Archive (334 life histories found)
'I was wakened by my granny shouting 'come and see what Santa has brought.'
Christmas was my very favourite time of year. On Christmas Eve I had to go to bed very early. I was so excited I could hardly get to sleep. Then on Christmas morning I was wakened by my granny shouting 'come and see what Santa has brought '. In…
Tags: Christmas, grandmother, presents
'Some people overdid it and it was in all the papers that a few people died from eating too many.'
During the war everything was rationed,we were issued with ration books; cream for groceries,red for clothes and another one for sweets. I was a great treat being given a silver sixpence (2 p) for 2 ozs of sweets,which was all we could buy with…
Tags: bananas, food, overeating, rationing, war
'We children didn't understand the danger and looked on it as a great adventure.'
I remember the night of the big blitz in Belfast. We could hear the terrible sound of the sirens telling us that the German bombers were overhead. Although there were shelters in the street,very few people used them. My mother insisted we all…
'I thought I was the star of the silver screen and dreamed my dreams of becoming a famous film star.'
Our house was always full of people at weekends. My granny had four sisters,mother,Maggie,Rachel and Lucy who all lived locally and congregated in gran's to catch up with the local gossip. The night usually ended with a sing song,as everyone in the…
'I had to suffer the comb biting into my scalp until I thought it would bleed. 'better than getting nits' she would say.'
Our house was a small terrace house,two up and two down with a tiny garden at the front. We had no hot running water or bathroom. Friday night was bath night. My mum and grandmother carried the big tin bath from the back yard into the livingroom…
'I can honestly say my grandmother was the most important influence in my life.'
Thus started one of the happiest periods of my childhood years. My father was away with the RAFR. My mother took a job in a munitions factory,like so many other women at that time to help the war effort. My aunt worked in a large city centre…
Tags: grandmother, munitions factory, RAF, war
'One of my first memories was sitting on the floor in the living room with the mice running over my legs.'
My name is Norma Stewart McCullough. I was born on 26th September 1937. For the first ten years of my life I moved around quite a bit. The house I was born in was in Joanmount Crescent on the Ballysillan Road,where I stayed until my father joined…
Tags: father, grandmother, house, mice and rats, mother, RAF
'I was very much aware of being different. There were no Jews -or 'non-Aryans' as they were called- living in the country'
My Father returned in 1931or 1932 and bought the small estate in a village about half way between Hamburg and Lubeck. Our lives changed dramatically then I went to another secondary school in Bad Oldesloe where I was very much aware of being…
Tags: countrylife, Jewish, non-Aryan, non-Christian, non-religious
'During the funeral my brother and I played 'hide and seek' at the cemetery, much to my mothers' embarrassment, not that my mum was easily embarrassed!'
Up to my thirteenth year we lived in the city (Hamburg) in an apartment block. A seven room apartment,including one for the maid,bathroom and a separate toilet,kitchen,and walk in larder. There were two balconies,one at the front,the other at the…
Tags: banana plantation, funeral, grandmother, Hamburg, parents
'Is it any wonder that religion scared the shit out of me? '
To say my grandparents were religious would be an understatement. My grandfather hailed from County Longford and was a builder. He was a member of the old IRA and had taken part in the Howth gun running and had been jailed in Frongoch Camp in…
Tags: Bona Mores, Catholicism, confraternity, religion