Melvyn & Sharron Pearson |Tandragee|Co Armagh BT62

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VALE FRIENDS & DERRYALLEN

Tandragee Secondary from 1967-1970 where I achieved passes in eight subjects at Junior Certificate that enabled me to attend Portadown College 1970-1973 where I completed my General Certificate of Education, I was a member of  the Fist XV Rugby team playing second row and also represented the school at Cricket playing for the First XI.

During my youth I had many ups and downs the main upheaval being loosing my father when I was 16 years old.  This was also a terrible blow to my mother, who never really recovered from it.

My childhood address was 11 Essex Ridge, Laurelvale, Tandragee, Co. Armagh, a little village where my childhood friends included, Kenny Greer and Albert Purdy from Laurel Park, Laurelvale, Mervyn Hamill from Mullavilly Lane. Other school friends included Robert Firth, Quality Hill, Laurelvale, Lenny Proctor, Unchinagh, Bragagh and Gary Upton from Ballymore Park Tandragee.

My grandmother Harriet Pearson (nee Spiers) lived facing us in 24 Quality Hill and was a focal point for the Pearson Clan in Laurelvale. Uncles Isaac Abbott Pearson and Ivon Pearson also lived there. Frequent visitors were Uncles Frederick, Oswald and Aunts Vera and Noelene. At least once a year there were visits from Uncles Jimmy (John James), Woolsley and Jackie (Jackson) Pearson who had moved to England either through marriage or work.

My grandfather also John James had died at 24 Quality Hill when I was a nipper, but I still mind him bringing me Banty eggs for breakfast. Granda Jack had served in the Great War 1914-18 with the Royal Irish Fusiliers having enlisted having returned from New Zealand with my Great Grandparents; He was a serving soldier (Lewis Gunner) when war broke out. He was wounded at the Somme and fought at Ypres and other well-documented battlefields of the Great War.  I always mind him wearing a flat cap and a leather belt on baggy trousers. My uncle Herbie died at 16 years old and therefore I never met him. This was the Pearson Family I knew and loved and the main reason I would like to document it to pass to my children and on to their children before it is forgotten.

On my mothers side Armstrong from Derryallen, Tandragee Road, Clare I spent many happy hours under the guidance of my grandfather William James Armstrong.  A very smart man of whom it was said was asked by many locals to put pen to paper due his literacy prowess.  A man of few words he only said the minimum necessary but was the source of wisdom for me as a child. He lived there with my Grandmother Dinah (nee Totten), a merry soul who enjoyed a chat and was full of the joys of spring, a sprightly dancer in her youth it was rumoured.  I can recall the hatpins, hats. ‘‘Good’’ coats for town and the pinnies (aprons) of which she was very fond of wearing.  A large house always kept in pristine shape by my Aunt Ginny (Jean) McConville (nee Armstrong) who worked extremely hard on household tasks. Her son Billy (William) McConville also lived there before going off to Canada and later returning to own the same house for which he sent monies home to renovate.  The house had a large back garden in which William James grew ample crops for home use and passer by off potatoes, strawberries and blackcurrants.  Hens were also ‘’run’’ at the bottom of the garden for fresh eggs.  Water was collected in barrels at each corner of the house and was used for washing in the tin bath in front of the stove

The Armstrong household was also a gathering place for friends and family especially on a Sunday when Granny Armstrong would produce the finest Royal Albert china and tea accompanied by sandwiches, cakes etc was the order of the day. Frequent visitors were my Uncles Raymond and wife Greta (nee Duncan), Aunts Annabel and her family, her husband Norman Robinson died in his 40’s from heart problems, Norma, Noel and Derek Robinson. Kenny Webster a local teacher and fisherman friend of Billy McConville, Norma Bell, future wife of Winston McConville.  Uncle Sammy Totten and Aunt Agnes. Sammy was my mothers’ half brother being born out of wedlock, so it was not talked about much.  Sammy’s two sons Wesley and Henry Totten also visited.  Totten of course was and still is a well-known name in the Clare and Tandragee area.

Neighbouring families at Derryallen included the Matthews next door, of whom I remember Paddy and Theresa.  The Joy family lived at the top of the hill.  The Ryan family and the McCullough’s who had a garden much visited from near and far to look at the Rose display.

Derryallen as we all fondly called it was to me the four houses that made up my grandparents row. Armstrong, Mathews, McCullough and Ryan. They were a stones’ throw from the River Cusher, (I was always told ‘Don't go to the Oaks someone drowned there), Clare Glen and the Tandragee Golf Course.  The house is presently owned (2002) by the Hawthorn Family having slipped out of the family when Winston and Billy McConville were tragically drowned on a weekend fishing trip in the South of Ireland in 199?.

As I’ve previously stated, I spent a lot of my adolescence at Derryallen.  My parents brought me over from Laurelvale on Sunday evening and I stayed all week while they wrought in Air Conditioning and Engineering the big, in fact the only employer in Laurelvale.  Most trips to Granny and Granda Armstrong’s was by way of foot via the back road.  This took for ages or so I thought to complete and I can mind vibrantly the dread off the mission setting out on the weekly trudge.  The journey took in the following countryside.  Leave my home number 11 Essex Ridge; turn left past the Quality, as it was known. This consisted of 24 houses (Granny P lived in No 24) down past Mrs. Julia Gallagher’s Artisan dwelling on the left, The Sinton household on the right, head for Beattie’s Corner where Mrs. Beattie and Norman her son lived. Ruben McClure also lived on the corner and was renowned as ‘liking' the drink.  I mind him on the 12th morning at Cordraine wearing a black brogue complimented by a brown slip on shoe. We are now about a mile into the trek. Continuing turn right just before Cordraine Orange Hall of which my dad and myself for a short while were members (LOL 53), Onwards past Jimmy Jones farmstead on the right, straight over the cross roads at the Game Keepers (now a plush pad conversion inhabited by a Hutchinson of Tayto fame. Ever onwards past the Lavery household and Joe Milligan Farmstead until we reached a little junction, known locally as Cooley Hill where we swung left and here there was sometimes a certain hope as here was Maggie Corr’s Wee Shop, but more oft than not it was closed for trade. If I was lucky and Dad was feeling particularly flush we would call up to the Corr’s little farm some 200m from the shop, situated up a lane way amidst a grove of tress, ask her if she would kindly open the wee shop, and all being well a packet of Rolo or bag of cheese and onion were procured.  The little shop always had a peculiar smell, thinking back it was more than likely dampness that produced that bizarre bouquet.

 The shop’s content were meagre to say the least and you could not have ‘turned a sweet in your mouth’ inside it's only door. Although I could never quite see over the counter even though my mother described me as having very fine limbs for my age which was often commented on by those who encountered us on a trek to town.

 Anyway having with any good fortune got the sweets from Miss Corr, who incidentally spoke in a drawl that I regarded then as very polite and refined, and thinking back the tone of voice was possibly a South Armagh enunciation. Onwards, The journey again continued at a laid-back pace, ever onwards to ‘’Derryallen’’. A couple more bends past Cowan’s wee cottage on the right, which is now the entrance to the scenic Clare Glen Walk, My granny’s brother’s small farmstead on the left, Joe and Sissy Totten who lived with son Jack. Then at the top of the next small rise in the road was Lord and Lady Harden’s house set well back off the road and I always remember the crows circling there each evening during my stays at Derryallen. This gave the house a seemingly haunted demeanour and food for thought for a mere tot, namely yours truly. It was a large two storey Georgian house built of grey stone with many chimney stacks, surrounded by open land, trees and there never seemed to be anybody about. On the opposite side of the road was the Joy homestead, there seemed to be lots of them contained in a little house under the wing of their mother Peggy and father Tommy, who was yet another individual who warranted comment locally as a victim of the bottle. Tommy Joy was a painter and decorator by trade and it was said that even though he turned up to paper your house inebriated from the night before he could still hang the paper without a plumb line.

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Back Row: Mr Kenny. Billy McCombe. Garfield Armstrong.

Bertie Fullerton .Albert Purdy. Kenny Greer. Sammy McKenzie. Mr Parr

Front Row: Dessie Brown.Deny Fulton. Lenny Proctor.Gary Upton. Melvyn Pearson. Cyril Beattie. John Graham