'Our grandfather lived in Ardakip and every Friday I would collect his pension and receive a penny'

'Our grandfather lived in Ardakip and every Friday I would collect his pension and receive a penny'

Margaret remembers how she and her friend Vera used to collect pennys and play in the shoemakers.

Margaret McLoughlin

Trinity College Dublin

1940

This item is protected by original copyright

This content may be downloaded and used (with attribution) for research, teaching or private study. It may not be used for commercial purposes without permission.

Margaret McLoughlin

Childhood and Early Life

Life Story

Dromahair, Co. Sligo

1950s

We didn't possess any balls for playing with but when the evenings got dusk and the electricity had arrived we would play around the lampposts and had great fun dancing on our shadows. One year there was a big fall of snow and there was a marvellous slide on the Barrack Hill. We hated to see it melt. Our days were pretty full as all the water had to be carried either from the well which was the drinking water or from the mill dam for washing. Our grandfather lived in Ardakip and every Friday I would collect his pension and receive a penny , also our grandmother who lived with us had to have her pension collected so that was another penny. Other than that we didn't have much to spend. Myself and Vera Johnston used to watch for a Mrs Mc Parland who was a farmer's wife from up the high road and when she would come into the village to Gillmores for her messages we would wait for her and she never failed to give us a penny for sweets. Another spot we used to play in was the shoemaker's shop. Myself and Vera would go into Toner's and sit and play among the pieces of leather he used to have strewn on the floor. There would always be a few of his cronies sitting and chatting.

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

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)