oldwarrenpointforum

Hello all,

In 1961 Dad went back to Ireland for a visit, his mother (my grandmother) was ailing. One of my aunts was a film buff, recently discovered an 8mm film done then, and have transferred it to DVD. Loses some quality in posting to Youtube, and suffers a bit from double and over exposure, but thought people on this board might be interested to see it.



- Opens with a sea front, Rostrevor?
- at 25 seconds a hike begins, probably to Lough Shannagh and or Silent Valley...
- about 1:22 back on the road (lovely car),...
- by 1:35 at a Lough, the structure on the right at 1:39 must be the control building at the dam at Silent Valley
- 1:40 looks to be the same place as start of film, the two men walking along to 1:52 are my father, Donald MacDonald-Ross, and my grandfather, Ross MacDonald Ross, often referred to as "the Mourne Artist".
- 2:07 a country road, what place is that house at 2:19?
- Lovely wee stream around 3:10
- My grandparents struggling up a steep road at 3:30, followed by my father.
- Beach at 4:08, followed by boat ride, which town is that spinning by in the background?
- Narrow-Water Castle at 5:12
- train zips past the castle at 5:22
- Dad and Grandmother by tent at 5:48, I have one of his letters home with a sketch of the scene.



- At 6:31 a side trip down to Ardee, my mother's brother proudly showing off the town and the view from atop the Castle.
- 6:50 back to Canada, Pickering Pool,
- 8:06 preparing the backyard at Scarborough for a camping party, probably for my third birthday, though we never needed much excuse.
- 9:13 no turn for me on the swings.. I look miffed..

Appreciate any suggestions of places in the film,

Donald.

I'll have a proper look at this later, but the "town spinning" is definitely Warrenpoint I think the bit that you thought was back at the start at 1:40 is actually at the junction of the Drumsesk road (the start is Rostrevor down at the seafront) Great little bit of footage and just the thing we are looking for

Very cool footage

Don - Niagara - what a nice film to have.
Enjoyed looking at it.

Donald, I thoroughly enjoyed that film. And it was such a treat to seeing a family having so much fun. Loved the heel clicking by the man on the road. used to be able to do that myself but am afraid I might break my neck if I tried it now. Well, on second thought, I might give it a try tomorrow.

Fantastic film, did I see the Turk White standing on the beach at the bath's.

Great footage of Warrenpoint and surrounding areas, don_niagara.

A lot of your grandfather, Mr. Macdonald Ross's painting's were hung in the Central Cafe, in Warrenpoint, sadly now gone. He use to dine there quite frequently, I think?
In the summer of 1967 three girls (they were about 16/17) came to stay with Mr. MacDonald Ross, on the Mount Road, and my friends and I got quite friendly with them. Their names were Deirdre, Laura and Cherry.
I think Deirdre and Laura were grandchildren of Mr. MacDonald Ross, they were from Jordanstown in North Belfast? Cherry was their friend.
Do you know of these girls, or am I completely of base here, and suffering from delusions?

YH I agree with you, it appears to be the late Hughie 'Turk' White.

Hiya,

dukestreet wrote:



Not unlikely, he was a social animal, if he was there often it was probably as much for good conversation as the food.



Deirdre and Laura are the girls in that film hiking off into the hills at 0:28, and later on the boat off Warrenpoint. "Cherry" does not ring a bell, may be a friend of theirs I am not familiar with, or I wonder if it might have been my sister Sheila (in the film starting at 6:52 at the Pickering Pool). I know we were over as a family in '68, but most of us kids as young teens had solo voyages, which of course included visits to Deirdre, Laura, and Grandfather.



Har! Deirdre is off at Dumfries, Laura at Limavady, and Sheila at Muskoka here in Ontario.

don_niagara, I had reason to go to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast one day probably in the early 1980's, I really can't be sure, but is it possible that I saw Deirdre (in white coat and concerned expression on her face, she may have been a doctor or an anaethitist) fly past past me in one of the hallways, probably heading to some emergency.

Also ask Deirdre and Laura do they remember going to a party in the late Ben Byrne's house (The Villa)on the Burren/Dromore Road in the summer of 1967? Maybe party is not quite the word I was searching for.
But if they choose to ignore that memory, or have possibly wiped it out of their collective memories, I will understand, I would probably do the same myself.

Mr & Mrs MacDonald Ross were my uncle and aunt. Deirdre and Laura are my second cousins. And Cherry would have been a friend who also came from Jordanstown, just north of Belfast. Deirdre, Laura and I often spent summer holidays at Uncle MacDonald's cottage close to Narrow Water Castle.

Hiya Mavis!

A few years since we exchanged emails, I have changed servers since then and lost your e-address, but I am a lousy correspondant, and that is a better explanation of why you have not heard from me. "Personal mail" me and I'd happily forward you Laura's e-address, I am sure she would love to hear from you.

Recently found an audio cassette of Ross MacDonald Ross from a visit to Canada in 1972, elderly then he was coaxed into reciting "Sir Patrick Spens", losing it after a few verses, then "the Twa Corbies", which he taught me and has been my party piece since. As visual background added scans of a bunch of his paintings, padded with a few of my Dad and sister. at



2007 when Aunt Maureen and cousin Laura (daughter of Kathleen) visited us here in Niagara they noted cousins from the U.S.A., common to you through MaWhinney from Whitespots, had recently visited. Not sharing my mania for genealogy and family history I did not press them for details, but wonder if you know that lot?

Donny.

Don, I thoroughly enjoyed that. It was a great touch adding the art as visuals. Loved them. Now there must be a story or two behind that wild saloon scene!

Too many Saturday afternoons at the movies I think!

Dad was probably 10 or 12 years old, later in the sketch book he switches to WW2 scenes, France and Iwo Jima somehow becoming places in the Mournes...

It is interesting to see his progress, from childish scenes, to landscapes influenced by his father, I'll attach one,



then he switched to some urban scenes of his own influence, I'll attach a sketch of the Kildare Street Club in Dublin, he stayed in tthe basement 1948/9 while working there, it is the only known drawing of that centuries old club by someone who actually stayed there.



Donald

Enjoyed listening to that and loved
the beautiful paintings as well.

Hi Don, great to hear from you, and what nostalgia!! To hear Uncle MacDonald's voice again and to see his paintings, and the charcoal drawing of Aunt Kit. Absolutely wonderful. Have emailed you about contacts.