'I can honestly say my grandmother was the most important influence in my life.'

'I can honestly say my grandmother was the most important influence in my life.'

Norma recounts her early childhood and the time she spent with her grandmother while her parents were working.

Norma McCullough

Trinity College Dublin

1941

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Norma McCullough

Childhood and Early Life

Life Story

Belfast

1940s

Thus started one of the happiest periods of my childhood years. My father was away with the RAFR. My mother took a job in a munitions factory,like so many other women at that time to help the war effort. My aunt worked in a large city centre store. That just left me and my granny alone together in the house. I just loved it,my granny pushed on my swing,sang me songs and told me stories. She introduced me to the joy of reading which I love to this day. I can honestly say my grandmother was the most important influence in my life. She was my moral guide. She said manners and honesty were the most important things in life. That and good grooming. 'Stand up straighter ' she used to shout,'chin up,shoulders back ' she repeated this time after time when she caught me slouching.I loved waking up in granny's big double bed which we shared in the front bedroom where I used to listen to the sounds of everyday life going in the street outside my window. The clip-clop of the horses' hooves on the cobbles outside,heralding the milkman and the baker on their daily rounds. Then when I went to bed at night,I used to watch the lamplighter with his long pole lighting up the street lights,they twinkled like stars in the dark street.

Irish Research Council for Arts,Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)