocked at the espresso cup, 3/4 full of a black tar sludge that would be used for road-making…..) 

As I didn’t get any juicy stories from Gillian, I go back to Graeme in Canada and ask, Might you yourself have more memories of that time?

I have developed ‘Martin’s Law of Memory’ which says that, The Further You Are Away From Portrush, The More Details That You Remember’ – I got great contributions from Michael White living in New Zealand, and description of Croc-na-mac housing from Brian Carlin now living in California; and here, a great story from Graeme, now in Canada.

He mentions that he knew my brother Trevor when he worked in Coleraine. ‘I used to put a lot of challenging work across his desk, and he was so good at making it all come together.’ And Trevor remembers, ‘Yeah I almost cancelled his holidays unless he finished a particular piece of work.’

Same Anderson surname but Graeme says, ‘I’m not related to Gillian at all, but I have known her since she worked at Margoth Caravan Park. I was friendly with her brother. Like most I do have fond memories of a ‘magical’ time.

‘The roller disco was an important place for the kids that weren’t going to Kelly’s and the Arcadia just yet. It had a mix of regulars, locals from Portrush and the broader Triangle and rural area, and of course visitors to the town. It mainly catered to the late teens, more so than families. It wasn’t very big, was made by closing half the pool room upstairs in the amusements on Dunluce Ave that I think became the Golden Nugget. They put steel barriers, like on the West and East Strand promenades, down the middle of the room, keeping pool tables to the right and the skating on the left. The skating area was small, and if I remember correctly you had to go one way around the rink.

Photos courtesy Caroline Dorsett: ‘Upstairs at Dunluce Ave – me on the left, with Sharon Kennedy (Graham) and Joe McAuley who was DJ at the roller disco’
Sindy Smith says, ‘It could well have been Caroline Snodden, the good skater that I tried to emulate. A pretty blond girl … i had no chance.’
Caroline says, ‘Well my skating was better than my badminton.’

Graeme remembers about music, that they built a music stage at the back. ‘There were a few DJs that worked there, especially John Devenney certainly spent a lot of time on the decks. Music was very much of the time – a mix of new wave, disco and Two-tone / Ska. John was a Big Beat fan, so you heard ‘Mirror in the Bathroom’ and ‘Tears of a Clown’ a lot. I do have a clear memory of the Jam going straight in to the Radio 1 Charts with ‘Going Underground’, and John blasting the song to loud cheers when he announced it.

‘Occasionally the regular crowd was joined by the older ‘really cool’ crowd around town – Aluminium (Alan Simpson), John the Mod (John Marchin), Monty Montgomery etc – all of us younger kids wondering how they could be so effortlessly cool, looking like Bowie, with pleated trousers, double belts, and silver tips in their hair. That was really the only ‘dressed up’ group that you saw, with many others trying their best to look like rude boys/ girls, with the die hard punks thrown in.

Wow, fantastic photo! Alan Simpson: ‘Here’s a rarity from the vaults .. David Bowie was always the ultimate inspiration.’

‘As these groups got older they graduated to Chesters in the evenings, where the Catering College students from Leander House also hung out. Some of us also spent time in the Sunset Lounge upstairs in the Central Bar. It was run by the Dargan (?) family, and the Coulsons. Their daughters, Margaret & Marie-Louise I think, used to open the back door up the steps from Mark Street Lane to let their ‘younger’ customers in. The younger staff from the ‘Counties also hung out there, and used to get us in to the swimming pool as ‘staff’.

‘Chesters ‘became the place to go in the evenings, especially over the winter. Two vivid memories from there are Alan Simpson DJ-ing one afternoon on the little roof over the main doors to a crowd on the steps and on the grass in front of the old ‘Dole Office’, now 55 North.

Photos courtesy Sindy Smith

Another was of Karen Smith having a birthday party in there. She was called out to the front to speak into the ‘mic, and then Alan played Sunday Girl for her, and stood her up on a beer crate in the middle of the dance floor to dance with her. As you see from the photos, Karen was not as tall as Alan!’

Talking about that rollerskating hall, Sheila Kane writes: ‘Oh I remember a roller disco in an upstairs hall along that row where the old Coastal Bus depot was, in Dunluce Avenue. Great fun, but I never quite mastered the sleek turn required when you reached the wall at either end… I had to do a rather awkward shuffling turn on skates thing! ……I only ever went a handful of times one summer with school friends …. maybe 1979 or 1980?? I just remember the great disco music and hiring the roller skates.’

There was the rink at Dunluce Ave, then August 1980, and news that another rink opens, the ‘Causeway Roller Disco’ – at the Palladium Ballroom venue (where Dana had her professional breakthrough) with its nice sprung dance floor that softened the blow when you stumbled and crashed your head.

Standin’ on your mama’s porch, you told me that you’d wait forever, oh, and when you held my hand, I knew that it was now or never. Those were the best days of my life oh, yeah, back in the summer of ’79

Graeme continues, ‘Going back to the Roller Disco: the lack of room in Dunluce Ave was addressed by the opening of the Causeway Roller, in the hall which became St Patricks Hall. I believe the guy behind it was Jim Armstrong who ran a plumbing or electrical business. He had Iain Mclements and myself doing the music most afternoons. I do remember Paul Rogers making an attempt at the longest skate world record in there at one stage – I think he was from Ballymoney, and was known as ‘Candy’.

‘The Causeway Roller had a much larger floor space, and attracted people from all over. I really don’t remember a lot else about it as we simply went in, did what we had to do, and then left. The decks and music were up on a mezzanine, so you didn’t really interact with the skaters or anyone else, as you were up there by yourself. The music in there was much more mainstream pop, and dance / disco, which was Iain’s thing.’

Sindy Smith: ‘Oh Graeme’s stories jogged my memory a little. I can picture John Devenney from Beresford Ave in Coleraine, him in baggy trousers and a flop of hair that regularly got swept aside

‘Vivid memories of Chester’s, and I have a photo of that very night that Aluminium set my sister Karen on the crate to dance. She sported a Kevin Keegan hairstyle at the time .

‘Julie Turbitt, Pauline & Rosemary Bratten, Linda McDonald, all Portstewart girls, were also regulars at the time, and our other friend Janice Graham from Ballymena and Melissa Gowdy from Glengormley were caravanners and worked with us on Margoth in the shop.

Photos courtesy Sindy Smith: ‘From the left, the girls are Linda McDonald, Pauline Bratten, Janice Graham & my sister Karen Smith. Janice was from Ballymena, her parents had a caravan on Margoth and she worked in the shop with us.
‘On the right is Cara McClean from Portstewart, and a girl Douglas from Coleraine I think.’

We would work until 9pm, then go the the site toilets for a quick change of clothes – if Maurice Smyth was in a strop and didn’t allow us to change in the shop kitchen – then boogie the night away without a care how we were getting home… it was usually barefoot until we got to church corner and start thumbing a lift!

‘Working in the shop was great ’cause we got to meet the boys before we got to Kelly’s or Chester’s, and there were a few wee romances along the way. I couldn’t possibly divulge names but photographic evidence may still be available lol. The Dolphin or Kelly’s hole in the wall was a popular meeting point for the way home. I was able to do all this while babysitting on the site at the same time.. I was about 14, we didn’t own a car, mobile phones didn’t exist, and my parents must have been blind to the smell of alcohol so you could get away with a lot more in those days .’

Caroline: ‘A few of the Barry’s staff that we met with – Ross, Davy, Dave at the Speedway, Ian – I only remember him being called Minging – in charge of the Ghost Train.’
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In closing, Graeme humbly says, ‘So nothing too exciting from me either, just memories of very fun times. A few sad memories for me too – one being Tracy Doak, falling and sitting in the middle of the floor with everyone skating around her, and she was just howling with laughter. Such a beautiful person, taken way too soon. Others who are sadly long gone, and others who are still around, and others who are far flung across the world…..’

I think nothing too exciting is nice, isn’t it? Teenagers having fun, enjoying life, friendships, laughter.

Graeme continues, ‘Thank you for sharing this, David. I think it is wonderful that you have taken the time and effort to deservedly capture the memories in this way. I learned when my own parents passed that not only their own story but the history of the community often passes with them. Thank you for what you do – your contributions to the Portrush sites, and your own blogs do a great service to somewhere I will always treasure and regard as ‘home’. I am also very glad my own family began there, and attended primary school there before we moved to Canada.’

Me and some guys from school, had a band and we tried real hard, Jimmy quit and Jody got married.
The summer of ’79. Oh, when I look back now that summer seemed to last forever and if I had the choice
yeah, I’d always wanna be there. Those were the best days of my life..

PS Karen McAleese never spoke to me again, after that incident.
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Private photographs, treat with respect please, courtesy Sindy Smith, Helena Alcorn, Caroline Dorsett, Alan Simpson

Related blogs to enjoy –
Portrush music: Showbands to Stranglers, ’60s and ’70s
Portrush and the sizzling ’70s
The Night the ‘Counties Died
Leander House girls & RAF Portrush lads
Rollerskating around Portrush

(2/2) Causeway Coast Safari Park

Caroline D: ‘I remember Judd and Lucy Stephenson came to Carnalridge schol. Their mum brought in lion cubs one day in a huge cardboard box. We were allowed to look at them but not touch – just as well, as even though they were small, they had massive paws with very sharp, scratchy claws!

‘What a day that was! I remember thinking how lucky Judd and Lucy were!’

The Opening day of the Causeway Coast Safari Park was Friday May 17th 1970. Elephants were the main attraction at first, then, a couple of months later, having completed their quarantine period the pride of 22 African lions were released into their parkland on Friday 28th August, and they took their pride of place at the safari park. I wrote about those early days in the first blog, Benvarden: into the Lion’s den… worth reading if you haven’t seen it already.

From Daniel Tietze’s archive of leaflets, Benvarden featured strongly in the attractions for the north coast – it was a great success, a great crowd-puller. Kyra W writes, ‘The safari park was so popular! Every Easter Monday and Tuesday, so many visitors, the cars were grid-locked all down the Portrush line!’

And Kyra continues, ‘I worked as a zoo keeper there for ten years. Great times, and so many great stories from there! Like, one of the times that Peter the chimp escaped, he used a green plastic tray as a trampette. He sprinted from the opposite side of his enclosure onto the tray and bounced up the wall lol. He got over the fence, and then chased a young fella Mark from Coleraine across the car park. My granny Mcmullan was sitting in the kiosk said his feet never touched the ground as he was running so fast! 
‘No-one was injured, and Peter was quickly darted and off to sleep he went.’

And an advert of 1972, ‘THERE IS MORE AT THE LION PARK THAN JUST LIONS’ – with a little train ride, amusements, picnic areas, cafe, like in the photos from Stuart W above, and Sean S remembers, ‘And a bounce inside “Lunar Land”! .’

Patricia G: ‘I was staying at Benvarden that summer and woke to the sound of lions roaring every morning – that was a bit bizarre, in the middle of Dervock!’

And Nan P says, ‘I remember it well! One time we were there, a lion climbed on the bonnet of our car, the ranger had to get it away – scary!’

Allison C: ‘A good read again! We used to go to lion park with Sunday school trip or with aunt for a day out
I loved the train and seeing all the animals it was very exciting for us 
‘I remember one trip, an ostrich put its head in through the small opening in the car window: I thought my mum was going to faint lol ‘

Between the Stephensons and Mr. Boyd, the vet, Benvarden proved to be an important breeding ground for endangered animals. The first birth, of five African lion cubs, came in 1972 – the first of many cubs from Henry the lusty lion. Henry had come to Benvarden to retire after his circus career, but who bred like a rabbit.

And the safari park developed beyond elephants and lions: other animals came in two by two hurrah hurrah: baboons in 1972, though they had the tendency to rip off your windscreen wipers in the search for peanuts. Sheila K remembers going to Benvarden ‘on a couple of bus tours – as my dad would never have taken his good car through where it might have got damaged by a curious baboon !’

A puma, though it made the headlines in 1973 by escaping.

And in 1978, Bengal tigers are introduced, although at first they were cagey and cowered up close to the fence, being unused to such open space!

And in 1981, the park made history with the first baby llama to be bred in captivity in Ireland.

Benvarden was a great wildlife reserve, and timely in an era of consciousness of the worldwide loss of natural habitats. The park was world-class, but it opened to the background of the troubles and the world didn’t come to N. Ireland any more. Bombs and troubles and protests, and people avoiding crowds and nervousness of the chance of an explosion at the park that would release all the animals into the Antrim countryide. Power cuts in 1972 did result in the monkey cages opening, as in the newspaper article above. But other news that same day were of the troubles – bombs, IRA, burnt out factories, a russian submarine surfacing and calling for the end of internment – and the monkeys thought it safer to stay within their cages in Dervock.

Left, Gareth R: ‘Photo of me and my brothers with a lion cub at Benvarden, about 1974’;
Right, Stuart Walker: Benvarden 1982

Left, Lisa A: ‘This photo was at the safari park, 1980s – great hair! I look about 9 there, I vaguely remember that we met up with the others that day, and we went on a ride that really didn’t feel very safe! ‘
Centre, Gareth R: ‘Photo of me and my brothers with a lion cub at Benvarden, about 1974’
Right, Stuart W, Benvarden, 1982;

Kyra W: ‘I remember, a big fella full of confidence went in to fix the electric fence of the 17-strong crab-eating Macaque monkeys. Well, we warned him not to look at the monkeys or provoke them – but he went on in and acted inappropriately, strutting his stuff.
‘It wasn’t very long before we heard him screaming, Get me out of here! lol. They had chased him into the moat and pinned him up against the electric fence.
‘He came out very embarrassed and soaked to the skin.
‘That put the big strong man out of him ‘

Kyra I started 1988 aged 17 or 18, just out of Tech.’ Left, photo, 1994; and right, ‘That was me holding the cub, I was 22 lol’

Benvarden was privately-owned by Pat and Louise and they built it up to have 102 animals, of which 52 were lions, many Henry-ettas. But with the collapse of tourists from overseas, in 1982 it is up for sale.
The Stephensons were pleased to announce a new responsible buyer, reportedly with big development plans, but I don’t think the ideas of shark pool with dolphins came to anything.

Me, I visited the lion park during the 1970s; I went off to uni in the 1980s. I had scottish buddies come to visit but Benvarden didn’t feature on my places-to-see list. I guess I was never too keen on zoos, even spacious ones like at Benvarden, and like all visitor attractions they needs ongoing big investment to renew and refresh their attractivenes; my feeling was that the park was declining, conditions deteriorating, maybe better suited for kiddies, and I didn’t visit there again.

Lion cubs, photos courtesy Kyra. ‘He was a heavy weight boxer. Can’t remember his name for the life of me lol. Oh found him – Ray Close. He went up against Chris Eubanks.’

It was up for sale again in 1986. The number of animals had been reduced to 34, but financial difficulties and surviving reportedly only with donations of food from Crazy Prices supermarket. There are tax payment troubles and bankruptcy.

A decline, those last days at Benvarden. Visitors amused themselves by throwing in packets of cigarettes or sweets into the monkey enclosure, and Peter the chimp’s party tricks were to open the packet and chain-smoke the cigarettes, and to unwrap and eat the sweets.

Caroline D says above that when the Stephensons brought the lion cubs to school, they were warned of sharp claws and not to touch; the camel that broke the lion’s back for Benvarden was the girl inside the tiger’s cage, taking selfies. It was too much for the USPCA and in 1997 they intervened to take over the site, converting it to a cats shelter.

The smoking chimp Pete and his companion Freddie had just been re-housed to a Welsh zoo. Re-housing the other animals was challenging but a success was one of the pride of lions, 19 of them, moved to a zoo at sunny Marbella, by the end of that year, 1997.

Photos courtesy Kyra. Chimps, with Peter celebrating his 25th birthday. ‘Yes, Peter the smoking chimp, and Freddie the ejit, oh he always tried to copy Peter.’

Mixed years, under USPCA stewardship. There were lurid tabloid stories of animal husbandry, of headless corpses being found: putting elderly animals to sleep may or may not have been appropriate but sentiment had turned against the park, and 2006 seems like the complete end of the nature reserve.
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Looking back over the years, I am dead impressed that the Stephensons really seem to have a tremendous animal husbandry program, with Benvarden established as a world-class breeding reserve for African lions, and under the supervision of curator-vet James Boyd. The 1970s seem to me to be its heydey, with not so good years at the end.

Kyra thinks over her ten years there too, from 1986 with the Duncans from Kells and through to the first year with the USPCA, and thinks about the end of each day:

‘Closing time was at 6pm, and the crowds left and the gates were closed. The animals enjoyed the quiet at the end of the day, as their keeper-friends came into their runs for supper time feed and clean up.

‘Dusk, and the lights were dimmed, and the animals settled down into their houses or favourite sleeping places.

‘Me, I worked there for ten years. It was exciting, exhilirating, moving, precious, such fun being there. It was the best job that I ever had.’

==============================
Other info –
With thanks to Roger McCallum, for Benvarden brochures of 1970 and letter from the family attic, and Daniel Tietze with his wonderful archive of Portrush photos and leaflets from his years here.
Overview of latter years of Benvarden – !!warning – not so nice!!
Other Facebook site, Remembering the Causeway Safari Park

Related blogs –
Postcards from Portrush: Donkeys (II) on the West Strand
Postcards from Portrush: Donkeys (I) on the East Strand
Sgt. Fulton – last of RIC, first and last of RUC
Empire builders, Organ grinders, Spanish ladies – it’s Portrush Carnival!
The Girona: Robert Stenuit in “The Dive”, 1968
On the bus to Dunluce School, 1970s

‘Portrush Tales’ by David Martin – Index of topics

(1/2) Benvarden: into the Lion’s den…

About 1974. My eldest brother spends his weekends sanding and tackling rust holes and painting his first car, a purple-y Ford Anglia estate, out on the back lane.
It is a grey, miserable, damp Sunday afternoon.
‘Who wants to go to the Lion Park?’ he says. ‘Rain? It is only a sun-shower!’, he says. ‘Let’s go!’
Where’s the sun? I said.

So, outing to Benvarden, with 3 or 4 of us in the back of the estate.
Sunshine, after the shower?
No, it was grey and rainy all afternoon.

The damp weather affecting the car electrics. A lasting memory of that trip? Car, broken down in the lion enclosure, with the monkeys leaping on the car bonnet pulling the windscreen wipers off in their search for peanuts, and of lions sitting quietly, watchfully, looking at us, drooling, licking their lips hungrily, waiting to pounce if you thought to get out or even to open the car window to shout for assistance….

Stepping back…… 18th November 1969. It is coming soon! The Belfast Telegraph announces that the Stephensons / Trufellis are setting up a 50-acre reserve at Benvarden. Those great circus families, top animal trainers, and their sister Lucy will join after her tour with the Barnum circus.

Excitement is building, looking forward to the new lion park…..

Sheila Kane writes, “My first inkling of what was going to be set up was one summer’s day when I was out for a run with my grandparents. We were having a picnic, sitting against the estate wall along Benvarden Rd. and my grandfather said, ‘This time next year there will be lions right behind us.’
Well! you can imagine how my imagination went wild after that! Thinking about safaris and jungle adventures that I loved reading about in my dad’s old Boys’ Own annuals … oh the adventures I was going to have at this Safari Park! “

23rd February 1970, and Sgt. Fulton writes a birthday thank you letter to his grandchildren, written on ‘Wild Game Reserve’ -headed notepaper – Sgt. Fulton was good friends with the Stephensons and the Trufellis – and he says, ‘I am sending you a brochure of the wild life [Benvarden park] which will be open at Easter ….. you will be able to see it, if you are all good runners when the lions get going.’

His grandson Roger finds that letter in the attic while searching for memorabilia of him, and laughs that The Sergeant signs off as ‘Man’ – Roger’s name for him, his first words as a toddler, pet name used here even in Roger’s teenage years.

April 1970 and the Belfast Telegraph announces that an Indian elephant has packed his trunk and arrives at Portrush’s Causeway Coast Safari park, in time for the Opening day, Friday May 17th 1970

The elephants were the main attraction at first as the pride of lions are still in quarantine. Karen Monteith writes, ‘I remember going there with my dad. He had sweets in his pocket and the elephant snuffled his big long trunk in and stole all the sweets! ‘

Other features and adventures developed in the play park alongside the animals. Daniel Tietze’s memorabilia of the early 1970s includes photos of his family trips, including being on the little train at Benvarden.

Sheila K, “The wee train was great fun … and the African hut style shops… I remember one selling plants and another ‘African’ souvenirs. Most of all, I remember the smell… the earthy, animal (probably dung??) smell on warm sunny day trips there.”

And then, a few months later, the lions big release day. On Friday 28th August 1970, 11am, the 22 African lions, ranging from yearlings to fully-maned seven-year olds, were released to roam on the range, and take their pride of place at the safari park.

Daniel’s carefuly archived Portrush folders are a treasure trove of tourist leaflets and information of the sizzling 1970s. It shows the big tourism push by the council and Tourist Board, with the lion park featuring strongly, up there alongside Royal Portrush golf course – Benvarden was a great crowd-puller.

Me at Dunluce School, Mr Binnie English class in Form 3, about 1976. Every year he took that group to the film studio at the university for an afternoon, I guess it was for practice of team work, script-writing and things. My celebrity moment was as guest interviewee, talking about animal security at Benvarden – I guess I had just visited there, but otherwise I have no idea why thattopic. My breakthrough to fame and stardom? Well, almost fifty years later – I still shrivel up in my chair thinking of it, it was so unforgettable, embarassing.

Barbara S remembers, “My dad was the vet at the Safari park in the 70’s. We were living in a caravan at the park while our new house was being built. Barry’s helter skelter was wintering at the park beside our caravan. During a storm one night, the helter skelter blew down on top of the caravan! We got a shock, but no injuries.”

George Lavery; “Ah yes I knew Barbara then as Boyd. She was a gorgeous looking young woman, as I remember! She may remember me with this story:

“It was my first day reporting to Benvarden Lion Park: I worked in Barry’s Amusements and they loaned me out as the Lion Park needed more staff. On arrival Mr Boyd informed me that before gates open to the public, all litter in the car park to be lifted and binned! Easy enough job I thought; what they didn’t tell me was that before the doors opened to the public, the ostriches are allowed to roam around the car park freely.

“Now I’m standing picking up litter in the middle of a large area when out of the corner of my eye I noticed this rather large bird making it’s way towards me, slowly at first. It looked quite comical, the way it walked, the head nodding back and forward as it seemed to pick up pace. At this point I realized that things in the distance seem small, but were now getting much much bigger and very quickly. Dropping everything and getting a head start on this overgrown turkey I began to run at full pelt. Mr Boyd saw what was happening and jumped on what could only be described as a motorbike for a dwarf, and give chase after the ostrich, with one hand steering and the other with a brush shaft.

“I’m sorry that I don’t have a video of this Benny Hill type frolic but your imagination should suffice!”

I will do the second part of this story next week, do you have memories of Benvarden and photos and stories that you would like to share, that I can include?

George Lavery tells me, “One story right off the top of my head is about the photo, above! Many years after Benvarden closed, when I was much older, I was staying at a B&B just outside Banbridge. One evening there I was sitting in the lounge talking to the owners and the lion park came up in conversation, and that I had worked there. The owner showed me a photo album, with the photo below of his young daughter in the cart – and it is me with the donkey!!

Sheila: “PS …. I’m a little envious of your trip and the excitement of breaking down under the watchful eyes of the lions and the terror of the monkey attack …. What a chance for David the Intrepid Explorer to save the day and lead his tribe to safety. “

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Other info –
With thanks to Roger McCallum, for Benvarden brochures of 1970 and letter from the family attic, and Daniel Tietze with his wonderful archive of Portrush photos and leaflets from his years here.
Overview of latter years of Benvarden – !!warning – not so nice!!
Other Facebook site, Remembering the Causeway Safari Park

Related blogs –
Postcards from Portrush: Donkeys (II) on the West Strand
Postcards from Portrush: Donkeys (I) on the East Strand
Sgt. Fulton – last of RIC, first and last of RUC
Empire builders, Organ grinders, Spanish ladies – it’s Portrush Carnival!
The Girona: Robert Stenuit in “The Dive”, 1968
On the bus to Dunluce School, 1970s

‘Portrush Tales’ by David Martin – Index of topics

Postcards from Portrush: Donkeys (II) on the *West* Strand

“No day trip to Portrush would be complete without a ride on Rose, Jack, Billy or Benny, the donkeys on the beach owned by Jesse Edgar.”

The ponies and donkeys, on the East or West strand. A timeless, summer at the seaside activity!

The yards at the back of the Edgar’s house, down the terrace on Croc na mac, were their base for breakfast and for saddling up, after their overnight grazing at Parker Avenue field. Then they trooped off down the back lane to the Portrush beaches, with their daughter Fern and a giggle of youngsters earning summer job pocket money.

Its worth reading about this in the first blog, here’s the link Postcards from Portrush: Donkeys on the East Strand, if you haven’t read it already.

I remember Fern’s daughter Joanne as just a toddler, helping out as toddlers do. Joanne writes, ‘The beach donkeys and ponies were a big part of my life growing up. It was up early and over to my Granny and Papa’s house at 36 Croc-na-mac to pick up bridles and then over to the donkey field to get our charges. Vicki K remembers them, that ‘Jessie Edgar’s pony field was across from my granny’s in Parker Avenue’ – and then a swift canter with the donkeys and ponies back over the football pitch and in to Mrs McConaghy’s back garden, a few houses along, to give the animals a spruce up while they enjoyed their breakfast nosebags…’

Its a timeless activity! There’s a postcard of donkeys on the beach, 1920s, and there they are again, in glorious multicolour, in the 1980s!

After their breakfast would be the parade of a dozen donkeys and ponies, each with teir leader, out along the back lane, on their way to the beaches. And Sheila K: ‘Oh David, I remember the donkeys and ponies down the back lane and of always having a sugar lump or two to feed them if we knew we were going that way… or pulling up handfuls of grass from the verge if we had no other offerings.

‘And I remember too, two elderly spinster sisters, the Misses Cochrane, who lived in Rodney Street and who swore that Edgars’ animals’ manure was the reason that their roses and their rhubarb did so well. The smaller sister used to gather up any droppings left as the donkeys and ponies went to and from the beach with a short-handled coal shovel, put them in a galvanised bucket and head home as if she had just been panning for gold and had bagged a bucketful of nuggets!’

Out onto the lane and then, Joanne, ‘We split up to either the ‘Big Beach’ or the ‘Wee Beach’ – the East or West strands. I see Council adverts of the 1950s of licence for eight ponies or donkeys on the East strand and four on the West strand.

Joanne continues, ‘If it was the big beach then Shimo, Ken Bolton’s beautiful wee collie, was waiting to spend the day with us. We scaled the gate of the Bolton’s big Strandmore house, overlooking the East strand – it seemed an insurmountable height when I was small – to get buckets of water for them, while someone ran to the grocers to collect the carrot tops that the grocer kept for the donkeys, something they loved.’

‘If it was the wee beach, the West strand, then the tap outside the Teas and Ices cafe was much handier! And there was Maggie and Linda at the deckchairs to say hello to and the craic was good.’

Speaking of deck chairs: I don’t think I have mentioned Mrs. Frizelle anywhere elsewhere in my series, but here she is, one of the stalwarts of Portrush, promoting tourism, dancing lessons, choreographer at pantomime, deckchairs, Blue Pool diving displays, RNLI and British Legion, ….. – she herself was a ‘Great Institution’ of Portrush,

There’s images of the West strand above. Caroline D says, ‘I remember them well and loved them. I was always pea green watching the lucky ones who worked with them. ‘ – to be honest though I find only a few photos, no postcards, of the donkeys or ponies on the wee beach – do let me know, if you have pics of the animals, on either of the beaches!

The animals processed along through the dry arch along the west strand promenade and then down the slope at te Teas n Ices down onto the beach. Katy Diamond writes, ‘I always remembered the West Strand donkeys run by Claire and Ann MacIntyre ‘, and I see pride of place in the August 1974 Belfast Telegraph seaside article below is Claire wth two donkeys – and there too is Ray Mason of Portrush Pottery, and Joy May of May’s Fashions, if you remember those shops.

Allison C: ‘This such a great read and photos! I remember going to the donkey field as a child when visiting my grandparents on Croc na Mac. Was there a donkey called Joey or Bobby at the east strand? Not sure what his name was, anyway he bit my sister’s finger when we were at CSSM one morning. I will never forget me trying to run home with her terrified that it would fall off. OK I was only about 8 and she was about 5 – imagination was my strong point! ‘

Vicki K writes about her family, ‘I definitely think horsey-ness runs in family blood. Claire’s daughter Olivia had a pony and now I also have a horse, and Tracey has 2 donkeys.’ And Joanne’s family too, with a long love for the animals. The photo below – so historic! – just received from Joanne’s family album, image has never been seen before! ‘My grandfather’s riding school – where the Maxol station is now. He ran the riding school, and as well my great-grandfather also did beach donkeys.”

I guess that every kid visiting Portrush got a ride on the donkey, and I guess dozens of youngsters earned a little pocket money helping the Edgar’s with the animals.
Brian S: ‘I remember it well. I used to lead one of the donkeys – they would stand on your foot if you were not careful!’
The pay was not a path to riches though. Vicki K: ‘I used to love the stories that my aunt Claire and Ann told about working with the beach ponies, of a horse called Tara, and how little they got paid a shilling, an amount equivalent to like 50p a week!’

Left, photo courtesy Alice R, about 1930: ‘This is Albert Rohdich with his mum on the beach. Albert would have been 95 yesterday!’
and Right, donkey photo courtesy Pauline Rigby (Hunt), though not of Portrush: ‘I love the Portrush story, David! And the photo here is of Dana, her with lots of connections to Portrush, here with impressario Joe Longthorne during one of her summer seasons at Scarborough, before she went to America. And we still have donkeys on the beach in Scarborough, where I live now x’

Sheila K: I remember as a child wanting to work with the donkeys at the beach because you got to ride them there and back … until I realised that in-between, the work involved an awful lot of just standing about holding reins all day ‘.
George Davies: ”I used to lead the donkeys up and down to the marker flag all week for half-a-crown. Well, we did this more for the joy of riding the donkeys down to the beach and home again at night! I still remember riding a pony home and going past the gas works when a loud whistle scared the pony and he took off! The guy on a bike managed to stop it before the crossroads, going on to the Ballywillan road!’

Joanne continues, ‘I can’t remember much about our customers because, like all the leaders, all we cared about was our animals. I can remember Rosie, Clancy, Mitzi, Meg and Duchess the donkeys, and Tara, Candy, Goldie, Tanya, Sandy, Jet, Dusty and Rue the ponies. There were others, but those are the ones that stood out for me, and I could tell you about each of them to this day: Tara’s patience, Jet’s cheekiness, about the wonders of my first ever canter on Dusty, about how Rosie loved her ears scratched inside and how she refused to go to the wee beach because it wasn’t ‘her’ beach, about how Sandy was a nightmare to catch …… I could go on and on. To this day, many of the leaders I meet out and about, like the Una in the photo above, say it was the best job they ever had!!’

Mr. and Mrs. Edgar were the same generation as my mum and dad, getting married the same year and living in Croc na mac, ‘Honeymooners Row’. From the Edgar’s family album, the beautiful photo above. Joanne: ‘Oh this is one of my favourite photographs! Papa and Granny on Trixie and Jock, taken in 1948, the year they got married.’

Thirty or forty years later, years of donkeys and ponies, and I guess they were heading towards their retirement in the 1980s, and I guess also animal poo on the beach became considered un-cool and a health risk. I think donkey rides as an attraction at Portrush faded away in the early 1980s. The last newspaper photo of donkeys that I see, below, is of August 1981 (with some familiar names in the article), and Joanne reckons that her Papa had them until mid 1980s. If you have photos & info of the donkeys and ponies, that you’d like to share, please do send, to add to the social record.

So, donkeys on the Portrush beaches – really, a timeless activuity. The postcard, below left, is of donkeys on the East Strand, about 1910s. In the centre is, ‘Sixteen- year old Kathlen Tosh, of Coleraine, photographed in 1959.’ She is sitting very gracefully, but looks quite a lot older than 16 to me.

And right, from Belfast Telegraph, August 1978, ‘A day trip to Portrush would not be complete without a ride on Rose, Jack, Billy or Benny, the donkeys on the East Strand owned by Jesse Edgar. The two assistants are Louise Quinn and Linda Kelly, both from Portrush.’

What shines through to me is the care and affection for the donkeys and ponies. Sheila K reviews this and writes, ‘Oh David, even the ponies and donkeys get elevated to celebrity status via your memoirs and attention-grabbing writings!’ And that each one had their own character and personality – for example, Joanne: ‘The photo below is of Mum and a pony called Cheetah – Mum says that Cheetah insisted on having a snooze every day at lunchtime lol’.

There was the fantastic historic photograph of her family’s riding school, reflecting the several generations in her family, and Joanne finishes,

‘I’m proud to be my grandparents’ granddaughter and to have played a tiny part in the happy memories of so many people. Oh, and while none of the originals are around, there are still two donkeys in the family – I just can’t imagine a life without donks in it!!!’

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With thanks to Joanne Gibson for the story and family photographs, Sheila Brown for the postcard images, the contributuions from Vicki K and everyone.
Heritage Newsletter, The Beach Donkeys and Ponies
Newspaper articles from https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Postcards from Portrush’ series:
(I) the Story of Eglinton St.
(II) the West Strand & Harbour
(III) Harbour Tales
(IV) the Recreation Grounds, renewed
(V) Landsdowne, ‘Counties & The White House
(VI) Diving at the Blue Pool

Postcards from Portrush: Landsdowne, the ‘Counties, & The White House

The fifth in the series, from the Cornucopia of Postcards from the Exquisite Collection of Sheila Brown, as we continue our walk from the harbour and up over Ramore Head and down Lansdowne towards the Bloe Pool.

<< this is work in progress – i haven’t found anyone new who can tell interesting stories of this area – let me know, if you have some to add in to this blog !! >>

Landsdowne. Lovely terrace, with the Tower House on the corner there. Trish Gray writes: “Tower House! my Dad was born in the room with the glass veranda!!!“

Portandhu little port, in the right photo. Trish: “We got an afternoon off school from Carnalridge when Billy Gregg opened Portandoo! Total delight!” as described in blog, Gregg’s dinghy pool, Portandhu lido.

Portrush fishing fleet @ Portandhu –
(I) ‘No Man’s Land’ at Portandhu – – early years
(II) ‘Nobody’s Child’ at Portandhu – bringing it up to date

Rosemarie Severin: “‘Billy Gregg the Boatman’, Dad used to call him..” Trish gray: “Oh, Mr. Gregg to me! otherwise Dad would have chased me!! (Though they were both good friends- boats, harbour, etc!)”
Quite (very) formal in those days. I remember my Dad ‘tipping his hat’ to everyone as he walked up Main Street, stopping to chat etc..
Even people I knew very well as a child, were Mr, Mrs or Miss X.
Or for very close family friends- Auntie/ Uncle…
The narrow line was Mrs C, mother of my BBF, tho we didn’t use that terminology then!!

Loud music on Lansdowne green!
Left, an historic photo! I dentified the image as being of Sharples circus, and newspaper archives had them as having a pitch on Lansdowne Green, in the 1920s. The posh residents thought the circus was un-cool though – noisy, busy, and that Lansdowne was the only place in the town that had a genteel promenade – but being spoilt by circus revellers.

And, Radio 1 Roadshow, 1980 & 1981 (photos courtesy Caroline Dorsett)
– above right, Kid Jensen with Bruce Penhall, 1980s, and
– below, left, Steve Wright, and right, Kid Jensen with Bruce Penhall

Garden for the Northern Counties? Black and white image, and colorised version, hand-painted over
The postcard left, is 1915, to Mrs. Joe Halshead in Oldham: “Many thanks for the big box of flowers which arrived all right today.“

and Right, July 1904, “Having a good time here but weather not the best. Giving up, going home on Saturday.“

Oh! Nice smooth tennis courts on the ‘Counties green – but then with the band playing on it !!! Shocking. Churning up the nice tennis lawn.

Left, is 1913 postcard, from Londonderry Hotel: “Dear Aunt [May Parker, in Huddersfield], we have just arrived, and everything is fine. We are a little busy. I send you this boring postcard as my excuse for not writing a letter, love from Dora.“
(Antrim Gardens – site of the ancient abbey of Portrush, described in blog, The Night the ‘Counties Died.)
Right, 1908, postcard of the band playing on Counties green, and the greeting from K. to Mrs. Hunter in Belfast, below, must surely get the award for The Most Useless Postcard Message Ever:

Weather features on a number of postcards:
“Having a good time, I thought we were going to get blown away on Monday night.”
“Here for the afternoon with our church choir, but it has come on very wet, just pouring.”
“Having good time but weather not the best, too much rain, just pouring. Giving up and going home on Saturday, Caroline.”
“Enjoying ourselves though weather not too good. Went to watch the Fireworks Display but it just poured. I hope the weather will be better for you. Marie Leonard.”

A visit to Portrush to see me mum, I stay a super few nights in the Ramada hotel, covid times. One of the team there lets me out the door to go and look at the sculpture over in the gardens opposite, and she tells me, “Myself and the rest of my primary 6 school class, from Mill Strand Integrated Primary School, helped the archaeologic team dig up all the artifacts during their investigation of Antrim gardens in 2005. For a bunch of 10 year olds it was a very fun and memorable week helping the archaeologic team, they then designed the Antrim Garden to reflect what we found, as you can see on the stature in the middle of the gardens. Hope you enjoy! Amber.”

The Northern Counties, exterior and ballroom.
Richard Brown: “….the Northern Counties’ fires. We got awakened by the fire alarm for both fires, and got up and watched them in the middle of the night. I have this photo from I assume the day after the second one.”

And then, that masterpiece of Portrush, the White House, written up in several blogs, including “Leadership at The White House” showing the wonderful example from Mr. Hamilton,

and “The White House Tales”, by Gerald McQuilken:
(IV) Socialising, by Gerald
(III) Styling, by Gerald
(II) Skiving, by Gerald
(I) Starting, by Gerald

And then, we continue our walk, down to the Blue Pool and then to the East Strand, in the next episodes.
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‘Postcards from Portrush’ series:
(I) the Story of Eglinton St.
(II) the West Strand & Harbour
(III) Harbour Tales
(IV) the Recreation Grounds, renewed
(V) Landsdowne & Lower Main St.
(VI) Diving at the Blue Pool
(VII): Donkeys on the East Strand

Postcards from Portrush: Donkeys (I) on the East Strand

If you were visiting Portrush, what would you want to do? Well, buy popcorn and ice cream and sweets and go to the beach, The White House, the amusements, ……. Pretty high up on the list would be a ride on the donkeys – a traditional activity, fare for a hundred years and more!

In this ‘Postcards from Portrush’ series we have walked from the Croc-na-mac boulevard, passing Eglinton St. and through the dry arch onto the West strand and the harbour and then the Recreation grounds and Portandoo and Lansdowne and Lower Main St, stopping to watch the diving at the Blue Pool….. the route illustrated with postcards from Sheila Brown’s great collection, Now continuing our walk, down the steps past the salmon fisheries, the ladies bathing place, and along past the Arcadia dance hall………

…..And then, we are onto the East Strand, and there is the procession of donkey and ponies. Timeless. The photos above are the 1950s and the 1960s. I think everyone will have a donkey photograph of them with visitors, and below, 1970s, is Sheila Brown’s: ‘David this photo is about 45 years ago, about 1978! The lady to the left is my brother’s wife and two daughters from Vancouver, and my son Trevor on the donkey.’

And so memorable! Scott F, responds, ‘That’s me in the photo, holding the white donkey Snowball!’ – remembering the event, of over 40 years ago! 🙂

So, donkey rides, such a big part of Portrush life and visitor attraction – and I see it features there, up alongside other wild animals in a tourism brochure of 1971:

Me, Portrush Tales, I like to write about things that I have some connection with. About the donkeys, they lived just a handful of houses down the terrace, at the Edgar’s house, such a part of Croc na mac life. There’s a photo below from Maureen, of her sister Sandra on one of the ponies, so familiar and everyday that peope like Maureen and Heather R can’t remember anything about them! ‘Unfortunately no specific memories! Jessie Edgar’s donkeys were always just there…. – part of the Croc-na-mac fixtures and fittings!’

But the donkeys were transformed in my brother Kenny’s imagination into being in the wild west, and there he is, with Ian Bellingham, up on their coal shed roof, cowboys ready with their pistols to defend the ponies and donkeys and the waggon train going past…..

You can see, in the 1960s that the backs of Croc-na-mac houses were yards, scrubby, outhouses, workshops, grassy, bird cages for the Bellinghams a few doors up, rooms where families lived for the summer while they rented out the main house. Wire fences, not many walls, few cars, no garages in those days. Our back yard was lawn where we could play football and tennis – and there was a centre ‘pillar’ in our back wall, a brick and a half wide, just right to act as cricket stumps.

And the back lane was scrabbly, rough too. Watts coal lorry deliveries to our coal shed, and the horse-and-cart of the scary rag-and-bone man that we knew as the bogeyman. The back lane was ‘adopted’ by the Council at some point, and tarmac’ed, though Ian King writes, ‘I quite miss the back lane the way it was though – big puddles and pebbles, but I suppose it had to be modernised.’  The back lane became a nice smooth tarmac and we could play tennis or football and learn to cycle on it. No garage and when we got a car, Dad rented one behind the filling station on Eglinton St. Me learning to drive, that allowed the putting-the-car-in-the-garage task to be at least a lap of the town and maybe via Portstewart prom too, as part of my driving practice. Later Dad had the garage built with up-and-over door, so the width of the back yard ‘football pitch’ for kids’ play was reduced, but not our chance to have a drive around the town.

And the back lane was for the procession of the donkeys to and fro the beach, from Mr. & Mrs. Edgar’s up the road, with their daughter Fern, with a troop of youngsters from around the area earning summer job pocket money.

I remember Fern’s daughter Joanne as just a toddler, helping out too. Joanne writes, ‘The beach donkeys and ponies were a big part of my life growing up. It was up early and over to my Granny and Papa’s house at 36 Croc-na-mac to pick up bridles and then over to the donkey field to get our charges. A swift canter back over the football pitch and in to Mrs McConaghy’s back garden to give the animals a spruce up while they enjoyed their breakfast nosebags…”

Raymond McConaghy remembers, ‘They saddled up in our back garden, number 30 Croc-na-mac Road, before their morning trip to the beach’; delightful, though Ian King, another neighbour, writes, ‘Well I really didn’t like the donkeys to be honest – their size (when I was little) and the stench.’

Joanne: ‘Me in the saddle, in Mrs McConaghys back garden, about 1980. I’m not sure who all the people are but the pony is Candy’ (on the right, Laura-lee in the great blue flares, and Cindy M)

Then, every summer morning would be the parade of a dozen or so donkeys and ponies out along the back lane, on their way to the beaches. Joanne, ‘After ther breakfast, we split up to either the ‘Big Beach’ or the ‘Wee beach’. If it was the big beach then Shimo, Ken Bolton’s beautiful wee collie, was waiting to spend the day with us. We scaled the Bolton’s gate at Strandmore – it seemed an insurmountable height when I was small – to get buckets of water while someone ran to the grocery to collect the carrot tops that the grocer kept for the donkeys, something they loved.’

Left, out the front at Croc-na-mac. Joanne: ‘Maureen Kane will recognise these boys! Jet is the pony and Rosie is the donkey’ and Nigel J writes, ‘Darren in the red, I’m in the navy coat and Neil G has the red boots on.’
and right, Joanne: ‘I know who this is but if I tell, he’ll kill me and he’s bigger than I am these days lol!!?’

My Dad’s roots were in farming, and he was always a keen gardener, green-fingered. He’s out the back garden, planting roses or something, and says to me, David go over and ask the Edgar’s for some horse manure. So off I go, and I ask Mr. Edgar, who says, Yes sure, bring a bag with you and shovel it up.
Hmm – that wasn’t quite what I expected.

A reviewer writes, “Oh David!! That is so coincidental on my walk on Saturday there was horse dung on the path and I was cross I had no doggy bags to scoop it up for my shrubs Wasn’t Mr Edgar smart Yes I do remember the rides on the beach, most vaguely the excitement and fear of these huge looking beasts, how to get on and how to stay on and not scream head off. I remember I was more happy to watch them – they were really just docile and hard working little donkeys.”

I remember the donkeys on the East strand more, but Joanne reminds me that there were animals on the west strand too; the Council advert above is 1956, selling the licenes for trading, for photography, for ponies or donkies on the east strad (8 animals) and west (4).

Donkies and ponies on the beach – a great summer activity. Above left photo, Joanne says, ‘There is Jet and Sandy on the beach’. But what did the donkeys do in winter-time? Fred Ramage explained, in 1964:

That article says, ‘…donkeys… on the East strand for over 30 years’ – well I see donkeys featuring much earlier. There’s a postcard of early 1900s with the donkeys on the ‘north strand’, and donkeys in twee Irish heritage too, and with several donkey races in Portrush Regatta of 1887, that’s 135 years ago.

End of Part I! The next part will discuss the animals on the West Strand too.
Do send, if you have interesting photos about the donkeys and ponies at Portrush. And / or might you have a story to tell of your expereinces with the animals? ..do write a paragraph or two, and the photos & stories could go into the next blog, coming in next few days. 🙂

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With thanks to Joanne Gibson for the story and family photographs, Sheila Brown for the postcard images, Maureen & Ian & Raymond for photos nd stories, Daniel Tietze for the Tourist Brochure,
Newspaper articles from https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Postcards from Portrush’ series:
(I) the Story of Eglinton St.
(II) the West Strand & Harbour
(III) Harbour Tales
(IV) the Recreation Grounds, renewed
(V) Landsdowne, ‘Counties & The White House
(VI) Diving at the Blue Pool
(VII) Donkeys on the East Strand

Empire builders, Organ grinders, Spanish ladies – it’s Portrush Carnival!

We found the awesome photograph of our neighbour Sgt. Fulton, with the photo caption, ‘Carnival Day at Portrush, 1935’. Oh looking at newspaper archive, the Carnival was such a big event, so many really fancy costumes! And many of the familiar Portrush surnames, be it grandparents, uncludes, aunts, ……. of people that you know.

Oh, I find that there were TWO carnivals that summer, with fancy dress, and other events of fireworks, and bands, ….. there was a lot of stuff going on in 1935!

That’s Sergeant Fulton there on the left, with the three stripes on his sleeve, supervising the carnival day procession as it goes past the train station, in summer 1935.

Then, thinking about the events that happened that year…. Early in the year, the Sports Committee, the organising group, met in March to review the previous season’s activity:

But oh dear, the Committee had organised 18 events in 1934, but ALL except one were dreadful weather, washed-out, and visitors numbers were poor. And they had experimented with adding band promenades last year, quite a lot of expense, but they ‘had not received the support anticipated’ – no wonder as band promenades are pretty boring. It was a great effort by everyone, especially Capt. Shutt, but financially overall they were in deficit and disappointed. Mr Cunningham, the Town Clerk – that’s him in the photo below with Sgt. Fulton, on that Carnival day – tries to cheer everyone up, that taking the weather and everything into consideration there was no cause to be down-hearted, and with Council support there were more prosperous times lay ahead.

So, suitably encouraged, they continue with their plans for a big series of events for 1935: fancy dress carnivals, bowling tournaments, fireworks, military band entertainment, military tattoos, hard court tennis championships, and also swimming galas and yet more band concerts. Actually a program that sounds pretty familiar to me, growing up in Portrush! Plus ça change.

Excitement for the year’s activities is building…… There is a great celebration for the King’s Silver Jubilee, in May, with children’s events and a torchlight procession to a huge bonfire on Ramore Head.

And then Wednesday 17th July, is the opening event of a summer of fun in Portrush, with a parade beginning at 3pm (just like the time showing ion the train station clock):

It was the Belfast Military Band who led the July procession (and later in the summer, it was the Leicestershire Regimental Band who led the carnival in August).

And good news, the weather was ideal, the crowds thronged the streets and flocked to the natural grandstand of Ramore Head to enjoy the judging of the fancy dress. The competitors were your grandparents or uncles and aunts! There are the surnames Clarke, Ross, McGuigan, and in the centre is the family of Capt. Shutt himself, winning a prize as a basket of flowers.

Alan McF: “Brilliant David, thank you! I laughed at the pics of the young ladies in fancy dress, especially the one of a young Pat Anderson with the little ukulele. I run the local uke club here in Portrush, Ukes At The Port.  “

There were about 11 categories of fancy dress, 200 participants were mentioned, and a roll call of winners as long as your golf club, the surnames that you will recognise – there’s Knox, Heron, Graham, Stewart, Lee, Chalmers, McFetridge, Diamond, Brown, Gregg, ……..

Imaginative, stunning costumes includes ‘Italian girl’, ‘Old Russia’, ‘Heading for the last round up’, ‘the Sheik’, ‘The Result of Revaluation’, ….

I’ve included photos of Carnivals for other years around 1935 where there are names that might interest you; the set above is of 1932 and has McFetridge, O’Neill, Kane, McCullach, Hepworth, ….. and the list of winners in the categories continues, you will probably find some nae that you will recognise.

Lucy S: “Another great collection of stories and photos. Loved the fancy dress of the cotton pickers – imagine the outrage today lol . Thank you David for sharing. “

The July carnival was a great success, and a bit later in July, fireworks, a Portrush tattoo, with special trains laid on:

So, summer 1935, and all is bliss. The town has successfully deflected the development plans away from Mr. Stephens of the Ministry of Fish’s plans to make Portrush an industrial-scale herring fishing port, to being holiday and health and relaxation. The Causeway tram trundles tourists out to the Giant’s Causeway, and there is increasing wealth. The photo above shows a nice array of sedans waiting around the train station and the town hall. The banner across the street advertises Fireworks 14th August – it really is this this year, 1935, with its
‘COLOSSAL DISPLAY OF FIREWORKS’
as in the advert below:

And ‘THE ORIGINAL MONTOS in Daring Aerial Acrobatics’ and ‘NOVEL AERIAL ACT’ ? Well, don’t think of Red Bull aeroplanes and parachuting onto the recreation grounds, rather instead think of tumblers, acrobats. Still, very impressive and novel I’m sure.

And hard court tennis championships? A feature in my teenage days too.
(I wasn’t much good at tennis: I played in the championships just once, losing pretty rapidly in my one and only match. I think I was the Null Points, of a Eurovision Song Contest.)

The blog about the recreation grounds mentions the fancy dress competition, and of kids last-minute grabbing sheet off their bed, cutting holes in it, and going as the Holy Ghost, only to find other kids have done the same! The photos here, wow what marvellous effort went in to the fancy dress outfits! Costumes included archers, knights and their Ladyes, modern misses and Victorian dames, empire builders, fishermen, ……. – a rich and colourful variety.

The centre photo above is of two ‘Empire Builders’ – McAllister and Diamond, neighbours at Quarry Court, behind the harbour.
Ken McAllister asks me, “Which is the most expensive street in Portrush? Answer: Quarry Court – because it is full of Diamonds”, he says.

I ask him if he knew Sgt. Fulton. “Yes indeed David, I knew him well. When I worked in Barry’s he used to sit in the office and have coffee. My mother was working in her house looking after Frank and Louise so I was careful not to step out of line because he would tell her. He was tough but fair.

“Oh I just remembered: I got a part time job as message boy in McCulloch’s fish shop. I was 12, and there was an older guy there called Curly. One day we got a delivery of salmon in, and Curly must have arranged to sneak one and throw it over the side wall to his mate. Sergeant Fulton must’ve saw his pal who ran off, but lo and behold, over came the salmon. Curly shouted over, Got it? He got a muffled reply, Yes.
Two minutes later the sarge walked in to the shop with the salmon! Curly was sacked but not charged “

And a few days later, after the Carnival, there was fireworks and a band promenade that was broadcast on the BBC to great acclaim. And the Sports Committee had the chance to reflect and celebrate the activities’ great success – 25,000 people enjoyed the events, 8,000 to each of the big events.
(Is 8,000 a big number of visitors? It sounds a bit small to me?)

Photographs above, of the carnival in 1932, with the Cunninghams (the family of the town clerk), of Misses Fairley and Butler as a Spanish couple. And below, of Portrush belles old and new, and the monstrosity of Loch Ness trundling through the streets.

Helena A writes: “Isn’t that just wonderful. 1935, and the town was buzzing. Carnival was a big thing. I was entered for them all in the 50’s. My Mother loved getting me dresses up… Rose of Tralee… Doll in a box… Queen of the North.
And do you remember sitting on the hill at Recreation Grounds watching the fireworks? They which always ended with fireworks displaying, ‘Good night!’

Happiness at the seaside at Portrush. Postcards of the time from Sheila Brown’s collection are of bliss, happy, holidaymaking. There’s postcards in the 1930s, swimming in the harbour with the big diving boards used for swimming galas, the bustle of the train station and the Town Hall and of Eglinton St. and the trams…..

In the wider scheme of things though, I’d say that 1935 was the turning year, the end of bliss and happiness and holiday feeling. Times are changing. King George V celebrated his silver jubliee in 1935, the new king, Edward VII in January 1936, him with Mrs. Simpson, and the year was spent in abdication crisis. Tensions are building internationally too, with Mussolini in Italy, Hirohito in Japan, Adolf in Germany. Things are getting darker, ominous. The 1936 postcard above right, features a warship out in the bay, trying to reassure the populace.

Fancy dress costumes at Portrush carnivals continue to have mickey mices and princesses and Frozen themes but there are also a few poignant ones, of dressing up like Emperor Hirohito, of ‘Ammunitions to Italians’ (I hope they were duds, or were flowers, as Mussolini was busy invading Abyssinia), and in the 1938 carnival, there were costumes of ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Refugees from Shanghai”.

There’s a Hemphill on the left as Brittania, a John Neill as an Atlantic flyer in a wonderful aircraft, and in the centre, as Stephen O’N describes, ‘the picture in the middle is of Billy O’Neill, my uncle – he was the one with all the dogs. Sally Doherty was the sister of Tommy Doherty who was the harbour master.’

Maybe troubles bubbling in the world but for this year in Portrush, 1935, all is well, a great success.

The three big events of mid-August that year – fireworks, then the fancy dress carnival, then the military tattoo – over 25,000 people were entertained, with 8,000 people at each event.

Above Graham & Hepworth, and on the right is Billy Gregg, prize winner with the most original costume.

The processions with the penny farthing, loch ness monsters, aeroplanes, ……… snake their way to the Recreation grounds for the judging, and then process back to Dunluce St.

The caption on the photo below is ‘Portrush Carnival, 1935’ , with Sergeant Fulton on the left; on the right is “‘This way please’ – a comic policemen (was that a cariciature of Sgt. Fulton’s height?) found time to direct one of the competitors on a ‘bedstead bike’ to Ramore Head’

So, TWO big carnivals that year, in July and then in August. So, in which one is Sgt. Fulton leading the procession? I thought the time on the station clock might be a guide but both parades started at 3pm; and both started from Dunluce St.; and both had military band leading the procession.

The weather? Well it is described as ‘ideal’ for the July carnival, but August’s is described above as quite a blustery day; in the Carnival parade photo with the Sergeant they are wearing floppy hats and things, so I assume that it is nicer calmer weather one so I will plump that the photo is of Wednesday, July 17th, 1935.

And there’s the Misseys Grey on the left, and the Stewart boys as ‘Toilers of the Deep’.