Speaker for 5th January 2016
08/01/16 13:10
Photo: Club 2nd Vice President Mike Turner greets Stanley Bate, with club members John Dobson (L, making a welcome return to the club after a long illness) and Vice President Jim Archer (R)
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Coleraine Probus club started their 2016 series of talks with a fascinating look around the triangle area, at the 'here and now' and commentary by Stanley Bate. Over the last 50 or more years Stanley has built up a vast archive collection of local views, which he can compare with current photos/slides. The archive not only contains many shots taken by Stanley - colour and black and white, handmade prints, digitised for projection - but also a large collection of original old postcards and even some glass plate negatives, again all digitised to make his engrossing study of our area.
Photo highlights of our look at how the area has changed, included several from the Prom and Harbour in Portstewart - busy with sail boats in the 1890s; NO Town Hall; NO Star of the Sea Chapel; a skyline NOT containing a mass of homes and apartments; an original Morelli's café; a view of the 1834 "O'Hara's Castle" (purchased by the Dominican Sisters in 1917 and now, greatly extended, the Dominican College). Stanley also had some early aerial shots of Coleraine, clearly showing the old distillery, the Gas Works and even a farm house with haystacks in the yard - a now covered with modern homes. Perhaps one of the most unique items in Stanley's collection was a copy of a glass slide dating from the late 1800's, showing a group of people (possibly sightseers? or staff? or??) at the original "Lion's Gate" Downhill, with the magnificent Bishop's Palace in the background, fully roofed and impeccable!
Club members especially enjoyed the 'memory tests', trying to identify buildings and locations. Both the 'filling station' on Burnside Road (now a block of apartments) and the fortress like factory that turned out to be 'Kennedy's Foundry', gave a lot discussion. Jim Archer thanked Stanley on behalf of the club for his extremely interesting, highly enjoyable and expertly collected presentation and talk - a real peek into past showing what was here now!
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Talk by Mr. Stanly Bate who had us looking "Here and There"
Coleraine Probus club started their 2016 series of talks with a fascinating look around the triangle area, at the 'here and now' and commentary by Stanley Bate. Over the last 50 or more years Stanley has built up a vast archive collection of local views, which he can compare with current photos/slides. The archive not only contains many shots taken by Stanley - colour and black and white, handmade prints, digitised for projection - but also a large collection of original old postcards and even some glass plate negatives, again all digitised to make his engrossing study of our area.
Photo highlights of our look at how the area has changed, included several from the Prom and Harbour in Portstewart - busy with sail boats in the 1890s; NO Town Hall; NO Star of the Sea Chapel; a skyline NOT containing a mass of homes and apartments; an original Morelli's café; a view of the 1834 "O'Hara's Castle" (purchased by the Dominican Sisters in 1917 and now, greatly extended, the Dominican College). Stanley also had some early aerial shots of Coleraine, clearly showing the old distillery, the Gas Works and even a farm house with haystacks in the yard - a now covered with modern homes. Perhaps one of the most unique items in Stanley's collection was a copy of a glass slide dating from the late 1800's, showing a group of people (possibly sightseers? or staff? or??) at the original "Lion's Gate" Downhill, with the magnificent Bishop's Palace in the background, fully roofed and impeccable!
Club members especially enjoyed the 'memory tests', trying to identify buildings and locations. Both the 'filling station' on Burnside Road (now a block of apartments) and the fortress like factory that turned out to be 'Kennedy's Foundry', gave a lot discussion. Jim Archer thanked Stanley on behalf of the club for his extremely interesting, highly enjoyable and expertly collected presentation and talk - a real peek into past showing what was here now!
