'No child in the village owned a bike only one girl who happened to be a Protestant'

'No child in the village owned a bike only one girl who happened to be a Protestant'

Margaret recounts learning to cycle on bikes she would borrow from young people who left them in her yard to go to the village dance.

Margaret McLoughlin

Trinity College Dublin

1939

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Margaret McLoughlin

Childhood and Early Life

Life Story

Red Rock, Co. Dublin

1950s

Dances were held in the village hall and the girls and boys would come from the countryside to attend and they would leave their bicycles in our yard for safety. Of course they would no sooner be gone to the dance than we would borrow the bicycles. It didn't matter whether they were a boys or girls bike. We would ride either, as a matter of fact I learned on a man's racer. Jim Dolan worked with my father so he would lend me his bike. It was a racing bike so was very tricky to ride. Later when I rode on an ordinary bike I would be lopsided. No child in the village owned a bike only one girl who happened to be a Protestant acquired one when she was about a eleven. Our days were made when we got a spin on it. Her name was Gwen Taylor and I remember one time when she was sick she brought me up to the bedroom to play but we had to pass by the bedroom her grandfather was in and he let out an unmerciful roar. I couldn't get out fast enough.

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

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)