Up until the
1960s George Clyde had a grocery van on the road, one of his drivers
was the late Jimmy Davidson. George Clyde died in 1973 and later
both shops came into the ownership of Alfred’s son Hans who sold the
property to Gadda.
After almost 2
years of work the new community building opened on 5th October
2001. The community centre is used by a variety of groups. Table
quizzes are a popular way of fundraising and the big rooms here are
ideal for this type of gathering. On another evening the French
class had gathered and teacher Celine McKinlay demonstrated that her
pupils could not only speak French but sing it as well./ The
Diamond club was founded in 1998 to cater for the senior citizens
within a five mile radius of Garvagh. The membership at present
is around 80. Tea dances like this one are popular, the
club is cross community so if you are a senior citizen then feel
free to join. Sammy Arbuthnut and some of his committee were
pleased to pose for this picture in November 2002. On Monday
mornings between 10-30 and 12 noon painting classes are held,
tuition is given on oil painting as well as water colours. On
Tuesday evenings the music classes attract an ever increasing number
of students. The directors of Garvagh Development trust invite
you to make full use of these facilities and conducted tours can be
arranged on request.
A few doors up
from the community centre is The Canning Arms Bar. The name
Canning is another reminder of the family who once ruled supreme in
Garvagh. Owned and managed for many years by the Conway family the
Canning Arms was a popular bar for locals as well as farmers from
the surrounding district. In the late 1970s the bar was sold to
Sammy and Jim Watt, Norman Graham and Robbie Martin and was
reopened by Northern Ireland goalkeeper Pat
Jennings. The Canning Arms became something of a
local nightclub attracting the top entertainers of the day including
Andy Stewart, the Alexandra brothers, Jimmy Logan and a host of
others. Other entertaining events like Miss world were also
staged. John Lowe was one of the many world class dart players to
give an exhibition here. In 1991 the Watts and Norman Graham
retired from the bar business. Bobby Anderson from Ballymena owns
it now and at present the bar is being operated by the Doherty
brothers.
Garvagh History Page 3 |
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