{"id":139,"date":"2025-07-14T17:08:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/?p=139"},"modified":"2025-07-14T17:14:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:14:28","slug":"its-a-dying-game-poyntzpass-hosts-one-of-the-last-local-whist-drives-and-it-could-soon-disappear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/14\/its-a-dying-game-poyntzpass-hosts-one-of-the-last-local-whist-drives-and-it-could-soon-disappear\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s a dying game\u2019: Poyntzpass hosts one of the last local Whist Drives and it could soon disappear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This article was originally published in ArmaghI on 8th July 2025. A link to the original piece can be found here:<\/em> https:\/\/armaghi.com\/news\/newry-news\/its-a-dying-game-poyntzpass-hosts-one-of-the-last-local-whist-drives-and-it-could-soon-disappear\/274937<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time stands still as Oliver O\u2019Hare winds up the old clock hanging above the entrance to St. Joseph\u2019s Hall in Poyntzpass<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for the weekly Whist Drive which he is preparing for, time could be running out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Whist was one of the most popular card games in Europe. By the 20th century however, its popularity had significantly declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet while it was forgotten in the cities where it once thrived, in villages and rural communities across Northern Ireland it gained a new lease of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game itself is simple. Players sit in groups of four. They are divided into two teams, with partners sitting across from each other. Each game consists of thirteen rounds, with players taking it in turns to play a card. The card with the highest value wins the round; this is known as \u2018taking a trick\u2019. At the end of the game, the partners with the highest number of \u2018tricks\u2019 win. At a Whist Drive, after every game, the winning partners move to the next table.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1960s and 1970s were the heyday of Whist in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Poyntzpass<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThere would\u2019ve maybe been (a Whist Drive) Tuesday, Thursday, Friday,\u201d according to Marie McGuinness \u201cand Sunday night was a big night as well. It was your social night out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with large crowds, came high stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt used to be that the top score won \u00a3100, which was big money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today however, Poyntzpass hosts one of the few remaining weekly Whist Drives in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere used to be twenty tables here every week,\u201d recalls Oliver O\u2019Hare. But with the average age of the participants being seventy-five, numbers are dwindling fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, while the numbers may have dropped, the excitement has not. Up to twenty people attend the Poyntzpass Whist Drive every Friday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while any of them could play Whist online, they all choose to come to Poyntzpass to play in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey travel from Lurgan, Banbridge, Dromore\u2026and Newry,\u201d according to Oliver who says \u201cit\u2019s a social thing\u2026you\u2019re pitting your wits against a human being who you\u2019ve known for forty years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For almost all involved, Whist was a game they began playing in their youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom when we were children we played cards,\u201d says Marie McGuinness, \u201cand if there was a Whist anywhere you went to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet according to Sheena Scallion, today \u201cthe younger people aren\u2019t interested\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of other competition\u201d for people\u2019s attention according to Francis Doonan, \u201cthey\u2019d rather be on their iPhone\u2019s\u2026I don\u2019t know when I saw a young person last at it (the Whist Drive). And if you do see them once, you hardly ever see them a second time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet while the long-term future of the Poyntzpass Whist Drive may be in doubt, in the short-term it is going nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of craic,\u201d says Oliver, it \u201ckeeps the old grey cells going\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article was originally published in ArmaghI on 8th July 2025. A link to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147,"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padraigcorrigan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}