If a picture is worth a thousand words then Paul Dickinson possesses something truly priceless.
And the proud Armachian has been generously sharing his treasures with us all.
For those of us of a certain vintage – and let’s face it that’s a lot – our memories of bygone days are sacrosanct, an escape to days we thought then would never end and now only wish had not.
Much has been lost in the passage of time, but Paul – thanks to the photographic legacy of his father, Larry – is a most able and affable guide who will happily take us back.
And he does so with no less than five dedicated pages on Facebook to help keep that past alive.
The late Larry Dickinson – who sadly passed away in 2023 – was a photographer with the Armagh Guardian, which had its offices above the Speedy Cleaners on Market Street. While the newspaper is no more, having ceased publication in the 1980s, the pictures which Larry captured – and many more besides – live on.
And it is these which Paul has been bringing to us, day after day, year after year, with his remarkable drive and devotion.
Two of the pages are dedicated specifically to memories of Drumbreda and Mill Row, where Paul, together with parents, Larry and Eileen, and his three siblings, lived.
Three others – Larry Dickinson. 1970’s Armagh Guardian Photographer, 1970’S ARMAGH MEMORIES and THE 1970’S ARMAGH MEMORIES GROUP – give a wider picture of Armagh ‘back in the day’ and have attracted thousands of followers.
It was the 1970s Armagh Memories that was first up, a page created back in February 2010. The similarly named second followed when it appeared the first was going to be archived although, fortunately, that did not come to pass.
Today, the pictures, context and comments give us a glimpse of an Armagh that may have greatly changed but will never be erased.
For Paul, it has been a labour of love, bringing his father’s photographs to an appreciative audience which is growing daily and crying out for more.
Never could Larry Dickinson have imagined when he snapped them that these images would one day prove so popular to a generation hungering for its heyday.
Paul – now aged 61 and with many fond Armagh memories of his own – spoke to Armagh I this week to reflect on the success of his pet project and how it all came about.
“My dad started contributing to the Armagh Guardian about 1969. He didn’t actually work with them, but he took the odd photo and submitted it to them,” he explained. “He started, I think, full-time about 1974 until 1981.
“I went over and visited him one time and realised he had got all these pictures that he hadn’t developed. I just thought it was a good platform to start showing old memories. I thought people would be interested, especially if it’s got group photos of things going on, like camps, and parades and other things.
“When he left the Guardian, he took thousands of negatives with him that were his. None of them were developed and it would have cost an arm and a leg to develop, so I came across this scanner and I started scanning the negatives. Then, of course, that was more and more pictures getting shown.
“I just thought people would be interested to see what I could see, because it seemed such a waste, these pictures just sitting in a box.
“I’ve been up to the archive library on the Newry Road. I’ve been looking in the old Guardians and getting dates with some of them. Obviously not every single picture he took was going to appear in the paper, but I managed to get some background to some of the pictures.”
While the streets of Armagh have changed over the years, shops will come and shops will go, they are still instantly recognisable.
The groups’ offerings depict that changing streetscape but so much more besides; schools and sports clubs, churches and communities, festivals and faces, parties and politics and delving into our darkest days too, put simply, if it happened then it’s here.
There’s a shared joy to be had in seeing faces and places as they were in simpler times.
And for Paul, there is much reward to be had from the reaction – for the most part positive – to each post.
A sports sponsorship photo with Marco Cafolla at Cafollas carry out food bar the Shambles in May 1979.
“You would have got the odd negative comment, especially if it’s something bad, if it’s just not long after a bomb’s gone off or something. But that was to start with,” he explained. “Lately, the last couple of years, there hasn’t really been any negativity towards it.
“I do get personal messages from people saying, ‘thanks very much, really appreciate this’. Some people are seeing relatives that they didn’t know pictures existed of them, where they might be in the background, like playing bullets, there might be somebody actually throwing bullets and they hadn’t realised that a photo existed of them. So most of it’s positive.
“I’ve had a couple of people in Australia, America, commenting and sending personal messages, just to say thanks, and sometimes they ask if they can have an image, so I just email it to them, because obviously it’s very good quality and then they can go and print it out if they want.”
Paul’s own fondest memories of growing up in Armagh centre on playing in Drumbreda and spending time with his family.
“I lived there when it opened in ’66 or ’67 until 1981,” he explained, “and then we all moved over to England because of what was going on. It was during the hunger strikes and Mum and Dad thought it might be a bit more of a future over in England and Mum had relatives over there.
“I moved back home nearly eight-and-a-half years ago now.
“I remember you used to always kick football around Drumbreda in the road. No traffic. And probably my fondest memory is just walking around the Mall with Mum and Dad, just running around and kicking a ball. The Mall was – and still is – quite a popular space for people just to go around.”
Indeed, the Mall features frequently on Paul’s pages. From fun days and festivals to the thrills and spills of It’s a Knock-out, schoolkids playing conkers to cricketers at the crease, it has played a huge role in the day-to-day life of Armagh’s citizens.
But so too did the shops, the pubs, the cafes of old, many long gone but not forgotten.
These are among the most missed for Paul as they are for many.
“Lennox’s, Walkers, Johnston’s, places like that I miss,” he said. “Some of the older pictures you see, I don’t know why, but in the 70s it always seemed to be a lot busier, even with what was going on in the background to what it is now.
“I do think we had a better selection of shops then too, plus they were all family, independent types of shops at that time.”
But there are positives too…
The late SDLP leader John Hume canvassing at Market Street in Armagh. Included is former SDLP Councillor Anna Brolly. Note the sadly-missed Lennox’s department store and Woolworths in the background. And if you look to the top left of the picture, above the Speedy Cleaners, you will see the offices of the now defunct Armagh Guardian newspaper, where Larry Dickinson had worked as photographer. Picture taken in February 1981.
“Obviously not having the Troubles to be concerned about is a big bonus now,” adds Paul. “But it’s funny, the things that haven’t changed are probably the bonuses. It may sound contradictory, but having the library where it was. Instead of the Ritz, we’ve now got the Market Place Theatre. That’s still up and going. Certain things have stayed the same and some have moved on a bit.”
For Paul, he dedicates a great deal of his time to ensuring the pages are regularly updated and are both informative and interesting for followers. Downloading information from old issues of the Guardian, he will ‘marry up’ a picture with a story.
And where he is unable to pinpoint exact dates, many times mysteries are solved by those commenting underneath, often recognising themselves – or friends, family or neighbours – in what is presented there.
Paul enjoys the interaction and the opportunity to engage.
And he knows too that what he is doing is tremendously worthwhile in keeping these memories to hand.
Not a mobile phone in sight! Young people living in the moment, growing up in Armagh in the 1970s. Picture taken on St Patrick’s Day, 1970.
“I just think it’s very important,” he said. “The big bonus is when you get somebody realising there’s a photo of a family member that’s no longer with us. I think just having one of them is enough to keep the group going. It’s just some personal memories people have that brings up all different thoughts, I suppose.”
While the 1970s may be the era around which his pages revolve, that is not set in stone, with the public now opening it up to expand the timeframe.
And this, to Paul, even adds to the appeal.
“When I first started the group, it seemed the obvious name, because of my Dad’s pictures,” he added. “I wasn’t expecting it to last 16 years.
“Of course, people have been putting their own pictures up, which aren’t 1970s, and there isn’t an issue. It was just initially called that because the majority of Dad’s pictures I was putting up were 1970s. There was some ’60s and ’80s in it, but it was just to concentrate on his photos.
“Since then, with having people contributing, it’s sort of opened it up a lot more so the title is a bit of a deception, I suppose, but I didn’t really want to change it.”
While Paul brings and derives pleasure in equal measure from his forays into the past, it is to his much-missed father, Larry, whom he roundly gives the credit.
“It was thanks to him all these were started,” he says, “and I’ve been able to keep them going.”
For that I, and so many others, will be forever grateful.
Keep up the great work, Paul, and a huge thank-you from us all!
