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Roman Catholic Culture

The Roman Catholic culture was never as ever-present as the Protestant culture in the whole of Coleraine. This can be partially accounted for in that the predominant culture in Coleraine was Protestant. There was very little ceremony or expression of the Roman Catholic culture in Coleraine town. Some Roman Catholics would go to outlying areas such as Limavady and join the AOH (Ancient Order of Hibernians). The cultural and social outlets in Coleraine tended to be exclusively Protestant and thus marginalized the Roman Catholic population.

     The Roman Catholics were much more active in social functions that were open to the whole Killowen community. That included lectures, talks and basket teas and dances in the Parochial Hall just below St John’s Chapel.

The Basket Teas

Basket teas were held in St John’s school. Each person going to the tea would prepare some tray bakes or scones. The parish would donate prizes for the best presentation. The parish priest would ask different ladies to bring a specific spread. The occasional question or comment on the quality and standard of each basket often led to ill feeling between the ladies. Because of this inherent competitiveness the basket teas developed into guest teas. They proved to be a good way to raise funds for other events. At one time Dan McLaughlin’s grandfather, Dan, organized a pantomime to help fund the Bann Rowing Club. They travelled as far as Derry with their show.

St John’s Choir

Back Row L to R: Father Kevney, Kathleen Sharkey, Shena Cox, Marie Crawford, Ann Dallet, Kathleen McDonnel, Maeve McGonigal, Father Murray, Father Cummings.

 Middle Row: George Friel, Miss Deighan, Robert Baxter, XXX Helen Friel, Martha Friel, Mary McSheffrey, Mary McDonald, Veronica Duddy, Deirdre Creelman, Annie Doherty, Ann McIntyre, Joan Bradley.

 Front Row: Willie Herald, Paddy Brennan, Harry McCormick, Pat McDonald, Sammy McFeely, Lawrence Crawford, Bernard McDonald, Malachy Duddy. Photo courtesy of Lawrence Crawford.

Schools

Killowen School XI Winners Killowen Cup 1958

Back Row: Mr R Gray, D Gault, S Irwin, H McIlreavey, J Cameron, G Moore, Mr J Allen

Middle Row: R Watton, U McCloskey, R Dunlop, J Cauley, L Buick

Front Row: D Cook, M Watton, J Neill.

St. John’s PS XI 1958

Back Row: J Doherty, P Fleming, S Doherty, R Troy(Ref), M McDermott, S Neill, E Tosh

Middle Row: Harry Neill, B Wilson, A Neill, A Wilson, S Loughrey, B McLaughlin, A Henry, D McClean, Harry McCormick

Front Row: L Neill, Jas Doherty.

Coleraine Fife and Drum Band

In October 2009 Coleraine Fife and Drum band celebrated their 90^th anniversary (1919-2009). The band was an amalgamation of two much older Coleraine bands, The Ramparts Part-Music Band and Killowen Part-Music Band. It was also the first part-music marching band to be formed in the borough of Coleraine. The part-music refers to the different types of flutes used within the band.  The amalgamation became necessary due to the decimation of band members during The Great War of 1914-18. Killowen lost 40 and Coleraine town, the Cranagh and Downhill areas had lost 99 volunteers as either killed in action, missing or wounded.    The founder members included, Wilson Moore, J and R Baxter, A Hartin, J Stockman and W Mitchell.

    Frank Edmondson and Tommy Crawford formed this band in Society Street. Frank was a tobacco traveller and Tommy was the grandfather of Randall Crawford and the first of the Captain Street nailers to move into the plumbing trade. The second band came from the Killowen Church Lads’ Brigade.

One of the first conductor of the band was a Limavady man called Jim Baxter. He had been in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers band during the Great War.

Killowen Fife and Drum Band in the Pool Hall Lane c.1930

Members of the band at that time included Willie Mitchell, Jim Stockman, Alex Walker, John Downs, John Mitchell, Tom Wilson, Sam Law, Willie Moore, Joe McGrotty, Billy Mitchell, Sammy Gough, Jimmy Gough, Harry Dinsmore (Sen.), Willie McGrotty, Andrew King, Alex Gamble, Sam Christie, James Wilmot, John Gough, David Kennedy, Jim Baxter, Jim Gibson, RF Steedman, Willie Adams, Ernie Davis, Hugh Clements, Tommy Adams. The two boys at the front of the band are Harry Alexander and Jim Mitchell.

The prominent families in the band since its inception have been the Dinsmores, Clements, Baxters, Stockmans and McKinneys.

    Winston Robinson was the conductor in the 1990s and the early 2000s when some radical changes were made. Females were actively recruited during those decades and in 2009 the first female conductor, Jayne Campbell, took over from Winston Robinson after his 15 years in the post.

   The Coleraine Fife and Drum Band has forged many links abroad, including Toronto, Canada. In 1984 the band was in Toronto and paraded with Toronto’s Derry Flute Band. It has a history going back to its formation in 1908. Later on that band made a visit to Coleraine and paraded through the town to Killowen Orange Hall.

 Derry Flute Band, Toronto Canada parading Coleraine