DERRY JOURNAL Editorial: The Golden Grill and the end of an era

People came from across Derry and Donegal and beyond by the busload to the Letterkenny venue and for many it was a rite of passage into adulthood during their teenage years and in their 20s. That thrill of expectation on the bus down, checking you had your ID, dancing the night away, sausage suppers in a basket, standing for the national anthem; love matches made and hearts broken; friendships forged amid laughter and banter - it was all part of it. And the memories are all the sweeter given that the shutters have been pulled on our entertainment sector for most of the past year.

It wasn’t just The Grill though. Everywhere from The Stardust, The Corinthian, The Plaza, The Guildhall and Borderland to The Venue, The Embassy and The Point Inn; Squires and the Tul na Ri, the Union Hall, the Mem Hall and Linen Hall; upstairs in the Gweedore and The Castle and the down the back of the Dungloe; the Bound for Boston, The Rialto and the Nerve Centre, generations have gathered in their droves to listen to bands, for a curt and a dance, leaving the stress and strain of the world outside behind. These places often offered respite often during our darkest times. Some are still in operation today, though most live on only in memories and in photographs. Even standing freezing waiting on the bus or in a taxi queue seems tinged with nostalgia these days.

All these places and more are a part of our coming of age. They were places where many first set eyes on the person who turned out to be the love off their lives. They shaped who we are as individuals and as a society, and it would perhaps be nice when all of this is over if there was an exhibition set up to give people a chance to travel down memory lane and revisit those formative years in the places we all loved so well.