The Reunions
Springtown Camp was closed for almost twenty years when the idea for a reunion dance entered by head. I thought it would be nice to try and bring all the old friends and neighbours to gather if only for one night. I met Willie Edgar to go to the greyhound racing in the Brandywell and I run my idea past him and he listened to me and when I was finished explaining my idea he said to me "Keep me forty tickets, and if I need anymore I will tell you tomorrow."
When we reached the dog track I heard a loud voice "Edgar, Deery" I instantly knew the voice, it was Big Neil 'Uncle' McLaughlin with the race card in his hand. He give us three certain winners for the night, with his usual enthusiastic confidence he said "I will eat that lamp post if the don't win" as he went on to tell us why they all could not be beat. I then told him of my idea regards a reunion dance. "Great idea book me ten tickets and Lornie will want a lot for his family." I knew there and then it would be a success. The next day I set the wheels in motion and booked the Stardust Hall with the manager Raymond Rogan and the date was set for Saturday 24 January 1987. I went up to Jackie McConnell's house and booked his band 'Madison'. I asked some friends to give me a hand to organise things and Wille Edgar, Neil McLaughlin, John McLaughlin, Stevie Wilkinson and Jackie McConnell readily agreed to do so.
By the way, the three 'Certs' that Neil gave to Willie Edgar and me, were, true to form all beat, however, he didn't eat the Lamp post, as he promised.
The next few days the word filtered out about the reunion plans and my phone was red hot, it was obvious now it was going to sell out fast. I decided I still would need to advertise it in the Derry Journal as people would say they didn't know about it, so by advertising it, no one could blame me if they couldn't get tickets. The day the advertisement was published in the paper it was sold out that night. The excitement of the forthcoming reunion from ex residents of the camp was palpable. Everywhere you met them, be it down the town, at mass, or in the pub, the first words they would say was "Did you get your tickets."
The people who couldn't get tickets were really disappointed as the date drew closer, as they were hearing in the grapevine that certain people who were coming from England or wherever for the reunion. On the night people queued in good time so they could get a 'good table' and after less than an hour from doors opening the Stardust was full. The atmosphere was electric as people who had not seen each other since the camp closed, met up. The dance was supposed to end at 1am, but people just sat on at their table and chatted for a further two hours or so, it was that type of night. The three last out the door was Fred 'Snooker' Cullen, the caretaker, and yours truly, as the caretaker locked up, I glanced at my watch and it was 4.05am. The feedback was such that another one was a no brainer. The first reunion profits were given to Mr.Colm Brown chairman of the 'sick children to Lourdes' appeal committee. My son Sean presented the money to a grateful Colm, on behalf of the Springtown Camp residents.
So we all agreed we would have to have another reunion the following Year, once again the Stardust was booked and the date was again in January as everyone wanted to get out after the Christmas festivities.
We agreed on Saturday 23 January 1988, for the second reunion and once we announced it the tickets flew out the door.
We had a lot more people travelling over from England and other places for this one, as word about how successful the first one was, made sure demand for tickets for this one was going to be massive, and that proved to be the case. To make sure we got as many as the ex Campers who were now in England to come to the the re-unions, we decided to go to England and tell them of our plans. We went to Manchester first to meet the Dunn and Hegarty clans and it was a treat to see them all. Then it was of to Bradford to meet up with the Doherty clan. They promised to come back for the dance and true to their word they all arrived a couple of days before the Dance date.
In Bradford with the Doherty boys In Manchester with the Dunn and Hegarty's
Just like the first re-union the second one was also a massive success, with people from England, Scotland and all over Ireland plus the Derry folk all assembled in the Stardust for one big Irish hooley. Again the hall was full to capacity before 10pm and once the band struck up the first note, the dance floor was packed with dancers. Once again it was a late night for the caretaker with the last dancers leaving the hall at well after 3am.
With the success of the Springtown Camp reunions, other areas in Derry started to organise their own, Creggan, The Brandywell, and Wellington Street and soon most areas of the city were doing the same. It was great for community spirit, as Derry was cursed with redevelopment in the 60's and close knit communities were broken up and spread all over the city. Most people were of the opinion it was a very high price to pay for a proper house. Why couldn't they just demolish half of a street and place them in Mobile homes, and build the new houses in their street. It wasn't rocket science, but maybe politics played a part in the redevelopment schemes.
The Dunn, Divin and Moore families who attend the reunion, were invited to sign the visitors book by the Mayor of Derry in the Guildhall.
Some of the dancers come together for a photograph, this was over an hour after the dance finished.
The happy smiling faces were everywhere to be seen that night as evident by the above image. The feel good factor was sky high just as it was in the first reunion. Now the question was where do we stop, how do we stop? It was difficult again refusing people you know tickets to attend, the simple fact was there is no hall in Derry big enough to facilitate all the people who want to be present at these reunions.
The dance is over but nobody wants to go home, so many smiling faces
