Ballydougan Memories by @artsdevofficer

LY D O U G A L A N

A great social and creative event. I find it very fulfilling .

New friendships formed in retirement with those of similar interests.

An opportunity to keep in touch with friends and former colleagues post-retirement — also I have widened my social contacts outside of my home area.

The atmosphere is encouraging and non-pressured — wonderful after a career full of built-in deadlines and ‘must-do’ activities.

In 2015 Arts Development officers from Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council engaged the Ballydougan Patchwork Group in a pilot Arts and Older Peoples’ Project. Supported by Chairperson Noelle Menaul and Secretary Doreen Moffett, the group took up the opportunity to work with creative writer Annemarie Mullan and textile artists Betty Fiddes and Jocelyn Freeman to develop their written ideas and turn these into a story-telling quilt. It was decided that the quilt would represent memories associated with the sewing, knitting and craft skills which the ladies in the group had acquired since childhood. Annemarie carried out a series of interviews with individuals in the group and contacted members of the different organisations of the Farmers Hall in order that the rich history which exists between the members could be brought to life. Jocelyn and Betty demonstrated the wide range of different techniques which were to be used in the quilt. They also displayed the great variety of materials that are used by other quilt and patchwork makers. The collected stories in this companion booklet resonate with a spectrum of voices. They capture a rich variety of professional and family backgrounds and touch on the varied reasons why many choose to attend the classes:

Highlight of my week!

For some it is a continuation of pursuits and techniques passed on during childhood from family members and/or through the Domestic Economy,

NOELLE MENAUL

Domestic Science and Home Economics classes of their adolescent days. As these no longer exist in the schools’ system, many of the ladies in the group bemoan the inevitable loss of skills to the next generation. For others it is a revival of skills gained as young women when employed in the numerous textile factories which once dominated the landscape. Many felt that the classes provided the supportive environment necessary to facilitate a gentle transition from a busy professional working life to an active retirement. A few felt it gave them the encouragement and strength to widen their social circle after the loss of a spouse. Others found it to be the supportive, nurturing space which they needed to help them recover from a life-changing illness and become active again. But most agreed – they primarily came for the craic, Barbara’s tea and biscuits and the welcoming atmosphere of the Ballydougan Patchwork and Craft Group.

ur family lived on a small farm in the country and when my sister and I were small we had to walk three miles to school in Lurgan and back home again.

I have always been interested in sewing. We were taught to sew at Primary School, I remember tracing the picture of a turkey onto a piece of white cotton and embroidered it with different colours of thread and then made it into an apron. At Secondary School, where we had a very good Home Economics teacher, I made a purple tweed straight skirt and a matching blouse using French seams. There was a treadle Singer sewing machine in our kitchen which had belonged to my grandmother. My mother did not sew and never used it but a neighbour often came in and made flour bag sheets and curtains and I loved to see her coming, as she would sometimes allow me to press the treadle up and down with my foot and eventually I was able to use the machine myself, breaking many needles in the process. My father used horses to plough the fields and bring in the crops and sometimes at night sitting by the fire he would polish the horse brasses and mend any broken harnesses using a large needle and thick waxed thread, I always tried to thread the needle. I have been coming to Bleary Farmers’ Hall for many years. I was a member of Bleary Young Farmers’ Club and through it became involved in 1970 in the Home Industries Section of Lurgan and District Horse and Cattle Show Society which also meets in the Hall.

“ My father used horses to plough the fields and mend any broken harnesses using a large needle and thick waxed thread.” 2

DOREEN MOFFETT

y earliest memory of anything to do with fabric is working with linen handkerchiefs. We lived close to Blanes’ Factory and in the 1940-50s mothers who wished to earn a small amount of money to supplement the family funds, worked in their own home. My mother did what was called ‘fancy folding’ of handkerchiefs which were pinned onto a card and placed in a pretty box to be sold in shops. I would be sent to the factory to collect a large cardboard box of Swiss embroidered handkerchiefs which had been laundered and finished ready for ‘fancy folding’. To transport this someone in the factory would set it on my bicycle and I would carefully wheel it home. Same method of transport for the finished product – box placed gingerly on the bicycle and off I went. I loved to get into the factory to see the stitching room, the folding room and occasionally the embroidery room. The embroidery machines were huge – taking thirteen dozen handkerchiefs each in its frame for one pattern. This machine was operated by one man and many ladies would be threading the needles for each colour coming up. The folding of the handkerchiefs was nice clean work. The first handkerchief was folded to cover the card, then another one would be folded with pleats into the shape of a fan with the corner arranged just so, to display the embroidery. Up to six handkerchiefs could be arranged on the card. Small bows made from ribbon would then be pinned on. I learned to fold the handkerchiefs, but never mastered the knack of making the bows.

“ I loved to get into (Blanes’) factory to see the stitching room, the folding room and occasionally the embroidery room.” 4

EDITH UPRICHARD

s a child at primary school I knitted items for Lurgan Show (annual event each June) I can remember winning prizes and always receiving great encouragement from my parents. I did sewing projects at secondary school. It was always one of my hobbies. I was a nurse – a sister in Critical Care in the Royal (Regional Intensive Care). I nursed for 44 years and was a midwife some of that time. When I was growing up the most common expressions you’d hear when it came to sewing and knitting was ‘Repair and Make Do’ and ‘Hand-me-Downs’. I love the social interaction at the Ballydougan group – sharing ideas and learning from others in the group and apart from making new acquaintances, I find that the weekly sessions are a great release from stress and would always help to take the focus off problems and anxiety.

ANN DAVISON

remember ladies making socks with four needles while standing talking to each other on their doorsteps. I remember one sitting spinning on a spinning wheel. I remember my dad mending the wool socks that he wore with his fishing (wellington) boots. He would put the heel over a light-bulb to keep its shape while he darned it with wool.

MARGARET TURKINGTON

’ve knitted all my life. My mother and aunts started me off with wee doll clothes and wee rugs. I worked in the Electricity Board and then I had my daughter and didn’t work for a while. I went to work then in the office of an undertakers’ – Malcolmson Funeral Services. I worked there for fifty years. I knit for charity – cardigans and blankets which are sent to churches to distribute. Jean got me into the Ballydougan group. I knitted the ploughed field on the quilt.

BARBARA LAMB

round five or six, I remember learning how to crochet and I recall knitting sweaters in my teens. I also learnt how to embroider from different aunts and cousins. There was always thread-work happening then too. The Moy was always famous for horses. The first Friday of the month, ones from near and far brought their horses to the Moy Horse Fair. We used to get off school for the Fair Day but when new rules and regulations came in, it was stopped. I worked in the Post Office for years. I started in the sub-post-office at fifteen in the Moy. I went to Omagh Post Office when I was sixteen. When I was seventeen I went to Lurgan Post Office. I was twenty when I was in Newry Post Office. Then I got married and got work in Portadown Post Office. I have two boys. One drives a lorry for Royal Mail. He goes twice to Omagh and twice to Belfast – from Craigavon, every day. He’s keeping up the family tradition!

BERNADETTE O’HARE

y mum and my aunts – in fact a lot of my relatives around home would have done thread work so in the back of my mind, I meant to do it if I ever got the time, I finally got the opportunity to do a night class in Rathfriland. I teach Maths – I studied in Keyworth outside Nottingham and then taught in Banbridge in St Patrick’s. I always wanted to do thread work, though, as it’s such a very precise art. There would be a lot of measuring. It’s not random when you’re pulling the threads. I think that that’s what attracts me to it. You can do small bits and take it about with you. If I was going to an appointment and knew I had a wait – I would take it out – and it would usually attract interest, especially from older people, who would recall seeing it done years ago. You could make tray cloths, napkins and dressing-table sets – the kind of work that would have been a treasured part of a girl’s ‘bottom drawer’ years ago.

“ The kind of work that would have been a treasured part of a girl’s ‘bottom drawer’ years ago.” 8

MARY FALLS

NORA JOHNSTON

y dad worked in the Ulster Bank, so we moved around quite a lot – 2 primary schools and 2 secondary schools. At school I was always interested in science and so I never had any training in Domestic Science (ie: sewing and knitting) However, my American grandmother was always doing crochet (with very fine thread) and my mum did both sewing and knitting.

here are about 22 men and women in the Ballydougan Bowling Club. I live in Gibson’s Hill – on the road towards Ballydougan. The bowls started around 30 years ago and my husband and I played when they started up. We play in the West-Down League. There are nine different clubs around the area and we play both ‘Friendlies’ and League matches. In a match there are 16 players, all in teams of fours and each person with 2 bowls each. I just enjoy bowls, We play here on a Wednesday night. Indoors starts in September and finishes in February or March and then from April onwards the Outdoors Bowls starts.

Looking back, I feel this developed a craving in me for doing craft work and so approximately 30 years ago I went to a patchwork class where the teacher was American. There we each made a sampler quilt, which introduced us to many different types of patchwork.

I’m in the Lurgan Ladies Bowling Team and we would play Newcastle, Whitehead, Bangor, Holywood and Donaghadee.

Since this time I have made many quilts and I continue to enjoy a variety of crafts. I have benefited from the Ballydougan craft group with the wide range of ideas and shared tuition.

“ My American grandmother was always doing crochet (with very fine thread)” 10

TWYLA WATSON

HILDA HAMILTON

here I grew up there was a tailoress nearby and I spent lots of time watching her make suits for men. I was really fascinated by the speed at which she worked. As a teenager, I was very interested in ball-room dancing. There were several dance studios in Belfast in the 50’s and 60’s. They were very strict about who was allowed in – certainly never anyone with alcohol. Three nights a week, we did ballroom dancing. I remember Lecky’s, Betty Staff’s and Neily’s – that was Bill’s mum. I met my husband at Leckey’s Dance Studio (age 17) and together we did all the medal classes (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Gold Bar) in Waltz, Quick Step, Slow Foxtrot, Tango and many others. I also gave jive a go but wasn’t very good at that.

I did Needlecraft at Stranmillis (the year before the degree) and I remember doing samplers using wool to demonstrate different types of stitches. We also made toys and did different crafts. I remember making patchworks from old shirts. My dad was the Manager of Ewart’s Linen Mill up the Crumlin Road. I used to work in the warehouse during the summer – folding and wrapping napkins in brown paper. He would bring home bits of brown linen (unbleached) to clean the windows. They made tablecloths, t-towels, and damask (from Damascus) which had a pattern within the weave.

I learnt basic sewing at school but I started patchwork after seeing a young girl making a hexagon quilt while in the Isle of Man on holiday. I purchased some Laura Ashley patchwork squares and made a small quilt for my first grand-daughter (now 27 years old) which is now being used by great-grand-daughters. I have been patch-working ever since and a little dress-making as well.

was born in Monmouth Gardens in North Belfast. I moved to Lisburn about forty years ago. I taught in East Belfast (1969) for three years. Soldiers were living in the school. I taught in Tonagh Primary (P2 – P3) then left to have three children. Then I did Supply Teaching (P6 – mostly 11+years) in Killowen Primary.

My daughter has always knitted. My husband’s mother made gowns in Robinson and Cleaver’s. She once made one for Lady Dixon, she also worked there doing alterations.

HAZEL CARVILLE

used to play bowls with my daddy here in the Ballydougan Hall when I was fourteen. I always sewed. I started when I went to Campaigners at Newmills Church. We did a quilt for the Tear Fund charity when I was twelve – using cuttings from the local shirt factory. My mummy sewed a bit – and I did some at school. I went to Newry Catering College and then worked for a time in the Pot Belly Restaurant in Tullylish outside Gilford, before I left to go to Switzerland, where my sister was living at the time. Mr Bennette, who ran the Newry Catering College, had worked there years ago and was always very good at getting work in Chateau d’Oex for ones from here. Well, I live in Tandragee now, and that is famous for (among other things) Tayto Crisps (a bit of an Ulster institution) I nursed Mrs Hutchinson – whose husband started up the factory and I regularly do some catering for the family. I also help out on the 13th of July every year at Scarvagh House – where I used to do the hospitality at the stud farm for the Buller family. I live on the course of the Tandragee 100 Motorcycle Road Race where my children help out every year. I usually provide accommodation for racers around that time. I love to cut and gather sticks for my log burner. I can’t walk past a good stick – hence my brother’s nick-name for me – ‘the Tandragee Stick-Woman.’ I make chutneys, jams, wine and sloe gin. I would pick medlars and anything else I can get out of the hedges around here for free. My mother did lots of embroidery when she was younger and always knitted our school jumpers and cardigans. My father also did embroidery in the Royal Navy and loved working with old wood furniture. They could never walk past a good stick either.

“ We did a quilt for the Tear Fund charity when I was twelve – using cuttings from the local shirt factory.” 14

ANNE BURKE

y grandfather arrived in Scotland from Lithuania in the early 1900’s. He married my Scottish grandmother in 1905 and had four children – three boys and one girl (my mother). She came to Carnlough in August 1946, met my father and married in April of 1947. We lived in Glasgow till 1951 and then we returned to live in Carnlough. I’m the eldest of five. Three of us love to travel. The other two are homebirds. I went to teacher training in 1966 and met Tommy from Fermanagh in 1968. His parents lived all their lives in the same area - went to school together and were never out of Ireland. We married in 1970 and have six children. All of them went to St Michael’s in Lurgan. My husband is retired 13 years (he used to work for the Department of Agriculture). Now that we have a wee bit of land he is kept busy with his bee-keeping and consequently we periodically have a sticky utility floor. My children are scattered to the four winds - Sarah (Information Management) met David from New Zealand in London and married in 2003. She lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and is now back in Hong Kong. They have three children. Anthony (Psychology) met Jenny at university in London. First love - after Jenny - is mountain biking and building and repairing bikes! They now live in Canada and he recently got citizenship. Edmund (Law and then Journalism) went to Australia for a year, met Lara, married and have two boys. They live in Brisbane. John (Architecture and various media and design courses ) went to OZ for a year and came home. Now married and lives next door! He loves travelling though. Delia (Fine Art) Living these last four years in Auckland. She works in design management in New Zealand’s first Topshop. Anna (Criminology) went to Australia nine years ago, met her now husband and lives in South Korea. I’m so thankful for technology - what would I do without Skype, phones, emails and cameras! I think the travelling gene is from my side!

MAY KINKAID

ELSIE DICKSON

y mother used to threaddraw on linen. Over the years, I’ve worked different places. I remember the Bleachworks at Pot Belly near Banbridge, Hazelbank Textile Factory, Gilford Spinning Mill, Ballydown in Banbridge – Smith’s Weaving Company, the Optical Factory Lurgan, Donaghcloney – Ewart’s Mill Liddle Textile Factory (warping and winding),’Flush Place’ in Lurgan, Bells Stitching (thread-drawing), Milltown Bleachworks, Haye’s Mill, Seapatrick, Cowdies Bleachworks, Ferguson’s Linen Factory, Walker’s (linen), Anderson’s Bleachworks, Ballievey, Smith’s Weaving Company (Scarva Road) and Franklin’s (Scarva Road). All the places I’ve worked are closed and I’m done now too. May started volunteering with the Red Cross in her twenties and is currently the liaison for volunteers covering Ulster motorbike events. She also flagged up the work that the Red Cross does – Care for people in disasters, ‘Home from hospital’ care, First Aid Training, Medical Loan care,

he week I was born, my daddy (a gunner) was reported missing (15th June, 1940) I used to go and kiss his photograph. He was in full uniform. Mummy found out he was a prisonerof-war in Germany. She sent him photographs of us – which he always carried and brought home with him. They had wee messages on them. I was just five when he finally returned home. He arrived in Banbridge by train. I was playing nearby and when the taxi arrived to collect him I got in too and I can remember daddy saying to mummy “Mary who’s this”. My brother Thomas was in the taxi also. Daddy wanted to go home to our house but my grandparents had insisted that he should go to the family home in Reilly Street where all the family were gathered. He was really very thin. His feet were ruined. He had walked so many miles. He needed his boots specially made to sort out his feet. He became a postman and delivered the mail on a country road on a bicycle, but retired early. I remember the horns from Ferguson’s and Cowdies (textile mills) that went off to alert people who were due for work at 12.30 and 1.30.

Full Aid duties, All Sporting Events, Fund-raising, Charity shops, Hospital Transfers, Food banks and Emergency Response with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

MINNIE EMERSON

was born in 1944 – there were four of us. We lived in a Nissan hut rented to us by a farmer (1947 – 1953). We had a pot-bellied stove. My father was the Sexton. We used to help my father dig the graves. In 1953 we moved into a tailor’s cottage in Ardrea where my father worked as a labourer for farmers. There we would walk four miles to school and another half mile to Sunday school. It took us over an hour. Dad showed me how to knit on 6-inch nails. He taught me plain and purl. Mammy had a big Singer sewing machine. Daddy made frocks for us and mammy knitted cardigans. I remember one of the neighbours (aged 6) asking my dad to make him some short trousers for school – because his parents couldn’t sew. I worked in Bairnswear in Loughgall Road in Armagh when I was 15. I used a bicycle to ride 12 miles. I started there as an invisible mender. I was married at 21 to a boy who worked nearby. He was a French polisher who made coffins. We moved to Richill and I got a wee Honda 250. I had it until my daughter was born in 1970. Then we got a car in 1969. I had a daughter and a son. I did childminding when they were young and worked from home doing mending for Bairnswear. They did all knitwear and supplied Dunnes. I have fished all over Ireland, England, Isle of Man, Canaries, Alaska and Canada. My husband and my son and daughter all fish (I came 7th in the All-Ireland years ago). I do sea-fishing and river and shore. In 2005 I got into quilting, when we went to Alaska to fish for salmon. My son and daughter had bought us a Night trip in a hot-air balloon from Furbanks as a gift for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. We were booked into a log-cabin as a surprise In our bedroom was a fantastic quilt – bears, moose, pine-forests, rivers and otters. When we came home we bought material. Hans Peter and his wife, Monica, told me about the Ballydougan Patchwork Group. I started here 5 years ago and I’ve done 5 quilts since. I bring material home from Alaska, which I use in my quilts.

MARIAN JORDAN

e lived down a long twisty lane where the only weekly visitors that weren’t family were the bread-man and the grocery van. In those days nobody locked their door. There probably wasn’t much to steal. We didn’t even close ours during the day and I remember a wee brown Rhode Island Red hen would always saunter in from the yard, through the front door, along the hallway and up the stairs to lay her egg on the patchwork quilt on my mother’s bed. I remember hearing that women used to tie a hessian sack (a meal-bag) around their waist for yard- work in the 20’s and 30’s. They always wore long skirts (mostly black), knitted cardigans, wool shawls and laced boots.

ELLA JAMISON

was reared with grandparents. My grandmother died when I was fourteen and a half. I tended my grandfather for 9–10 years. I churned and baked. I was always interested in baking and working with my hands.

My husband and I started a farm shop in Ballymoney. They came to us from near and far. I churned every Thursday and sold butter and buttermilk (39-40 lbs of butter and 2 litres of buttermilk a week). Not a bit of it left on Thursday night. We grew lettuces, scallions, potatoes, tomatoes – vegetables of all sorts – it was a vegetable farm really – and we ran it from 1962 till 1995 – when my husband, Davy died. To this day I would be knitting constantly. I knit tiny hats for the premature babies in Craigavon Hospital and I knit hats, cardigans, vests and blankets that go out to Africa. I also do crocheting and embroidery. I still love working with my hands. Noelle picks me up every week on Ballymoney Hill. I’ve had a great life. You were always happy at your work in those days and you always had time to talk.

LORNA HENRY

riginally from Omagh – but I’ve been in Portadown for forty years, next year. I’m still a ‘blow-in’ though. Before I married, I was a hairdresser in Belfast. Then I worked in a shop in Portadown called ‘the Lighthouse’ (it sold lights and expensive ornaments). From there I went to the ‘Laces’ on Loughgall Road where I was an ‘examiner.’ A rail of garments would come up and you had to pick one (randomly) and examine it for loose threads, correctly attached buttons, and correct labels (Marks and Spencer label). There was quite a lot that had to be sent back. It wouldn’t be the first time that a sleeve was sewn on ‘inside out’. Sometimes a 12 was sewn unto a 14 and the garment was two different lengths front and back, or maybe, sometimes the wrong colour button – or no buttons at all! There was plenty to ‘examine.’ I stuck it until I had my son. I never went back. My husband was a printer with Morton Newspapers – so I was a housewife after that. I always sewed. My grandmother was a great sewing and crochet lady. My mum was a great knitter. When I went to school I got into dressmaking. I would have made a lot of my own clothes (late 60’s) – especially the big petticoats – for dances. In 2004, I wanted to do patchwork. I had seen the Ballydougan classes advertised in the Portadown paper (it’s always in the paper in September). I’m eleven years here now. I came with Heather Black. I used to work in Heather’s wool shop. I used to shop there until one day Heather mentioned that she needed help on a Saturday – and the rest, as they say, is history.

“ I would have made a lot of my own clothes (late 60’s) – especially the big petticoats – for dances.” 24

IVY JAMISON

hen I left school at sixteen (1960), my aunt was having babies so I went to help in her filling station (Red Lion – Portadown/Armagh) for two years and then, at eighteen, I went to the Ulster Laces (Loughgall Road) I was a stitcher (nightdresses, dressing gowns and children’s dresses) there for five years and left in March 1967 when Denver, my first son, was born. When I went back after maternity leave, I went to Mayfair on the Garvaghy Road (Mayfair did mostly nightdresses - nylon, terylene and cotton) and then in Lismona where they did children’s wear and trousers. I was there till 1970 when Wayne was born. I still remember the process – the conveyer belt in the factory. The first people to touch the material would be the Pattern-Cutters. Then it was passed on to the Stitchers and after that the Interlockers who would finish off the seams. Next everything would have to go past the Examiners to be checked over for mistakes and after them to the Pressers. Finally the whole piece would be packaged in tissue and boxes or cellophane bags with cardboard labelling by the Packers and eventually go off in a van to the wholesalers or directly if it was an order - to the shop. I met my husband-to-be when I was thirteen when Pat Brown, my cousin, and I would have been out for walks – around the Red Lion. There’s a crossroads there where they all gathered in those days. My husband used to bring pigs to the market and would have called into the filling station on the way home . Pat and I went to night classes in Portadown Technical College and did dressmaking from 1964–66. We would have made big wide dresses and skirts (quite a bit of material) That would have been the rock and roll era. As the years went on, in 2008 I took breast cancer and was ill for a year or so. It was Pat who got me to come here to get me out of the house (when you lose your hair after chemotherapy you become really self-conscious and you don’t want to go anywhere). I’ve really enjoy it. It’s a very friendly class. I got this seat in the top corner when I came (everyone has their own seats here) – and I’m still here!

ANNE CUMMINS

GEORGIE MATCHETT

n Primary School – Ballymoney Model, you had to make something useful. We had to make knickers. My gusset was a disaster. To this day, I think me and another girl got our bits mixed up. My mother and my aunt were great knitters. They both made me grand outfits. My teacher would always send me into other classes to show these off. She would send me with a message (asking the teacher to check out my new outfit). I would be mortified. Pull-ups – my mother would have knitted these to keep us warm. We walked a mile and a half to school from the Kilrea/Rasharkin direction. Liberty bodices – these were usually made from white cotton (some were made from flour bags). They were strips of cotton sewn together to form a bodice (like a vest) to be worn underneath clothes in the winter. Mine were made from white cotton. I hated sewing. At grammar school I did Latin instead of Domestic Science. I started in Faughan Valley and then Whitehead High as a geography teacher and then eventually ended up as a primary school teacher in Ardmore on the southern shore of Lough Neagh (between Lurgan and the Bann) I was there for 15 years. I played hockey against Joan Sands (nee Cox) when we were both around 11-18, when we were at school. When I came to this area we were both teaching at the same time and knew each other to see – but now we have finally got to know each other and meet every week to sew.

JOAN SANDS

was dragged to this class by Ann Cummins and Edith McCleary. You see, I’m more of an outdoor person. I have a dog, a Schnauzer, a garden and a greenhouse where I grow a lot of my vegetables – lettuce, tomatoes and courgettes among others. I’m from Dublin originally but have lived in Coleraine and then Lurgan, where I taught P.E. in Lurgan Junior High, covering netball, tennis and gymnastics. I crochet – I’ve been crocheting the same piece for the last six months. I come to the Wednesday class for the craic. Otherwise, you could very easily drift in life and not socialise.

come from Tyrone, where people are very ‘down to earth’. My parents were farmers in a large farm in County Tyrone near Dungannon. I remember my mother making soda bread on an open hearth fire on a griddle. We were a family of nine and with seven brothers my mother was constantly patching trousers and darning socks. I first learnt knitting from my older sister who was great at embroidery. I can remember how proud I was when I knitted my first pair of mittens. They were green and pink. We had a brilliant teacher in Primary School who taught us all to sew by hand. I can remember having made a pinafore by the age of 12. For the next couple of years in the old rackety building that used to be the Dungannon Technical Institute in Ann Street, the wonderful Miss Flannigan taught Domestic Economy (this was 1955) and instructed us on the construction of aprons and caps for our cooking classes, a black knitted cardigan and a satin and lace (pale blue) slip. Around the time when I was first married I became the founder member of our branch of the Women’s Institute in Tartaraghan and participated in many food and needlecraft activities at country fairs and local events over the years. We celebrated the 50th Anniversary of our branch in 2014. There were 80 members when we first started and that has dwindled over the years to around 40. There are a lot more distractions and work constraints outside the family home for young women these days. Barbara Lamb was a year ahead of me at the Lurgan Tech and when Harry died she and I met up one day and she urged me to come over to Ballydougan for one of the Visitor days in Bleary Hall to help her out with the teas. Going to Ballydougan was the best decision I ever made as I heard other women’s stories, similar to mine and those whose hardships made me appreciate my own situation even more. I’m an optimist. I look forward to the sun coming out in the morning and taking each day as it comes. The class has provided me with a greater knowledge of needlework and the art of sewing, crochet, appliqué and embroidery. I have knitted four throws since I started here over eight years ago.

HEATHER BLACK

PAT BROWN

had learnt sewing in school (Clounagh Junior High School) and I recall that whenever we finished projects in class, we would always make clothes (shift dresses – not hard to do – ‘but we thought we were just great like!’). I left school then, at fifteen, and started at the Ulster Laces’ (Loughgall Road). I was ‘on’ the conveyer belt. My job was to keep the sewers supplied with materials and all the separate parts for making up garments (sleeves, fronts, backs, pockets, buttons and button-holes). I stayed there for three to four years and then I went to Ulster Laces (in Shillington Street). There we did embroidery onto cloth. I was a ‘shuttler’. You had the operator on the front of the machine. The material ran up the ways and the needles went into the material away from you. Two would work a machine – one a machinist and the other a ‘shuttler’. These machines did Broderie Anglaise for nightdresses and trimmings bought by the yard. “Lace Hill” is named after that factory (a new private housing development on the original factory site) where I worked till I was twenty-two. The Lace’s in Shillington Street closed and I went to work in Corbett’s which was a big department store in Portadown. I was working in their Wool department when the whole store closed, so I decided to open my own wool shop – “Heather’s Wool” – which I ran successfully for seventeen years.

did a bit of knitting and sewing at school. At the secondary school I remember making a dress – it was a checked material – a threetiered dress. I was working since I was sixteen – Lismona – where I was making children’s shirts and trousers. I was there for ten years and then I went to the shirt factory – Spence-Bryson. They did ‘piece work’ so there was a chance of making more money. If a big order came in we could do around two night’s overtime. Mostly it was a 40-hour week. Ten years later I had my daughter, Paula, and stopped for a while. I never really did anything of my own until I started to work in the hospital at night – sterilising theatres. Peggy Magill, who worked with me, taught me how to knit properly. I worked there for twelve years and then I went to Derek Harrison’s to pack eggs until pension age. Heather and Flo told me about Ballydougan – so when I retired – a couple of weeks later, I started. I’ve been coming here for eleven years (this November 2015) I’ve knitted and crocheted and did night-classes in Armagh in the ‘Creative Ideas’ shop for around four years. When I first came to Ballydougan Sheila Tinsley taught the patchwork. We used to go to the Kings Hall Belfast and Dublin Knit and Stitch Show. For the past five years, every October, a group of us (Margaret, Jean, Hilda, Heather, Betty and Elizabeth – Heather Black organises us) go to the trade show in Harrogate.

I’ve been in Ballydougan for eleven years – Lorna, Flo and myself started here together. Pat came in after she retired – six months later.

“ There we did embroidery onto cloth. I was a ‘shuttler’. You had the operator on the front of the machine.”

“ At the secondary school I remember making a dress – it was a checked material – a three-tiered dress.”

ROSEMARY PORTER

FREDA McNALLY

y father was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Lurgan. His big passion in life was his birds. He was the Secretary of the ‘Lurgan Cage-birds’ Society’ for 36 years (Assistant Secretary for 6 years before that!) and he showed canaries for many years.

During the war, birdseed for the birds was very scarce and the only place you could get it easily was in the South. When the breeders were travelling back over the border, they would put the contraband birdseed in the box with the bird-cage on top of it to conceal the seed. Once the local priest offered to put his case and his coat over the top of some bags of seed and the customs men just marked it with an X and waved it through. In the conversation my father had with the priest afterwards, he discovered that he was a bit of a ‘bird man’ himself! Down every small entry in Lurgan, at one time, was a small factory. I remember ‘Lurgan Weaving Company’, ‘Harold Wickes’ (shirt factory), ‘Johnson and Allan’s’, ‘Blanes’, ‘Seawright and Douglas’ (Avenue Road) ‘Mourne Linen Company’, ‘Glendinnings’ (curtain material printers) ‘Blacker’s Mill’,’Jackie Boyce’ (embroidery), ‘Ewarts’ (Donaghcloney). All gone now. 34

’m from Dublin originally. My father was a Church of Ireland Rector (Santry, Glasnevin and Coolock parishes). I came to Banbridge (when I was 25) as a social worker. My husband was from Donegal (Pettigo) and we met in Banbridge. We stayed. I do quilting at home. I came to Ballydougan to maintain my interest. I do knitting as well. We made mittens last year to help a friend with bad circulation who had Raynaud’s Disease. I remember Work Parties during the war in the Rectory – organised by my mother. We knitted socks. I then got into Aran knitting. I now have arthritis and I would put that down to the metal needles. I advise anyone to use the bone, wood or plastic needles to be safe. My father’s younger brother was an army doctor. He did the postmortem on Himmler. His mortuary was in a caravan. He had gone with the troops in through the concentration camps. I don’t think he was ever the same after that. I have a vivid memory of the fireengines – we lived on the main Dublin to Belfast road (the old road) – all heading to Belfast when it had been bombed during the war.

ROSEMARY REID

BRENDA CRORY

y interest in sewing goes back a very long time. At an early age I experimented with the old Singer treadle machine at home and when I went to Ballymena Technical College to take a secretarial course, I opted to learn dress-making instead of playing hockey. From then on I made most of my clothes.

was always interested in making and doing things. I had an aunt who was very involved with embroidery. I went to an evening class for crafts when I moved to Newtownards (after I was married). My husband was the manager with Webb and Company – a textile factory in Newtownards. It closed sometime after 1966. We moved back to Banbridge where he became the manager of a textile factory – Milltown Bleaching Company, and there he stayed till he retired.

When I got married and moved to Banbridge I purchased a portable sewing machine and used it to make dresses, slacks, curtains and cushions.

I started doing clerical work in Thomas Ferguson and Company (linen manufacturers) and then, when we returned to Banbridge, I became secretary to the headmaster of Banbridge Academy – for 31 years. I loved it. It was a lovely place to work.

In the 1990s I made friends with a very talented lady who taught me the art of Christmas crafts and – most importantly – how to do patchwork, which I enjoyed very much.

Rosemary and I got to know each other through the church – but joining the class in Moira, when sharing the travel, gave us the chance to get to know each other better. We followed Sheila Peile to her Hillsborough class till she retired three years ago. At a loss for a regular class, we decided to investigate the Ballydougan group and this is now our second year.

When I retired from my job as secretary in Craigavon Senior High School, I joined the Ballydougan Patchwork and Craft group and have learnt many new techniques, made many friends, and have enjoyed the past eight years making quilts, cushions, table-runners, shopping bags and much more.

All my grandchildren received crossstitch samplers, their name, date-ofbirth, weight – when they were born. 36

VIOLET CRAIG

’ve retired from nursing, but in my time, I’ve worked in Erne, Braid, St Columb’s, Ards, Altnagelvin, Lurgan and Craigavon Hospitals. My first memories of sewing would be my mother turning collars on shirts to hide the wear. I also remember bleached flour bags being sown together and used as bed-sheets. I remember my father killing pigs and cleaning and salting them to preserve them and then putting them into foil-lined tea-chests. He also did this for the neighbours. In the 50’s I remember being stopped by the ‘water-rats’. I was 11 at the time. I was riding my bicycle from home (Roscor) to Belleek and had got cigarettes for my dad and his neighbour from a shop on the border. The pair of them followed me home and because I didn’t have a receipt for the cigarettes, they took them from me and told my mum they could also have lifted my bicycle. They probably smoked them for themselves. I used to buy shoes in Ballyshannon and on one occasion I took one of my cousin’s shoes with me. I wanted to buy a similar pair (of white pointed flat shoes). When I bought mine, I put one new one on and one old one on – so if I was stopped, I could show them the worn sole to persuade them I wasn’t smuggling. I seem to remember that butter, Players 20’s, shoes and stockings were all very scarce commodities at the time. We all had Ration Books in the North for quite a long time after the war was over.

CATHERINE McDONALD

y first introduction to sewing was at school in the 1950’s when I had to make a cookery apron from a bleached flour bag. From then on I got very involved in sewing, making garments for myself and then a few years later for my family. When I came to live in Lurgan, I heard about Ballydougan Patchwork, so I went along with a friend and found everybody very friendly and helpful. I had never done patchwork before, so this was a new experience which I am enjoying very much. I hope I am able to come to Ballydougan for many years to come.

MARGARET BROWN

HELEN BONAR

raft has been my whole life – but, I learned MOST from my mother. I remember making a pair of socks when I was seven. My mother was born in 1910. There wasn’t much to be had in those days. There was a tinsmith who lived down the street who made knitting needles for her. I was born just before the war (1938) and in those days everything was recycled.

o often as a Science teacher I would need to refer to the Periodic Table and the chemical elements found in it, the elements that are the building blocks from which we, and the universe, are constructed. My initial thoughts, therefore, were to feature in my part of the quilt, some elements from the ‘Transition Metals’ section of the Table. This would reflect the fact that joining Ballydougan Patchwork & Craft Class has been an important part of my transition from working full-time into retirement – a chapter of life in which I now have time to more fully pursue life-long interests.

I went to the Civil Service after school but lost my job when I got married. I had three girls and I made all their clothing. (One of my daughters is now a potter in the Ballydougan Pottery and the other is an Art Therapist). I then did a City and Guilds diploma in Soft Furnishings and Upholstery and got a job as a craft technician in Banbridge Technical College. It was the job that suited me like no other. I was there for twenty years.

The class has enabled me, not only to keep in touch with former friends and colleagues, but also to make a whole new circle of friends. On further reflection, however, I decided to select six elements, whose symbols, when suitably arranged, would illustrate in a more obvious ‘pictorial’ way, two elements of our class – materials and conversation, or, in the language of the chemical elements, ‘cloth’ and ‘chat’.

Elsie Dickson brought me to Ballydougan five years ago. I don’t do much – because the chat makes it hard to concentrate on a knitting pattern – but the craic is great – and you get inspiration too – from other people doing things.

JEAN UPRICHARD

From the age of fourteen I started at a sewing factory in Markethill making pyjamas and creamy white flannelette baby gowns. I worked there till I was twenty, then went to Sommerville’s where you really earned your own money. Those were flying machines in those days! After marriage and three children, I started to do sample sewing at home for Sommervilles. I also recall working in Regal Styles. At Easter, if we earned £3 we got an Easter egg - top wages, then! You were on an assembly line there – but in Sommerville’s you made the full garment.

JEAN O’HARA

y earliest memory of sewing was in P7 at Orangefield Primary School. My needlework teacher was Miss Poots and I can remember making a sleeveless V-shaped pinafore-dress. My mother was a great influence. That Singer sewing machine was part of the living-room furniture – It always had a special place in our house. My mother is now 99 and in a nursing home in Hillsborough and would still notice and comment, when (in her opinion) my skirt is too short or too long. In the 60’s, when I was in my early 20’s, I made my own dresses – squeezing about 2 yards of nylon net material into the waist of the bodice and wearing very frilly slips underneath. I wore those dresses to our local ‘hops’. I qualified as a nurse in the 60’s, working first as a midwife and then in general nursing, specializing in cardiology. After my children were born I joined the nurse bank in the Royal Hospital in Belfast, working part-time.

My friend and I opened a flower shop in Lurgan in 1985 and we stayed there till I retired in 2005. The “I and J Bouquets” flower shop (Irene and Jean) operated for over twenty years Hard work and long hours! We started off doing church flowers and then gradually took on more - extra space in the old Seawright’s Factory was used for the likes of ‘Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Christmas when we had big orders.

I remember knitting an Aran dress and Aran coat while on night-duty. When I retired at 60, I decided to learn patchwork and quilting at Red Cottage Crafts, Moira. After one year there I completed my first quilt and was invited to join the Patchwork and Craft group at Ballydougan.

I didn’t start quilting till we started Ballydougan. Now I’m retired I must say I enjoy all the craft classes. Jean passed away shortly after the quilt was completed. She was laid to rest on 18th December 2015 at Knocknamuckly Church. 42

MARGARET KYLE

y first memory of sewing is of a two-week stay in Banbridge Hospital when I was five and suffering from Quinsy. To help occupy me, in between injections of antibiotics, I was given a book. Each page had a picture in the form of dots and with the help of a needle and some embroidery thread, I had to stitch the picture. There was no mention then of the Health and Safety issue of giving a five-year-old a sharp needle (think deep skin punctures and strangulation from the thread!). Later, as a pupil at Banbridge Academy, under the encouraging eye of Miss Sally Liggett, I managed to produce massive knickers in the finest tarantulle followed by dresses, an underskirt with the most delicate of scallop-work and a wool suit with a silk blouse. Despite my mother’s belief that I had all the necessary skills to be a HomeEconomics teacher, I realised, even then, that a certain untidy streak which I possessed did not really bode well for a life in the Home-Economics’ classroom! While at the Academy under the excellent teaching of the Late Jack Pentland of Gilford and the Late James McConkey of Ballydougan, whose father, incidentally, was the Principal of Ballydougan Primary School, I developed a real love for Geography. I went to Queen’s University in Belfast in1965 to study for an Honours Degree in Geography and while there was intrigued to find that the geography professor, Estyn Evans, despite being Welsh, had a deep interest in the traditional cottages dotted over the Ulster landscape. Reading his book, “Irish Heritage”, I realised that my family possessed one of the cottages that he described. Thus began my quest to restore our cottage. Some things take a long time. It was only in 2002 that circumstances allowed us to begin restoration of the cottage. By 2006 the cottage was complete with its thatch roof and jamb wall and crook over the open fire. Once the cottage restoration was underway, I decided that some of the walls would benefit from decorative quilts, so I joined the Ballydougan Patchwork Group where some quilts and a lot of new friends were made. So my life changed from being a geography teacher to welcoming people from all over the world to Magherally Self-catering cottage – a cottage very similar to the Ballydougan Cottage in Cultra Folk Museum. 44

HILDA TAGGERT

was the eldest and the only girl in a family of eight – so when I came home from school, often I had to help mum do a bit of mending and patching. The boys worked on a farm up beside us and they were always coming home with clothes torn. I started work when I was fourteen in Down Shoes in Banbridge. It was the main local money-making business. The pay was very good compared to the weaving factories. I left when my daughter was born (1963) after seven years – but I’ve been back and forward to different places since – Warner’s in Dromore (selling bras for Mark’s and Spencers), the Ulster Laces in Loughgall Road (over-locking), Mayfair factory in Garvaghy Road (stitching), and Kinnaird’s in Lurgan (Candlewick dressing gowns). I left the sewing factories because of my back. You didn’t get many breaks in those days. You had to keep your head down because you had to do so many pieces a day. It was ‘piece-work.’ I went to work in Crozier House – a residential home for the elderly. I was a catering assistant in the kitchen for seven years until my husband took ill. I retired and then after my husband died I got friendly with Betty Fiddes and Eleanor Edgar and they encouraged me to come here to Ballydougan and so I started to make a cushion. The craic was great. It’s always great. I would always have something on the’go’. Knitting or sewing – that I’d bring. I wouldn’t get much work done here as there’s too much chat and cups of tea – but, sure, that’s why I come.

“ You didn’t get many breaks in those days. You had to keep your head down because you had to do so many pieces a day. “ 46

EDITH McCLEARY

am, unfortunately, on the wrong side of seventy years of age (though I don’t act or feel my age!). I was born in Loughgall but moved to Lurgan when I was about six. My first introduction to sewing was in my Elementary School (as it was called then). The teacher told us to bring in flour bags as we were going to make a petticoat (remember the war was not long over and there was still rationing). My mother did not have a flour bag, so she gave me some terrible green material. The teacher’s face fell when she saw it – it was very thick and I suppose she was wondering how I would get a needle into it! My next experience was at grammar school. We were told to get material and a pattern as we were going to make a dress for the Senior Certificate exam. My friend, Sandra and I were looking for the easiest pattern we could find – without buttons (we couldn’t do button-holes) and definitely without pleats (too hard!) She choose a cream-coloured wool material and I chose the same in a light green material. How we struggled putting a long zip up the back! When the garments were finished, we had to model them. Luckily I was sick and was spared the embarrassment of modelling it! When it was announced in our church that a patchwork class was starting in Ballydougan, I joined and I am still here today. It is Barbara’s tea that keeps me here and all the friends I have made. My husband cannot see the sense in buying good material, cutting it up and sewing it back together again. He’ll learn!

“ It is Barbara’s tea that keeps me here and all the friends I have made.”

JOCELYN FREEMAN

learned to knit when I was four (before I started school) I had red tweed wool and very short No 8 knitting needles (4 mm). I was probably about six when I started hand-sewing and embroidery and used a treadle machine a year or two later when I was big enough to reach down to the treadle. I discovered patchwork when I attended an exhibition in 1995 and have been making quilts ever since! I learnt to crochet in my early teens. I have taught needlework, crochet and quilting to all age-groups. My great-aunt (maternal) designed for Old Bleach Linen. My grandfather (paternal) invented something connected with zig-zag embroidery. He worked in a company that made sewing machines (Gribbon’s).

JUNE WALKER

learned to knit and sew at Colebrooke Primary School in Fermanagh. My mother was secretary to Lord Brookeborough. We lived in the gate-lodge to the Big House. Years after it lay empty and went to wrack and ruin as a tree grew through my bedroom but now, I see, in recent years, it’s all been restored. I became a nurse. I qualified from the City Hospital in 1965, worked in Musgrave Park for four years and then in Emergency in Lagan Valley for sixteen years. I then went to Saudi Arabia for a year – but it was far too restrictive for women – I was glad to get home. In 1993, I was the District Relief Nurse for the Banbridge/Gilford/Dromore/ Lurgan area and finished up as a Practise Nurse in Wynn Hill Surgery with Doctor Stewart. I still look after people. I do ’sitting’ for people who need respite. I’m 73 – and I’m still doing that to this day. Six years ago I did a morning Craft Class at the Banbridge Tech. I got to know Bernie through that class and then years later we both ended up coming to Ballydougan.

“ I learned to knit when I was four (before I started school). I had red tweed wool and very short No 8 knitting needles.” 50

BETTY FIDDES

started sewing when I was 6 years old. I made dolls’ clothes for all my friends. My mum bought me a Singer treadle machine. I made my first dress on this machine. When I left school, my dad wanted me to be a secretary so he was delighted when I got my first job at Craigavon Area Hospital on site when it was being built. Without mentioning it to him, I left to train as a stitcher in the Ulster Laces. That’s where my heart lay. I also worked in Spence Bryson’s’ and Mayfair. When the Mayfair opened its factory in Gilford, I was the first stitcher to work there. I then left the factory to have a family and I continued to work at home as an outworker. I stayed at home with my children, and that’s when I started to make curtains for Huston’s. After working at home for many years, I looked after my mother, who had breast cancer. After her death, we moved house to Portadown, where I started my own business making curtains. I then moved back to Gilford where I opened my own Curtain and Craft Shop. After a few years, I was diagnosed with breast cancer myself and had to give up working for a while. That’s when I began doing patchwork. It was very therapeutic. I joined the Ballydougan Patchwork and Craft Group about six months after it started. I have completed several quilts and am at present the tutor at Ballydougan. I have enjoyed many days of patchwork at Ballydougan. I enjoy teaching new techniques to others and get great satisfaction when they complete a project. I have spent a lifetime sewing and have enjoyed every minute, creating new ideas and passing on my skills to others.

“ I enjoy teaching new techniques to others and get great satisfaction when they complete a project.”

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leary Farmers’ Hall is situated in the rural area of Bleary, which is located in County Armagh almost equal distance between the towns of Lurgan, Portadown and Banbridge. The building presently owned and managed by Bleary Farmers’ Hall Management Committee was previously Ballydougan Public Elementary School. The original site was given by local landowner for the school and the condition was that it be returned to him when it ceased to become a school. It ceased being used by the Southern Education Board in l964 and when the descendants were subsequently traced they agreed to the sale of the site and building. The Bleary Farmers’ Union, which was active at the time, and the Bleary Young Farmers’ Club worked together to raise money to buy the property to use as a Community Hall to be known as Bleary Farmers’ Hall. Money was collected from the farmers of the area and this enabled the purchase to be completed for the sum of £500 in 1966. Six members of the Farmers’ Union and six members of the Young Farmers’ Club then formed Bleary Farmers’ Hall Management Committee.

The Farmers’ Hall Management Committee consists of the directors and trustees of the hall and also includes representatives from the various user groups. These include: Bleary Young Farmers’ Club ‘Run by young people, for young people, and always a keystone of the rural community.’ Bleary YFC meets from 8-10pm on the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month (September to May) in Bleary Farmers’ Hall. Founded in 1930, Bleary YFC is the 5th oldest Young Farmers Club in Northern Ireland and one of the 54

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oldest rural youth clubs in the UK. The club invites visitors to give educational presentations and occasionally hosts other clubs as part of an exchange, Some meetings are held outside the hall to gain an understanding of local businesses or for club bonding events. Competitions which the club take part in include; Stock Judging, Public Speaking, Build It Competitions, Floral Art and Swimming Competitions – to name a few. The club celebrated its 85th anniversary in 2015 with an average membership of 45 over the past five years. For more details about the club or club meetings, check out their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/blearyyoungfarmersclub Ballydougan Bowling Club The Club season is from September until March and during this period the club meets every Wednesday night. This was started in 1968 in Bleary Hall by the late William Greer. From April onwards the outdoors bowls season begins. The club has a membership of 22 and is open to both men and women. Friendly matches are played between other local clubs. The Club competes in the West Down Bowling League and other annual tournaments which are played in Bleary Farmers’ Hall include the President’s Cup and the Ballydougan Cup. As there are around nine different bowling clubs in the area there are plenty of opportunities to play both friendly and league matches. Ballydougan House Sporting Gun Club Club is organised by Jim Larmour (“Country Sports”) Their committee meetings are held in the hall and their rifle-range is nearby. The club’s aim is to improve shooting standards in the use of rifles, handguns and pistols. Its 90-strong club 55

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members regularly participate in a variety of target shooting, which includes: practical pistol, clay-pigeon shooting and skeet-shooting events. Bleary and District Pipe Band Always interested in attracting new members. Their band practice and lessons are on Monday nights at 7.30 at Bleary Farmers’ Hall. Bleary and District were formed in 1956. They took part in parades and general community events for over a decade and then in the early 70’s they began to take part in competitions. The present Pipe Major, Nigel Davison, is the son of the founder, Kenneth. (Nigel was previously a member of the famous Field Marshal Montgomery band). In 2014 the band won the UK Championships and was a runner-up in the World Championships. Since 2015 they have been steadily promoted and will be competing in 2016 at Grade 1 level. They have enjoyed participating in concert and social events, including the very well-attended Ulster Scots Burns Night also held in the Bleary Hall. Northern Lights branch of the Quilters Guild of Ireland The QGI committee organises a programme of monthly Tuesday evening meetings. These offer a range of talks, demonstrations and mini workshops and, on occasions, some full day Saturday workshops or free sewing days. Tutors are drawn either from their own membership or professional experts. In March every year the QGI organises a weekend retreat in Dublin with both local and international teachers. This offers a great opportunity to meet quilters from all over Ireland. Within the group there is a friendly atmosphere, with members coming together at Tuesday meetings to further their passion for patchwork and quilting. The late Jean Neill, who owned Red Cottage Crafts in Moira, invited 56

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some of her customers to join the QGI which she, Frances Sawaya and others had founded in 2002 to be an all-Ireland guild. She ran regular workshops in the shop until her retirement. After this the Northern Lights group met in various places round Lisburn and Moira before finding their current home in Bleary Farmers’ Hall, This arrangement was set up for and managed for many years by Doreen Moffett. In November 2011 they had their 10th Anniversary Supper and were delighted to welcome Frances Sawaya and her husband to their festivities. Craigavon Area Patchwork Guild The Guild meetings take place once a month on the first Monday. Craigavon Area Patchwork Guild was set up in the 1990’s at the home of the tutor Mary Good. It was then decided to move the group to Lurgan Town Hall and set up a Guild. Nowadays, in Bleary Farmers’ Hall, they regularly have visiting tutors from various other Guilds and charity groups. Workshops are run at least once or twice a year with a visiting tutor and sometime one of their own members. These have always been very successful and very well-received. The Guild has a membership of 40 members and attendance at the monthly meetings is always very good. Lurgan Horse and Cattle Show Society The Society have one of the longer established one-day shows in Ireland and they hold their AGM in Bleary Hall. It was formed in May 1912 and was described as: ‘Undoubtedly the best inaugural show ever held by an agricultural association in Ulster, both as regards the number of entries and the number of visitors.’ For over one hundred years of Lurgan Show has been held in Lurgan 57

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Public Park on the first Saturday in June each year offering an outstanding opportunity for stock breeders from across the area to compete for top prizes. As well as the farm animals and horse sections there is a Home Industries section, and together with craft stalls, fun fair and trade stands the Show is a great family day. The setting for the Show is one of the finest in Ireland. Ballydougan Patchwork and Craft Group The Group meetings start in September and run through until end of May. There is no joining fee and the ladies are asked to contribute a small amount each week they attend to cover tutoring, hire of hall and hospitality. The Group not only provides a learning opportunity for all needlework skills but over the years has created the opportunity to form friendships and this is evident in the atmosphere during the sessions. Throughout the year, various events are organised such as an end of year coach outing in May, an outing to Knit and Stitch in Simmons Court, Dublin, and Visitors Day when other Groups are invited to view the exhibition of work done during the year. The Group also supports local events by displaying their work and doing demonstrations of various techniques. Noelle has been Chairperson throughout the fifteen years and has worked tirelessly for the good of the group. The Committee of Nora Johnston, Treasurer; Barbara Lamb, Catering Officer; Heather Black, Assistant Treasurer and Doreen Moffett, Secretary support Noelle in her role as Chairperson. This group meets in Bleary Farmers’ Hall every Wednesday (from 10 till 12) from September till May, employing a tutor who teaches needlework skills and runs regular workshops covering different techniques and highlighting equipment and materials on offer within the patchwork community. It also keeps sewing traditions alive and provides a service to the women of the Bleary District. The Farmers’ Hall Management Committee This committee is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the building. Used regularly by these groups, the hall resonates with weekly workshops, practice sessions and the committee meetings and AGM’s that are held throughout the year. It also regularly hosts social events – such as family gatherings for anniversaries and birthdays and occasional lectures by guest speakers attended by both locals and visitors from further afield. It has developed over the years into a flourishing social hub.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Committee of the Ballydougan Patchwork and Crafters’ Group Noelle Menaul Chairperson Doreen Moffett Secretary Nora Johnston Treasurer Heather Black Assistant Treasurer Barbara Lamb Catering Officer Would like to acknowledge the co-operation of: Emma Boyes of the Bleary Young Farmer’s Club Nigel Davison of the Bleary and District Pipe Band Nora Johnston of the Ballydougan Bowling Club Jim Larmour of the Ballydougan House Shooting Club Sheila Tinsley of the Craigavon Area Patchwork Guild Jane Winters of the Quilters’ Guild of Ireland Northern Lights Noelle Menaul of the Lurgan and District Horse and Cattle Show Society Ltd Doreen Moffett of the Ballydougan Patchwork and Craft Group And the Bleary Farmers’ Hall Management Committee

The tutors are very good and I have learned a lot.

Meet in a warm cosy venue for coffee and a chat, to make new friends and to learn new skills and different techniques.

We talk about all that we do — knitting, sewing, patchwork and art.

for their help in providing information and text for the Ballydougan Memories booklet The ladies of the Ballydougan Patchwork and Craft Group who provided their reminiscences in the field of needlecraft Jocelyn Freeman and Betty Fiddes The Textile Artists and Needlecraft Facilitators for the Ballydougan Memories Quilt Annemarie Mullan Quilt Theme Development, Story Collector and Editor Funding for this project was provided by Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council in 2015 as a pilot Arts and Older Peoples’ Project. This was facilitated by Catherine McNeill, Community Arts Development Officer.

The class means friendship and companionship — I moved here from a different area and knew no one until I joined Ballydougan.

Good friendly atmosphere and I learn a lot of new tips about patchwork and love seeing other peoples’ work.