'At certain times of the year the travelling players came to the village. That was a magic time'

'At certain times of the year the travelling players came to the village. That was a magic time'

Margaret remembers some of the characters in her village.

Margaret McLoughlin

Trinity College Dublin

1945

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

Co. Louth

1960s

There were always characters in the village. The Daly's lived opposite. He was a former RlC officer and Mrs Daly came from Frenchpark. Every now and again there would be a big bust up and he would fling every bit of furniture out on the street and lock her out. She would come crying to my mother but Mammy always maintained that Daly himself wasn't bad that if she had been any kind of housewife they would have been grand as they had quite a good wage and it was regular. They were a tragic couple and baring one son who got away the others had a little want in them. I think two of them died in the Mill dam. At certain times of the year the travelling players came to the village. That was a magic time. Some of them had caravans but the rest of them took lodgings. My mother always took one of them. As a matter of fact my God Mother was one such person. We had a lovely picture of her in the room. Her name was Bibby Daniels, I often wondered was she related to Rolly Daniels the singer. They put on such wonderful plays 'East Lynn' a terrible tragedy, 'The lady of the Lake' and others. We went to them all if we could get the few coppers. Once in a while a circus would come and that was another great source of excitement. All in all we had various little treats so we didn't miss not having television. Very few people had radio. The Johnstons had one so if there was a match on they would all congregate there. There was a programme called 'Around the fire' which I was often allowed to listen to on a Sunday night and there were wonderful plays on as well.Those radios were battery operated and the battery had to be charged ever so often. I often went to the Hotel yard as Jimmy Devaney had a workshop there. There were little business going on in the village. I suppose they had to be self-sufficient . There were two Forges outside the village. Vincent Bird had a carpentry place at the back of our house. Then Tinkers came around every few months and mended pots and pans. They set up their tents at the end of my grandfather's road. My grandfather was very good to them but sometimes there was a bad egg among them who would help himself to some potatoes , so that put them all in his bad books.

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

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)