This exhibition was shown at Bangor Carnegie Library in May 2024 for one month.
All my life I have listened to people being critical of Bangor and its steep decline and so I wanted to create an exhibition which documents the glory days of Bangor in the 50’s and 60’s and juxtapose those paintings with images of Bangor in more recent years.
When I was very young, on a Saturday morning, my Dad would walk us on a circuit of Bangor visiting Harry Blaney’s Butchers, McKeown’s Fish Shop, Peppers Fruit Shop, Parkes Newsagents and Wee Wellworths. All these places bar one have gone now. In my lifetime, the Flagship centre has been built, opened, closed and become derelict. But things are beginning to look up. The Courthouse, Seacourt Print Workshop, Boom Studios and Market House are doing what Culture does best- challenge, inform and bond us together, helping to build sustainable, cohesive, vibrant communities. Hopefully now Bangor can become a success story again.