Sixties NI - Episode 4

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This fourth episode of Sixties NI gives us a glimpse behind the scenes of UTV’s expansion in the early 1960s. The successful young station not only further developed Havelock House but pushed west to include the whole of the country for the first time. A new transmitter in Strabane brought independent television to those who had previously been unable to receive it and a special night of programming about Derry/Londonderry was scheduled to celebrate this.

We see other reports from Dungannon, Tobermore, Moneymore, Enniskillen, Pomeroy and Magherafelt. Meanwhile, there are vox pops with the locals of Strabane on the subject of the naming of a new bridge – with many people favouring a reference to the late President Kennedy.

The Big Freeze was the name given to the frozen and snowy conditions which arrived in the UK in late 1962 and stayed until March 1963. The footage captured by the UTV cameras shows how Northern Irish people adapted to life in these conditions with plenty of fun and play along the way. This was never more on show than at Ballysaggart Lough near Dungannon where the locals took to skating and dancing on the frozen surface – even driving a mini across it.

UTV was dedicated to reporting on traditions around the country and we see footage of people making all manner of things, from bagpipes in Dromore, travelling caravans in Cookstown, wooden clogs in Newtownards, fishing nets in Kilkeel, Lambeg drums on Sandy Row and hurling sticks in Clanatty in Fermanagh.

One remarkable interview in this episode is with a Mr Herbison who worked his trade as a lone carpenter, despite the fact that he had been blind for forty years. He had no experience in the field before losing his sight but decided to take it up and he shares his good natured and optimistic take on his profession and life in general.

Of course, as well as these enduring crafts there was the emerging new technology being caught by the cameras. Reports from Ideal Home Exhibitions and workplaces show the new wonders emerging – with some computers taking up whole rooms to perform simple tasks.

But it’s back to the West we go to finish the episode with a memory machine the match of any computer – Robert Nicholl of Leckpatrick near Strabane. He was able to immediately give the day of the week for any date thrown at him, going back over a hundred years. Known as the Memory Man of Strabane, he is fittingly recalled to memory with the other great footage in this episode.