community: February 2008 Archives

Terry, our chairman has written an article about his connection with the area. The article explains the motivation behind the formation of the resident's association.

This is some background as to why the Palmerston Residents Association was set up I will give you some of my background first,I was born in Northern Ireland on 29 March 1951 in the City Hospital my first home was in Bloomfield Crescent I lived there with my mum and dad and brother my dad worked in Harland and Wolff as a painter he died 10th November 1956 my gran and grandpa lived in Grace Ave Belfast we moved from Bloomfield Crescent when my mum married my stepfather,David Bunting we moved to his home on the Palmerston Road.

Palmerston Road at that time was very different from it is today it had less housing and a lot more trees with lots of plots in the area where you could buy flowers vegetables and potatoes, it was great with lots of children in the area I could not believe the size of the place coming from Bloomfield Crescent,at this time there was a lot of big houses in the area with lots of shops Victoria Road had a number of large houses on it the one that stands out the most would be Smiths House it was very large and the Gardens Stretched from the Shops on the corner of Victoria Ave to the end at the Rail Track.Palmerston Road had some big houses on it as well the one that stands out the most must be the Millers the house on the other side of the road from our house in fact I played with the kids who lived in it,the most impressive part of this house was the size of the garden at the front it stretched to the footpath on Palmerston Road with lots of trees in the garden the biggest one was a willow that stood in the drive way.

Inverary was where the prefabs use to be it was always a place you didn't like to go into or even a place you would cut through as a short cut very different to what it is today with its tree lined avenues I can remember the field where the Park on the Holywood Road is to day it is where two young children where killed trying to sail in a metal bath across an old bomb crater,Inverary and Palmerston always had it problems with different gangs fighting it out there was also plots at the corner of Station Road where the salvation army HQ is now I can remember my stepfather taking me there to buy tomatoes in fact you could buy just about anything in the Sydenham area and all grown in the area,Inverary Drive was best known for the Sydenham Station I can remember going to Bangor from it with its waiting room and log fire it was very welcoming, its flower bowls lined the platform it was very different to what it is to day,the thing that stands out the most was the shop just outside the station where the bridge is now it was made out of metal sheeting and it sold everything from sweets to fruit it then moved to the other side of the road to its much larger floor space in fact I had a paper round there.

Station Road was the road that stood out the most with its large houses and back gardens full of apple trees and pear trees I can remember being caught in a few of them taking apples and pears it was the main bus route to Sydenham Station in those days it was a number 75 got you to Sydenham and the bus route ended at the station I can always remember travelling up the station road on the back of my stepfathers motorbike on the way to Helens Bay he always told me about the history in the area and the great people who lived in it. I can remember him telling me about the Wolff's Den at the corner of the Station Road and Holywood road junctions and at that time the tenant was very different he was well known in the area for tarring the wall round it black and many people used to get it on there clothes so he was very unpopular.

The Schools in the area were great I attended them all my first school was Sydenham Infants I then went on to The Strand Primary School and then on to Ashfield Boys School on the Holywood Road I never liked school but I always went to it,I set up the Wildlife Youth Service in Ashfield school and used to run jumble sales to raise funds for what is now known as the World Wild Life Fund in fact it was the first in Northern Ireland at that time I can remember getting the Methodist Church hall on the Palmerston Road to hold my jumble sales in.I have always loved raising funds for animals it was just one of my causes that I felt had to be supported

I was married in July 1970 in St Brendans church Larkfield Road Sydenham to my wife Maureen we have a son called Jason, we lived in the area for some years before moving to England to work I have always returned home to Palmerston Road Sydenham as it always was home to Maureen and myself. We have travelled a lot mainly for my work as an engineer my type of work was not in Northern Ireland. Both my brother and my self worked in Harland and Wolff in fact that was where you started your first job in those days and then you moved on. My main interest in engineering was setting up different projects while working in research and development, I worked as a contractor for Remploy in England making attachments for machinery to help the disabled in their work I found this work very interesting and even today still enjoy this type of work although only in a voluntary capacity. My mother died on the 15th July 1997 and I have not worked since. I have Bipolar Depression and have lived with it for the past ten years and find the voluntary work I am involved in to be therapeutic and rewarding.

So why The Palmerston Residents Association I have always wanted to see a residents group in the area not just to fight Developers and the planning service but to see real change in the area and make it a better place for everyone to live in.Sydenham has had its problems in the past a lot of people have been out of work due to the heavy industry closing down and a lot of our senior citizens have died or moved out of the area we see the decay of years of under investment in the area and the lack of any type of community development in the area. We have seen the developers move in and rip down the history of the area without giving a thought of what the community wants, in fact no one has ever ask the community. We see lots of new apartments being built but what are they doing for the community, Sydenham as I said earlier once had shops and corner shops that the communities used to meet in and talk about the weather or the price of bread. These shops have all but gone and replaced by apartments places that are communities of their own not the type of community built projects that are needed for Sydenham. The area is undergoing massive change and the population is growing very fast in fact too fast in some ways not giving the community a chance to bond with its self. It is time to let the community accept the change that is now taking place we need to step back a bit and think what is taking place and how it will affect the future of the area. Sydenham has got many middle aged people that will be taking the place of our older generation but this fact seems to be lost on the planners.Apartments that are being built do not suit the needs of the Community we see people retiring from work earlier and want to down size from a house to an apartment while looking at their future they do not want to buy something that they will have to move from, or for that matter give up because they become ill and cannot climb the stairs any longer.The reasons people move are not have to climb stars any longer yet these apartments have nothing only stairs so surely this needs to be looked at. We hear a lot talked about building a better community yet we do not get the tools to do it. It takes time to build trust and hours to lose it we need to see reinvestment in the area we need to bring back the shops that have been lost to the Developers,we also need more neutral meeting areas to enable the community to bond.

The Residents Association over the past nine months has worked hard to bring about change to the community even in the the structure in how it is set up brings the different communities together having different people from different streets helps to break down the barriers and give a sense of community the need for this in the area is paramount by building the residents association in this way lets other people from other streets become involved this will not happen overnight it will take time but we hope it will bring a better future for us all and give back the community spirit which has been lost.

Chairman
Terry Hoey