My Father wrote an account of his time in the first world war. He didn't talk much to us of his experiences, but he retired from Guinness brewery with chest ailments, which we attributed to gas inhalation from his time there. He died at 82 years of…
Our house and the area was known by 'Little Britain', as the men my father included (were) all fought in the first world war. They were situated in Killester nr. Dublin. An inspector came around now and then to make sure they were kept in good…
I would have liked to have gone to Banbridge Academy, my father was against that. He didn't want me getting any idea of leaving home. An aunt of mine was very interested in me and encouraged me to go to Rathfriland Technical College (as it is now…
I remember the day war was declared in September 1939. It was on a Sunday at 11 a.m. There had been very heavy rain causing the river Bann banks to overflow. The flood was rising in one of my father's fields. My father tried to get as much help as…
I had, until this period, no direct experience of the death of a close family member. At the age of seven my baby brother Brendan died, but we were protected by our parents from detailed knowledge of this tragic affair. Family lore has it that my…
My father, Matt Gaynor, was born in Clondaliever in 1886. He started life as a landless herdsman, watching over herds of cattle on Murray's (pronounced Mur_�_ray's) farm in Clondaliever. In the early 1900s he joined some of his peers in driving…
On a day when we were going to Balreagh bog my father got up early. My mother helped him pack the requirements for lunch into a basket. He was usually on the road with the horse and cart by 8 am. Myself and Paddy would follow by foot sometime later.…
Clondaliever, the townsland where I was born in 1941, is in north Westmeath. It is the place where the three parishes of Collinstown, Taughmon and Delvin meet. As most facilities in rural Ireland were to be found at the centre of a parish, the…
Although we were three sisters and two brothers in my family, I was my father's pet and getting my own way in quite a lot of things and my brothers and sisters used to call it a favouratism. My father was a judge and it was a transferable job in…
