Archive (334 life histories found)
'If you hit the ball over the neighbour's wall you were 'out''
Holiday times were greatly looked forward to but strangely little remains in my memory other than the tennis club, cycling around the place for no apparent reason and cricket on the lawn. Memory suggests a time of indolence. Cricket on the lawn was…
'Rhubarb, morning, noon and night.'
Meals in boarding school are basic and some of the delicacies were shepherds' pie (known as shepherds shit); kippers and parsnips on a Friday (the smell pervaded all the buildings for the day); and rhubarb, morning, noon and night in season (they had…
Tags: food, meals, rhubarb, shepherd's pie
'...we were living more in fear of hell than the possibility of heaven'
Religion was a major factor and we were 100% diligent participants. I don't remember understanding much about it but back then you participated because hell was a looming certainty if you didn't. In my memory we were living more in fear of hell…
Tags: Catholic, Catholicism, homosexuality, morality, Priests, religion, sex, sexual activity, sexuality, sin
'Nothing suggests to me even now that it was wrong, just that it was of its time'
Sport was a big item in the curriculum and the best sportsmen had a certain aura, especially if it was rugby. Everyone had to play rugby at least 3 times a week (Wed, Sat, Sun) no matter how dysfunctional. I remember one frail little boy (my cousin…
Tags: curriculum, rugby, sport
'Northern Catholics had an inbuilt inferiority complex aided and abetted by our dreadful primary education'
Going to Castleknock was a profound cultural shock for a very small boy (I was the smallest in the school) from Northern Ireland. Northern Catholics had an inbuilt inferiority complex aided and abetted by our dreadful primary education. The boys in…
'At that time priests were held in such awe so, no matter how dysfunctional, were treated with respect and reverence'
In 1954 I was bundled off to boarding school in Castleknock in Dublin. The choice of school was determined by the fact that I failed the 11+ thereby disqualifying myself from secondary schooling in the North. My parents discussed in detail the…
Tags: alcohol, alcoholic, Boarding school, Priest, secondary school
'When Mrs Hart died, Jackie closed down the shop, gave his black Scotty dog (Judy) to my father to mind for him and was never seen again'
Beside Strabane was the border into Lifford in Donegal. This was a boom town during the war and up to about 1950. My father had a particular relationship with Jackie Hart who ran a shop from the front of his house. My father was never short of…
'Shopping in Strabane in 1940s/50s was always in a proprietor driven shop'
It was understood in a small country town that local shops gave credit without documentation. It was also assumed that the householder would pay, eventually when he took the notion. Never would it be alluded to other than an occasional (posted)…
Tags: Beano, comics, Dandy, draper, grocery, Local shops, message boy, shopkeepers, Shopping, The Eagle
'In the cinema the films came by rail in large metal boxes and changed every 2 days.'
In the house Paul (eldest) and myself always shared bed, sisters still in cots and maid had own room. Large brown blankets/cloths were draped over windows to make room dark and make us sleep. Entertainment was the wireless that farted more than…
'The Master held the cane in his hand most of the time as keeping order was a big part of his job'
School in Strabane was the Convent (5-6 years old) and Barrack Street Boys' Primary (7-14 years old). In Northern Ireland you had to pass the '11 plus' in order to access 2nd level (St Columb's in Derry). The standard of education in Barrack St…