Ellen Elder  Ships' figureheads were carved in the form of people, beasts or mythological figures in keeping with the spirit or name of the ship.

Sandra Millsopp  Members visited Bangor Abbey to see the recent refurbishment work to which the society had made a modest financial contribution.

Ian Wilson  A boat trip to the Copeland Islands on the Ocean Crest , skippered of course by Brian Meharg MBE.

Sandra Millsopp  The courthouse on Quay Street, erected in 1866 by the Belfast Banking Company, was visited as part of the programme of summer visits for members.

Dr Sandra Millsopp  The Society resumed on July 1 when Leanne Briggs from North Down Museum gave a guided tour of the exterior of Bangor Castle.

Dr Sandra Millsopp  High Street is still the main home of Bangor’s public houses and another one which existed in the nineteenth century was the International Hotel .

Ian Wilson  Near Six Road Ends there is a cafe named after Betsy Gray who, according to a very strong local legend, followed her boyfriend Willie Boal to the Battle of Ballynahinch in June 1798.

Patricia Norrington  Railway company steamers, the death of Captain Alexander McCorquodale, and the Bangor Boat sails again!

Patricia Norrington  Messrs Moore Brothers, the Belfast, Bangor and Larne Steamboat Company, the Bangor Boats Race, and a steamship company goes bust.

Ellen Elder  That there was a County Down Sundial Trail was news to me before I started to research the Mount Stewart sundial for my garden tours.

Patricia Norrington  On Friday 19 April 1816, the wooden paddle steamer, Greenock arrived at Bangor to become first steamer to cross from Scotland to Ireland.

Dr Sandra Millsopp  For well over a century there was a public house at the corner of Main Street and Queen’s Parade where the Red Berry now stands.

Ian Wilson  15th-16th April is the 80th anniversary of the Easter Tuesday bombing in Bangor when fourteen bombs fell and five people were killed..

Ellen Elder  Thanks to local lad Sir Hans Sloane, the good news is that now Lent is over you can safely eat or drink chocolate without feeling guilty.

Dr Sandra Millsopp  The Harbour Bar stood in Quay Street opposite the harbour and the steamboat pier.

Ellen Elder  On Wednesdays Lady Edith Londonderry hosted in her “Ark” of Londonderry House, an eclectic gathering of friends involved in war work such as politicians (of all persuasions), society hostesses, odd relations, king’s messengers, service personnel, artists and writers.

Dr Sandra Millsopp  The first mention of the Star Bar I have found was in July 1890 when Joseph Roache, proprietor, advertised for a barmaid.

Patricia Norrington  The famous orator and former slave Frederick Douglass and the African-American abolitionist Reverend Henry Highland Garnet both gave lectures in First Bangor Presbyterian Church.

Ellen Elder  I’ve been musing a bit on how and why we gather and disseminate information. Historically, the sending and receiving of messages was limited by the available technology.

Ellen Elder  It’s a long time since Lady Londonderry’s father, Viscount Chaplin, abolished the man with the red flag and raised the speed limit from 4 to 14 miles per hour.

Patricia Norrington  Eliza Johnston ran various hospitality establishments in Belfast and Bangor from 1866 until her death on 11 August 1906.

Sandra Millsopp   The Ava stands at the junction of Main Street and Catherine Place – now Dufferin Avenue. Its construction dates back to about 1840.

Patricia Norrington  Patricia went on a tour organised by Ards & North Down U3A and led by Brian McDonald, Chair of Newtownards Historical Society.

Ian Wilson  With no Seaside Revival Day this year, efforts have gone in other directions, including placing blow-ups of old photos and postcards on hoardings round the major works being undertaken by NI Water.

Ellen Elder  Seeing a tee shirt in a souvenir shop in Thailand put me in mind of an article about local dentists in an old edition of the County Down Spectator

Patricia Norrington  Patricia Norrington looks at the effect of the three waves of the Spanish Flu epidemic in North Down.

Ellen Elder  These days when we are all missing our organisations, clubs, societies I thought about other times when Bangorians may have had their activites curtailed.

Ian Wilson  Recently there has been publicity locally for the intrepid Donegal man Henry O’Donnell, who is attempting to swim round Ireland for charity.

Ellen Elder  I considered buying a turnip this week. It was very round and quite big and conjured up memories of my childhood Hallowe’ens in North Belfast.

Sandra Millsopp  Today a public house stands in Quay Street next to the Tower House. It dates back to about 1860 when it housed the Abercorn Hotel .

Ellen Elder   The Democrats' donkey appellation originated with our own Irish-rooted 7th President and founder of the Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson, dubbed a 'Jackass' by his 1828 campaign opponents.

Sandra Millsopp  The Stag's Head stood at the bottom of High Street at the corner with Bridge Street.

Ian Wilson  A very recent planning application seeks to make the biggest change to this Bangor feature in its history.

Ellen Elder  I discovered recently that men sporting a soup strainer were persona non grata in 15th century Dublin.

Ian Wilson  Perhaps the most striking thing about this wonderful aerial view of Ballyholme is that relatively little has changed in almost 100 years!

Ellen Elder  In the 18th century, Mount Stewart gained its own socially distant banqueting house, about 15 minutes’ stroll from the mansion house.

Sandra Millsopp  The Beehive Hotel stood at the corner of Main Street and Mill Row.

Adrianne Brown  North Down Museum has a fascinating exhibition of panels and a film illustrating some of the rich commercial and industrial heritage of the North Down and Ards Council area.

Sandra Millsopp  The Steamboat Hotel stood on the seaside of Quay Street in an area then known as The Parade.

Betty Armstrong  Harbours by their nature attract a myriad of marine wildlife and Bangor is no exception.

Ian Wilson  Enthusiasts for local history will be interested to know that this fascinating location is to become much more accessible.

Andrew Jaggers  The 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Cunard liner, HMT Lancastria , reckoned to be Britain's worst ever maritime disaster, falls on the 17th June 2020.

Ellen Elder   HMS Beagle has been located in the Essex mudflats. What's the local historical connection with this ship?

Michael Burns (Project Co-ordinator of Oral History Projects at NIWM)  The Northern Ireland War Memorial's oral history projects seek to capture the memories and stories of those local people who fought and lived through the Second World War in Northern Ireland and include a number of stories local to Bangor.

Ian Wilson  Walk past the foot of Strickland’s Glen towards Carnalea and you will clearly see the remains of a slipway beside which Arthur Clapham carried on boat-building from the 1930s till about 1960.

Betty Armstrong  Betty looks at the history of boatbuilding ventures in Ballyholme.

Andrew Jaggers  The life and times of an Ulsterman whose name became extremely well known among seafarers, both naval and merchant, around the world.

Ellen Elder  John Betjeman once said "Childhood is measured out by sounds, smells and sights before the dark age of reason grows" .

Ronnie McClements  A remarkable chain of coincidences.

Ian Wilson  The random thoughts of a walker.

Ellen Elder  As the 75th anniversary of VE Day approaches, I thought I would tell you about attending Remembrance Day services in two very different places.

Ellen Elder  Certain wartime habits are in my genes, like saving bits of string and brown paper bags, and thinking that half an ounce of butter is much too extravagant to put on two slices of toast.

Ian Wilson  Prompted by the news in The Times of 30 August 2019, that the wreck of the paddle steamer Lelia has been found off North Wales and granted protected status on the advice of Historic England …

Ian Wilson  Sir Thomas Wilson (1863-1930) was the first Mayor of Bangor after it was created a Borough in 1927, and the first Freeman of the Borough.

Ellen Elder  Donated by author Dr Alexander Irvine in memory of his mother, the little Irish two room cottage enabled the town to celebrate his own life and times as well as that of his poverty stricken mixed marriage family.

Ian Wilson  The little beach in front of these ancient cottages seems at first glance like any other shingly patch of sand. But closer inspection reveals a curious thing.

Ellen Elder  Ellen Elder reports on the Spring Outing to Kilymoon and Beaghmore.

Ellen Elder  Captain Mahood of Portavogie and the crew of the River Lagan were shipwrecked on uninhabited Staten Island for six weeks; and then there is Captain Robert Fitzroy of the Beagle.

Ellen Elder  Perhaps the best known landmark in Bangor Town Centre, for visitors and residents alike, is “the church with the big tree” on Main Street. The tree was planted around 1843 by First Presbyterian Church Bangor’s longest serving minister, Rev Hugh Woods.

Ellen Elder  Ellen Elder takes a look back at some of the more amusing Ulster Sayings from her youth.

Ards and North Down Borough Council  Ards and North Down Borough Council, with support and funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, are promoting the recently established “Bangor Christian Heritage Walking Trail and Mobile App”.

North Down Musueum  An exhibition in North Down Museum from 20 May to 28 June is bringing together three important early Christian bells - the Bangor Bell (above), the Lough Lene Bell and the Cashel Bell - for first time since they were cast over 1,200 years ago!

Don Patterson  Can you tell us more about this mystery photograph supplied by Nick Wolsey?

Ellen Elder  The introduction of British Summer Time in 1916 seemed simple enough - however it proved slightly more complicated in Bangor!

Ellen Elder  During the Great War, the civilian population, in the absence of home radio, was receiving the bulk of its information about the conflict from local daily and weekly papers.

Ian Wilson  A timeline of the town's history since 500 BC, when Bronze age settlers were living in the area, up until the present day