The Ardoyne Lifeline

The Ardoyne Lifeline

By Paul McCann

In Ardoyne there was a time that once existed and in my memory I remember the faces of the people in the place where I grew up . The wonderful thing about that is memories never grow old .

When I close me eyes I can still see Ardoyne as it once was with its charm snd characters that was the heartbeat of the streets .

In the tiny little terrace houses that were made of brick and mortar were people with a love for life that connected them to the whole community . This was the lifeline and the transfusion of love went deep into the heart and it run through the veins of everybody in the village.

There were big families that brought a great need for babysitters and lots of young girls often minded or looked after other peoples kids . In those days there was a trust and no one feared leaving their children with other people That trust was in every heart where ever something needed done .

There people who became a thread to the fabric of community life . Like the wake up man who for a small price would wash your upstairs and downstairs windows early in the morning and before he would leave he would knock on the upstairs bedroom window to wake up those who had an early start in their jobs .

I suppose that’s one way of not sleeping in when your clock wouldn’t tick .

Even in the hard times humour existed through it all . Some mothers who were unmarried , fostered their children out so they could go to work in England to earn a few shillings to feed and clothe their children .

Yes indeed bread and butter wasn’t easy to find for some , but people all got through somehow .

I remember as a child playing marbles on the mucky spare ground around the streets and we played games of conkers with the nuts of horse chestnut trees tied to a string . We played football from dawn to dusk and lived with a passion for simple fun and games . We made up songs and stories and not one was ever written down or recorded .

Not many people owned motor cars back then so most of the streets were traffic free . It was safe for children to play on the streets . The young girls skipped and swung on ropes tied to the top of old lamp posts .

Then there were the special folk , talented with poetry and song who frequented local pubs . Those with the real heart of folk music and stories . .They were well known performers gifted with a lilt in their voice and a natural way of sharing banter and craic .

There were storytellers who could talk the leg of a stool and singers who were like walking jukeboxes able to remember songs from the past without stopping to think .

There were weekly dances in the community hall on a Friday and bingo in the same hall on a Saturday then on a Sunday people went to Mass which then were very popular with all the people in the village .

The community also has bus trips for bingo in places you would never go in your holidays .

Then there was the men’s confraternity with their regular missions and devotions . All of these things were the threads of life that became the social fabric in Ardoyne

There were the social clubs and little huts where young lads liked to try lifting heavy weights . There were other little huts were cycling clubs sprung up and billiard clubs and even sewing clubs that were a meeting place or venue for many of the residents to go out and talk . In those days company was the important thing that kept the community together .

The End

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