Archive (25 life histories found)

We got an odd newspaper from England but us children were not allowed to read it. I usually got my hands on it (News of the World) and read it thoroughly. All I could see were one or two pictures of so called glamour models.Then within a few years…

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…

I would have stayed on at school, but I had to leave even with a scholarship. As one of ten children we had to work to get money.But the memories of childhood are good. We lived in an area surrounded by fields as far as the eye could see. We…

Nathan and Shelly were brother and sister. He was just 2 years of age and Shelley was 4 when we moved to Taughmonagh. They were our next door neighbours. It wasn't long till both of them made themselves at home in our house where Ann, my Wife,…

It was my fourteenth birthday and Mr. Mitchell the head forester offered me a job right away working with the foresters on the mountains. This gave me a wonderful outlook on the works of nature for the rest of my life. I appreciate more every day…

Tommy was serving his time as a shipwright and they lived with granny Duncan in Avon Street and came down to Rostrevor at the weekends and Tommy and I sometimes went to Newry by bus and went to the pictures: Savoy, Frontier and another I can't…

We mostly played football in a field on the Highfield estate till it was dark and my chum Jim McFarlane would go to the oval to watch the cock and hens as Glentoran are still known. At the age of sixteen I worked in James Mackies leaving to work a…

I signed up for a Masters in Quality Management in 1998 at the age of 56 and completed it in 1999 but whilst in the process of writing my dissertation in 2000 I had a heart attack so I never finished the Masters completely. I had all my life been…

In September we moved to Golders Green, which is noted for its large Jewish population. We were within walking distance of Hampstead Heath, which is one of the highest points in London and a wonderful place for long walks and fresh air. Nearby was a…

My position on being sent to the Dublin sales office was Gopher. I had to go for the uncle's car and bring it to the door, I had to deliver all the Dublin sales and always have a gallon of paraffin to light the smelly paraffin stoves in the two…