Girl bands weren’t big in the era I grew up in, so in terms of female singers I always looked to Kylie Minogue and Madonna and got into them. Then the Spice Girls came along in 1996, and although I bought one of their singles, I was never into them properly. Ginger Spice annoyed me,…
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The only time I’ve ever worked in any sort of “museum” or, actually “heritage centre” was back in September and October 2001. I was employed by McMillens Bar & Restaurant at the time and they also did special wine and beer nights at the local heritage centre in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Bangor doesn’t have its…
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Growing up in Northern Ireland meant going to church, the local Ballycrochan Presbyterian Church in Bangor (perhaps ironic now as I usually attend Catholic churches in Poland – Presbyterian is a branch of Protestantism – all Christian none-the-less). I was a member of 10th Bangor Boys Brigade (BB) from 1990 – 1999 (before this I…
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When the SOENISC was formed back in 2005, one of the potential meeting venues was Exeter, although at the time none of the club members lived there. Then on an away trip to Copenhagen to watch Northern Ireland draw 0-0 with Denmark, Richboy from the club met Tim Acheson. Tim Acheson was based in Exeter…
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In 2002 – 2003 while working in the local butchery at Steensons in Bangor, we would attract many a “local celebrity” customer, this included ex Northern Ireland World Cup star Billy Hamilton, ex- UVF hitman Gusty Spence, North Down Conservative Ulster Unionist MP Lady Sylvia Hermon, and perhaps oddly….Richard Morrow, a local hypnotist. He would…
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This is to date on my blog, the most nostalgic, inspiring and melancholic post yet and it warps your poisoned mind back to 1997 – when life was good, when “the smiles were genuine.” I’m not being deeply ironic, cynical, acting like an old man, I’m just appreciating that period of my life when everything…
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In my life I’ve been to four Northern Ireland v. Spain matches. It seems we are two teams that are nearly always drawn against each other. For example in every World Cup between 1982 and 1994 we were either in the same group in the actual tournament or in qualifying. We even had Spain in…
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Back to 1990 then for this little blog post. As you may know I am a Glentoran supporter. Due to the fact that I have lived in England for 5 years, I obviously don’t go to see them a lot anymore, but there were times in the early 1990s that I used to go almost…
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When I think back now – its kind of like, yes I’ve been to Anfield, I went there to watch Liverpool v. Tottenham Hotspur, and it was 12 years ago and now that I’ve done that I can tick it off without any real need to visit Anfield again. Anfield is the home of the…
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Big Brother!! The reality television show first hit the UK screens in the summer of the year 2000. That summer I was glued to my screens watching it as the drama unfolded. There was Tom, from Northern Ireland the local guy for me to support. There was the whole nasty Nick business, by a guy…
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