Belfast born, bred and buttered memory man
BY CAROLINE SMITH
“My grandfather developed an interest in history at a young age. As a child, his father would take him on bicycle rides all over County Antrim teaching him of the local history,’’ Mr Graham said. “It was on one of these excursions when he was just twelve years old, that he and his father visited the grave of James Hope from the Society of United Irishmen, who was buried right beside his son Luke Hope.
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elfast has always been a city that was easily misunderstood. Not least during the difficult years of the Troubles, the richness of its language and stories – in addition to the beauty of its surrounding landscape – was obscured by the decades-long news reports of violent struggle and death. Since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, there has been greater opportunity for people outside the city (and Northern Ireland generally) to discover its unique culture, with Belfast growing as a tourist spot and a site for creative endeavours, not least the filmmaking associated with projects such as The Game of Thrones. However, even before this political change was in the wind, there were some who were already working to collate and promote Belfast history and stories, not only for local people, but those further afield. One such figure was Joe Graham, whose death in December 2021 brought the end of an illustrious career at the helm of historical magazine Rushlight: The Belfast Magazine. Inspired by the stories told by his own father about local history – in addition to his own research – Joe founded the publication in 1972, during the heart of the Troubles. Speaking with his grandson (also named Joe) allowed for some reflections on how the magazine developed, including a childhood trip which had inspired its name.
72 | THE IRISH SCENE
“One word from Luke Hope’s grave caught my grandfather’s eye and that was ‘Rushlight’... Luke St Hope had published a paper called the Rushlight in the 1820s, though it only lasted 41 editions with Luke dying a young man. In 1972, when my grandfather founded Rushlight, he named it so in memory of James Hope and his son Luke.’’ Another figure of importance was local writer Michael McLaverty – author of Call My Brother Back - who taught Joe Graham during his school years at St John’s Public Elementary School and later at St Thomas’ Secondary Intermediate School. “My grandfather would always speak with great fondness and pride of his time being taught by Michael McLaverty,” Mr Graham said. “Mickey’ as he and the other children would call him, encouraged him to express himself in the written word.” But at the very heart of the Rushlight project was a desire to record and retell the working-class history of Belfast and its people. “Sharing Our-story instead of His-story,” said Mr Graham. “From its birth, Rushlight aimed to present history in a truthful, warts and all way; protecting its integrity by being kept free of grants and funding.” These stories then, included recollections about the lives of Belfast hard men such as Stormy Weather and Silver McKee – who came from either side of the political spectrum but carried respect for one another, as well as journalist Barney Maglone (editor of the Morning News and then Irish News), and characters from the boxing world such as Terry Milligan and trainer George Scott. The magazine also carried columns about the history of different Belfast districts, replete
