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(Belfast Born, Bred and Buttered By Joe Graham)

Chapter 15

The Squatting of the Campbell Family

Speaking about housing problems earlier, it was around this time. That I walked unknowingly into a housing problem, concerning one family, which could easily have been resolved by the Belfast Corporation (Council) Housing Department but instead became a whole civil rights issue and cause of many violent riots. I was returning home late one night from Ardoyne, about midnight, and I stopped at “Lena’s”, a then well known late night wee shop on the Falls Road at the corner of Colin Street. As I got out of the car I noticed a lot of activity in Colin street, a tiny little street of a dozen or so houses, council men were digging up the pavement outside a house and a couple of peelers were leaning against the wall of a house opposite. On speaking to Lena in her shop I learned that there had been a house and three houses were badly damaged. numbers 7, 9 and 11. I walked down the street out of sheer curiosity and was amazed to see movement in number 9, the workmen were busy disconnecting the gas, water and electricity mains to it and tarpaulins were thrown over the fire damaged roof and obviously the family was still in occupancy of the house in that condition. My first thoughts were , why didn’t the housing department move them immediately into one of the empty new flats at the Divis Complex just down the road. I knocked the door of the house and spoke to the man there, a Jim Campbell, and he told me he was receiving no help or suggestions from any quarter. I was angry and disgusted, I then drove to the Ton Street home of Liam McMillan , a local political activist and Sinn Fein candidate in the 1964 election. I told him of the plight of the family. As I expected, Liam immediately suggested that a committee should be set up to help move the family, if they agreed, into a flat at the then new Divis complex, which was nearing completion.

By the next morning we had a committee made up of local political activists, mostly republicans, and we moved the Campbell family into a second floor flat on the left hand side of the entrance square. We then drove down to Linenhall Street and handed in a letter to the office of a Mr Lazanbat, housing manager of the Council Housing department, explaining the plight of the Campbell family and the actions of the “Belfast Housing Action Committee”, the name we had given to our committee. After some protesting the Housing Trust undertook to re-house the two families, the Campbell’s and the Sherlock family who’s house next door to the Campbell’s was also extensively damaged. The Sherlock’s excepted a house at Rathfern, near the Rathcoole estate. Ironically they were later forced out of the house by loyalists and the last I heard they were living at Moyard. Mr and Mrs Campbell refused a house so far away, on what we agreed was most reasonable grounds and so decided to continue giving them our support to be re-housed locally. The situation was that one of the Campbell children needed to attend the out