NZ visitor Andy‘Ballances’ city links and search

Andy Jarden (fourth left) at Ballance House with (from left) David Twigg, Mary Twigg, Adrian Donaldson, Lisburn Mayor Councillor Andrew Ewing, Councillor Margaret Tolerton, Fullerton Jelly, Freddie Hall, Yvonne Hall and Maureen Jelly. Andy presented David Twigg with copy of the Wanganui Chronicle containing feature on John Ballance and Ballance House.

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.

He 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.

Andy’s return to the church for the Sunday morning service brought with it a chance encounter.

“A remarkable coincidence was meeting Rebecca Spence at the church service,” he said. “Her grandmother was a Ballance and her great-grandfather and John Ballance were brothers, both born in what is now known as Ballance House.”

Andy was indebted, he said, to Councillor Catney and his wife Rosemary, Mayor of Lisburn, Andrew Ewing, Councillors Margaret Tolerton and Alex Redpath and Mr Adrian Donaldson, “for all their wonderful hospitality in your beautiful city of Lisburn”.