Bangor Historical Society’s final meeting of 2024 took place on 14 November. A large audience enjoyed a film presentation by Brian Meharg. It was called “All at Sea” and featured the story of the rowing boats at Bangor. At one time in the 1950s there were 108 boats for hire in Bangor Bay. At Pickie the owners at various times were the Lenaghans and then the Lairds. On the other side of the bay at the former Harbour Master’s office the Caulfield family were the owners. Young boys, known as arabs helped out while the older boys were known as scouts.

Rowing boat at North Pier with bandstand (now in Ward Park) [from Ian Wilson]

Throughout the film there was drone footage of the modern marina interspersed with old photographs of the harbour. There were also interviews with relatives of the boat owners and reminiscences from those who had worked on the boats as boys.

People could pay to hire the rowing boats even if they had no experience. Life jackets were not worn, but there were no serious casualties. Some of the customers abandoned the boats on other places on the north Down coast. These had to be retrieved by the owners. Brian Meharg was filmed at various places round the harbour, showing how traces of the old days remained. He pointed out that the wall at the Harbour Master’s office was the old sea wall, but the slip way for launching the rowing boats was now under the car park.

Boats in the Pickie area

At the conclusion of the film Brian recited a poem he had written at the time lamenting the end of this long Bangor tradition in 1987. For many in the audience it was a most enjoyable nostalgic trip to Bangor past.

The film was made by NVTV [channel 7] and Brian hopes it will be shown by them in the new year.