Anyone from the shore road area of Belfast?.

[McGurggle]

I think the 'aul lion caught a few fleas and had to get out !! Or else he was lookin' for Buck Alex to get a good feed.
McG

[bevo1953]

i remember gilbert from going to seaview as a teenager in the 60s, he would always go up to the main stand and get everyone singing, the crues done very well in those years thanks to gilbert he was our 12th man....and i mean it sincerley he was our 12th man, sorry to hear he has passed on.

[Dargan]

Looking towards Shore Road from York Road area.


Donegall Park Avenue (you can see the pumping station lit up).


Lowwood School's back field and gates.

[McGurggle]

1st pic taken from the "Iron Bridge" ??
McG

[mmcgoverne]

Not sure where Gilbert lived after the houses and the shop folded but do know that he ended up in a Nursing Home in his later years.  Lived quite a long life for a Downs Syndrom sufferer didn't he, but he was always active and doing stuff when he could and followed Crusaders right to the end.

Hi Seaviewite, Dargan, I remember Gilbert doing the milk and papers on Shore Road, I dimly recall he wore thick glasses? I'm sorry to hear he's passed on. And I also vaguely recall a great big fella, might have been a coal delivery guy? Always a bit dusty?! He used to call into the Jamison's repair garage (my dad ran it and his dad before him) at 267 Shore Road. Maybe called Hugh? I love the picture of the McCloy's shop, although sadly different from when I used to be sent there with a note to buy 10 Park Drive for my ma, and put it on the tab until Friday!
 
And I also seem to remember lions escaping a couple of times, certainly once was I think the mid 70s when I was still at Lowwood or Seaview. I also remember some drama about a lady and a crocodile at the Grove, some act that went wrong and the crocodile mauled her??? 
 
Loving these pictures, they are not only hugely nostalgic for me, they are helping me visualise what it really looked like -I moved away before I was ten, although I've been back since. I am trying to write about that time and place, a novel based on the period in which I lived there; momentous times for me and my family, and also of course in the wider community -  these pictures help augment my own hazy memories, so a thousand thanks... 
 
Oh, and if anyone has any pictures they could post of the stretch of Shore Road between McCloys and Fortwilliam that shows the old garage at 265-269 Shore Road, I'll be eternally grateful!! Again I have only hazy memories, and no family photos. I saw it when it was being demolished in the early 80's before being rebuilt as a printers, and it was heartbreaking for me, and too late to capture it how it was....
 
Margaret

[hennebryl]

Dargan, I am enjoying your old photos so much on here. I must have walked up and down Donegall Pk Ave a million times and that photo of the turn at the bottom is just the way I remember it. Played in the school field millions of times too, seemed like back then the whole estate would be out playing games or football down there. I was always a bit of a tomboy growing up, so I would be down there playing football with all the boys too or rolling down the steep hills right before you got to the back of the school where the kitchens were. I left belfast back in 1994, but these photos are helping me feel as if I never left-thanks again!

[Jimmy55]

1st pic taken from the "Iron Bridge" ??
McG

Looks like it McGurggle, I used to cross it every day going to work in Duncrue St.

[Jimmy55]

Digging up all these memories of happenings on the Shore Road, and you lads all seem to have great memories.  
Tell me this, when was it that the lion escaped from the circus that was being held in the Grove Theatre.  I know it was after we were in Oz as I was amazed to see the Shore Road and Fortwilliam Crescent on the TV news  -  any news from Belfast in those days that didn't involve bombing or shooting was indeed noteworthy.

 
'Move on' call after escaped circus lion shocks residents.
 
The Circus must move -- that was the call from some frightened people living near Belfast's Grove Theatre.
However, circus boss Teddy  Fossett said yesterday's bolt for freedom by a young lion had been " a freak accident" and he said there was no need for any fear.
Meanwhile, 22-month-old Monarch, the lion at the centre of the drama, was having a day off training today.
People in Fortwilliam crescent, through whose backyards Monarch roamed after his break-out, said the incident had highlighted their complaints about the circus.
"Every year the circus comes and our peace is disturbed by noise and smell," said Mrs Winifred Amos. " We just dread them …
 

[Jimmy55]

 

[Dargan]

1st pic taken from the "Iron Bridge" ??
McG

I'm glad you have named that bridge for me as I couldn't remember much about that picture other than being on a bridge I didn't know existed until I took that particular walk. Would it be Ritchie Street, the one closest to the bridge?

[Richard 202]

Donegall Park Avenue (you can see the pumping station lit up).

Haha, I remember those two random garages (just out of picture on the left)! That's all been boarded up now.

[Jimmy55]

I'm glad you have named that bridge for me as I couldn't remember much about that picture other than being on a bridge I didn't know existed until I took that particular walk. Would it be Ritchie Street, the one closest to the bridge?

  It was Ivan street Dargan. Ritchie st was the one before it I think.

[RSL]

Hi Jimmy55,
How's life treating you in Sydney?
We're practically neighbours! lol.
I am learing such a lot from all the helpful people on the forum.
You mentioned Ritchie St. and I remember my Dad telling me he was born
there and I think he went to school there(St.Paul's)
He also lived in Sydney until 2002.
It certainly is a small world.

[RSL]

Dargan,Thanks to you I can now visualise the area
around the Terrace.It means such a lot to see those photo's.
I must say I was pleasantly surprised.
Thank you for taking the time.

[Jimmy55]

Hi Jimmy55,
How's life treating you in Sydney?
We're practically neighbours! lol.
I am learing such a lot from all the helpful people on the forum.
You mentioned Ritchie St. and I remember my Dad telling me he was born
there and I think he went to school there(St.Paul's)
He also lived in Sydney until 2002.
It certainly is a small world.

  Hi Newry, All good here in Beautiful Sydney although we have had a pretty average summer so far. Came here 23 years ago,I usually go back to Belfast every few years or so. Hoping to go  back in May/June.
Where you born here in Australia ? South Australia is the only state I haven't been, is  on my list though.