I was lucky in that I lived in an area that was not often touched by the violence that was going on in Northern Ireland at the time, but a telephone conversation with my mum in recent days brought back memories of life in Belfast when 'the troubles' were in full swing. She had just heard the news of the recent (...Read full memory)

My cousin and I lived at the top of the Oldpark Road, near Ballysillan, in the mid-1950's and every Saturday morning during our tenth and eleventh years, we would catch the bus into town, walk around the City Hall and down to swim at the Ormeau Baths. After we had our permitted 30 minutes, we would walk back to a cafe (...Read full memory)

back in the years 1947 /1950 ,my grand mother and I would spend a day at Hazelwood ,if I recall correctly by the steps they had a little carnival ,then we would make our way to the Floral hall ,which in those days had a silver tea room ,whiter than white table cloths ,the waitress,s dressed in black with white (...Read full memory)

After school - Belfast Royal Academy - a liitle gang of us would take the bus down to Royal Avenue and head for the Lombard restaurant in Lombard Street. It was a very comfortable, spacious place, founded by the Ulster Temperance Society and open evenings too, where you could sit as long as you liked, with waitress (...Read full memory)