'Before any of the family moved away a group in the village decided to put on a play.'

'Before any of the family moved away a group in the village decided to put on a play.'

Margaret recounts how she and her friends put on a play in her village.

Margaret McLoughlin

Trinity College Dublin

1945

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Margaret McLoughlin

Childhood and Early Life

Life Story

Galway

1960s

About a mile outside the village there was a spa well which we would visit on one day in the year. It was great for all the children, as we walked all the way up on the railway tracks. The water was great for arthritis but the smell was something else. We could smell it long before we came to it. All the mothers brought bottles which they filled and brought back which had to be drunk first thing in the morning. We also had to drink it while we were there. They certainly did not suffer from arthritis in their old age so it must have had some good. Before any of the family moved away a group in the village decided to put on a play. They decided on 'The White Headed Boy' by Lennox Robinson. It was fantastic and involved nearly everyone in the village. Caroline played the mother and Frank the White Headed Boy. They were both marvellous. They went from house to house to practice and it was a wonderful way of spending the Winter. After seeing how well that went down our age group which would have been younger decided we would put on a play. Nina O Brien got an old garage in the yard of O'Hara's so we cleaned it up and after doing a lot of practice we put it on. Everyone in the village came. We charged sixpence in and the proceeds went to a lovely party for all the participants. On the eve of the first of May we children would go out and pick flowers which we put outside the doors for the first of May. It must have been some sort of pagan ritual as it was to ward off evil spirits. The fairy forts I suppose was another of those superstitions but still they were never built on and I think to this present day know farmer would interfere with one.

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

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)