Our sincere thanks go to Dr Alan J Horan OBE for emailing about his two tours of duty in Abu Dhabi in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1960 to 1962, Alan was Chief Local Representative for ADMA Limited and from 1971 to 1982 as General Manager for ADMA-OPCO.
On his first tour, Alan took several colour photographs which showed the lifestyle of those days. Alan writes: ‘Conditions were difficult for the Abu Dhabian population and are in dramatic contrast to modern Abu Dhabi, the development of which is just amazing. Despite this contrast, some of my Abu Dhabian friends wanted to show the photographs and, after discussions and negotiations, I agreed to pass the colour slides to the National Library and Archives (NLA) of the United Arab Emirates.’
These slides are now exclusive to the NLA, and any copies must be authorised by them, and attributed to Alan. The NLA issued Alan with a certificate of appreciation for his ‘commitment and willingness to contribute to the NLA’s aim to enhance and preserve the photographic history of the United Arab Emirates’.
The NLA selected from the slides and mounted them into an exhibition in the Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival Pavilion. The NLA then made a video of the exhibition which showed the slides in various formats and grouped under appropriate headings. The video can be viewed at: agda.ae/en/
Please note that the video is exclusive to the NLA and is restricted to private viewing only unless clearance is given by the NLA.
Alan says that since then an article by John Dennehy has been published in The National, Abu Dhabi’s English language newspaper, entitled ‘What did Abu Dhabi look like 60 years ago?’ You can find this, together with some of Alan’s photos, here.
Finally, in reference to the article ‘The Das Island Christmas Show 1973’ in the November 2023 bps news, Alan writes ‘I have read with interest various reports of Christmas on Das Island. As General Manager, with my wife Jean, we spent eleven consecutive Christmases on Das, between 1971 and 1981 inclusive. They were happy occasions; some selected visitors from the mainland joined the festivities. There was considerable local talent!’
Photo: Alan’s certificate of appreciation from the NLA.