It's a chance for all us like minded people to get together, chat, discuss and perhaps obtain that particular item missing from your collection or find that elusive item to complete your collection.
There are usually plenty of items to choose from and Saturday 4th April was no exception, the hall at Bangor leisure centre was packed to capacity with a wide range of collectables with anything from a postcard at a few pence to a rare Royal Irish Constabulary helmet at £2,000.
There was the usual friendly banter between dealer and punter, the latter looking for the lowest price and the former looking for the highest price and without the help of David Dickinson of "Dickinson's Real Deal", a compromise is usually met with each party happy.
Now collecting is, in the main, a matter of cool intellect and an educated eye. But sometimes, just sometimes, logic, experience and knowledge count for nothing. I am talking about those moments when the fates conspire to deliver you to a certain place at a certain time where one chances upon the thing, the piece, the artefact for which one has been diligently searching.
The Find
I was walking through the hall chatting to some of the dealers and the many friends I have made in the collecting field when suddenly I heard one of the dealers say aloud, "Here comes Peter, he will know where that place is, show that to him" I stopped to see what the fuss was about, there were several collectors at the table one holding a framed sheet of paper. I asked if I could see the item. I could hardly believe my eyes as I stared at the well kept and important document, obviously the fella who was selling held it with great pride as he had went to the bother of protecting it with a modern frame.
I glanced at it and when I saw "Ballymoney" as its heading I was fascinated as this document covered all my interests both military and local history. Fate had taken me here and I couldn't walk away. As I read on I realised that what I actually had in my hand was the original certificate for a Steyr rifle for "A" company 2nd Battalion North Antrim Regiment U.V.F.
As I read on I became even more interested as I saw where the rifle was in 1912, it had belonged to a certain "James Kennedy of Ballybrakes" a few hundred yards off my house. Needless to say I purchased the item and after that I couldn't wait to get home.
Researching
I knew by the information I had on paper that James was a Ballymoney man, so as soon as I got home I "googled" his name, in 0.23 seconds I had 14,000,000 results. I sifted through some of these results but got nowhere. The next day I phoned my mother, a woman of 80 years young and a font of knowledge about Ballymoney and its people of a bygone age.
I asked her did she know the name James Kennedy. In somewhere around the same time as Google she replied, "Jimmy Kennedy lived at the Milltown area of Ballymoney, he worked for the council years ago", a result!
The paperwork I had told me James had enlisted in the Ballymoney Company of the U.V.F. I then began a search of the "Ulster Covenant", a site owned and maintained by the Public Records Office, Northern Ireland. I discovered that in total 2,060 had signed the historic document at the Town hall in Ballymoney on 28th September 1912, among them was "James Kennedy of Ballybrakes", I reflected on what life was like for these people during what must have been for them a critical time.
The vast majority who signed at the Town hall were ordinary working class people, living in cramped conditions with only the basic facilities to call on, but from those little streets where wages were poor and life often short came hundreds of men and women to answer the call to arms as it was seen then. So what drove them to these extreme lengths? A very quick study of the politics of that period reveals why these men and women took such drastic measures.
"No Home Rule"
During the early part of the century the Liberal Government under the leadership of Asquith entered into a pact with the Irish Nationalist MPs whereby in return for their parliamentary support the then Government would introduce a Home Rule Bill establishing a separate Irish Parliament in Dublin.
The Unionist community had seen this as a Government embarking on a plan to dismember Ulster from the rest of the United Kingdom and indeed cast them out from a community that by birthright they belonged. If Ulster was to resist and somehow reverse the planned "Home Rule for Ireland" they needed a central organisation to oppose the dissolution of the Union, in time to come they would get this in the form of Ulster Volunteer Force and under the leadership of Sir Edward Carson they would be organised on a massive scale.
The central point which emerges from these remarkable events and from the entire period of Unionist opposition to Home Rule is the simple dedication with which ordinary men like James Kennedy and others were prepared to take to oppose the dismemberment of the Union.
By 1912, Northern Protestants, under the leadership of Carson, began to organise on a massive scale. It was against this political background that James Kennedy and 2,059 others made their way to the Town Hall that historic day.
These men and woman drawn form all walks of life were to form a quite remarkable degree of community co-operation and mutual loyalty which is still admired today.
On that September day almost half a million men and women signed the "Solemn League and Covenant" pledging their willingness to fight to remain part of the United Kingdom. In January 1913 The Ulster Volunteer Force was set up. At the outset their leader, Carson, told them, "We must be prepared…….the morning Home Rule passes, ourselves to become responsible for the government of the Protestant Province of Ulster". All sections of the Protestant community were now united and organised in a massive paramilitary force, working class men training on the estates of the landed gentry.
The Gun Running
Despite a working week of six long days in the farming community of Ballymoney, the overall commitment and standard of attendance was high. The new recruits to the citizens' army were, in the early part, armed with wooden batons, some shaped as rifles. Drilling and training under the supervision of ex officers and men of the British army who had saw service in the Boer war of 1899-1902 were now taking place in many of the estates throughout North Antrim of the landed gentry.
While this early practice was acceptable it soon drew scorn from their opponents. The leaders within the newly formed UVF, in a bid to show their opponents and more importantly the British Government that they were serious in their intentions began to organise a massive gun running exercise.
In order to prove to the Government that their actions was not merely political bluster , the UVF, in a finely tuned operation smuggled over 20,000 guns and millions of rounds of ammunition into the Province in 1914. The success of the gun running infuriated the British Government, but delighted the Unionists leaders and their supporters. Larne in the east coast was the main offloading port for these rifles. Among the men that volunteered to take part in the famous gun running exploit were many from the various units of the North Antrim Regiment UVF.
Among this consignment of weapons was a German made Steyr rifle, number 7792 and this particular rifle was to make its way from Larne to Ballymoney and issued to No. A5918, Pte. James Kennedy of "A" Company, Ballymoney 2nd Battalion, North Antrim UVF.
Organisations
I am indebted to Ballymoney Orange historian, Roy Mc Comb who provided me with the following material that now allows me to complete my research into the remarkable and interesting life and times of one of Ballymoneys sons
James devoted his life to the Unionist cause, for many years he was the Honourable Secretary of the Ballymoney Branch of the North Antrim Unionist Association and was prominently identified with the Loyal Orders. On July 12th 1906 he joined Ballymoney Purple Star LOL 456 and served for over 20 year's as secretary. He was District secretary of No 16 District LOL, Past Master of RBP 309 Ballymoney Chosen Few and a founder member of the Apprentice Boys of Derry, Mitchelbourne Club and held office as Past President. With his great understanding of the workings of the Loyal Orders, it is no surprise the James lectured in both the Orange and the Black Institutions
He also travelled through the degrees of the Freemasonry; he became Past Master of Vow Ferry Masonic Lodge No17 and Past King of Vow Ferry Royal Arch Chapter and travelled to various locations in his role as a lecturer in the Freemasonary.
Work
During the course of his eventful life, he worked for 23 years in the manager's office at the now disused Ballycastle railway; he then became relieving officer with the Ballymoney Board of Guardians, he subsequently became a rent collector with the Rural District Council.At the age of 77, James's remarkable life came to an end, he passed away at his sister's residence at Station Road, Portstewart, and he was buried at St. James Presbyterian Church Ballymoney, one of Ballymoney's best known citizens had returned home.
The next fair in Bangor Leisure Centre is scheduled for 13th June, one wonders what treasures lie in store among the hundreds of items of miltaria offered for sale, I for one have the date marked in my diary.