Lisburn News

Lisburn in top spot

THINGS were going really well at Lisburn Cricket Club in July, 1969.

The Wallace Park men ha just jumped to the top of the league table for the first time that season after a 31 run midweek victory over Instonians at home.

That made it four wins out of five and put Lisburn four points ahead of second placed Woodvale.

Star of the show against Instonians was Herbie Martin who smashed 85 not out much to the delight of team captain Cecil Walker.

Soon cooking
on gas

LISBURN residents heard news in March 1958 that they could soon be cooking on gas supplied from Belfast.

At a meeting of the Belfast Corporation Gas Committee a letter from Lisburn Urban Council asked if supplies of gas could be piped from Belfast to Lisburn.

It was reported at the time expensive repairs would be necessary at the Lisburn Gasworks within a few years.

Lisburn Council wanted to pipe gas in bulk and store it in Lisburn Gasometer for load consumption.
Holywood was supplied from Belfast by this manner, but a request from Bangor fell through.

The price of laying a pipe from Belfast to Lisburn was to be the main factor on the issue.

PAST TIMES

Looking back at news from Lisburn's past

Plan to make Smithfield 'Covent Garden of Lisburn'

How it could have looked

IN September 1986 the Star revealed a plant to make the Smithfield area of the town The Covent Garden of Lisburn'.

Local developers had a £5m scheme to turn the area into an attractive square which would house shops, the town's much talked about multi storey car park and - the the council was agreeable - the long awaited civic centre. The men behind the scheme said they would be ready to start if the land was made available by the DoE.

And at a time when speculation was rife about a development at Sprucefield, they voiced concerns that failure to act could result in Lisburn missing out to centres on the periphery of the town.
The idea for development of the site had first been put forward in 1981, but at that time the Borough Council sent it back because the site was still under consideration for a civic centre. The new scheme would address those concerns.

This photograph belongs to Stanley Wilson a former member of the Lisburn Pipe Band. He thought it would help stir up a few memories. Stanley thinks the photo was taken around 1950 and it was outside Railway Presbyterian Church.The people he can remember in the photo are as follows: Front row: Gerald Best, unknown, Maurice Lockhard, B McNeilll„Angus McClune, Enver McKay, Jim Adams and a Mr Millar. Centre row: Malcolm Crangle, George Forbes, John Mines, David Friars, Jimmy Wars. Back row: Dick Maze, Jimmy Reilly, Stanley Wilson and Jonnie Ringland.

Swimming pool delay

THE Star reported back on June 20, 1969 that the new £300,000 swimming pool would not be completed on the deadline of January 1970.

The announcement came at a meeting of the Borough Council's Swimming Pool Committee.

Mr Gordon Millington, a partner of the firm who designed the pool, told of a problem in the metal roof sheeting on the main pool hall.

At the time he said a thorough investigation had found that about 60 per cent of the sheeting causing a problem.

Mr Millington pointed out that there would be no increase in the cost to the council for this setback

To minimise the delay on the contract being competed the water proofing of the pool had already taken place pending delivery of the new roofing material to address the problem.

A new date for the completion of the pool could not be given until the roofing had been replaced.

As a result of the delay, the Council were not going to appoint a baths manager for duty in September as planned.

At the same meeting Mr Millington also revealed that the pool was not 'six inches short' as had been speculated at the time, but rather it was 'three inches longer."

THE famous Top Hat in Lisburn was going strong in 1971 and topping the bill was Candy.

Sam is hailed a hero

A construction worker was hailed a hero in 1958 when the Star reported Sam Bell had saved a young boy from drowning in the River Lagan.

The boy, aged just three, fell into the Lagan near his home after he' followed a crowd of children to the river bank.

When he fell in the other children shouted for help and Sam, who was working in the field at the other side of the river, quickly took off his shoes and dived in and swam across to the other side. When he eventually got to the scene the young boy had disappeared but Sam dived under the water and located the boy and brought him safely to the bank.

Mr Bell then applied artificial respiration to the boy who appeared very ill.

The police arrived and took the boy to hospital where he fully recovered. Sam had left the scene without giving his name, but the Star managed to track him down and let readers know of his brave actions.

Ulster Star
13/01/2012