A Royal Visit Tae Ballymena

(An extract from an account Between Oorsels — Layin’ the Foundation Stane, in the Ballymena Observer, by ‘Bab M‘Keen’, 1924.)

Only ’at am onther a promise tae say a wheen words this week aboot the visit o’ the Duke an’ Duchess o’ York tae M‘Keenstoon, I wud be terrible gled I cud get oot o’ it if it was possible, but it’s no’. That’s aye the wye wi’ a heap o’ folk like mysel’. Luckin’ forrit wi’ anticipation, exultation an’ appreciation tae an event fou’ o’ expectation an’ then, when it’s past an’ ower, there’s naethin’ left for me but the botheration o’ tellin’ a’ aboot it. In a wye, this micht be thoucht a great pleasure an’ privilege an’ a means o’ spreedin’ the guid news, but when yin thinks an’ knows ’at you were a’ there yersel’s an’ had the experience, weel, onythin’ I can say aboot it is juist like cauld kale het again, an’ that niver was lucked on as much o’ a diet for a hungry man at denner time, even if it did get a wee scad o’ gravy in the pan tae gie it a taste, like.

O’ coorse, we had a’ been readin’ aboot the daeins o’ the Duke an’ Duchess in ither places an’ hoo they had been received wi’ open airms an’ hearty cheers whauriver their feet were planted. I say we saw a’ this an’ read o’ it in the papers ivery mornin’ or evenin’ accordin’ as the case micht be, an’ in oor minds we were prepared tae go yin better in M‘Keenston if the thing micht be possible.

For aboot twa oors I had, through the coortesy o’ the Cooncil, got a sate on the pletform in sicht o’ the foundation stane, wi’ a heap o’ ithers similarly accommodated. It was a guid size o’ a platform, coverin’ the hale site o’ the proposed new biggin’, an’ as the Cullybackey Highlanders came doon Church Street at the heid o’ the procession ivery yin in front o’ me got tae their feet, an’ foundation stane, pulley an’ iverythin’ else venished frae my view like a mist settlin’ doon on Slemish.

I thoucht mysel’ I wud go back a bit an’ stan’ up on yin o’ the forms sae as tae see ower the heids o’ them in front, but behaud you, nae sooner had I dane this nor iverybody was similarly elevated, an’ there was I again blin’-folded, the only setisfaction aboot it bein’ ’at I wasna my lane, as there was a heap o’ ithers in the same blin’ alley. Finally, wi’ the help o’ a frien’ly haun, I landed on the tap o’ yin o’ the auld wall-steads at the back, frae whaur I saw the croons o’ twa’r three tap hats an’ the flag o’ the Seven Tooers fleein’ in the breeze triumphant an’ onafraid. O’ the Duke an’ Duchess I niver saw “hint or hair”.