Faces of the Somme, 1st July 1916
The Somme offensive in 1916 was one of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the First World…
ballymena
Glarryford Barefoot Thief Caught Red Handed
Glarryford is some seven miles north of Ballymena. It was known to me (when I was growing…
1926 – An Awkward Invitation
Here’s a wonderful old poem, written in early 1926, by a woman from the Ballymena area. It…
Old Ballymena Photograph and 1851 Poem
As many of you know, I take great pleasure in cleaning up and enhancing old photographs, using…
Ballymena farmers enjoying tea break in hay field
I put ‘Ballymena’ in the title, because google is probably fed up seeing ‘Portglenone’ in so many…
The Ploughing Match at Ballymena
During the second half of the 1800s, ploughing matches became a common event in the North of…
Spring by Joyce Montgomery of Ballymena
From time to time, one comes across a little gem when searching old newspapers. Here is a…
Poem – The Emigrant Ship – 1857, the sadness of leaving Ireland behind
Irish Famine and the Migration to the New World The first mass migration of Irish people to…