TWO of Twinbrook’s finest exports – legendary drummer Seamie O’Neill and U105 DJ Johnny Hero – have come together to organise a night of reminiscence and craic with a Twinbrook reunion which is set to be held in the Devenish Complex on Saturday 9 October.
The duo, who are currently in the process of organising the event, are encouraging anyone with old photographs from the estate to send them in an email to twinbrookreunion@yahoo.com.
MEMORIES: Margaret O'Neill's keep-fit class in Twinbrook (1979)
Discussing how the idea came about, Seamie said that he first met Johnny in Twinbrook in 1974.
“We made so many great friends," he said. "Twinbrook was in those days referred to as the biggest refugee camp in Europe as Catholic families were moving to the area because of the conflict.
“That’s what made it so close. There was a great sort of neighbourly comradeship where everybody looked after each other.
TURN BACK TIME: Bishop Philbin at the dedication of St Luke's Church, March 1981
“Twinbrook gave me the best years of my life. I lived there for 27 years and it was a fantastic place.
“The fact that we are coming out of Covid now, it is a great opportunity to bring everyone together and it will be a great evening.”
Adding to that, Johnny Hero said: "We moved to Twinbrook in '72. It wasn't as if you were moving into an area where you were new. Everyone was new. When we first got there, there was no football teams, no youth clubs, there was no structure that people take for granted in their area.
"Everybody mucked in and there has been a special bond developed because of that.
"Over the decades Twinbrook has developed and there is a lot of fondness for the memories we created.
PROTEST: Billy McDonald (SDLP). "Freeze Rents and Maggie Thatcher too." Twinbrook residents protest Housing Executive rent rises. (May, 1981)
"Twinbrook got an awful bad name – even down the road. The Twinbrook people had to put up with an awful lot and the whole event is a chance to get together with people we haven't seen in years.
"We have had people get in touch from England and Scotland who are coming over for it.
"We are also taking nominations for community achievement awards. These are for people from the area who are the unsung heroes. They are people who you're not going to read about in the papers and who work away in the background with kids, the football teams and other work within the community.
"We also want to recognise people from Twinbrook who have achieved good things in business and all because coming from Twinbrook was a bit of an uphill struggle so despite that a lot of people have done well."
Tickets are prices at £10 and are available here.
