Comrades’ milestone celebrated with book

Ballyclare Comrades – a club formed by men who returned to the town after surviving the horrors of the trenches in the First World War – will celebrate its centenary this year.

To mark the milestone, former teacher and local historian Robson Davison has written ‘The Comrades’, which will be officially launched at a special event at Ballyclare Town Hall next Saturday at 7pm.

placeholder image — A team photograph of Ballyclare Comrades taken in the 1920s

Plans are also in place to hold an open air service at the club’s ground – Dixon Park – on Saturday, May 12.

Club chaplain Rev Robert Bell, minister of Ballyclare Presbyterian Church, said: “I have discovered that at the end of the First World War lots of towns had teams called ‘Comrades’ but this is thought to be the only surviving one anywhere.”