0:00:03 > 0:00:06The Travelling Picture Show is giving four Northern Irish towns
0:00:06 > 0:00:10the chance to celebrate their past, their stories and their characters,
0:00:10 > 0:00:15as captured by local amateur filmmakers and television crews.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Some of the films have lain hidden in attics and archives for decades.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Now we're bringing them back to the heart of the community where they came from.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26We're going to meet some of the people who made the films, those who appear in them,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28and those with a story to tell.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34We've invited them to come and see the past flicker into life on the silver screen
0:00:34 > 0:00:38and get a rare glimpse of their town and its people in days gone by.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Today we've pitched our Travelling Picture Show tent in Newry.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47We'll see films that show the town's industrial past,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50the glory days of the showbands,
0:00:50 > 0:00:52school life in the 1960s
0:00:52 > 0:00:55and what it was like to be a punk in Newry in the 1980s.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16Here we are in McLennan Park right in the centre of Newry,
0:01:16 > 0:01:19a place I've been to many times in the past.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24Then it was a town, but just as busy and full of life as the city is today.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Now, many people would regard this border city as a shopping destination,
0:01:29 > 0:01:35but Newry has a very rich industrial past which still shapes the city and its people.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48Although its roots go back centuries, much of Newry was shaped by that industrial heritage,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and built around the canal that runs right through the heart of the city.
0:01:55 > 0:02:01Opened in 1742, it was the first summit canal to be built in the UK or Ireland,
0:02:01 > 0:02:06and in its heyday carried goods and passengers between Newry and Lough Neagh.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11Although the inland section of the canal was abandoned once the railways came in,
0:02:11 > 0:02:16it continued to be used in Newry, ferrying goods between the warehouses and businesses
0:02:16 > 0:02:20that had grown up around its banks and the busy Newry docks.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28Well, I've come out to Victoria Lock where the Newry Ship Canal meets the sea,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31and on this beautiful day and everything looking so peaceful,
0:02:31 > 0:02:36it's very hard to believe when you look down the waterway that once this was the gateway
0:02:36 > 0:02:38to one of the busiest ports in Ireland.
0:02:43 > 0:02:49Cargo ships and steamboats came into the bustling port of Newry from all over Northwest Europe,
0:02:49 > 0:02:54bringing in coal from England, timber from Sweden, slate from Wales,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58and taking out livestock, dairy produce and linen.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03On a busy day there'd be lots of noise with livestock.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Coal was being discharged,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09the noise of the coal dropping on to the cranes,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12the noise of the cranes themselves,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15they were powered by electricity
0:03:15 > 0:03:17and there was a humming sound came from them.
0:03:17 > 0:03:18Then further down
0:03:18 > 0:03:24we had a container berth and there was a large crane there for lifting containers
0:03:24 > 0:03:26on and off the ship there,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30and everything was just a hub of activity.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35Many of our audience today have no memory whatsoever of the port in Newry.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37They're seeing images of it for the very first time.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41For Gabby Curran it's as if it was yesterday.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Gabby, I like the way you've brought along a lot of memorabilia today.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Who did this belong to?
0:03:46 > 0:03:48It's mostly related to my father and the Newry docks.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51My father was a docker, and so every boat my father worked on...
0:03:51 > 0:03:56and now looking back on it, it's actually a history of some of the ships that came up the Newry Canal.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Why did he keep such a diligent record?
0:03:59 > 0:04:02The reason being that to get a fortnight's pay in the summer time,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06- you had to work and put a stamp on every week. - This was important to him?
0:04:06 > 0:04:10That was his computer, that was everything in there. It's part of Newry's memorabilia.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14- Beats computers, eh?- Ah, they were good people, different times, Gloria.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19Not all dockers were cardmen, like Gabby's father.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21It was called "getting a score".
0:04:21 > 0:04:24And there was maybe 80 people there looking for a job.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Patsy Quinn recalls what it was like for the many casual labourers
0:04:27 > 0:04:31who queued from well before dawn to try and get a day's work.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35There was a massive big shed and there was a man called Jimmy Coughlan, he was the foreman.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40And all the guys looking for occasional work were all lined up in a row,
0:04:40 > 0:04:42and he just walked along and said, "You," or "You."
0:04:42 > 0:04:45When I was about 16, I was unemployed for about a month
0:04:45 > 0:04:48and I got a job working on the steam packet.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53I started at 8 in the morning and I went right through till 3 the next morning.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58And in those days when I was working, I was earning about £2/10 a week.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59And for that one day at the steam packet,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03which was carrying hundredweights and two hundredweight bags all day long,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06I got over £4, which was a lot of money.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09When I finished the steam packet at 3 in the morning,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13my chin was hitting my knees, I was that bent over from carrying bags.
0:05:14 > 0:05:21The lasting memory that I have was travelling up and down to the locks on the Olaf.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25The captain would bring us down to the locks
0:05:25 > 0:05:29and we would get a lift home or come back up on another collier.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Sometimes he would let you steer the ship.
0:05:31 > 0:05:37We were 12, 13 years of age and this was just top-drawer stuff.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Boats continued to be a source of fascination for boys young and old,
0:05:42 > 0:05:46but by the '60s, business on the Newry Canal was in decline.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55In 1968, a cargo boat, the Saint William, crashed into the Victoria Lock gates,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58ripping them off their hinges. The port was closed for weeks,
0:05:58 > 0:06:03and the incident spelled the beginning of the end for the Newry Ship Canal.
0:06:08 > 0:06:15Just six years later, a local church group making a film captured the last working day on the canal.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21I was fortunate enough to get a reel of film handed to me
0:06:21 > 0:06:23by a guy out of one of the schools.
0:06:25 > 0:06:31Today, the hoisting of the flag is a signal to the Anna Broere to sail towards Newry
0:06:31 > 0:06:32for the last time.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Because the canal which linked Newry with the world since 1742
0:06:37 > 0:06:41will close as a navigational waterway.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46We are waiting to welcome the last ship.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54I was watching and watching and I was just getting fed up,
0:06:54 > 0:06:59then all of a sudden this wee boat appeared coming by Narrow Water Castle,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03and there was a mist that morning, and it just looked so beautiful,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05and then I watched it and watched it,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07and then when I seen the name on the ship, I realised...
0:07:07 > 0:07:11I'd heard my father speak about the last wee working boat coming up the Newry Canal,
0:07:11 > 0:07:16and it was a wee small oil tanker and that was about 1974.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18And thank God somebody had the sense to film it,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21because it actually was the last working boat on the Newry Canal.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Eilish, I watched you watching the film and enjoying it very much.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Now, just tell me why you were there that day when the last ship left?
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Well, it was a film that was being made called Kick Any Stone,
0:07:45 > 0:07:51it's an expression, kick any stone and all this history will leap up at you.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54So what do you remember of the vision of the ship leaving the canal?
0:07:54 > 0:07:56Well, I don't actually think the boat was there.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01I think we were just videoed waving and then the boat was edited in.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06- No! So you were just acting for the film.- We were just acting, but I could be wrong.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20A lot of very hard work has gone into restoring the canal
0:08:20 > 0:08:24to create something of a haven for wildlife, for walkers, for cyclists,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27along this 18-mile route all the way to Portadown.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31But you know there was a time when nobody seemed to know what to do with it.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36No longer viable as a port, Newry turned its back on the ship canal.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38For years it was little more than a dumping ground.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40There was even talk about building over it.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45But there was one annual event when the whole town came down to the canal to have fun.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50And by the late 1970s, Newry Canal Festival was proving so popular
0:08:50 > 0:08:54that the BBC sent a crew down to find out what it was all about.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05The Festival started off on a Saturday with a gigantic parade.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08It really was... It surprised the committee, you know.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11We knew it was going well, we knew the response was tremendous,
0:09:11 > 0:09:14but we were very surprised, especially with the crowds.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19It wasn't long before Wendy Austin, a plucky girl,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23was getting roped into one of the more unusual events of Festival week.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28Do you not think that you might take up a bit of ordinary, sensible mountain climbing?
0:09:28 > 0:09:31- Do you not call this sensible? - I suppose you need it to build your stamina up.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34I don't need to build my stamina up!
0:09:37 > 0:09:42The Festival was something that the whole community could enjoy and look forward to from year to year.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47Those times were hard in Newry, there would have been a lot of unemployment and a lot of people emigrated,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49so this was a bit of light relief
0:09:49 > 0:09:53and it was maybe a distraction for people, if you like,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55for the whole community
0:09:55 > 0:09:57to come together and enjoy community events.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03The Canal Festival Queen competition added a bit of glamour to the occasion.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07It came as a big surprise. Someone nominated me to enter and I still don't know who that was,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11but I was excited, and, you know, it was the girly thing too,
0:10:11 > 0:10:16but then panic set in. "You know what? Have I got my wardrobe to wear for all these different events?"
0:10:16 > 0:10:20At the Canal, a tub race was one of the big events.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24There was a slogan, "Don't fall in, join in!"
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Unfortunately, everybody did fall in when they were on the canal,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31because everybody had to make their own vessel and not all of them were seaworthy!
0:10:31 > 0:10:34What about next year? Have you any special plans for that?
0:10:34 > 0:10:37I have, but I'm not giving any secrets away.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Now, Maureen, you ran the Canal Festival for a great number of years,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46so what was the atmosphere like during those Festivals?
0:10:46 > 0:10:51Well, the first couple of Festivals, it was very low key, because we were in the middle of the Troubles,
0:10:51 > 0:10:57troubled times, and in those days not too many people went out in the town of Newry
0:10:57 > 0:10:59after, say, 5.30, 6 in the evening.
0:10:59 > 0:11:05And the whole idea of the Festival was to get the people socialising again and coming out.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10So after maybe two, three years, it really began to build.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15We had a schools committee... It wasn't just a Festival of street activities...
0:11:15 > 0:11:20We had arts, sport, and social events and civic events.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23You could have 3,000-4,000 people along the canal.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26- And a great atmosphere, presumably? - Oh, fabulous.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31# Up in the morning and off to school
0:11:31 > 0:11:33# The teacher is teaching the golden rule... #
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Back in the mid-1960s, there was a great feeling of optimism,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39not just in Newry, but right across Northern Ireland.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41The old was making way for the new,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44buildings, motorways, hospitals and schools.
0:11:44 > 0:11:50In Newry, the new Ashgrove Intermediate School was the height of modern '60s.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53# ..Ring-ring goes the bell... #
0:11:53 > 0:11:59Teacher Irwin Major made this short film of a day in the life of two Ashgrove School pupils.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03# ..You're fortunate if you get time to eat
0:12:03 > 0:12:07# Back in the classroom open your books
0:12:07 > 0:12:09# Even the teachers don't know how mean she looks... #
0:12:09 > 0:12:14So, Irwin, it's a very interesting piece of film. Why did you decide to make this day in the life of?
0:12:14 > 0:12:19Well, a new school had been opened in Newry,
0:12:19 > 0:12:23and we were very proud of it.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27We decided to follow a boy and a girl through school,
0:12:27 > 0:12:32so it was basically to publicise the school to the parents.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35# ..Drop the coin right into the slot
0:12:35 > 0:12:37# You gotta hear something that's really hot
0:12:38 > 0:12:41# With the one you love you're making romance... #
0:12:42 > 0:12:44How did you choose those two pupils in particular?
0:12:44 > 0:12:49One was very boisterous and one was very good.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54I was teaching home economics or as it was called domestic science,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57and it was lovely to see it in the film and the little girl
0:12:57 > 0:13:01that I literally haven't seen in, I'm sure, 50, 60 years...
0:13:01 > 0:13:03there she was, baking away.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07- So you enjoyed watching the film today, did you?- Very much.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10And there were a whole lots of faces I recognised which I didn't think I would do.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13I must tell you, I really enjoyed watching the film today,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15so thank you very much for your expertise all those years ago.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23But Ashgrove Intermediate pupils had other things on their minds besides school.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27# Yeah, I got the shakes I got the hippy hippy shakes... #
0:13:27 > 0:13:32The 1960s was a great time to be young, and Newry was gripped by showband fever.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35# ..The hippy hippy shakes... #
0:13:35 > 0:13:40The showbands had grown out of the old ballroom orchestras of the 1950s,
0:13:40 > 0:13:46but to cater for a new younger audience they had embraced American rock'n'roll, country and pop.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49If you could dance to it, the showbands played it.
0:13:49 > 0:13:55Newry alone produced dozens of bands including the Hilton, Deirdre And the Defenders,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57the Soundtracks and the Epic.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05This is the town hall in Newry, very dominant as you come into the town itself.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09But not that far away from here was the old Ardmore Hotel owned by Scallen family.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12I used to do quite a bit of cabaret there myself, it was great fun.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15But, you know, this town has always been oozing with musical talent
0:14:15 > 0:14:17and the competition was always very keen,
0:14:17 > 0:14:22so anybody who came to perform in the town knew that they had to put on a good show.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24# I've been told when a boy meets a girl
0:14:24 > 0:14:27# He takes a trip around the world
0:14:27 > 0:14:30# Hey, hey, bop doo-wop, bop bop doo-wop... #
0:14:30 > 0:14:35The '60s were the magic years for the bands.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38In Newry, the town hall
0:14:38 > 0:14:41was the place to be on a Saturday night,
0:14:41 > 0:14:43and there was bands
0:14:43 > 0:14:46from all over Ireland played in the town hall.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51Bands like the Cadets from Dublin, the Clipper Carlton from Derry...
0:14:51 > 0:14:57every county was represented with bands. It was a magical era.
0:14:57 > 0:15:05I sometimes thought that anybody could put together a band and make a living out of it in the '60s.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09It wasn't quite that simple, but I sometimes thought that.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13# ..Hear me talk about boys and girls... #
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Dick Barton was the lead guitarist with the Skyrockets showband.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Here they are doing a gig in Enniskillen in 1960.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24It brings me joy. People seem so happy in the film
0:15:24 > 0:15:28and enjoy their dancing so much.
0:15:29 > 0:15:36In those days, it really was possible to play six and seven nights a week.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38That's not an exaggeration.
0:15:38 > 0:15:44Because you might go from the Lammas Fair straight down to The Rose of Tralee and play at festivals
0:15:44 > 0:15:46that took place.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49And in some ways it was like a party
0:15:49 > 0:15:53that went on for seven years, it really was.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Because when the night was good and it went well
0:15:56 > 0:15:59and people came up or they danced and they enjoyed themselves,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03for us it was like being at a really good night ourselves.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05It was crazy.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The showbands were part of a bigger music scene in the '60s
0:16:09 > 0:16:13that saw huge stars like the Beatles, Cliff Richard and the Rolling Stones
0:16:13 > 0:16:15coming to play gigs here.
0:16:15 > 0:16:23# Please release me, let me go... #
0:16:23 > 0:16:32To actually play on the same bill as, say, somebody like Engelbert Humperdinck was amazing!
0:16:32 > 0:16:36To hear him sing Please Release Me and you could almost reach out...
0:16:36 > 0:16:41For us, that was as big a thrill as for anybody else in that hall.
0:16:41 > 0:16:47And the people would flock up round the stage and listen, and then after that, you know what?
0:16:47 > 0:16:51They were satisfied, they wanted to dance again.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54And that's where we fitted into the picture.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Not to be outdone by the big names of the UK charts,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03some showband members made it on to the international stage for themselves.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06# One day
0:17:06 > 0:17:09# While I was out walking... #
0:17:09 > 0:17:13The Eurovision that year was in the Royal Albert Hall in London.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Pat McGeegan sang Chance Of A Lifetime.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19# ..Here I saw... #
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Now, you may know him better as the father of the boxer Barry McGuigan,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27but Pat McGeegan was the lead singer of Dick's band the Skyrockets.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29# ..Summer cloud
0:17:30 > 0:17:35# Think of that wonderful evening... #
0:17:35 > 0:17:42We played on the recording of it, but we didn't actually get to play in the Royal Albert Hall,
0:17:42 > 0:17:48but to have our lead singer there and perform with all his heart, that was enough for us.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51# ..Is the chance of a lifetime... #
0:17:51 > 0:17:55He finished in fourth place.
0:17:55 > 0:18:01Cliff Richard managed to finish second with a tune called Congratulations,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04which we've heard at every birthday since.
0:18:04 > 0:18:11# ..With you. #
0:18:12 > 0:18:17Rosie, it's marvellous to see just a smattering there of the showband era. What do you remember of that?
0:18:17 > 0:18:20Oh, absolutely! The Hilton showband I remember,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24and Barry McGuigan's father singing as well. What a fabulous voice!
0:18:24 > 0:18:28He sang...you know, a voice like Matt Monro. Yeah, so it was lovely to see.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31I think what people forget is just how big the showbands were.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35- Yes, they were. I wasn't allowed out to see them, you see.- Why was that?
0:18:35 > 0:18:37Because I was too young.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40- Were you impressed by the bands so much that you wanted to do it?- Yes, I wanted to sing with the bands.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45But my father used to sort of say, "No! If you want to sing, you can sing by yourself!
0:18:45 > 0:18:49"Don't be going out with all the bands!" He must have thought, you know, "Oh, rock'n'roll!"
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Of course by the time Rosemarie was making a name for herself,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59the heyday of showbands was well and truly over.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02It was also the end of an era for the local linen trade,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05when Bessbrook Mill closed for business.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11Once people flocked out of Newry in their hundreds to work in the linen mill,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13which was the centrepiece of this Quaker model village,
0:19:13 > 0:19:19a purpose-built mill town which famously had no pub, no pawnshop and no police station.
0:19:22 > 0:19:28The electric tram, built in 1885 to bring coal and flax from the wharves in Newry,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32continued to bring workers to the mill in Bessbrook until 1948.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39I think it only did about 5 or 6mph,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43and it went under the 18 Arches, the viaduct.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47I think when it was going under it too, the main Dublin train went over this!
0:19:48 > 0:19:50This thing overhead, you know!
0:19:50 > 0:19:53That's very exciting now,
0:19:53 > 0:19:57because it would be only my generation who had ever been near it.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00They used to say that if you threw your schoolbag out, you could jump out and get it
0:20:00 > 0:20:03and, like, run after the tram and get in again.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05There's a magazine about the tram,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09and my sister is standing in the tram doorway, getting out of the tram.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14Halfway between Newry and Bessbrook, there was an electric dynamo
0:20:14 > 0:20:16where the man went in and gave it a shot to take it up the hill.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25When the tram was there, I never missed getting the bus.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27I think there was only one bus, or maybe two.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30With the bus, I would have been in Newry in ten minutes.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32The tram might have been there for half an hour.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36It was only 20 minutes, but I still then had to walk another mile when I got to Newry.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39I lived on the road leading into Newry at the time,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43and I remember
0:20:43 > 0:20:46the workers coming out in the morning, walking,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49early, early in the morning, loads of them walking out of Newry.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52- That would have been about three and a half miles, wouldn't it?- Yes.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55To come out to their work. And then some of them in the spinning and everything
0:20:55 > 0:20:57worked in their bare feet.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00- Because there was a lot of water, you see. - A lot of water in the spinning.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03The water just flowed across their feet all time.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06And they'd been standing most of the day and then walking back to Newry.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13Linen manufacturing was at its peak in Northern Ireland in the early 1900s.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18Believe it or not, Bessbrook Mill alone had around 4,000 workers.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23I left school at 14 and started in Bessbrook Mill,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25I think it was the day after my 14th birthday.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29And I might as well tell you, having never been in a factory
0:21:29 > 0:21:36and going into a room about 100 yards long with about 100 machines in it,
0:21:36 > 0:21:42and the noise and the heat and the steam, for a young fellow who'd never been there,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44I was scared stiff!
0:21:44 > 0:21:48But after about a week or two, you found out and got talking to other people,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52and the older women were great. They really looked after you well.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Some of them knew my mother and that was a big plus as well.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Then after a while they were giving you sandwiches.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01I was that skinny, I think they were trying to build me up a bit!
0:22:03 > 0:22:07In the weaving shed where I worked there was over 100 looms, and that noise...
0:22:07 > 0:22:09You had to learn to lip-read,
0:22:09 > 0:22:14because if one of the others was working away over at the far side of the shed,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17and he wanted, say, a 5/8 spanner,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19he wasn't walking over.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21Instead, he'd go, "Graham, 5/8 spanner."
0:22:22 > 0:22:25You had to read the lips and take it over to him.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29There as a big alleyway up the centre, clear.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34The machines all were longways, facing each other.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39Now, a girl would be responsible for those two sides of that.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42But down at the end they always had a stool.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46And once they had everything running,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48they used to just sit and watch to see if something went wrong,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52but quite often a couple of them would be talking,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56and I would be quite often working at the machine...
0:22:57 > 0:23:01And if I looked down they immediately put their hand up their mouth
0:23:01 > 0:23:04because they knew I could lip-read.
0:23:04 > 0:23:10And I'm not going to go into any of the stories I heard... but it was interesting.
0:23:13 > 0:23:21No sooner had the sound of the looms ceased, than Bessbrook reverberated to noise of a very different kind.
0:23:22 > 0:23:28John Davis's garden backs on to what at one time was the busiest heliport in Europe.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33I'd moved into...I suppose you could call it a military war zone.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38It was absolutely buzzing with noise. The noise was horrendous.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46There would have been flights every eight minutes,
0:23:46 > 0:23:51and that would have been your Lynx or your Gazelles or the Wessex.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56John made a virtue out of his home's proximity to the helicopters.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59As a keen amateur filmmaker and photographer,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02it provided him with plenty to film.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04It was my private air show, you could say.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06I was in the right place at the right time.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14Sitting in the house, I could tell, "Oh, that's a Wessex taking off."
0:24:14 > 0:24:17"Oh, that's the Chinook coming in."
0:24:17 > 0:24:19We had names for the helicopters.
0:24:19 > 0:24:25We called the Chinook the egg-mixer because of its sound coming from two miles away.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27You could hear it from two miles away,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30so that gave me time to take my photographs and that.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36There was days you could tolerate the noise and there was days you couldn't.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41Sometimes the noise would be so unbearable, I would put headphones on and cut the grass
0:24:41 > 0:24:44and just get on with weeding the garden
0:24:44 > 0:24:49and then go and hang the washing out, whatever had to be done, just get on with it.
0:24:49 > 0:24:55Nothing was going to stop me, and, er, you just had to get on with your life.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57You can't let it hold you up.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00It was just part of normal living in Bessbrook.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02John knew this wouldn't last for ever,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05and when day came that Bessbrook Military Base was to close,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08he was there to capture it on camera.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13This was the last helicopter to take off from Bessbrook Heliport,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and it's the end of Operation Banner.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21I was really delighted that I was granted permission to get the shot,
0:25:21 > 0:25:26and it's a super shot because I knew I had to get this one right,
0:25:26 > 0:25:33and I was so delighted with the shot, I thought, "Wow! What a shot to get!" I couldn't believe it.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35It's history, it's a moment in history.
0:25:35 > 0:25:36Seeing the cows grazing here today,
0:25:36 > 0:25:43it's very hard to imagine that this field was once part of a major military installation.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46PUNK ROCK MUSIC
0:25:46 > 0:25:51We have one last reminder of Newry in the 1980s.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Right, Newry. It's a place that's probably better known for its lengthy queues at the border,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01and I suppose a town that most people would only get to see if they were travelling through it go down South,
0:26:01 > 0:26:06but what's the place like to live in? Well, we thought we'd give our film crew to some people who live there
0:26:06 > 0:26:09so as they could tell us what they thought of Newry.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Channel One at the time was a very popular youth culture show for Northern Ireland people,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20and a couple of bands that we had liked had been on it,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23son that was our gateway. We felt that this was us, this is us on our way.
0:26:24 > 0:26:25# It's like you want to go... #
0:26:25 > 0:26:31Usually, the singer is the front person in the band, and I suppose they just put my face forward.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Probably it was better-looking than the rest of them anyway!
0:26:33 > 0:26:36In your dreams!
0:26:36 > 0:26:38In Newry, if you're a punk there's nothing to do,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41there's no opportunities and there's no-one going to accept us at all.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Our gathering spot was outside Woolies
0:26:43 > 0:26:46where we used to just hang around,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48meet up with friends, scoff at passers-by.
0:26:48 > 0:26:54If you could afford a couple of albums, into Woolies you went and got a couple of albums and stuff.
0:26:54 > 0:26:55For only one punk band in the town,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58there was a lot of punks about Newry.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00There were plenty of punks about then.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04This woman came up to me one day and she says, "You wouldn't happen to have a safety pin?"
0:27:04 > 0:27:06And I said yeah.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08I'd safety pins all over my jacket
0:27:08 > 0:27:09so I gave her one.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11She opened it up and stuck it my ass!
0:27:11 > 0:27:13I says, "What did you do that for?"
0:27:13 > 0:27:16She says, "Just something I've always wanted to do!"
0:27:18 > 0:27:22We'd go up to Friar Tuck's for something to eat and we'd just hang about there,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24until it's time to go home.
0:27:24 > 0:27:25Soap in the hair.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27Egg white.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31And then all the stuff would get into your eyes
0:27:31 > 0:27:35and you'd be trying to get across the road before a car hit you.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38Or on a summer's day you'd be getting chased down the street!
0:27:39 > 0:27:41So that's Newry. There's nothing to do for a punk.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43Nothing's going to change. We're just going to have to get out.
0:27:43 > 0:27:50For weeks and months and even years, walking about... "Are you still here? Are you not away yet?"
0:27:50 > 0:27:52It's a bit embarrassing, but still very glad we did it.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54We didn't do anybody any harm.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58We just have a good time and enjoy ourselves, and that's what we did.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02# ..And it's like you want to go... #
0:28:02 > 0:28:06I love it! What a marvellous reminder of the punk era.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Now, the punks may never have left Newry, but I have to tell you The Travelling Picture Show does.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14We're about to pick up our tent and move to another town.
0:28:14 > 0:28:19We have more wonderful films to show, great stories to reveal and fabulous people to meet.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd