Part 1 Motoring Memories Heritage Museum Ballygowan Co Down N Ireland

Yesterday I visited Raymond Walls, at his Motoring Memories Heritage Museum, at Ballygowan Co Down. Raymond very kindly gave me a walk round the vast array of motoring memorabilia that he has collected over the last 40 years.
This museum, is a unique private collection featuring early petrol cans, petrol pumps, oil cans & pourers and enamel road signs. The collection also includes AA and RAC collectables and the largest collection of petrol pump globes in the British Isles.
The collection has to be the best of its type found anywhere on the island of Ireland. It surely ranks in the top five of any such collections in the whole of the UK.
A tour of the collection is a must for anyone interested in motoring memories /history/'artifacts' from this part of the word. Suggested donations of £10 per person, are gratefully received. Money raised goes to a nominated charity.
The Raymond Walls Motoring Memories Memorabilia Heritage Museum is, 'The best of the Past, Preserved in the Present for the Pleasure of the Future.'
Don't you miss it!
Raymond's collection is massive. This video is the first part of a video session I did with Raymond that day.
Thanks to Raymond Walls for allowing me to do this accompanied walk round of his excellent collection.

[@greatchalla3799]

Great stuff…..I just 😍…..all the vintage collection.

[@TomMcClean]

Watch out for part 2 of this visit GC!

[@shaunmckenna1923]

Hello Tom , that is one amazing collection of memorabilia over the years I have seen a few but this tops them all . Thank you Tom.

[@TomMcClean]

Thanks Shaun. More to come on this part 2 pending!

[@chriswardlow9441]

Wow Tom, this is just mind boggling what a great video, what I'd do to look round this fantastic place those metal signs are worth a fortune so very,very popular at auctions, Raymond is one heck of a guy, i love the Jaguar SS that is as rare as Chicken Lips,LOL. This is out of this world and i carn't wait for part 2. Great stuff Tom.

[@TomMcClean]

Hey Chris This is a lifetimes passion and work from Raymond. I know. This collection is worth a huge amount! I've never come across a collection here to match it.

[@Tip_Top]

I'd love to visit. So class

[@TomMcClean]

Hi TT. Part 2 still to come! lol

[@user-xz9dn2ub1x]

Amazing collection 😊 Thanks for tour😮😮

[@TomMcClean]

Thanks Robert. I was delighted Raymond allowed me to video and do the long interview! Best wishes from the Belfast Castlereagh hills.

[@user-xz9dn2ub1x]

Thank you for your great video😮 I’ve found the other three parts What a great place😊😊😊

[@TomMcClean]

Great stuff1 Many thanks!

[@davidpatterson9107]

Amazing video, hit the Jackpot there Tom .Raymonds collections are remarkable & his anecdotal stories &history so interesting to listen to Priceless.

[@TomMcClean]

Yes David. It is remarkable what Raymond has quietly collected over the decades. The sad thing is that when he dies then the stories will all be lost. The collection is likely to be broken up and distributed to who knows where. My wee series of videos do go some way to capturing it for others in later years to see and hear it. I was really delighted to get this footage and to meet and interview Raymond.

[@mikedrown2721]

What a fascinating museum Tom, I enjoyed every minute of it.... thanks!

[@TomMcClean]

This is just a fraction of it mike. I used up a 2 hour battery with Raymond. In the end I resorted to filming on my phone. The man is a walking encyclopedia of motoring knowledge. He remember every item he bought where it was bought price and from whom. He even remembers items he sold on and where they are now. Unbelievable. I trimmed this first part of the museum story down from 45 minutes to a more watchable 25 mins. I will put up a part 2 when I have gone through it. I knew you'd like this. Raymond is a real character!

[@raymondmurray3447]

An excellent video Tom. Mind you when you started off talking in front of the stone building in Ballygowan I felt sure something else was going to get a mention. The building being the former Engine / Goods shed of the BCDR.

[@TomMcClean]

Many thanks Raymond. This is some place! Yes I recognized the old railway shed across the road. I've never done a video on that though. Maybe I will.

[@reggriffiths5769]

Tom, this was brilliant! What a dine collection, and what a great little video - hats off to you my friend. A few minutes into the video I spotteds the placards and signs with the "M-S" logo, and straightaway knew them as Munster-Sims, because they were the first company I worked for when I left school, and they were dealing as a hardware/kitchen/china wholsale company in Prince Regent Road. I started with them 1//1/62 and my first wage packet was £2.3s.3d - not a lot for a forty-hour week, but I got to see the whole of NI in the two-plus years I worked there. I thoroughly enjoyed this video Tom and could have spent another hour watching more, so well done that man!

[@TomMcClean]

Hi Reg. I thought you might like this wee travel back in time! I've known about this museum for years but I didn't know who to contact. It was only recently that a friend gave me Raymond's number. I was delighted to get doing this video walk round. There is so much history here. Sadly it will probably be sold off in bits to whoever, when he dies. I will doing a part 2 very soon!

[@reggriffiths5769]

@@TomMcClean Another thing that struck me was an expression you used that I haven't heard for years, and it jogged my memory banks to add a rhyme that I learnt as a child. Boys uh boys I found a penny, boys uh boys I picked it up, boys uh boys I bought a bap, boys uh boys it made me fat! Funny how a simple word or phrase can bring back a 65-year childhood memory, Lol.

[@TomMcClean]

Yes Reg I wonder where I picked up the boys oh boys phrase. It was very common in round Banbridge when I was growing up. It probably came from that wee ryhme.

[@gregbruns8442]

What a terrific collection! I enjoyed the video. It’s really unbelievable this man collected ALL of this. I wonder what will happen to it all when he passes on? I’m sure it was an absolute delight for you to visit. Also, you put on a new Hawkeye cap!! Looking good:-)

[@TomMcClean]

Hi Greg. You would love this place and love meeting Raymond. He is a walking petroliana encyclopedia. Part 1 was the first of five videos i put up about this museum. We talked and filmed for 2+ hours. until my camera battery ran out! lol The trouble is when Raymond dies the collection will probably be broken up and sold on to al over the UK. It will be gone. But that is life. At least I have a reasonable record made. Raymond recognized the Hawkeye cap too! I was stopped in the street in Athens and at every port our cruise ship docked down the eastern Mediterranean. It created such an interest and friendly chats! lol As an aging 70 year old I need this super hat to make people stop and look twice at me! lol For a few memories check out Part 4 Largest UK Petrol Pump Globe Collection Motoring Memories Museum Ballygowan Co Down kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3S1p3SferF0atk

[@gregbruns8442]

@@TomMcClean I will, Tom. And I’ll definitely watch more of this series. Really good stuff!! I wonder if I will be recognized as I wear my Hawkeye hat around Poland? You read that right. I’m going to Poland. I met a wonderful (she’s a nurse!) young, beautiful yet humble woman from Ukraine. We have been corresponding since April and now video chat regularly, or at least when we are both awake at the same time and when she has power and internet and I’m not working. She was going to come here last month but it didn’t work out, so I will be going to Krakow soon. I’ll be sure to give a wave as I fly over! Sorry I’m not able to stop by. I think this gal is going to come be a Hawkeye, Tom. She would be here today if she could be. She is lovely and for whatever reason, thinks I’m pretty cool. She loves Lulu too.

[@TomMcClean]

Wow Greg! I wish you both every happiness. You take care now! Wear that Hawkeye with pride! You remember to wave now! I'll be out on the pram walk! God bless you both from the Belfast Castlereagh hills.

[@skimmingstoness]

I'm of the same persuasion but I wish these quaint places would wise up and put up one flag on a war memorial instead of putting one on every bloody lamppost

[@TomMcClean]

I care nothing for flags of any kind. Best wishes from the Belfast Castlereagh hills.

[@reggriffiths5769]

While I have some sympathy with your view (from the PoV of being a military historian and WW1 Battlefield Guide), you're probably not aware of the NI culture - the Province struggling to maintain it's place within the UK against very strong opposition. From that perspective, "Flying the Flag" is one peaceful way of showing National Pride. Unlike the Americans who fly their flag from every building, office, business - on their cars and lorries, on their coat lapels and baseball caps - everywhere they can promote it and actually worship it. Their flag is not allowed to touch the ground. and you can be arrested for defiling it. So by comparison, placing their flag on a lampost is no big deal. If the Marxists, Communissts and those who hate everything British ccan fly their flags with impunity, why should the locals not do the same in their own country?