Archive (14 life histories found)
I thought I was the star of the silver screen and dreamed my dreams of becoming a famous film star
Our house was always full of people at weekends. My granny had four sisters,mother,Maggie,Rachel and Lucy who all lived locally and congregated in gran's to catch up with the local gossip. The night usually ended with a sing song,as everyone in the…
'The flow of life moved on, we got older, meanwhile our interest expanded to dances and boys.'
The flow of life moved on, we got older, meanwhile our interest expanded to dances and boys. Boyfriends then were usually altar boys or boy scouts who too were attached to the Franciscans. At the time, a bicycle was a great accessory to own and I…
'In Rome, we stayed in a convent and slept in dormitories and raided the nuns' kitchen at night.'
Growing up I didn't have a favourite toy apart from some games like _�� snakes _��n' ladders or ludo'. Neither did I have a pet! My most significant relationships and memories of my childhood were being a member of a choir, a junior one…
Tags: ballroom dancing, Barry's Tea, Choir, cinema, Creamery Butter, Fashion, friendship, Games, Hobbies, Ludo, Music, Pets, Photography, Pope, religion, Rome, Snakes and Ladders, toys
'I thought I was the star of the silver screen and dreamed my dreams of becoming a famous film star.'
Our house was always full of people at weekends. My granny had four sisters,mother,Maggie,Rachel and Lucy who all lived locally and congregated in gran's to catch up with the local gossip. The night usually ended with a sing song,as everyone in the…
'Nobody knew whose child she was of the family'
While growing up neighbours played a huge part of our life. We had moved the area the normal miscellany of eccentrics or oddballs. Mr. F next door kept his wife confined life a prisoner. He never gave us a hint of a smile. We always had a huge…
'After leaving school at sixteen there was a great sense of freedom'
After leaving school at sixteen there was a great sense of freedom. No more study or no more strict school uniform. At last having money to spend. Shopping and clothes. However there were many ups and downs. Crying, worrying, fretting, nobody…
'Tommy was more than a brother to me, he was my best friend '
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…
Tags: cinema, Entertainment, friendship, Health, nature, Opera, Sports, theatre, work
'We didn't have a honeymoon '
I first met Hannah in a queue waiting to go into the Crumlin Picture House. She was wearing a Linfield scarf and I a Glentoran scarf. Glentoran were beaten. Because Hannah's mother died on the date arranged we had to postpone the wedding for 6…
'Another entertainment popular with our contemporaries was the new craze of Ballad Singing '
We got engaged on 24th August 1965 and celebrated with dinner in the Metropole restaurant. The Metropole was an entertainment complex with Ballroom, Restaurant and Cinema all under one roof. The engagement ring cost ԣ120.00, as small fortune in…
'Dates involved a trip to 'The Pictures' or going dancing in one of the many venues around the city '
Dating was a complicated business in those days. In the first place the meeting place said a lot about the people involved. Country people or Culchies as they were known met at Nelson's Pillar or under the clock at Clery's department store. This was…