For the Christmas meeting of the Bellaghy Historical Society, the Speaker was Ms.Fionnuala Carragher from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. She is Head Of the Department on Domestic Life and Irish furniture and her topic was Christmas Past in the Home.

She started by telling her audience that Christmas only started to be celebrated in its current form, in Victorian days, when the influence of Holland and other countries in Western Europe brought us Santa Claus, the tree and Christmas cards. Before that it was mainly a religious festival and the comniercial aspect of things only started to escalate after the second World War.

The Speaker then showed a series of slides of furnishings and kitchen and Dairy equipment in the houses of bygone days and followed this by quoting the times of arrival in this country of the different traditions we now enjoy.

After tea and mincepies, the Chairperson Mrs Mary Breslin thanked the audience for attending and reminded them of the January meeting when the well known writer and sailor Mr Wallace Clark will speak on the History of the Linen Industry.

Ms.Fionnuala Carragher from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum was the speaker at the December meeting.