Archive (1372 life histories found)
'My hero in life was my uncle James, a brother of my mother'
My hero in life was my uncle James, a brother of my mother. He drove a lorry in his father's potato business although he would go on to inherit a substantial portion of it. James was only interested in driving the lorry and drinking in any pub he…
'We used dodge about the garden with no apparent purpose in mind'
We used all have bicycles and did trips to 'Moorlough' (a lake up in the hills about 8 miles away) or to Baronscourt Desmene. That was the home of The Duke of Abercorn and he had an enormous wooded estate (perhaps 4000 acres) and a very elaborate…
' I remember the whole family huddled around the wireless one night listening to the play 'Rebecca '
Television came about 1954 and we had black and white 12 inch screen. There was one channel only (BBC) and you watched it regardless of content. I can remember Charley Drake, a comedian, whose joke seemed to be falling out of doors. £_amonn…
Tags: BBC, Red Indians, Silver, Television, The Lone Ranger, Tonto, wireless
'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…