Former Derry street Foster's Terrace fondly remembered
One of Derry’s long lost streets has been remembered by former residents.
Christine Little along with her brother Frank Nelis, grew up in Foster’s Terrace in the Lecky Road area of the city, recently donated a replica street sign to Pilots Row Community Centre.
Christine created the replica of the street sign as a tribute to her late parents memory.
Her father, Frank Sr was a well known figure in the city.
Foster's Terrace as it stands today.
She said: “Our terrace faced the Gasyard wall, which was immortalised in the song ‘The Town I Loved So Well’. We were the ‘school children that played ball by the gas yard wall’.
“There were four of us that lived in 151 Foster’s Terrace, myself and my brother Frank as well as my mother and father.
“My father, Frank Nelis was a barber. We lived in the first house on the terrace and he ran the wee business from there.
“Foster’s Terrace itself was part of a small community on its own really at that time, among a wider community in the Bogside and Brandywell areas. My father having the wee shop there meant there were people in and out of the house all the time and everyone knew him.
“Our shop was packed most days - and many weren’t there for a haircut - but for craic and tea! I remember my dad would call me to come in and brush the hair off the floor for him - he was so busy.
“My father actually started the quizzes in Derry, way back in the mid 60’s. The military police were here then, when the civil rights movement was just starting, they were actually pictured in the Bluebell Bar going to one of my father’s quizzes in maybe 68’/69’?
“When my father died then, they started the Blue Ribbon Frank Nelis Memorial Quiz, it would have been called ‘Blue Ribbon' to indicate it was the most high profile quiz in Derry.”
As part of a redevelopment of the area in the early 1970’s, Foster’s Terrace was demolished.
Christine added: “My father passed away very suddenly in 1970, he was just 39 at the time, so it was very unexpected. The terrace was demolished just a few years after that and everybody moved on, all the old neighbours, we were all relocated.
“So over the years, I had seen signs being retrieved and hung around different community centres, particularly in Pilot’s Row where you’ll find many old street signs from the Bogside. “And I always thought, ‘God, it’s a pity we couldn’t get Foster’s Terrace up there, you know, so people don’t forget it.’ My mother used to go on and on about it, and eventually I got her a copy, it’s an exact replica of the Foster’s Terrace sign, so I gave that to her and she was just over the moon and she had it hung in her kitchen.
“When our mum passed away two years ago, me and Frank were wondering what to do with the sign now, there’s no point in it hanging in either of our kitchens.
“Frank said ‘Well it’s a wee bit of history Christine, why don’t we put it in with all the other old street signs in Pilot’s Row community centre?’
“So I got in touch with Declan who said ‘Surely, bring it down and I’ll hang it for you.’
“So really, it’s just about documenting that little bit of history, people can go and see the sign now in Pilot’s Row.
“Frank was wild about my father, even yet, he gets all emotional and wells up if I mention him. The idea of him handing back the Foster’s Terrace sign to Declan, him being Frank Nelis too, meant a lot to him.
“I think the terrace was originally built for the gasyard workers, working in the gasyard literally facing them, now I don’t know a lot about the history there to be honest, but I know Lecky Road was named after a businessman.
“Sadly, all the older generations are dying out now that would have known the history of Foster’s Terrace and the Lecky Road, and it’s only from listening to them over the years I’ve been able to gather wee stories.
Members of the Nelis, Higgs and Campbell families, outside Frank Nelis' barber shop on Foster's Terrace
The Lecky family, which the Lecky Road is named after, have had ties to Derry as far back as the 17th century, with a line of 11 family members having stood as Mayor of the city. Foster’s Terrace was one of a number of old streets and terraces that made up the old Lecky Road that were demolished, along with much of the Bogside and Brandywell, in the early 1970’s as part of the regeneration of the area which facilitated the building of the flyover.