Mr Billy Walsh

BILLY ‘Doc’ Walsh, who has died, was a well known character in Killough and Ardglass.

A fisherman by trade, the skipper of ‘The Faithful Promise’ and later employed in S & P Milligan’s fish factory, he was a fun-loving, kind and generous man.

Born in Palatine Lane, Killough in 1947, he lived in the village until his father, Willie, gave up the Merchant Navy for a job in the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast and the family moved to Andersonstown.

On leaving Oranges Academy, Billy trained to be a barman in the Regency Hotel. Aged 17 he left Northern Ireland for England and was employed at the Swan Hotel in Birmingham. From there he went to Jersey in the Channel Islands where he met his wife, Christine.

After travelling through Europe and a period in the Canary Islands, they returned to Killough with their son, Charles, in 1974. Billy worked with his brother, Charles, in the family shop in the Flying Horse estate in Downpatrick, but the retail trade was not for him and when he decided to go to sea he found his true vocation.

In the latter years he was a well-liked part-time barman in the SOS public house in Killough where he treated the clientele to his homemade mackerel paté and other fishy delights.

Billy loved the fishing community and the craic in the bar. The large attendance at his wake and funeral and the thousands of wonderful Facebook tributes were testament to a most popular man. 

A loving husband, father and grandfather, he will be sorely missed.