A woman who was born in Co Down 75 years ago has returned to her birthplace for the first time.
Gillian Underwood was born in Bangor but her family moved to Australia 19 months later.
Down the years, she had always wanted to return for a visit and three years ago, her father died at the age of 95. But before he passed away, he had urged her to visit Northern Ireland.
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Finally, Gillian was able to visit the home she was born in alongside her husband Mike and cousin Christine. On her trip, she also visited the site of an old sweet shop opened by her Aunt Jean.
She joined a local Facebook group to share pictures and videos of Bangor through the years and shared her experience.
"I'm so happy to have finally been able to visit my homeland and the house I was born in," Gillian told Belfast Live.
"I didn't think much of it, I just wanted to show people what I'd been up to while I was visiting Bangor. Now the post has almost 900 likes on it.
"My dad kept telling me he would bring me to visit but it never happened. The last time he visited was six years ago. I thought one day I'm really going to get there.
"Just before dad died and I went down to see him, he was in a nursing home because he had a stroke but he could still talk, he said I had to get to Bangor and I told him I would. It was really hard losing dad. He had all his faculties about him, he could even say the alphabet backwards. He was just an amazing person."
Despite wishing to visit Bangor for many years, Gillian, who lives on the Gold Coast in Australia, faced obstacles which meant she couldn't make the journey until now.
She said: "I was married to Jim for 38 years but he wasn't a traveler so we didn't go. After my dad died, Jim was diagnosed with cancer and died six months after my dad which was really hard.
"It took me a long time to settle down. I was focused then and decided to get my passport renewed so I could head to Northern Ireland, but then Covid happened. It was really hard. When you're all alone like that and you have no real support, I had a shocking time for the first 13 months of it.
"Eight weeks ago, I got married to Mike who is from Scotland. We're over here as he's packing up his stuff to move to Australia, so I thought we had to visit Bangor.
"As we were flying into Northern Ireland, I just couldn't wait, I thought I'd probably kiss the ground when I got there. I got really teary, it was a lovely moment."
On her first visit since she left as a baby, Gillian said she fell in love with the city and is already looking forward to making a return visit.
"I feel like I could really live here, except for the cold," she laughed.
And when she stopped by the house she was born in, Gillian was delighted when the home owner invited them in for a look around.
She said: "While we were in Bangor, we went to The Walled Garden and Ward Park - we went everywhere. Even walking around the marina, looking around at everything, and seeing the shop my auntie owned was a big thrill for me.
"Then to knock on the door of the house and be invited in was just amazing. The owner couldn't believe it when I told him I was born in the house 75 years ago, I told him I just had to come back and have a look at the house myself.
"He asked if I knew which room I was born in and I told him it was the upstairs room, so he brought me up for a look. It was just lovely, really amazing."
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