Maureen’s love of her childhood in Ballyhornan

Maureen’s love of her childhood in Ballyhornan

9 January 2013

MOONLIGHT on Ballyhornan Bay is the evocative title of a new book by Maureen Gill-Sharp.

It is a biography centred on one long-standing resident’s love of the coastal village and her celebration of a poor but very happy childhood.

“It is a little book about growing up in the 1930s in Ballyhornan,” said the 81 year-old. “I’ve been writing it for three years on and off — between gardening and that.”

The 211 illustrated pages bring to life a place where the beach was the natural playground and the home was a place of contentment.

“I was born here and grew up here,” said Maureen. “I wanted to write about my childhood. I was a happy child and I just wanted to share my childhood with other people.

“I wanted to mention my parents who worked so hard to raise us when money was scarce, and describe what it was like growing up in the war years of 1939-45.

“I wanted to remember things such as the ghost stories our parents used to tell us, the songs they taught us, the poetry I learnt at school.

“We had ceilidhs, we would sing songs, my brother used to play musical instruments and my father and mother would sing.

“I wanted to remember the soda bread on the griddle, everything I could recall.”

Maureen also describes a hard time when there was still no electricity and no running water.

“My father was a farming man and my mother was a housewife with five children,” she said. “It was hard in those days, but it was hard for everybody then.”

Later training as a shorthand typist, Maureen met and subsequently married RAF man Bob Sharpe, who passed away 15 years ago.

He was a “good husband”, she says, and despite being the only one of her family left living in Ballyhornan, Maureen lives a contented life still surrounded the scenery she loves.

“I feed the gulls, they come when they’re called and they have their own names,” she said. “They come for their breakfast every morning over from Gull’s Island. I get a cheap loaf everyday and they all know me.”

Moonlight on Ballyhornan Bay is currently available to purchase from Kevin Og in Strangford and from Mrs. Gill-Sharp directly at 65 Killard Road, Ballyhornan. Telephone 028 4484 2731 for further information. Details can also be found online at http://ballyhornan.com.