RootsChat.Com

Dear Newgent,

It sounds like we must have crossed paths at some time as we have some mutual friends judging from the names you mentioned. I lived a few doors from Dessie and Brian Finlay on the Whitewell Road and not far from Major Finlay's family, whose sons, Steven and Alan, were close friends to myself and my brothers.  I also knew James and Desmond Kelly from Kelly's farm as that's where we got all our eggs and buttermilk in the 1950's. I was born in 1944 so we are of a similar age. Glengormley House was therefore slightly out of our immediate area, but we made regular forays up to Colinward and the old Laundry buildings where we fished in the Mill dams and tried to climb the old factory chimney ( unsuccessfully, I might add ) - these areas would be very familiar to you. Sadly the whole area is now swamped by urban development and nowadays bears little resemblence to how I remember it. Still, it's nice to correspond to someone who can relate to the area as it was when I was growing up.
Best wishes,
Whitewell. 

Hi Liscoole,
In researching my family tree, I found that a great aunt of mine, Mrs. Margaret T Pender
(1848-820) lived in Glengormley House around the latter end of the 19th century, from c.1875-1896. Before Glengormley House, she lived in the black-stone houses attached to Whitewell Printing Works, where her husband, Owen Pender, worked. Mrs Pender was herself a well known poet and authoress of the day and had many stories published in the national irish press from 1885 to her death in 1920. She also had several books published around this time and was considered to be one of the best writers of Irish Fiction of her day. Sadly now her work has fallen into obscurity but I have been able to unearth much of her work from old newspapers etc.
Incidentally, I grew up on the Whitewell Road, just below Bellevue steps, and lived there from the 1940's until the 1960's, so I am very familiar with the area.
Whitewell