Noreen Blair

Mrs Noreen Blair, who not only had a lifelong affection for Bangor Grammar School but was also for some years a valued member of staff, died on 17 November 2014.

Born in Monaghan on 14 August 1933, Noreen was a lab technician and school nurse in the late 1960s and early 1970s, based in the Chemistry Labs in Crosby House. Head of Science at the time was Joe McKeown, while the chemistry staff included Bill Langtry, Bob McIlroy, Walter Corbett and Ian Morrison.

Noreen was also active on the PTA committee and helped to organise the annual PTA dances, which were held in the Assembly Hall at College Avenue. She would also lend a hand with applying the make-up for school plays.

Living close to the school at Ballyholme Road, Noreen enjoyed seeing the boys pass by on a daily basis. This was something she greatly missed when the school moved to the Gransha Road site. Noreen’s late husband Hal was a former pupil and past chairman of the Board, while her sons and grandsons are all past or current pupils of the school.

• Less than a week before her sad passing, Noreen found the time and strength to contact the editor of the Grammarian with a news item for the 2015 edition. She explained how many years before either BGS or Gransha Boys’ High School occupied the site at Gransha Road, the landowner stipulated that in future years it could only be used for educational purposes – thus ensuring it never fell under the beady eye of housing developers.