Templepatrick &District Historical Society
Annual report 202312024
Templepatrick and District Historical Society got off to a less than auspicious start in September
2023 when we visited St John's Parish church at Donegore. It was one of the wettest Saturdays of
the season and, as a result, numbers were very low.
Nevertheless, John Sheldon gave his small but select audience a most interesting history of the
church and affiliated members.
In October, we returned to the Old Presbycerian Church hall where representatives from Antrim
and N8Wtownabbey council posed. then tried to answer. the question- Antrim Castle fire- was it
an accident or was it arson.
As it was the one hUndr￿h anniversary of the tragedy, this was an apt lecture, and they clearly
set out the facts as known and all0v￿d people to draw their own conclusions.
In November, Adrian Steele took the Society on a virtual stroll through old buildings along the
Antrim Road, beginning in Belfast town and concluding in Templepatrick. This included a lot of
social history.A notable glimpse of bygone times was the 'singing in . of the Loom Mistresses in
the mills.
Due to a change of plans, Damian Donaghy visited in January. His topic was the history of
Drumalis House, Larne. This building has senied various purposes throughout the years, and is
now a Retreat House.
For our members, Night in February we invited Danny Kinahan to r8call growing up in
Templepatrick village and his memories of life in Castle Upton. His talk included his army career
and his present job.
In March, Ron Bishop described a little knovm subject- ' The Belgian Invasion of Ulster 1945"
Unfortunately the scheduled speaker for Apri5 did not appear and, after an initlal panic, Ronnie
Davis saved the day by producing a quiz previously prepared for just such an occasion. Well done
Ronniel
A big thank you to all Committee members and our loyal members.
Attendance at meetings remains low and it is difficult to recruit new peopla, so if you know
someone who has an interest in things of the past, please invite them to one of our meetings.
We are grateful to Templepatrick Old Presbyterian church for tha use of their comfortable Hall and
facilities.