Ray Megahey and Marty McCartney

“Hello, my name is Raymond Megahey- one half of the Ray and Marty duo- who worked in the Lámh Dhearg from 1981 to 1997 and this is my story of how it all happened….

Friendship with ‘The Beast’ and coming up to Lámh Dhearg:

“In 1979 I worked as entertainment manager in the Pound Loney club in the lower Falls- I also played pool for the Pound Loney and during that time, I met who was to become one of my best friends- Paddy ‘The Beast’ McCann from Lámh Dhearg. He asked me two things, one would I come and play for the Greyhound Pool team that Paddy played for and secondly- would I come and do entertainment manager up at Lámh Dhearg, as they had just built new clubrooms and they were trying to get entertainment off the ground. So that’s how it started for me”.

“I ended up going up to Lámh Dhearg and ended up playing for the Greyhound Pool Team- we were very successful and won the league a couple of times. It was a brilliant relationship between ‘the Beast’ and myself- it was brilliant and we started to put the bands on, on a Saturday night and in next to no time the big crowds started coming in”. 

Hilton Showband visit to Hannahstown:

“There was a band I used to put on in the Pound Loney called ‘The Hilton Showband’ and they came from Newry. They were five great guys and Paddy – who ran the group- I told him I was up at Lámh Dhearg a Gaelic club in Hannahstown- would you fancy coming up and playing for us on a Saturday night ?”.

“He agreed and we got a date for him and he asked- will we be alright up there; cause we’ve had a couple of wee hairy moments in different places? I said it would be no bother at all, we’re a fabulous club and there is never an ounce of trouble in it- so they agreed to come up. They came up on the Saturday night, got the gear up and got their suits on and entertained the crowd and the dance floor was bopping. They really enjoyed the night after being so apprehensive and worried but were mesmerised at one stage how a few of the crowd came dressed to the dance !!!!!!!.

I’ll never forget that night, they said to me just after it – you’re a geg- nothing happens in this great wee club”.

Other bands:

“We had Coco from Rostrevor – two brothers who were brilliant and ones from all over Ballymena and Derry. We’d Candy and Brooklyn from Derry, Stardust and Channel Five from Belfast. There was band called Duty Free in Airports- they were absolutely brilliant and the lead singer was Clare Maguire – she was the female lead singer and they were fabulous. It was the start of something good- the crowd started on coming up to Lámh Dhearg on a Saturday night and it was brilliant with a great atmosphere ”.

Emergence of Sunday night disco:

“After a while the club wanted me to put on folk music and would I know folk bands? I said I’ve no interest in folk music, I don’t know any bands and I wouldn’t know who to phone. They said we’re going to put them on a Saturday night and so the pop bands stopped then. Before the bands stopped there was a band who played with a lead singer called Gerry. He also ran his own wee disco and he asked could be put the discos on a Sunday night. The club said yes and we done the Sunday night discos – we had a fella that done Mr and Mrs for four or five weeks. The Beast said could you not come in and do this – I said okay and came on to do compere and done Mr and Mrs- Gerry was in the background playing records”.

Marty McCartney:

“In the meantime a young fella- who at time I had never heard of called Marty McCartney. He was part of the youth committee and used to run the youth disco on a Monday night but he had to borrow the gear from Cosmos Youth Club- which was run by Father Matt Wallace. Fr Matt was a great friend of Lámh Dhearg and was fantastic. Marty would have got a lend of the gear of them on a Monday night and as soon as it was over, pack the gear up and bring it back”.

“The youth committee came up with the idea of buying their own gear and put it to the Senior committee to buy their own gear and then they bought it and we could do without Gerry on a Sunday night. They said to me – we’re going to get our own gear and we’ve got a young fella called Marty who is interested and does the youth disco on a Monday night and he could play the records. I thought it would be a good idea and we could buy it with the money we saved from Gerry and that’s exactly how it happened. We bought the gear and put it up, Marty would have come on and there’d 20-year olds standing behind me at 36 or 37 years of age”.

“The first three or four weeks was awkward because I didn’t know Marty and Marty didn’t know me. He was a quiet wee lad and after about four weeks Marty was getting fed up because I was shouting at him and saying – why are you planning that, that’s crap – which was wrong. After about four or five weeks I told him I had a great idea and I thought it would work”.

The Ray and Marty show:

“We were getting the crowds in, it was brilliant – the crowds were really, really good and in fact it was packed houses. I pulled Marty aside and said Marty look- I’m wearing this black suit, black shirt, white tie and white shoes  – why don’t you go down and get all that gear and we’ll become the ‘Ray and Marty disco’”.

“The club convinced Marty – he was a wee bit apprehensive cause he was shy. I said to him – sure when you get the gear on you can come out and do a wee bit of a dancing with me and he said- what, me are you joking? We went down the town and Marty got the black suit, black shirt, tie and the shoes. He came up and got changed in the wee changing room we were in. I came out that Sunday and he was standing behind the decks as usual with his jeans and t-shirt on and I stopped the music and got out onto the floor and said hold on and listen to this”.

“Every week I’m coming up here standing like a tailors dummy in black suit, black shirt, white tie and white shoes and this eejit behind me is standing in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and I’m fed up with it – get off the stage!”

“Marty knew it was like some fix and got down off the stage and everybody started boo-ing. I says is there anybody else here that can play this music- Linker was his name- and came running up and said, ‘I’ll do it’. Marty went with his tail between his legs to the wee store and I was watching from the side of my eye while Linker played the first song and I’m doing my usual dancing about. Marty stuck his thumb up outside the door and said that was him ready and I told Linker to stop the music. I then said to the crowd when the music was stopped – where did that eejit Marty go, did anybody see him? Just as that-Marty opened the door and walked out stood beside me. We were identical, everything we had on was the same and the crowd absolutely erupted. They were cheering from the top of their voices and it was brilliant and the start of it. It took him out his shell and from then on he was brilliant and we got on absolutely fantastic. It was the ‘Ray and Marty’ show from then on- it wasn’t just me; he was out dancing and carrying on and it was fantastic”. 

Huge crowds:

“The crowds were unbelievable, I used to come up at about 7.30 or 7.45 to go into the club and the crowds were lined up at the gate. Right up around the carpark and up to the top gate. After about 20 minutes the gates were closed with hundreds of people not getting in and that’s the way it was for years. The crowd was absolutely fantastic”.

“At that time we were only playing pop music and we were also doing ‘Take your Pick’ – I think it was one of the McQuillan brothers who made up the ‘Take your Pick’ boxes and they were brilliant. They were painted in the Lámh Dhearg colours in Red and White and we had it on every Sunday night. People could win £100 jackpots and it was an amazing time. Everybody couldn’t wait for a Sunday night- I remember talking to a fella I used to work with called Gearoid Robinson- he was a Johnnies man. When we were talking about it he said- we loved it and from a Wednesday all him and the mates talked about was Sunday night in the Lámh Dhearg and looking forward to it. Afterwards on a Monday- all they could talk about was what happened on the previous Sunday night until the Wednesday and then talking about waiting to go back again”.

“it was fantastic because people came from everywhere even as far away from Ardoyne and the New Lodge. It became a real popular venue and the trendy and safe  place to be at the weekend in troubled and tense times. Many friendships were built and at times employees would of used it as a night out to socialise. I even remember Brickies from Bellaghy coming regularly to meet up with their work colleagues from Belfast which was amazing and a credit to the club and the entertainment being provided by us. The club senior teams would come into the disco from the Members Room after games regularly as well. Also sometimes guys from club’s opponents would of also came into the big hall. So both teams would all stand at the bar knee deep and enjoy the craic.  Remember Belfast was a totally different place in the 80’s/90’s

Friday night disco and Golden Oldies:

“Marty said to me once – look we’re playing pop music and it’s great and everybody is enjoying it on a Sunday night but what about the older type people. What about trying to run a Friday night ‘Golden Oldies’ disco? I said Marty that’s a brilliant idea and we went to Shanty and ‘The Beast’ and said look- I know Sunday nights are going well and better than we thought but what about doing a Friday night ‘Golden Oldies’ disco ? They said aye sure there was nothing to lose”

“We put the Friday night disco on ‘Golden Oldies’ and it went the same way- it was absolutely brilliant. We put ‘Take your Pick’ on again and it was fantastic, we had a different crowd but we had a lot of the Sunday night crowd coming back on the Friday night. There was also people that were going on a Friday night who wouldn’t go on a Sunday night- maybe because they couldn’t get in on a Sunday. It was a fantastic two nights”.

Success all round:

“it done the club a terrible amount of good- the amount of money that it was generating on a Friday and Sunday we were able to pay off the club. They had gone into a lot of debt in order to build the clubrooms but we managed to pay that off a hell of a lot quicker than they normally thought they were going to. They started to build state of the art changing rooms and their new pitch it helped to pay for that to. All in all, it was success all round and because of what was happening on a Friday and Sunday night- people got to hear about and people were having their weddings in it, christenings and parties. That all helped to bring in valuable funds to the club”.

“Even now- I’m out it since 1997 and people would walk up to me and ask – do you remember me; you did my wedding up in Lámh Dhearg? Then they would introduce their daughters or sons who were maybe 25 years of age and they’d tell me they were christened up in the club. It was a fantastic success story”.

“On a Sunday we would put on a few acts- we didn’t really need to but I went to ‘The Beast’ and the committee and said- look this crowd is fantastic but we need to give them something as well. We put on a few acts and got May McFetridge up on a couple of occasions. It was fantastic and cost a bit of money- but it was worth it in the end”.

Stevie Star:

“I remember going up to a big nightclub in Warrenpoint, a whole lot of us went down with Gamblers Anonymous  when I went to it. We’d have meetings and outings and we went to Warrenpoint this Saturday night. This fella was coming on at 12 o’clock and we were going to leave and come home early but we stayed and watched. His name was ‘Stevie Star’ and he was brilliant – a regurgitator who could swallow things and bring them back up. I said god I’ll have to have him and spoke to his manager. He was talking telephone numbers but I got him down as much as I could and said I’ll be in touch”.

“I went up and met the committee with Shanty [Pat McCague], Frank Fitzsimons [snr] and ‘The Beast’. They were a bit unsure with the amount of money but I promised that he was unbelievable and would be worth it as a one off. They gave me the go ahead and I phoned up and got him up. The Sunday night he was on – I met them coming out of the car in the carpark and brought them into show them round the members room. He walked past the pool table and the late Bugsy Prior [snr] RIP was playing- he reached across the pool table and lifted the white ball, put it in his mouth and swallowed it. Bugsy was going to kill him, but then he just popped it out and set it on the table and nobody could believe it”.  Everyone  was just astonished.

“We walked into the big hall and it was packed as usual , we were making our way through the crowd and he stopped at this table- I didn’t even know he was going to do it. He asked if anybody had a £20 note and he got the note and folded it in four and swallowed it. Everybody was amazed and he asked if they wanted the note back or in 10ps and he started to pop the coins out in a woman’s hand all the 10ps – it was absolutely brilliant. He got on stage he was such an artist- he swallowed goldfish and rubik’s cubes and it turned round in his stomach and brought it back up”. 

“The main thing which I couldn’t believe – he asked this girl for her engagement ring and put in his mouth and swallowed it. Then he took out this lock and key and swallowed the both of them and started juggling them all around in his stomach. Everybody was all amazed watching it and the next thing up came the lock, the key and the ring – inside the lock. It was completely unbelievable and the memories that you’re never ever going to forget”.

Raising money for Live Aid and other charities:

“One of the best nights we ever had was in 1985- I’m sure everybody remembers Live Aid. They were having the live aid concerts in England and America and raising money for Ethiopia on the Saturday night. On the Sunday night that was our theme, as usual the club was bunged and we’d put acts on and I was sending buckets round people were giving their money. It was one of them occasions that you would never ever forget- people were giving everything and at the end of the night we were counting the money and there was about £3000”.

“When I was driving home- I was driving down the road the road all you could see was the droves of people walking down the Hannahstown Hill. They couldn’t get a taxi because they’d no money left because they’d gave it to us up in the stage. There was businessmen giving us money and wee Teasy McGarry sticking a load of money into it. It was just unbelievable and the Irish News got to hear about it and came up to take a photo of Marty, myself and the late wee Sid Thompson RIP. It turned out it was the most amount of money ever lifted in two hours that night- anywhere in the country and were quite proud of that”.

“People who came to Lámh Dhearg never wanted but you only had to ask them for something and they were happy to contribute. I used to run things for different types of charities and you’d say we need £2000 for this and in three weeks we would have the money up and get the person and people up to present it to them. It was brilliant”.

One of our biggest nights was the Halloween Fancy dress disco and everyone entered into the spirit and attended in a colourful and spectacular range of fancy dress. Top prize was £300 and some of the costumes were unreal as the top prize was big money in those days. On the first gig Marty stole the show dressed up as Boy George but as an employee couldn’t win the prize. One Halloween night for about 5 minutes Marty and I thought we were watching a bar room scene from OK Coral and then the party atmosphere just restarted. Unreal memories and times. Boxing Night and New Year Eve nights were special as well and unbelievable with a super charged festive atmosphere . They were ticket only and tickets were sold out on day of release showing how popular the club was and must have been happy with our Disco Roadshow. During our times there was always a jovial and fun loving party atmosphere  The club was always well run and supervised from the popular doorman the late Tony Sherry RIP , Jamesy Agnew and superb Bar Managers such as Joe Finnegan , the late Fra Fox RIP, Malcolm Murray and the Committee. One amusing story I always remember was about a committee man, the late Mickey Herron RIP. Committee men worked on a rota to do the door and generally supervise. So one night big Mickey Herron was on the door. Every time he popped into the hall we had a record on the left turntable “Hey Micky by Toni” and Marty instantly played the first two verses and the whole crowd sang and danced along much to the amusement of Mickey

“Oh Mickey, you’re so fine
You’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey,
Hey Mickey

Oh Mickey, you’re so fine
You’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey,
Hey Mickey’

Pool team

As well as great memories entertaining I also had the pleasure on playing for the club pool team and they were happy times as well. We won many leagues and competitions and had many talented players. On Thursday Nights the Members Room was a Mini Crucible as we played our home games with many exciting games in a tense atmosphere. There were many colourful characters on the pool team such as the “Beast ‘, Gerard Hood, Trooper Dan, late Andy Finnegan RIP and Kevin Fee etc to name a few. You were also guaranteed plenty of banter and craic at the matches and the Pool team brought a sense of humour to the club.

1997 – the end:

“in 1997 all the local clubs were starting to hit get hit terribly because the troubles were over and the town and nightclubs were opening up. You could stay in them until 1 or 2 o’clock and the clubs all got hammered and couldn’t attract crowds any longer.  Why would you go up to a club that’s closing its doors at 11.30 when you could go into the town and stay until 1 or 2 o’clock. I’ll always be grateful for all the time- not only did Marty and myself really enjoy ourselves but we met some brilliant people. I have to thank Lámh Dhearg for giving me that opportunity”.

Marty McCartney

Joining the club:

“I was babysitting back in 1979 and Lámh Dhearg were short a team and Stevie [my brother] and Bukey came down along with Shanty in the white Volkswagen minibus. They asked me to play and I was raring to go so away I went up the hill. Never did I think that getting into the minibus would be such a positive influence on my life. That’s where it started for me, before that I’d really no interest in playing compared to my brother Stevie- my other brother Gary joined after me”.

“it took me a couple of years to get a place in the team, that night I went to play I helped make the team up. I hadn’t any great experience in the game at all and from there I just kept plugging away. I remember the match was in Budore and Budore was like a cow field. It was a big cow field with no markings on the pitch, it had a big hill. The bottom end of the pitch on the way down- the goal mouth was like a big crater- it had a huge big dip in it. It was wild”.

“There were no changing rooms and you’d get changed on the pitch or by the side of the car or wherever you could get changed. That’s what you had to do every time you went up whether it was a game or training. That was the way of life”.

The beginning of hurling:

“I vaguely remember when we started hurling and were trying to put a team together and they were going round asking people like myself – did we want to learn how to play hurling- that was it. A few of us went along anyway, we were just plugging away at the game and striking  away at the sliotar  and trying to learn how to lift it. The only way I could describe it as- a few of us came from the ‘’Christy Brown school of hurling”. That was the only way you could describe us along with people who could hurl and it must have been devastating for them- having to play with us”.

“We had to keep plugging away and plugging away and tried to get better. If I remember right the McCoey Shield [1986]was our first success down at Rossa Park. We’d only been hurling six-months and it was a great achievement. Fr John O’Donovan was a superstar hurler and what he could do with a ball- he made it look so easy and I was very grateful watching him. He could strike a ball, lift the ball and do tricks with it- I remember him running past people and throwing the ball over their heads and catching it on the other side and he was away like a hairy bear”.

“None of us could do anything like that, such a difference he made to the team. His training, tactics and everything just changed the whole emphasis of the game – for us as a team. There were players who played the game better than others – but he made a huge, huge difference. We’d guys like Marty Collins,  Barney Herron, Colm McKenna, Kaneso, Kieran Megraw, Paddy Cunningham [snr] etc who could play and you’d others like Russ [Frank Fitzsimons jnr], Eddie Fitz [RIP], Eamon McGarry, Kevin McCambridge, Rab Lappin,  and myself etc who hurled because of Father John and for the club”.

Junior Championship success:

“I remember beating McDermott’s not so much the game itself but I remember winning it. Winning those games against the likes of McDermott’s were tough opponents. They were always very physical and were very bruising encounters. It’s just the way it was, a lot of teams took us at face value and didn’t think we could hurl. Whether they let their guard down or not- I don’t know? But a lot of teams got a brave shock when they came up against us. We had an emphasis to win games and there was a hunger to beat anybody put in front of us- teams that could hurl and had been hurling for years”.

“We just kept plugging and hammering away and there was a pure hunger to win games. we worked on physicality and the skills, we had to train hard under Father John. He trained us hard and some of the training sessions were serious- he pushed you to the limits. You always trained and put it in and took your knocks and that’s the way it was- on the physical end and the skills end as well”.

Coming to the end in hurling:

“I played hurling right up until Division Two but there was more players coming through – who were better hurlers. I played in the senior team and the South Antrim team and the team just got stronger and stronger. You have to take a step back and let the other boys come through- you could never stop the stronger players coming through, boys who could hurl”.

“I was a manufactured hurler- there was a few of us- but I enjoyed every bit of it. As much as you wanted to stay in the team, you had to take that step back. But I continued onto play South-Antrim and you were never short of a game. Back in those days it was like football – you’d have a senior match and a reserve match. The reserve match was played first and then the senior match, sometimes you’d have to stay stripped if the senior boys were short players. You’d have to play another game- it happened a few times, which wasn’t easy- especially the hurling”.

Football career:

“It took me a while to get my place in the team, at the start and in the first couple of years I was playing in the forward line, half-forward line and if I wasn’t on the bench I came off the bench and I was getting subbed- so I could never hold down a place and I didn’t feel comfortable playing forwards”.

“I always remember Gary McKenna- we were playing a South-Antrim match and he was taking the team that year.  He called the team out and I stayed back in the changing room before the team went out- I said to him ‘Gary you’ve put me in half-back, I’ve never played in half-back in my life’. His words to me – ‘you can’t play forwards so we’re going to try you in backs’. As true as god, from that night he put in the half-back line that was my position – left-half back. I played that position in the senior reserve team right up until I stopped playing. That was my position”.

“I remember playing with super players and guys such as Peter Fox, Roy Irvine, Malcolm Murray, Dominic McCann, Seamy Fitzsimons and Gerry Fitzsimons etc. We won the Martin Cup a couple of times and had a couple of good wins. I remember playing the Beringer Cup- it was mainly played down at St Galls. We got into the final and it was played at Milltown, we actually should have won the game but towards the end of the game I got injured and had to be taken off- I couldn’t play on at all. Tom Sloan scored the equalising point in the dying seconds of the game- they got a free and he lashed it over from 50-60 yards out and we got a draw out of it. We lost the replay”.

“We beat St Galls the following year and had to play St John’s three-times in the semi-final down at Corrigan and it was great to get into the final and eventually win it. We won the Junior Championship as well and it was the first time in the clubs history that we won that. Jim Herron was on the team with his sons Brendan and Michael, Micky Seenan was on the team but broke his arm in the semi-final”.

 I also won the SA c’ship in the golden year of 1992 and we had a very strong side with a balance of youth such as Kipper Carmichael, Donal O’Hara and Anto Finnegan with experienced players such as Benny Lynch RIP, Bugsy Prior,  Carso , Anto McCague, Joe Mc Neill , Rab Lappin and Jim Brady etc. The team was managed by Gary McKenna and Mickey Herron RIP.  I’m so sorry to hear that Mickey Herron sadly passed away last year. He was an absolute gentleman and happy memories playing with him at Budore.

“The game has evolved that much from back in our day, you wouldn’t be able to play the modern way back then. It was played so differently and it was catch and kick and game was evolved mentally. I couldn’t kick a ball- I remember training session one night we were playing a match and it a mixture of senior’s and senior reserves. Bukey passed the ball and he kicked it that high- I was waiting for it coming down and Barney Herron was standing up at the goalposts and he came tearing down the pitch like a bull- the ball finally came to me and I caught the ball and he accidently went into me. I ended up breaking my jaw and was in hospital and out for months. It was just the way I turned into him but I always blame Buke – he hit the ball that high that it killed a couple of seagulls waiting on it coming down”.

Joe McCartney [RIP]:

“My Daddy didn’t really talk about his time in the club a lot – I just know he played for the club back in the 50s and it ended up that his work took him to London and I think that’s why he stopped playing. Years ago he would have been up in Hannahstown Hall singing at it. In the 80s he became a first aider with the senior team for a couple of seasons”.

Brothers [Stevie and Gary]:

“It was good achievement to play with my two brothers- it would have a great achievement if I had have made it to senior but I didn’t hit those dizzy heights. It was great for the three of us to be playing – unfortunately Gary retired and stopped playing really. I thought he’d a lot of years left in him and he retired early. Stevie had to regrettably retire early though ill health and it’s a pity as he  was so passionate and committed about the club. Many boys reckoned Stevie was talented enough to be the County keeper- if he was able to play on. It was pity in 1983 to lose the Championship to St Galls as Stevie was the keeper- it would have been great to win a Championship back then. I never knew he was called Stevie ‘the cat’”.

Social end of club and youth committee:

“The Monday night disco took off and I think the Youth Committee  decided to put the disco on, we had to get some gear and I was involved with Cosmos youth club- Father Matt Wallace would have been running that and he allowed us to borrow the disco gear and bring it up to the club for the disco”.

“Father Matt had an orange hatchback and he used to drive us up, when we got to the club it was a nightmare getting the gear out into the club to set it up. The disco was brilliant and over 150 kids would have turned up for a pound a night. It went on for four or five years. It was 6-weeks before we went and bought our own gear. It used to be nightmare, we weren’t getting home until 11 o’clock at night by the time we left the gear back and we went to the youth committee and they decided that any money we were raising at the disco would go towards buying gear. The club themselves helped us out with funding but the youth committee paid most of it”.

“Bukey, Roy Irvine, Jim Lynch, Barney Herron and myself went down to Session music in York Street. I went into the shop and I said at the time- we needed to buy good gear and something that would last, there was no point in buying cheap gear that would break down. We walked about the shop looking the gear and there was a set off decks – Citronic Decks- they were state of the art. The guy at the shop said we couldn’t afford them and he walked away and he wanted to show us these set of cloud decks. I said these are the ones and we ended up buying five speakers separate and they were about £850 back in 1981. That was big money back then. They lasted right up until we finished”.

Getting involved with Ray Megahey:

“I have to say this wasn’t something I was aiming to get into- to become a DJ. Gerry with the black shirt was doing the Sunday night disco and he played ‘Come on Eileen’ by Dexys Midnight Runners 20 times on night and ‘the Beast’ [Paddy McCann] went up and gave him £10 for the record and broke it so he couldn’t play it no more. ‘the Beast’ was cheering like mad and the next thing he had another copy and put it back on”.

“The club decided that they would put their own disco on because we bought the gear and they asked if I would do the records. I only had a few records back then so I had to go out and buy new records and update everything and all the rest. At the time Ray was the entertainments manager and would have worked with ‘the Beast’. They run all the groups and disco etc. At the time I don’t think they were too happy that this was going to change because they had a crowd built up and this could mess it up”.

“Gerry got a residency somewhere and what I can remember- they decided to add the ‘Golden Oldies’ on a Friday night along the disco on a Sunday night. The Golden Oldies and doing the disco on a Sunday night was wee bit big for me and very daunting. It went ahead anyway but the problem was I didn’t speak over the mic – Ray was doing ‘Mr and Mrs’ on a Friday and Sunday night. He’d done that and I was playing the music and there was no atmosphere– only the part when Ray was doing ‘Mr and Mrs’”.

“It was okay and you could get by and as time went on Ray decided to come on stage and start introducing records and he was jumping around like a maniac and I was just sitting behind the decks and playing the music. I was happy enough – to a certain degree. I wouldn’t say there was bad atmosphere but we didn’t gel at the start and I was finding it very stressful to be honest. I was giving it another two weeks and I was jacking it in- I didn’t care, I was going to jack it in and I’d made my mind up”.

“For some the reason- the following week Ray said to me I have an idea. He said I want you to buy a black suit, a white dickie-bow, black shirt and white shoes and we’ll get up and dance about. I said – you can get on your bike if you think I’m going to get on the stage dancing. I’m not doing it! He persuaded me anyway. The following week he threw me off the stage and Linker came up and played. After that night the rest was history and it was the ‘Ray and Marty show’”.

“Ray was a great entertainer- a born entertainer. He was entertaining from he was no age, he would have sang in the Pound-noney and all over the place. He just had a gift to entertain and working with him was an absolute joy and a pleasure. He made my job so, so easy and as the years went on we just bounced off each other with wee dance routines and clowning about”.

“We never practiced in our lives- it was off the cuff and we made it work. We just clicked and he was a pleasure to work with. Sid [Thompson] RIP was part of it too, he would have filled in for Ray now and again if he’d have been away on holidays and filled in for me if I would have been away. Working with Ray was an absolute pleasure and even when it all finished- we remained great friends and went away on holiday together with the wives. The friendship is still there”.

“Everybody loved him and thought he was good and a big draw to the club, He was funny and had that natural gift and loved it. I can remember people’s faces but names I couldn’t remember. He knew everybody and we done hundreds of weddings. There’s people I would meet now that know me from Lámh Dhearg days and speak to as if I’ve known them all my life and it’s amazing that people still expect me to remember them. I’ve been out for a meal with Ray over the years and he just remembers people’s names. He would say – it’s such and such- do you remember their wedding? I would say no I don’t because I didn’t pay attention but that’s just the way Ray was- he was fantastic”.

Dance routines:

“We done the ‘Supremes’ – we had to get all the same dresses, wigs, make-up and stuff and toilet rolls for boobs. We learnt a wee dance routine and it was Ray, Sid Thompson [RIP], Paul Thompson and myself – Bukey did it once or twice. At the live-aid evening we did Mick Jagger and David Bowie dance ad routine. They did it the night before at live aid but there was no intention of raising all the money that night. I remember watching the live aid on the Saturday night at the club and a fella Paddy Molloy gave me £100. He asked if we were raising any money tomorrow night- I said I have no idea if we were doing anything for it- he said, ‘if you are there’s £100 and that will get you started’. I said – I don’t know if we’re lifting any money and he said to take it anyway and see how yous go”.

“I remember saying to Ray about it and that’s how it started off, there was only about 250 people in the hall that night because it was the July holiday weekend and a lot of people were away. There was 250 people and Ray went to town and started doing everything and anything to raise the money – which he did. We ended up raising £3000. Back in those days we did everything and anything- we dressed up and danced as acts such Dolly Parton and Kenny Rodgers, john Travolta and Olivia Newton John, Shaking Stephens and Status Quo etc. They were fantastic times and memories”.

Halloween discos:

“There was a squad from O’Donnell’s called the ‘Crazy-Gang’, and really went to town on fancy dress costumes. There wasn’t a person in the hall that wasn’t dressed up. The first night the Crazy-Gang did the Mississippi funeral- the boys would have carried up the coffin and they were dancing and someone up the front would have been playing a trumpet”.

“A couple of them were joiners and they made a coffin and put one of the boys in it, they went to the Rock bar before they came to the club, they walked out of the Rock bar and carried the guy in the coffin up the Fall’s Road to the Whiterock Roundabout and back down- stopping the traffic- and went back into Rock bar. Then they came up to the club and the guy in the coffin had to stay in it all night- he wasn’t allowed out of it. If he wanted to go to the toilet- they carried him out to the toilet -and back in again the whole night. They won the prize money that night and when they won the prize money they let him out of the coffin. It doesn’t sound very nice when you’re talking about coffins but that’s what happened”.

“The following year they came up as the Ant-hill-mob, there used to be a cartoon called ‘Wacky Races’ and there was a wee group in it called the Ant-hill-mob – they were gangsters. They all dressed up like them and they made a car so that they could stand in it and carry it. It was that big that they couldn’t get it in the doors so they had to bring it up the side and try and get it in the side doors. They damaged the ceiling getting in the door and gave us back the £300 prize money to fix the ceiling. They were great times and good nights and memories”.

Busy evenings:

“You’d have had Sunday evening matches and the boys would have come in afterwards and even players from the other team would have joined hem.as well. On Sunday nights the bar would have been 5 or 6 deep and you could not move for love nor money. Jim Magilton was up one night with a few of the Northern Ireland soccer team and we played ‘Jack Charlton’ Ole, Ole. and the craic was 90.  That song got played a load of times”.

The Mirrorball:

“When we got the gear- all we had was a wee set of lights. A couple of boxes of flashing lights and 350 people or more and no risk assessments or health and safety  in those days in the hall on a Sunday night. I remember going to ‘the Beast’ and asking – can we not get a Disco ball with a couple of wee spots on it to give the hall a  wee bit of extra features. People were going to discos and nightclubs and we’d a couple of flashing coloured bulbs at the front of the stage and it was a bit embarrassing. We wanted to add a wee bit to it and ‘the Beast’ said to go ahead and I bought this Mirrorball”.

“I remember going in front of this committee and they wanted to know where this Mirrorball came from and what we were going to do with it. They had obviously had this meeting before I went in and I really didn’t get to say anything about it. There must have been about 12 on the committee and somebody said – what do you think that is out there, do you think this is a dancehall? I was dead as dodo and ‘the Beast’ said he would back me up to the hilt. I said – well it is a dance hall, it’s a big hall and they come to dance in it on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. They said this is a GAA club – Of course there was cards, pool and darts- which is nothing to do with GAA either but there you go. The Mirrorball was kept in the box and put in the corner. The Beast couldn’t believe they rejected it but they finally put it up – Anthony McCague wired it up to a couple of spots and I finally got it in the end”.

The Slush:

“The slush was a wee dance but it became a big thing on a Friday night, you’d have played the music and everybody would have got up to dance. For some reason everybody loved ‘the Slush’ – they would have danced to Mississippi, hey pussycat, the drifters and quite a few and they would have done the Slush to it. You’d have played it every week religiously for years and years and the floor would have packed with people doing the Slush. They just loved it”.

“We done the bed-push from Lenadoon to Castle Street for Father John in aid of OPELS and stopped every so often doing ‘the Slush’ and we raised a brave few quid. We stopped outside the Leisure Centre and Ray did the Slush and everybody joined in- people came out of shops and started to dance with us and filled the buckets the whole day down the road. Unreal day. We pushed one the equivalent to Cork”.

92 celebrations in the club:

“Every time that we won anything at all- the Sunday night was mental and atmosphere was buzzing . They celebrated- no matter what we won. If there was a final played on the Sunday and they won, they came in on the Sunday night and took over and they were jumping about and going crazy. It upset the apple cart a wee bit with the crowd because they couldn’t relate to it. There was some fantastic nights and times. Like everything all good things come to an end”.

Take your Pick:

“Take your Pick was a set of boxes- ten boxes- Ray would have pulled a ticket out and if your ticket was called you would have went up. When Ray got someone up- he went to town on them. He was a terrible messer and slegged people. They would have picked a box and there would have been a jackpot in the box and it started off at £100 – if it wasn’t won it would have up by £10 every week. It would have went up for weeks sometimes and there would have been over £300”.

“The bigger the jackpot the more people wanted to go for it, in the boxes there were prizes – these prizes would people been stuff bought in the market for a couple of pound- not worth anything. There was a couple of boxes with stuff like toilet-roll or rubber bands etc. When the person to play Take your Pick- you would have been offered money for the box and depending on the size of the Jackpot – you could have been offered £40-45 to get them thinking”.

“Some people actually would have took the money because £45 back on a Sunday night would have been happy days. They would have taken the money and opened the box and the jackpot would have been in it. Others would have wanted to open the box and they would have got toilet-roll or baby prize. It was great craic and you could win a few pound. The crowd loved it”.