Archive (40 life histories found)

If we were too long away from home or didn't go back for our lunch etc. my mother would blow a pea whistle which she had and believe me it was shrill and it could be heard by all the neighbours who would know it was Mrs. Murphy's whistle. After long…

When I was about 10 years old, my cousin, Paddy Reilly who was just twenty two was drowned in a swimming accident. He and two good friends who worked in a sawmill in Armagh were coming back into the city after delivering a load of timber when they…

With no bathroom in the house the only way of having a bath was to use a tin one which I remember being sat in front of the old Doric range on a Saturday night to get us bathed for Mass the next morning. The said bath is at this moment in time…

A picture of a woman with her child taken by Rosemary McCloskey when she lived and worked in Zimbabwe

A picture of Rosemary McCloskey as a baby with her father and mother

A photo of Ita McClelland on the beach with her sister, mother, and other relations.

A photo of Ita McClelland aged about eight with her family.

Margaret, her husband, her mother and two friends in front of a table tennis table.

My book would not be complete without paying tribute to the four females who in their own way played such a large part in my life. First of all, I owe a great debt to my parents and, in particular, my mother who brought me up to know right from…

My memories of childhood centre very much around my home and of the very good mum and dad I had, and along with my two sisters -Violet older than me and Phyllis younger, made a very happy family.Mother and father slept in the front double bedroom…