Merry Christmas Everyone

Wishing all visitors to my blog a very Merry Christmas, hope that Santa has been good to you this year. Thanks for all the comments that many of you have left over the past year, it is great to get a little message now and then...

Brrrrrr! It's cold out!

With a maximum temperature in Kilcoo today of -6℃ and a minimum of -15℃ I tried to capture the coldness in today's photos.

Frosty White

Lough Island Reavy

I was out at Lough Island Reavy Reservoir this evening just as the Sun was setting, it was very clear but chilly...

Snow on the beach

Newcastle Co Down has joined the rest of the UK under a festive blanket of snow...
There was even snow on the beach. Here are a few photos from today.

Foggy And Very Cold

Wow the world is so picture postcard beautiful today!! It's all sugar frosted with iced twiglets on the trees and proper spooky fog...

Wilsons Yard Dromore, County Down

Ireland's largest architectural salvage company, specialising in antiques and reclaimed building materials

Rainbow

I snapped this beautiful rainbow through a window...

Ulster Folk Museum

This place is fabulous, two massive exhibitions all in one place and they're both linked by a free shuttlebus service. The outdoor Folk Gallery is brilliant, old buildings and artefacts have been brought here and restored and laid out in such a way as to tell a story about how Northern Irish people lived and worked in the early 20th century. There an old village set up with church, shops, and town square and with staff members in periodic dress, its like stepping back in time...

St John's chapel Portadown (1905), which was taken down brick by brick in the 1980's and reconstructed in the Ulster Folk and transport museum, Cultra.

Views from the top of kilcoo chapel

I was asked to take photos of water damage cause by poor refurbishment to the chapel in 2005 for insurance purposes.
Whiles there I made my way to the top of the bell tower to take these photos... (the view with a twist)

The Great Patsy O'Hagan, R.I.P

Patsy O’Hagan, a man of many talents, sadly passed away on March 21st 2010, leaving behind a record of a lifetime of immense achievements both on and off the football pitch...


Bring memories back to life by restoring your old photographs. E-mail me for a free quote: garryharper2005@yahoo.co.uk


Also see 23rd Sept blog of the famous 1960`s Down Team

Turning Back Time - Castlewellan main street

1900 meets 2011 a view of main Street Castlewellan in times gone by and as it looks today...

Happy Halloween

With Halloween upon us I thought of doing something different and scary this year...
'What if the mirrors are reflecting something that's beyond our reality? What if the mirrors can actually make us do things that we don't want to do!

Apple Festival Peatland park

A celebration of orchard heritage and everything to do with apples.

The "Mad Hatter" was straight to the core with his banter...

Family Memories Restored

Your old family photos can be restored and have damages such as tears, cracks and faded color repaired so that they will be ready to pass down to the next generation.

Autumn has arrived...

I am not sure which season I like most, Summer must be my favourite but Autumn's colours and light are so inspirational...




more photos to follow...

Sod Cutting Ceremony...

Sod Cutting Ceremony for the new £2m state of the art community centre being built at Stramore Park, Gilford.

Councillor Joan Baird MBE with builder and contractor

Wade Training 'Steps to Work programme'

BBC Live 'n' Deadly in Belfast

Steve and the Deadly Team were at Belfast City Hall on sunday with their animal friends - birds of prey, snakes, spiders and plenty of other wild surprises...

Steve Backshall has travelled to over 100 countries around the world making first ascents of remote jungle mountains or descending into hidden sinkholes in search of new species, climbing the world’s highest peaks or completing some of the world’s most demanding endurance races... Recently, Steve has presented the BBC kid’s series ‘Deadly 60’, where he travelled the world looking at the most inspiring predators, from boxing mantis shrimp to charging tigers. He’s been squirted with ink by Humboldt squid, flirted with by tarantula, assaulted by giant arapaima fish, stared out by thresher and great hammerhead sharks, mugged by pink river dolphins, and charged by elephants, but still maintains that wild animals pose no threat to people... really!!!
This guy wasn't a boozy beggar... he was a talented artist!


I fell in love with this painting the minute i saw it...

Hollywood comes to Tollymore Forest Park. "A Game of Thrones"

Sean Bean(Red Riding,Sharpe)has been cast as the lead in "A Game of Thrones" a HBO TV series which is being filmed in Tollymore Forest Park N.Ireland...
A Game of Thrones is HBO's adaptation of the George R.R. Martin best-selling Songs of Fire and Ice fantasy-book series. It is described as an epic struggle for power set in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom.



Tollymore Forest Park... stepping stones

PSNI ‘cruise’ event at The Outlet Banbridge

The aim of the night was to raise awareness and educate 18-30 year olds who modify/customise their cars about the need to know what the legal requirements are... ‘Project Evo’ a former Road Policing Mitsubishi Evolution VIII modified by local motor trade companies was present at the event. This vehicle has been refitted and modified to show exact legal requirements and is used to promote road safety across N.Ireland.

No Problem...officer



Transport Minister Edwin Poots