Ballinderry exhibition offers WWI insight

Funded by Lisburn City Council and coinciding with European Heritage Day, the September 13 exhibition will be housed at Ballinderry War Memorial Hall, whose management committee is assuring visitors of a warm welcome.

Committee chairman, Mr Eddie Carson, hopes the public will follow in the footsteps of two local primary schools, Lower Ballinderry and Ballycarrickmaddy, both lined up to attend the event.

“They’re coming along to view the WWI exhibition and to learn a bit about a few of the people on the war memorial plaque,” he said.

“We are looking into the history of the people on the war memorial and we hope to have completed the project by 2018, the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.”

Gathering the relevant information is proving to be a long and difficult task but among the soldiers whose stories they have started to round out are the Hoppes brothers of Lower Ballinderry, one of whom returned home, while the other was killed in action, and Royal Irish Rifleman William Lewsley, from Cock Hill, who was held as a prisoner of war in Germany.

The surnames of the deceased include Addis, Dickson, Edens, Glover, Hill, Hoppes, Haddock, Hughes, Lavery, McDonald, Mockler, McCullagh, McCord, Peel, Smyth, Stitt and Johnston.

The committee is appealing for anyone who has any information - also perhaps pictures, medals, certificates and so on - in respect of any or all of those named on the memorial, to get in touch, either with Eddie himself, on 077 6415 4054, or with any committee member.

Meanwhile, next Saturday’s exhibition will include a small display by the Ulster Aviation Society and another by Lagan Valley Historical Association, among other things.

The event runs in Ballinderry War Memorial Hall at North Street from 9am-5pm - featuring music by the Dynamic Brass Band from 1.30-2.30pm - and admission is free.