Denzil McDaniel: We fool ourselves by thinking the past was a lovelier place than it really was

Aside from preferring a bit more grit in my drama, like RTE’s 'Kin' which finished at the weekend, the Larkins included just a bit too much hankering back to a past that never existed.

It’s a jolly 1950s jape set in the idyllic Kent countryside’s green and pleasant land, with warm-hearted Pop and Ma spreading joy to all and sundry. Ah, great times eh?

Those were the days, times when East London crime was solved by 'Dixon of Dock Green'.

Who remembers him? As George Dixon addressed us with 'Evening all', the blurb suggested the lovable coppers “controlled crime through common sense and human understanding".

And, no doubt, a clip round the ear for a wrong ‘un.

That would be the same east end of London ruled by the brutality of organised criminals like the Kray twins.

Such nostalgia for a past Britain that never was runs deep in the psyche of hard Brexiteers and, to be fair, they’re not alone in feeling British exceptionalism. They are similar to those Trumpians who want to make their country great again.

No word, of course, of the way things really were with racism, homophobia and prejudice rife and working-class people living in scandalous conditions.

Speaking of which, I was fascinated by a BBC NI report which had film archive from 1964 showing the living conditions in the 'Back Streets' of Enniskillen. This is the large area in the town now occupied by the library, Salvation Army hall, car parks and other buildings right across to Queen Street.

The location was known as The Dardanelles after the area at Gallipoli in modern-day Turkey, where many men from the back streets had gone to fight in the British Army in World War One. Some never came home.

Their reward for serving King and Country was for their families to end up in the 1960s in some of the most squalid and disgraceful conditions you could imagine.

One woman in the 1964 film explained they had no sanitation and used the bin as a toilet. Another, Mrs. Maguire was interviewed with the surviving 11 of her 12 children outside a house with a huge area of the roof missing, and when it rained it poured down through the house on to the stone floor.

The film was about a project in which local schoolchildren were conducting a dig in the area to unearth history, and my good friend Frankie Roofe was interviewed about his childhood growing up there.

Interestingly, Frankie pointed out that, despite the conditions, he had happy memories with lots of friends, a time when people and families came together.

I understand what he means.

While the back streets were mostly occupied by Catholics who were being discriminated against, it’s also true to say that sections of the Protestant community lived in poor conditions too.

Back in the late 1950s and early 60s, we lived for a while with my grandparents in Westville Terrace at the other side of town and I remember some of the spartan conditions there.

By the 1970s, I’d left school and before joining The Impartial Reporter I worked for a couple of years in the Crown Buildings. Part of my job was to visit people in country areas who’d made claims for what was known as Supplementary Benefit; and although used to basic conditions in town, I was pretty shocked when I saw what some people in the country had to live in.

And yet, throughout the town and countryside, there was a sense of community and neighbourliness. I suppose life was a bit more simple then, if that doesn’t sound patronising.

This isn’t looking back with rose-tinted specs, I think Frankie touched on something significant, that often people with little material possessions can appreciate how much more meaningful a deeper happiness can be.

How often do we see photos of people across the world with little materially, but happy in their spirituality?

Democritus said: “Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.”

And yet human greed today sees a greater-than-ever thirst and addiction for 'things' nd for money. There’s pressure to have the latest and best, the pressure to succeed, whatever that means. But they say “things are not the most important things".

There is, of course, a danger that the rich and powerful can use such a philosophy to keep the poor in their place, to be content with little. But there’s nothing wrong with wanting a fair share.

It was ridiculous that people lived in such housing then and it remains ridiculous today that people rely on food banks or face hard choices between heating or eating.

So it was right and proper that the back streets were demolished in the late 1960s to provide people with decent homes.

The only issue I have, which I’ve said many times, is that the planners showed no vision and tore the heart out of many parts of the town, and in terms of a sense of community “we lost something somehow, somewhere along the way". (With apologies to Kris Kristofferson.)

Now, my home town is facing further change and hopefully when the disruption clears the town centre’s new public realm scheme will look well.

Indeed, compared to the main thoroughfare that I remember from my childhood, Enniskillen looks superb now. But questions remain about aspects of it, such as what happens to historical links at the Diamond for example.

We don’t want future generations of schoolchildren, like the kids on the 'back streets project', having to do an archaeological dig or to have history lessons to uncover links with our past community spirit.

And there are concerns that while the town façade may look brilliant, there isn’t enough support for its commercial wellbeing.

We shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water. People should be at the centre of progress.

It’s perhaps human nature to fear change, to feel safe in our comfort zones, to fool ourselves that the past was a lovelier place than it really was. Yes, there were happy memories of the rare auld times but we’re in a new era in many ways and we should remember and change.

So change can be good if it tackles the ills of the present and is sensitive enough to retain the good values of the past.

If we do that, we can embrace change and can grow our communities to build a better place for our children. Just not the false-face smarm of Pop Larkin.