Arrival (Longer Term) ... Winifred Mills

The day after I left school I had a job - my first job was as a runner, taking letters to the post office, etc.  Then I trained as a machinist and got a job as an overlocker in a stitching factory.

Work was a happy time in my life.  I had many friends, was earning my own money and we could go to the lunchtime dances, the highlight of the working week.  The best dance hall was the Plaza, some of the best jivers around used to go here.  We also went to the Jig in Durham Street.  During the dance they used to have ‘Ladies Choice’ were we would ask the fella you fancied up for a dance - we used to dance with the fellas from the Markets. The Boat Club and the Orange Hall at Sandy Row also had good dances.

I met my husband through a friend of mine, she lived facing his family house in the Shankill, and we started going out.  We were soon married and held our reception in Sandy Row Orange Hall. We went to Dun Laughaire for our honeymoon.

We bought our first home in Powerscourt Street, off the Ormeau Road, in 1962.  My eldest daughter and son were born while we lived here.  There was a mix of neighbours here and religion wasn’t important - everyone talked to each other and our kids played happily. When the Troubles got really bad, we used to have to stay up all night and watch the house to make sure nothing happened while our children were sleeping.  It was getting frightening, especially for the children, so we decided it was time to sell up.

My mum was able to get us a rented house in Prospect Street and we moved to the Pass.  My youngest daughter, Leeanne, was born while we were living here. We never considered moving away during the Troubles even though there were some awful murders and bombs and it was very scary.

In 1974, my father was killed after a bomb had been left at the bar. He had gone to look for my eldest daughter and her chum and the shock of the blast caused him to have a haemorrhage over the brain.  That was a very difficult time for all our family.

During the real bad Troubles I can recall the vigilante patrols, men from the local community would have patrolled the Pass to make sure no one got in to cause harm.  There were Catholic men from the Pass who used to take part in these patrols as well.

The Pass was being redeveloped so we were moved into a new house in Vernon Street and we have been living there ever since - over twenty years.  When everyone got moved out all the streets were knocked down. The Pass lost about two thirds of its population.  Most of them went to Belvoir.

“The Pass would have been better if they’d have kept the long terraced houses - people would have been closer.  You knew your neighbours then and we all looked out for one another.”

My family have all grown up in the Pass and each of my children live in the area.  I have 5 grandchildren living here as well. My children attended the local school, but it was eventually closed due to falling numbers.

My sister lives in Essex (England) and has done since she was married; my brother George married and moved to Canada, where he lives with his family; and my brother Jim was living up the Donegall Road before he pass away. My mother, too, passed away - this was in 1995.