For their January meeting the members of Bellaghy Historical Society enjoyed a very entertaining evening of memories shared with Mr. Barney Devlin of The Hillhead, Castledawson.

The intended speaker for the evening had been unable to come because of family illness and Mr Devlin, who has been scheduled to speak in February, very kindly agreed to put forward his visit to fill the gap.

The meeting opened with the showing of a video of Lough Beg which was featured some years ago in the “Lesser Spotted Ulster” series. The video was kindly lent by Mrs. Margaret McErlean and contained footage of the traditional activities of some members and their relatives on the shores of the lough.

The viewing was greatly enhanced by the magnificent 42 inch plasma television which was supplied by Kearneys, Castle Street, Bellaghy. After this was shown Mr. Devlin took over and regaled members with memories of characters who had lived in the area and told of life as it was in the “Hungry Thirties” when his father, a blacksmith, was often paid for shoeing horses with produce from the farm when the farmers simply had not enough money to offer cash. His audience participated in the conversation and greatly enjoyed his humorous recollections of past days.

Mrs Mary Breslin, Chairperson, thanked Mr. Devlin for standing in at short notice and for the pleasure his anecdotes had given those present. She reminded members that Mrs Pearl Hutchinson of Kilrea Historical Society who had unfortunately been prevented from fulfilling her engagement to speak in January would do so at the February meeting on the subject of “A walk around the Historic town of Kilrea”.

Barney Devlin of the Forge Hillhead who was the guest speaker at the January meeting of Bellaghy Historical Society

The Forge at the Hillhead outside Castledawson.