NZ visitor Andy‘Ballances’ city links and search
1886 of publisher-turned-
Premier John Ballance.
Andy Jarden, of the Wanganui Chronicle, stayed with Councillor Pat Catney during a visit highlights of which included a trip to Ballance House, childhood home of the Glenavy man who was to settle in Wanganui and establish the Wanganui Herald as part of a journey that would see him become New Zealand’s first Liberal Prime-Minister.
“A remarkable man who emigrated to my current home town and went on to become one of the most accomplished Premiers in New Zealand’s history,” was how Andy described him.
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Hide AdHe added: “One of John Ballance’s many lasting legacies will be the close ties forged between our two communities and good peoples of Wanganui and Lisburn.
“It is up to us now to build and enhance the relationship further, starting with the imminent celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Lisburn/Wanganui friendship agreement.”
Andy’s trip to Northern Ireland included a visit to the Ulster Star and also allowed him to conduct research into his 19th century ancestry in the Lurgan, Taghnevan and Tullygally areas.
In Lurgan’s High Street Presbyterian Church cemetery he found a gravestone bearing the names Samuel Jarden and Ann Jane Jarden, two among a number of his ancestors who lie buried there. “I didn’t expect to see my surname on a gravestone,” he said.
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