Times to Remember

Th e nativity we did every Christmas. I was one of the shepherds who didn’t have any lines, that would have been more my role. I think I was a shepherd for about 4 or 5 years … Th ere were the shepherds and the angels made up the numbers and gave everybody something to do. Gemma Vaughan

A ‘fancy dress’ assembly with the theme of ‘Kings and Queens’

For the Diamond jubilee in 2012 we dressed up. I was Queen Victoria and my hair was up in a bun. I wore my fl ower girl‛s dress along with my red pumps. We all had a Jubilee dinner in the hall which was sausages, ice cream and a lot of jelly and biscuits.

Ellie Coburn, Downpatrick Primary School P7

Oh for goodness sake, you were nobody if you weren’t in the May procession. You made your First Communion. You had no uniforms, so you made your First Communion and you had a veil. So when it came to the May procession your mummy had to get the veil out. And in those days starch maybe wasn’t that easy to come by. Th ey had to make it out of sugar or whatever to do the veil for the May procession. Kate Hannah

Cast of ‘The Doll’s Wedding’, 1942 Convent of Mercy Primary

28 TIMES TO REMEMBER

We had a sports day. It was out the back of the school here, where there are buildings now. Th ere was a great big grass area and that is where all the sports were held. Along the back of the building here, there was a path and that’s where all the parents sat on the chairs to watch all the sports up on the grass bank. I remember races, sack races, egg and spoon, wheelbarrow race and the parents getting up and having a go at something.

Mary Lowry

Celebrating the Jubilee May 2012, Downpatrick Celebrating the Jubilee May 2012

We were very adventurous. I think Mrs. Patterson brought the adventure to Millisle. She took us to London on a school trip, the P5/6/7. I just remember going to the Tower of London. I remember staying in the hotel. I remember the not very nice food in the hotel and going to Tower Bridge and just really having a good time.

Hazel Mc Crea

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Education For Mutual Understanding – Th at was donkey’s years ago, way back at the end of the 80’s when the troubles were at their height. Downpatrick and Legamaddy were linked from P3 to P7. It ended with a residential trip. You would take P7 kids from both schools across to England to a big adventure park, a place called Benetton Park… And many years aft er that the children, who were former pupils, would still come and say to me “Do you remember we went to Benetton Park? Do you remember I was sharing a dormitory with Bernadette. Well she was my bridesmaid at my wedding and we are still mates”. Arthur Greenwood, Former Principal Downpatrick Primary School

Celebrating the centenary of the Convent of Mercy school, 1976

30 TIMES TO REMEMBER Having decided I would dress up as Prince William in a Jockey suit. In addition to getting horse riding boots and an old t-shirt with PW on the back and front, I had to make a whip out of wood. We paraded around the hall so the judges could see what the class costumes were like. Jamie Gelston, Downpatrick Primary School P7

Enjoying the ‘100 day’ maths challenge with Mrs Beattie

We did it (sports day) out where the nursery is now, it was a green. And the parents would have put the chairs and all out. And you would have had like the sack race, and the egg and spoon race. Th e games really aren’t the same today as they were then. Oh, I won a few things. ... Th e sack race and the barrel race... Th e egg and spoon race, and the sprinting, because I loved running.

Andrea Bingham, Millisle Primary School

For the Silver Jubilee Celebrations, the council had a fancy dress parade and my mum made a costume for myself and my friend Susan. My Mum got green fabric and sewed green dresses for us and she got two colours of pink fabric and made petals, and she dressed us up as jubilee roses. Th e two of us, we were of similar height and we just had our faces with these petals coming out. We won every fancy dress competition we entered because I suppose we were small P7s but we looked quite cute. We walked along hand in hand as these little jubilee roses.

Gill Kimpton

Cycling profi cency, 2006

I do remember the Pope coming when I was in P1. I remember that being a big event. Th ere were a lot of the pupils weren’t there and in the gymnasium they had put on a TV. It was about a 16” TV on a big stand. We sat in the middle of the assembly hall and I remember being marched in. Th ere were very few of us in and we were made to watch the pope arriving in Ireland and the pope giving a sermon in Ireland. Paul Gilchrist

Patrick the Penguin supports the rugby team! For the Queen‛s Diamond Jubilee we dressed up as Kings and Queens. For the outfi t I dressed up as King Arthur of Camelot, from Merlin. I had a sword and a big ring. It was the best Jubilee Party ever.

Matthew Crichton, Downpatrick Primary School P7

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Harvest Festival in Downpatrick Primary School

In P7 we went on a school trip to Keswick in the Lake District and it was fabulous. It was the fi rst time I had been away from home and it was a treat for passing the 11 plus and I was allowed to go to that, but was very homesick the whole time I was away. We went to Derwentwater. … We went on a boat trip down through it… and getting the Kendal mint sugar bars which I’m sure made us all hyper and the teeth rotted. I remember we stayed in a youth hostel … and one of the beds broke. Somebody fell through their bunk bed because it broke. Gillian Mc Gimpsey

32 TIMES TO REMEMBER During the Queen‛s Jubilee Downpatrick Primary school celebrated with activities full of fun. On Monday we made bunting. I used many colours such as red, blue, yellow and green. We also got to make Royal crowns, and mine was gold.

James Ross, Downpatrick Primary School P7

Mrs Wilson with Downpatrick Boys’ hockey team Fundraising

Downpatrick Primary School NI Hockey Finals 2007 with Mr Maginnis We were talking about Fred Walker the artist, and his blackboard, I used to have to wash it. Just with water and then when it dried there was always another wee bit left on it. And he would have made you wash it again and wash it again until it was pure black. It would have taken me about an hour to wash the board and it had to be absolutely spotless. Th en he would have started and have done a drawing with the chalk and blew it and put it in his hand and it was unbelievable, just with chalk on the blackboard. It maybe would have taken him four or fi ve days to do it. Th en the paper would have come in, the Spectator or the Chronicle, and then he used to be in them every year. Mervyn O’Neill

The cast of ‘Annie’, 2010 Downpatrick Primary School Mr Walker drew beautiful scenes like this on the blackboard every year at Christmas.

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Banner created by children from Millisle Primary school for the opening of the Memorial Garden.