Capturing Christmases past in black and white

The Irish Examiner has opened its vast photographic archive for a festive exhibition which offers a glimpse of Christmas past in Cork.

More than 20 atmospheric, black and white photographs which capture various street scenes in the city in the run-up to Christmases between 1920 and 1960 were unveiled at the Cork City and County Archives last night at the opening of the A Northside Christmas photographic exhibition.

It is just one of a series of events being co-ordinated by the Northside Business Initiative to contribute to the festive season on the city’s northside.

Among the large prints are images showing the city’s landmark St Patrick’s Bridge decked in festive bunting, with electric trams driving over it, holly sellers hard at work at the Dunscomb Fountain at the bottom of Shandon St, and crowds of people buying holly wreaths from the stalls at the city’s famous Coal Quay market.

There are also photographs showing a glistening, snow-covered St Patrick’s St taken just after the Emergency in the mid-1940s, parts of Gurranabraher covered in a blanket of snow in 1956, and another striking image of people enjoying a snowball fight in a blanketed Fitzgerald’s Park, after a heavy snow fall in the 1960s.

The photographs were carefully selected from the Irish Examiner’s archive following its recent move to offices in the Blackpool area.

“The photographs reflect a very different Christmas experience from what we know today,” city archivist Brian McGee said. “Although these are times past, they are still in living memory for many and we look forward to welcoming people to the city archives to see the images.”

The exhibition runs at the archives building in Blackpool, from 9.30am to 1pm and 2.15pm to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, until Dec 20.

Among the other festive events taking place across the northside are Christmas Carols, with the St Luke’s Male Voice Choir performing at the newly-decorated plaza in Blackpool village at 3pm tomorrow, in aid of Marymount hospice, with members of Blackpool Youth Club singing carols on Dec 18 at 5pm.

The Cork Foyer on Assumption Rd will host Christmas card-making workshops at 3pm, 4pm, and 5.30pm tomorrow before the Lord Mayor turns on its Christmas lights and opens its winter garden at 7pm.

Its neighbour, Graffiti Theatre Company, will stage a free seasonal musical concert, Lullabies of Winter, for children aged five and under, with performances at 2.30pm, 3.30pm, and 4.30pm tomorrow.

The community garden in Knocknaheeny will also be transformed into a winter wonderland with igloos and snowmen from next Monday.

And a trilogy of documentaries, If It’s Spiced Beef (It must be Christmas), Flynnie, The Man Who Walked Like Shakespeare, and The Boys of Fairhill, produced by Conal Creedon and Frameworks Films, as well as a documentary on the former Sunbeam factory, will be screened next week.

northsideforbusiness.ie