In Living Colour

Velinheli & Reciprocity Shipwrecked Oct 1910 Colourised Colin Doyle

iven that we’ve been archiving old Greystones photos for nine years now, when we spotted local lad Colin Doyle’s colourising work, well…

We got in touch immediately.

Would this fine young man [left] be interested in having a look through the Guide’s archives and adding a little colour to the cheeks of Greystones’ past?

“Love to,” came the swift reply. “I studied graphic design and coding at Loughlinstown, but, this lockdown has given me the time to try out a few other skills. Such as enhancing old photographs…”

Having now set up his own business – you can check it out on Facebook here – Colin got to work on our dusty old black and whites. Some of the shots were taken long before colour film was invented, others were rescues from old newspaper articles – such as Bridie Mooney and Evelyn Redmond donning their best winter coats as they headed off on their first Spanish holiday, or Ronnie Drew and friends horseback riding at the harbour.

Unsurprisingly, some shots lend themselves better than others to the colourising process, ranging from the vibrant ping of the young John Sweeney astride his donkey on the North Beach to the subtle hues of budding cowboy Derek Ferns saddling up on the South Beach or The Royal Navy stopping off for their fags and dirty mags at Murphy’s.

Suffice to say, thanking you, young Colin. Beautiful work. 

You can go explore the originals in our various archive galleries and features rounded up here.

Right now though, let’s go fly, somewhere over the rainbow…

Ronnie Drew & Compadres

Greystones National School with Elizabeth McFarland, Brian & Trevor Storey, John Whitton, Telford Evans, Morgan Evans, the Bolton sisters, Hazel Griffin, etc.

North Beach Cottages

The Fishermen Huts Nuts

The Circus Comes To Town

The Royal Navy outside Cafe Grey

Ireton’s original Kilcoole shop

Netfix & Chill with Willie Redmond & Jago Hayden

A deceptively angelic Pat Mooney

Robert & Bridie Mooney

Greystones’ First-Ever Drug Deal

Greystones Harbour 1910

Original Harbour Pier

Bord Fáilte shot of the harbour kish

Jack Doyle: Taxi Driver

Alfie Taylor, Derek Ferns, Cecil Gilbert, Alec Tucker & Cycil Spurling

The Beach House

Fishing columnist J. Ashton Freeman c1950

Delgany #1

Delgany #2

Ben Sweeney, Justin Fawsitt & bodyguard

Railway Hotel, Church Road

Old Livery Stables & John Doyle’s Coal Yard

Cruisin’ Through Killincarrig

Joe Sweeney, Larry Ryan, Jimmy Redmond & friends

St David’s Youth Club March 1983

John McKenzie, John Redmond, Leslie Redmond & friends

Jim Murphy, N. Murphy, Michael Whiston, Tommy Redmond, Jim Ryan, Tom Quinn, Stephen Redmond, Jim Whiston

Unloading Coal at The Quay

The Notorious Byrne Clan 1950s

John Sweeney Sits On His Ass

Published January 2021. Sadly, Colin Doyle passed suddenly on November 23rd 2022. You can check out Gary O’Brien’s colourisations here, and explore more of Greystones’ back pages right about here.